Page 69 of Cruel Destinies

“Just let me get this out,” I pleaded. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.” I held my hands up in surrender and took two more tentative steps toward her.

Her face softened. “You have no right to try to control my life.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Like you said, you’re not my property, and I never meant to treat you like you were. It just scares me how much I care about you, and that causesmeto act stupid and reckless.”

Her face softened more, and she unfolded her arms. “That’s the most honest and real thing you’ve ever said to me. But I’mtired of this game, Tobias. You either want to be with me or you don’t.”

“Yes!” I blurted, surprising both myself and her.

“What?” she asked, a look of pure confusion on her face.

I let out a heavy breath, sagging my shoulders and taking a step closer. “I’m just as tired of this game as you are. I’m tired of trying to fight this thing between us, and I just can’t do it anymore.”

She stared at me with wide, unblinking eyes that sliced right to the center of me, cracking every defensive wall I’d ever put up.

And then, without a second thought, more words flew from my mouth, words I never expected to say. “I want to be with you. Will you be my girlfriend?”

Chapter 22

Arya

For several painfully long seconds, I couldn’t respond.

Tobias had never looked more vulnerable or sincere the entire time I’d known him than he did right now, looking at me with pleading, puppy-dog eyes. The silence seemed to be physically hurting him, but I couldn’t make my lips open.

I wanted to say yes. Every part of my heart, body, and soul wanted this damaged but beautiful man. But there would absolutely need to be some rules. He couldn’t keep dominating me—except for in the bedroom—and then flying off the handle when I did something I didn’t like. That would need to end once and for all.

“Ah, Arya, just the girl I was looking for.”

Caesar’s deep voice broke the staring contest Tobias and I had been unwittingly playing, and we both turned to him. The expression on the director’s face was more grim than usual, and it instantly caused my anxiety to spike.

Did vampires attack again? Is someone else hurt?

“What is it?” I asked, torn between not wanting to leave Tobias hanging and worried about the reason for Caesar’s sallow face.

“The military has taken a...special interest in you,” he said, his jaw clenched as he spoke. “General Dracul is here and expects to see a demonstration of your skills this evening.”

The words themselves didn’t sound too upsetting, but by the tone of Caesar’s voice, it felt like he was delivering a death sentence.

“Wait, wh—what?” I stammered.

I looked from Caesar to Tobias, whose facial muscles were now very tense. General Dracul was Tobias’s father. Did he know about this?

“We’ll continue this later?” Tobias asked with a hopeful lilt in his voice. Then he spun around and disappeared down the hall, his absence leaving me feeling oddly cold and vulnerable.

I watched him walk away, hating that this unfinished conversation hung between us, then turned back to Caesar. “Why does the military want to see my so-called skills?”

“Because General Dracul knows about the prophecy, and to him, you are the key to winning the war he’s been fighting his whole life.”

“But...is it too much for them to give me a little warning? Or some time to practice more? I’m completely unprepared for this.” My voice had reached a high pitch and now echoed through the hall.

Caesar put his hands up in a calming gesture, and I took a long, steadying breath.

“I know,” he said, his voice much softer than before. “I’ve tried to hold him off, tried to make him understand that you’re a student, and one who’s still learning. If he had his way, you’d be at his base training night and day. My hope is that if we show him your progress, that will be enough to keep his claws out of your life, at least for the time being.”

My chest rose and fell in quick repetition. I hadn’t even been aware that the military knew about the prophecy or that I was the siren of which it foretold. Now, come to find out, the general had a keen interest in me. I’d heard enough rumors about Tobias’s father. Hell, I’d watched him on the Real Shifter Housewives! Cold, heartless, brilliant in strategy. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to ever meet the man, let alone be his personal soldier.

“You’ll do just fine,” Caesar said, all traces of his earlier tension gone. “He’ll want to see you demonstrate your water and light manipulation, as well as your siren voice. But I don’t want you to stress about it. Just think of it as a talent show with a very small audience. Take the rest of the afternoon to practice, and arrive at the gym at six o’clock before your session with Maya.”

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