Chapter 19 #2
“Only when I have to run for hours to save a drunk and ungrateful girl, and then discover she’s marked with someone else’s scent—not just one person, but two, just for variety.”
Although his eyes seemed cold and controlled, there was something simmering around him.
As if the mask he wore sat over hot lava, and now the heat was starting to drip down the sides, bubbling with a bitter edge.
I looked at his furious face—it was so different from anything I’d known until now that I simply burst out laughing.
“Are you bothered that I had fun with other people?”
The shadows coiled and crackled around his body as a wicked aura of power licked my skin.
“Were you really having fun? Do you swear you actually enjoyed grinding on other people?”
Zion looked like he wanted to kill someone. If I were sober, I would have shut up immediately, but alcohol was running through my veins and common sense was nowhere to be found.
“It was pretty nice until the damn bond started going crazy.”
His face turned red. I was certain he wanted to strangle me.
I didn’t care.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my entire life.”
I lost my balance, staggering to the right. Apparently, I couldn’t stay on my feet without support. I thought of the bond and met Zion’s murderous expression.
“You were the one shaking it. That’s how you saw, isn’t it?”
“How was I supposed to ignore it? After you practically flooded the bond with desire for other people.”
I laughed again and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Are you jealous, General?”
Now he looked like he wanted to tear the house apart.
“How could you grind on other people? You have a partner. Did you even think about that?”
“I have a partner? Wow! Now I’m really shocked!
” I exclaimed, clapping a hand over my mouth for dramatic effect.
The alcohol hadn’t just stripped away my shame—it had taken my judgment too.
“I thought you made it perfectly clear I don’t have a partner.
But it didn’t matter anyway. You were never anything more than a stranger in my life.
And speaking of consideration, what right do you have to say that?
What consideration have you shown me all these years? ”
Now I was the one spitting fire.
“And what did you expect from me? A fairy tale? You already knew everything, Kyller. I never promised you romance—I promised you a safe life. But you like putting that at risk.”
“I never agreed to any of this, man! You never asked what I really wanted, how I felt. I don’t want a fairy tale! I want to be a normal girl!”
“You can’t be any of that if you’re dead! Tonight you almost died because of some damn party drowning in booze and depravity. Is that what you wanted?”
“Tonight I almost died because you made me leave the party and go out into the street alone!” I shouted back, jabbing a finger at his chest.
“How dare you kiss other people? How dare you test my self-control like that?” he said, stepping closer. I felt danger caressing my skin, almost as if it were something physical and hungry.
“How dare you forbid me from having a normal life?”
I faced him, chin tilted up. We were inches from touching, and the air grew heavy.
“Listen here, Kyller. Things don’t work like that for a...”
“No, you listen here!” I cut him off mid-sentence.
“Do you really think I’m going to spend my whole life huddled in this creepy huge house, all alone, waiting for you to come back someday and say this time you’re staying?
Zion, I waited five damn years, and this shit bond keeps insisting I’ll only be complete by your side.
I proposed a friendship—” I ranted, poking his chest angrily, “—so we could have some kind of interaction, some relief from the emptiness. But you don’t make it easy.
You come and go like I’m supposed to wait forever.
You lie, you hide things, you leave me in the dark, you leave me alone.
I don’t want this. I’m tired of you and all this silence. ”
I pushed him toward the door.
“Go away. I can’t stand another minute of this.”
I flattened my palms against the wall of his chest and pushed. He didn’t even budge.
“You said the house is mine, so now I’m claiming it. Go away and leave me alone. Wasn’t that what you always wanted? Distance?”
“I’m not leaving. Not while you’re this out of control. Not until you take a shower and wash that smell off your skin,” he said, not moving an inch. I kept pushing, but it was useless.
“Oh, you’re leaving all right. One way or another, Zion. And you’ll only set foot in this house when you actually decide to stay. And only if I want you to!”
He grabbed my hands, forcing me to stop. His hands were enormous around my wrists. We were so close I could see the green flecks in his blue eyes.
“If you don’t stop this insanity, I’ll throw you in the shower myself. I’ve never seen a fae stink this bad.”
My cheeks flushed, but I kept pushing and he still wouldn’t budge. I felt him inhale, scenting me, and his eyes grew darker.
