Page 173 of Fractured Fate

He loved how breathy her voice sounded when affected by him.

“I really am sorry if I hurt your feelings,” she said, lowering her gaze. Her fingertips slid up and down the back of his neck, making his skin pebble. “I don’t know what happened, but I was feeling so many awful things, and then I could feel your anger and it just fueled the fire. It became this endless loop of misery.”

Hooking his finger beneath her chin, he angled her head to look at him. “I’ve never had such a hard time controlling myself, but it wasn’t your fault. You know that don’t you?”

She shook her head from side to side, and he closed his eyes. He suspected she blamed herself for it. Between her emotions and her retreat, he gathered she blamed herself for his inability to keep his primal urges at bay. Seeing her confirmation did nothing to make him feel better.

“First of all, my behavior is never your fault. No matter what you might say or do, I’m in control of my own actions. I choose if I react poorly or not. I might have a hard time with impulse control, but in the end, it was my decision to respond the way I did and not another way.”

When she tried to look away, his fingers tightened on her chin.

“And second? You have every right to call me on it. Like I do you. This might get worse before it gets better. Even when we seal the bond, it won’t be the end of it. Young bonds aren’t the most stable. We get the chance to learn about it from childhood until high school, but nothing they teach us prepares us for the actual experience.”

“Does it get better?”

“Yeah. I know you haven’t spent much time with Mera and Kai, but they are the longest-bonded pair in our group. Since we started here at the academy, I haven’t seen them fight. I think it was the end of their junior year in high school that they bonded. I honestly can’t remember.” He settled back against the tree trunk, releasing her chin. She slid her arms around his neck to rest on his shoulders. “But the point is, they got it under control. Lukas and Blaire still struggle sometimes, but they are significantly better than they were a year ago.”

“What about Riley and Seth?”

Aiden laughed. “I think they’re a special case.” He smiled when her face pinched, not getting the joke. “They’ve known each other their entire lives, so it helps them come down faster from a heated situation, but they still have their moments. In fact, Seth’s jealousy rivals Lukas’s, but he keeps it so suppressed, you wouldn’t realize it.”

“He’s jealous of Dom.”

Putting his head back against the tree, he laughed louder. “Yeah, he is. Even though he knows he has nothing to worry about—he’s told me—he still can’t help the way his body responds to Dom like a threat. Dom tried to date Riley, so I don’t blame him, but I wonder if it isn’t a situation like it was for Blaire and I.”

“What do you mean?” She shifted on his lap, her hands sliding down to rest on his abs. They tightened at her touch, sending a delicious shiver up and down his torso.

“The Oracle said he’s connected to Riley’s future. What that means, none of us know. But he’s important to her future, so Seth has to accept Dom’s here to stay.”

Charlotte giggled. “That must be hard for him.”

“I get it, though.” He lifted a hand and brushed a few curls back from her face. “I’m just as bad—probably worse.”

“Huh?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You have no idea how much I wanted to kick Noah’s ass.”

“Well, I don’t blame you. He was with the rogue who attacked me.” She frowned. “I never suspected he wasn’t human.”

“That’s because we’re good at hiding it. We grow up learning how to integrate into society.” His hand tightened on her hip. “But what I meant was when I saw him for the first time. Not only did I feel threatened because he was like me and hanging around you, but also, I could see his interest from the jump.”

Her mouth parted. “What? How did you know that?”

“Oh, he didn’t hide his contempt for me that first day on campus when I drove up to visit you.” Aiden smirked. “You didn’t notice?”

“I knew you two seemed to really dislike each other, but I couldn’t sus out why.”

“Other than the natural reaction to seeing our kind around someone of interest to us that is human, we could each see the other’s intent. I don’t think I did a good job hiding my feelings, either.”

He remembered their first encounter where he suspected Noah felt the same apprehension about a Vasirian hanging around the human he had his sights on that Aiden felt toward him. Their kind didn’t take special interest in humans; it went against the natural order of things. Unless they had ulterior motives.

“I know he was involved with the rogues, that he was one himself, but—”

“He’s a rogue?”

The corner of Aiden’s mouth slanted. “Yeah. If he’s hanging around with a rogue, he’s a rogue. The only things that differentiate a rogue from a regular Vasirian is their disregard for the law and/or their association with other rogues. They aren’t a different subspecies or anything. It’s like saying ‘he’s mafia’ in reference to a human.”

“Oh.” Charlotte’s gaze dropped again.