Chapter Eighteen
The air hit my bare torso, and with it, the freedom I’d been denying myself.
I fumbled with the hooks of my bra, then finally threw it aside, while my wings, compressed and hidden for so long, unfurled naturally, the thin, leathery membranes stretching wide in the spacious room, the dark skin catching the golden light through the windows.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I opened my eyes to watch Reuben’s face, waiting for his reaction.
For a moment, he was perfectly still. His stare moved from my face to my breasts, then to my wings and back to my face again, his expression unreadable.
Until something shifted, shock and even a little horror followed by something cold and calculating.
My blood froze. The tender lover had vanished completely. In his place stood someone I didn’t recognize, someone whose eyes held not wonder or acceptance, but assessment. Like he was looking at a secondhand prize he’d just won.
“Now I understand,” he said quietly, his voice stripped of all warmth. “That’s why you healed so fast. And why Adam can’t let you go.”
The words hit me like physical blows. Not you’re beautiful or you’re amazing or even what are you? Just cold, clinical comprehension of my value.
Some things never changed. It was being with Adam all over again, except even he hadn’t looked at me with such calculating coldness.
I stumbled backward, my wings instinctively folding around my breasts like a shield. “Reuben, I—“
“You’re one of his experiments.” His tone was almost conversational now, but with a distinct lack of empathy, his distaste all too clear. “No wonder he’s been so desperate to get you back.” He shuddered. “Christ, I almost—”
The room spun around me, and this time it had nothing to do with the alcohol.
His feelings had been real. I could see that now in the way his face twisted with self-loathing.
He had genuinely cared for me, desired me.
But now that care had curdled into something ugly.
I wasn’t the woman he’d wanted anymore. I was something else.
A monster, just like Taurus.
He’d treated Taurus worse than an animal, now he was turning that same treatment on me.
I inhaled sharply, then pushed the palms of my suddenly damp hands down the denim legs of my jeans. Didn’t he realize—he was the monster, not me. He mightn’t physically be one, but inside he was everything he imagined me to be and more.
“My sister was right when she said you’re not who I think you are.” He shook his head, one side of his lips curling with distaste. “But she was wrong about you breaking my heart. No woman will ever be given that opportunity.”
I blinked. Despite his animosity, his derision, I saw through his facade to the hurt beneath. Though he’d cared about me, his deep-rooted intolerance now blinded him to everything but what would benefit him.
I took a step back. “Get away from me,” I whispered.
He took a step closer, his face flickering as he calculated and planned. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Bella.” He swept a hand out. “This—you—I can’t let you go now.”
My throat compressed, my breathing erratic. But at least I found my voice, even if it was raw and shook with betrayal and rage. “I’m leaving. I should never have stayed.”
“No.” His voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it. He moved between me and the bedroom door. “You might have escaped from Adam, but you’re not leaving me. Not until I decide what I want to do with you.”
The casual way he said it, like I was a possession to be used at his convenience, made my stomach turn. This was the same man who’d whispered the sweetest words on the balcony, who’d made me believe I mattered to him.
“You can’t keep me here,” I said, but even as the words left my mouth, I realized how trapped I was. Thirty floors up, too intoxicated to take to the air, with nowhere to go and no one who would help me.
His smile was icy, nothing like the warmth he’d shown me earlier. “Can’t I? Who’s going to stop me? You’re not exactly in a position to call anyone for help.”
The fighter I’d seen in the ring was back, ruthless and dominating, stamping out whatever feelings he’d had for me. All he cared about now was what he could gain now that his blinkers had come off.
I glowered, my senses flooding with adrenaline, evaporating every bit of alcohol in my system and leaving my nerve endings vibrating. Suddenly I was clear-minded and resolute. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He laughed. “Oh, please. Did you forget what I did to your friend, Taurus? He’s twice as tough and a hundred times meaner than you.”
