Page 15 of Bound By Love
“She’s better off not having one with me.”
Caro kept her focus on the sword, but she really wanted to set it down and go to him. He’d become a monster all those years ago and would always believe himself to be one.
He didn’t kill innocents anymore but still saw himself as broken. And maybe he was andshewas the one trying to see something that could never be, but she wasn’t ready to believe that yet.
“You’ve spent nearly five hundred years shutting off your emotions; it’s going to be difficult to open them back up again,” Caro said.
She couldn’t look at him while she talked. This conversation would most likely piss him off, but he’d pushed her toward it, and now, here they were.
“I don’t have emotions,” he stated. “When I do, things die, becauseIkill them.”
“She loves you and is trying to connect with you. She’s not coming here every day because she has fun staring at me. She’s here foryou. You could try talking to her. You might find you have a lot in common and like each other, or maybe you’ll discover time has made it impossible for you to be friends and close family, but it’s worth a try.”
When Saber didn’t say anything, she lowered the sword to look at him. His eyes, and the unrelenting mask of indifference he wore, were as cold as ice. She’d pushed too far; he was shutting down, but now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop.
She’d vowed not to push again, not to open this doorway into rejection, but her tongue kept going. Brie wasn’t the only one trying to get through to him and who cravedmorefrom him.
“Try talking to her. And if it doesn’t work out and she doesn’t back off, then tell her to fuck off if that’s what it takes to get her to stop, but tell hersomething,” Caro said.
Saber’s fingers dug into his palms, and his teeth ground together as she stared at him. She wasn’t just talking about his sister, but he was giving her everything he could, yet shecontinuedto push.
She wouldn’t let it go and accept him for who he was. Did she deserve better and more? Yes, but it didn’t matter becausehewas who she had, the only one she wouldeverhave again, and she better get used to it. This was the way things were and always would be.
Caro held her breath as she waited for him to saysomething. And then his eyes, tinged with red around the edges, met hers.
“Caro.”
She gulped at the harsh tone of his word. “Yeah?”
“Fuck off.”
She recoiled as if he’d slapped her. The sword would have tumbled from her hand if her fingers hadn’t locked around the hilt.
Before she could reply, he vanished from the doorway. And she was left alone…again.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Saber watchedfrom the shadows as Caro trudged toward her apartment above the barn. Her head was bowed, and her shoulders hunched as exhaustion weighed heavily on her. And he was sure it was more than physical exhaustion but also an emotional one taking its toll on her.
Most of that was because of him. He hated the guilt and irritation tugging at him like incessant rats gnawing away at his insides. Fuck the guilt and the rats; he’d never hidden who he was, yet she wanted morethan he couldevergive.
She should be happy with what he could give her;heshould be happy with it, but he wasn’t.
Normally, he was there to carry her upstairs. It had become the favorite part of his day, and he looked forward to when she finally agreed to stop working, so they could spend time together.
Nothing was better than having her in his arms, snuggled against him, all safe, warm, and trusting. He couldn’t bring himself to go to her now.
He’d told hismateto fuck off. It was bad enough that her bright soul was shackled to a monster, but he never should have spoken to her in such a way, even if she was pushing for something he couldn’t give her.
It was weird for him to regret anything, but it weighed heavily on his conscience. He shouldn’t have said that to her, but his relationship with his sister was none of her business.
The fact she couldn’t understand it was better for Brie to keep her distance from him boggled his mind. Couldn’t she see it was better for all involved if he stayed away?
But still, he shouldn’t talk toCarolike that. Anyone else, fine, but she was his mate and deserved better.
As Caro reached the steps leading to her apartment, he emerged from the woods, raced across the distance separating them, and swept her into his arms. She released a small squeak as he rolled her up to embrace her against his chest.
Caught up in her exhaustion and heartache over what transpired earlier, Caro never heard him coming. That pissed her off almost as much as what happened earlier.
