Page 34 of War of Her Heart

I didn’t know if it was all the wine I had, but this was the first time I actually felt comfortable around Sebastian. I wanted to know more about his relationship with his sister and why he couldn’t stand to be around her, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting him and him turning back to the cold Sebastian I’d seen before.

“Oh, I love this song! Come dance with me!” Bronwen said as she ran back over to the table and grabbed me and Sebastian and pulled us to the dance floor.

The wine was in full effect as I felt the music run through my body. I danced with Bronwen, forgetting everything around me until a cool hand grabbed me and spun me around.

Every ounce of better judgment left my body when my eyes met his. There was such hunger and wanting looking down at me.

He wanted me, and I liked it.

I danced with him. Our bodies were closer than they had ever been, and they moved in rhythm with the music.

My heart was racing, and every part of my body was begging me to get closer to him as if the centimeter between us was too far apart. The hand he had wrapped around my waist felt too good, and I wanted to feel every part of him. And the crooked smile he gave me as he looked at me, like he could devour me—my gods, it warmed me deep in my belly. But as soon as I felt myself giving in, Calum popped into my mind. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do this to Calum. I needed air.

I pushed myself off of Sebastian, broke through the crowd of drunk, dancing fae, and went out the door.

As I stood there on the street trying to calm down, a pale-skinned, dark-haired fae walked out of the shadows.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” he asked as he looked at me, tracing the curves of my body with his eyes. I knew this wasn’t good. The look in his eyes told me I wasn’t safe, and every instinct in my body told me to get away from him.

I turned to go back inside but he grabbed me by the back of my head and pulled me away from the door. I started to scream but nothing came out. It was like he had taken away my voice. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make a sound.

He took me to the side of the building and slammed me against the wall. He bit my neck while he attempted to pull my pants down. I pushed him away, but it only made him madder.

He grabbed me by the throat, hitting my head against the wall again as he said, “Don’t try to stop me. It will only make it worse.”

Tears started to run down my face when all of a sudden something ripped him off of me and threw him against the stone wall of the building in front of me.

Sebastian walked over to him, and his shadows grabbed the fae and pinned him to the wall.

I stood there, frozen in place, as Sebastian looked at the fae and said, “She’s mine,” before plunging his hand in the fae’s chest and ripping his heart out. He turned around to look at me. His eyes were dark, and he was still holding the fae’s heart in his hand.

He killed someone right in front of me, and my mind was telling me to run before I was next. But I couldn’t.

Because deep down, I didn’t care what he had done.

He protected me. Hesavedme.

Even as he walked towards me, blood dripping from the once-beating heart in his hand, blood splattered across his face, and a sinister look in his . . .blackeyes, I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move.

He stopped as Bronwen and Adar came running into the small alley where we were standing.

“What the hell did you do, Sebastian?” Bronwen asked as she looked at the lifeless body on the ground.

“Take her home.” His words sliced through the air as I still stood there, unable to move my eyes from his.

The ride back to the castle with Bronwen was silent.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sebastian did. I knew he was capable of it as he’d done it so many times before, even tohis own father. But to see it firsthand . . . I’d never seen someone kill. And Sebastian didn’t hesitate.

The part that scared me the most was that in that moment, I wasn’t afraid of him. As he stood there with evil in his eyes and a bloody heart in his hand, I felt safe. Because he did it to protect me.

She’s mine.

Those words would forever be engraved in my mind.

15

Chapter 15

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