“Actually, I didn’t know Taurus even existed until I saw him in the ring. But yes, I’d count him as a friend now. I’d also say with one hundred percent certainty, he isn’t half as tough or as mean as me.”
Taurus had been backed into a corner, his gentle nature stripped away from him thanks to being forced into the fight ring with Reuben. He’d fought defensively, desperately. But I wouldn't make that mistake. When cornered, I didn’t just fight back, I eliminated threats. Permanently.
I unfurled my wings once again, exposing my upper body along with my true nature as I allowed my eyes to reveal the extent of my wrath. “Did you forget what happened to your men...the ones who disappeared? Six of them, gone, thanks to me.”
His face paled before a muscle in his jaw flickered into life, hard and inflexible. He took another step toward me even as I opened my mouth and released a high-pitched scream his human ears couldn’t possibly hear.
The lights blew out one after the other, shadows sweeping through the penthouse until there was nothing but blackness broken only by the city lights outside the windows.
The frequency caught Reuben, picking him up and hurling him through the doorway and up against the kitchen island, the stools crashing to the floor.
I followed him, stalking out of the bedroom, but I wasn’t heading toward the kitchen.
My stare was fixated on the glass windows and door leading to the balcony.
A smile crossed my face. I was in the mood to destroy things.
The glass wasn’t bulletproof, it would shatter as easily as the overhead lights. Then I’d finally be free.
If only I wasn’t so consumed by the moment.
I didn’t realize Reuben had recovered. Didn’t hear him closing the distance between us. I wasn’t aware of his callused hand until he slammed it across my mouth, forcing my scream to stay all on the inside as he pulled me tight against his hard body, his arousal jutting against me.
I stiffened. So he wasn’t immune to me after all. If anything he was turned on by my display of power, probably imagining a thousand different scenarios where he could use it—use me—to his advantage.
The thought terrified me. I’d lived in a facility most of my life, then in a gilded suite of rooms for twelve months at Adam’s. My freedom had been taken away from me from the moment of my birth, and I’d die before I’d yield to yet another human, another man.
My wings swept up high, one then streaking down, its clawed tip extended. The sharp appendage sliced through Reuben’s cheek, his warm blood spraying and his rough breath brushing the top of my head seconds before he swung out his arm, backhanding me and sending me flying.
My wings flailed out, preventing me from hitting the floor hard. But they didn’t stop my ears from ringing, or the blood leaking from one nostril. One of my eyes was already swelling shut when I sat up and touched my face. My voice cracked. “You hit me.”
He stalked toward me. “And you cut me up. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you left me with no choice. It was self-defense, fighter’s reflex.”
I glared. Adam hadn’t retaliated when I’d hurt him with my wingtip. He’d stayed calm, in control, seemingly understanding my panicked self-defense.
Reuben bent to grab me and pull me up. My breath hissed as I leaned away from him then kicked out, my booted foot connecting to his groin with a satisfying thud.
He grunted and clasped himself as he fell to his knees, his face going white and his stare bright with pain.
He might be a fighter but I’d taken him by complete surprise. He probably thought a woman, even one who wasn’t all human, wouldn’t dare fight back.
I tossed back the loosened strands of my hair. “Sorry, self-defense. You can call it I don’t want to be in yet another prison reflex.” I stood carefully, my entire face throbbing. “If this is how you treat a lady it’s no wonder you’re still single.”
“Bitch.” It was as if that one word cost him everything to say, before he added starkly, “You’re going to pay for that.”
I managed a laugh. “Join the queue, asshole.”
I pushed to my feet, then turned around and took a step toward the balcony. I wouldn’t waste my energy breaking the glass with my echolocation. Now that Reuben was incapacitated I’d shove open the door and walk directly through it, then glide away to my freedom.
I sighed. As much as I was happy to still wear jeans and boots, I should probably retrieve my bra and Adam’s shirt. Not only because his shirt would cover me, but because it was the one thing of his I still had. I kept walking. Nothing would deter me this time from my freedom.
Bang.