“You wouldn’t dare,” I hissed through gritted teeth, throwing all my weight into it.
“I don’t bluff, Kyller,” he said, unyielding, as a crooked smile spread across his lips.
My blood boiled at that smile. Zion had no idea what war he was starting.
I quickly executed the move he’d taught me in our last class—twisting my wrist until I found a pressure point on his forearm, then squeezing hard to break free.
I threw myself backward and shoved him away.
By the time Zion realized what was happening, I was already at a safe distance.
I snapped my fingers twice and the barrier responded, turning blue, ready to obey my command.
He stared at the house, then his gaze shifted to me. His right eyebrow arched as he reached toward me, finally understanding what I was doing.
I didn't give him time to stop me:
“Zion Voluz is not welcome,” I said, configuring the barrier that only responded to my commands.
Immediately, the entire house around us turned red as the barrier recognized an intruder.
Zion's face filled with disbelief when the front door flew open and the barrier stretched toward him, covering him in a filamentous web of energy.
In a burst of power, it shoved him out with a violent jerk.
My eyes couldn't even track the red blur or the muffled thud that followed from outside.
He'd been thrown and now sat planted on his butt in the garden. He looked lost as his mind struggled to process what was happening.
I walked to the door.
“I can't believe you did that,” he shouted, furious.
A devilish smile spread across my lips. I'd never seen a man so stunned. It was wonderful.
“I hope you got the message,” I said, hearing footsteps behind me. It was Kiara, looking worried.
“You really think this barrier is going to stop me from getting in?”
He vanished and materialized at the barrier's edge. He placed his hands against it and stared hard at the blue shield. His shadows began climbing up it, as if they meant to devour it whole.
“If you do that, I swear. I swear by the gods, Zion, you'll be out of my life forever.”
The shadows hesitated, and I noticed he seemed torn.
We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity—me with my arms crossed over my chest, him with his hands outstretched against the barrier between us.
The shadows gazed at me pleadingly through the barrier.
I couldn't tell if they truly had feelings of their own or if they were just a reflection of his thoughts.
In that moment, as if it were the hardest thing in the world, he pulled his hands back from the barrier and stepped away. The shadows slid back with a reluctant, lingering slowness and returned to his shoulders. They looked sad.
“Come back when you're here to stay. Otherwise, you won't be welcome.”
I turned, an unbearable pain shooting through my abdomen. I grabbed the doorknob and slammed the door shut with a thunderous bang. Then I looked at Kiara.
“I know you can break this barrier. But if you do, you'll be expelled along with him.”
Her eyes went wide, as if surprised by my words.
Then she narrowed them and snorted. We understood each other.
I grabbed my purse from the living room floor and staggered up the stairs, almost breathless from the pain.
I'd never felt anything like this, and my healing wasn't working.
Kiara climbed beside me, her expression worried, hovering around me like she was drawn by a magnet.
I pulled off the filthy dress, tossing it in the trash, and sat on the step beside the bathtub. I pressed my lips together as the pain hit full force, crashing over me in waves. Kiara was crying and scratching at the floor.
While the bathtub filled, I dialed Ambrose's number and he answered on the fourth ring:
“Hello, Kay! I'm so happy you called, but weren't you supposed to still be enjoying a party?” Ambrose was already talking nonstop the moment he picked up.
“Hi, Am. So, some things went wrong and that's exactly why I'm calling,” I said, taking a deep breath as the pain ate me alive.
“What things? Oh no, don't tell me Zion went to the party and caught you with Breno?” Ambrose practically shouted through the phone.
“No, Am,” I sighed wearily. “I wish it were that simple.”
I couldn't control the next wave and let out a grunt as the pain made me see stars.
“Are you okay, Kay? What was that groan?”
“I called because I need a doctor. Before you remind me, I know I am one, but I couldn't diagnose anything with my scan and I can't figure out what's causing the pain.”
“What are you feeling?” he asked, slipping into the routine professional tone he used with patients.
“I'm feeling a lot of pain in my abdomen, lower belly area. I already did the scan, but there's no injury. I used my gift, but it only helps a little. I don't know what this is, Ambrose.”
The line went silent for a few seconds.
“Ambrose, are you there?” I asked, worried.