Chapter 5
C uri had waited for me in the foyer. It was strange to see him hanging with my friends. We hurried outside, away from all the other goyles.
“Oh. My. God,” Ginia said. “An instructor? And he’s gorgeous.”
“If you swoon, I’ll slap you,” Palia said.
My heart rate slowed from its pounding pace of fight or flight. “I didn’t know he was an instructor.”
“Did he buy it?” Touron asked.
“He thinks I’m hiding something.”
“Dammit,” Sharniza said. She fixed a glare on Curi. “You need to play the part better.”
Curi gave her a filthy look. “What do you want me to do? Stick my tongue down her throat in front of him?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Shar said.
“No!” I stared at her in horror. “Hell no.”
Curi yawned and stretched. “You have no idea what you’re missing.” He stepped close and put his arm around my shoulder. I made to pull away on instinct, but he gripped me tight, leaning in to whisper, “He’s on the porch, watching us.”
Shit. I turned my head toward Curi so that our faces were inches apart and I could feel his warm breath on my lips. “Thanks, I—”
“Miss Basque!” The booming voice shot straight to my core.
I didn’t need to look to know who it belonged to, but I did anyway.
Serath bore down on us, his huge frame taut with tension, husky-like pale eyes stark and bright in his beautiful face, which was all angles of rage right now.
“Oh shit,” Touron said.
“We have training. Now,” he snapped.
Bullshit. Training wasn’t for a couple of hours, but the fire in his eyes warned me to put distance between Curi and me immediately. But Curi had other ideas.
“See you later, babe.” He pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss that turned my blood to ice, because he might well have sealed his own death warrant.
But there was no roar. No bellow of rage. Nothing.
And the reason stood beside Serath with her hand on his arm. Selas watched us with milky eyes, her lips tight as if she was in pain.
“Meet us in training room two, Miss Basque,” she said, her voice strained.
Serath’s jaw was tight. Was he grinding his teeth?
I took a step toward him, and Selas shook her head, the motion so slight that if I hadn’t been looking for it, I’d have missed it.
They turned and walked away.
“Your ex has gone,” Curi said, but his attention was on Serath and Selas’s retreating forms. “I need to hit the gym. When do you need me next?”
“I’ll let you know.”
He ambled off, and Sharniza let out a low whistle. “That was too close. You need to fill Serath in. Now.”
“How come your ex didn’t speak to Serath? They’re both Halles,” Palina asked.
“I doubt they know each other. Levi didn’t grow up around the goyles.”
“Still,” Touron said. “They’re family, and he must know who Serath is, even if Serath doesn’t know who he is.”
“I don’t know.” And right now, it didn’t matter. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
I had a raging gargoyle to placate.
* * *
So far, we’d only used training room one and the outdoor training fields but never room two.
My insides felt like jelly as I made my way down a flight of steps and pushed through the double doors that led into a room lined with workout equipment and mats.
The center of the room was clear of all equipment, though. Strange.
Serath stood on the far side of the room with his back to me. His shoulders bunched at my entrance, but he didn’t turn to face me.
Selas patted his back, whispering something to him. He growled low and menacing, and Selas stepped back, shaking her head.
“What were you thinking?” she said to me.
“Look, I was going to come see you and tell you—”
“Tell me what?” Serath said, his tone low and rumbling. “That you’ve taken up with the Mason boy? Is that how you intend to manage your urges?” His shoulders heaved. “By giving to him what is rightfully mine?”
“Serath!” Selas admonished. “Cam, you can’t have a lover. Not while you’re here. Not while he’s here.” She jerked her head toward Serath.
“Neither of us gets to fuck anyone else,” Serath growled. “Ever. You’re my fucking mate.”
The way he said it, the possessive ownership, made the beast simmering under my skin sit up and purr. But I wasn’t allowed to have this. Enjoy this. Him. Us. It was forbidden, and now he was standing with his back to me, ordering me to suffer. To eat up the pain and deal with it.
Rage bubbled up from the dark place inside me where all my pain and disappointment resided and spilled out of my mouth in a series of harsh words.
“So I’m not allowed to have a life? Date? Have sex?”
“Cam!” Selas stared at me in shock.
I didn’t mean it. I didn’t care about any of it, but I couldn’t stop. I was pissed. Eye-burning, pulse-thumping pissed. Pissed at how unfair this was. How much it hurt to be standing in the same room as him and not be able to claim him. Not be able to hold his hand like I’d held Curi’s.
It wasn’t his fault, but, “Fuck you, Serath. You don’t want me, so no one gets me. I have to be a fucking nun for the rest of my life? Is that it? Is that what you—”
He moved in a blur, grabbed me, and hauled me to his body, crashing his lips to mine and turning my angry, stiff frame into putty.
I melted against him, fingers sinking into his hair as I kissed him back with bruising intensity.
There was no need for oxygen, no need for thought, just the pressure of his teeth and the rasp of his tongue, and I was drowning in him.
“Serath, Serath, stop!” Selas’s voice penetrated the fog of desire and need clouding my mind.
The kiss softened and broke, but Serath didn’t let go. Instead he gripped my nape and locked gazes with me.
“Let’s get something straight, Cam. I want you.
I want you so fucking much it’s like fire ants beneath my skin.
But I can’t have you. Not without losing you.
Believe me, if this was just about my sanity, I’d happily give it up just to know…
” His throat bobbed. “To know what it’s like to be complete, even if it’s only for one night. ”
His visage blurred, and I blinked back tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said, I’m just…” I lightly touched his face. “This is just so hard.”
“I know.” He cupped my cheek. “I understand why you think having another male will make it easier, but I’ll kill him if he touches you like that again.” He said it calmly and matter-of-fact. I believed him, because if another female kissed him, I’d have to kill her too.
It was the nature of our beasts.
It was who we were.
“Curi isn’t my lover. I asked him to pretend.”
“What?” Selas said, reminding me she was in the room. “Why?”
“Because my ex followed me here.”
Serath’s eyes narrowed to slits, and his grip on me grew tighter. When he spoke, his tone promised pain. “He followed you?”
“I broke up with him before coming here. I told him I didn’t love him.”
He exhaled sharply. “But you did. You loved him.”
A dull ache bloomed in my chest at the bereft tone in his voice. Knowing my heart had belonged to another was causing him pain, and my instinct was to take that pain away. “I was falling for him. But now…” I dropped my forehead to Serath’s jaw and closed my eyes. “Now there’s only you.”
He wrapped his powerful arms around me in a hug that made me feel small and safe. “You believe showing him you’ve moved on will work?”
“Yes. It’ll prove I meant what I said before I left him, so I asked Curi to be my fake boyfriend.”
“Because you can’t tell him about Serath.” Selas nodded. “I understand. You want to keep him at a distance.” She frowned. “And Curi agreed to do this for you?”
“I guess my being a Basque helped with his decision.”
She pressed her lips in a thin line. “Hmmm.”
I sighed. “Look, I would have told Levi the truth. I was going to. I always trusted him, but…”
“But what?” Serath asked softly.
“He’s not a cadet, Serath. He’s the new instructor.”
“We have a new instructor?” Selas looked surprised.
“Yes.” I peered up at Serath. “And his father is Ulrickson Halle.”