Page 82 of Cruel Destinies

“If I didn’t need time to recover, I’d just take you right now,” he purred, then gripped the side of my face with his free hand and crushed his lips against mine.

I opened my mouth, surrendering to the control of his lips and tongue.

Judging by the way his dick was pressing into my thigh, he wouldn’t need much time at all.

I pulled back. “Before we keep going, I wanted to ask you something.”

He lowered his hand from my face and began tracing it lightly up and down my arm that rested between us. “What?”

“Why did you ask me not to show your dad my siren voice?”

His brow furrowed, but he didn’t stop caressing me, and his touch sent goosebumps rising over the surface of my skin. “If he knew you had mastered that power—the most powerful weapon against Hadrian—he would have taken you from the school right then and there.”

He didn’t meet my gaze as he spoke, just looked down at his hand as it ran up and down my arm. His face was conflicted, wrought with so much emotion that I didn’t know how I felt about what he said.

“And you don’t want him to take me away?” I asked, trying to decipher the reason for his expression.

He nodded, then seemed to realize something and stopped. “It’s not just that.” He did meet my eyes then. “You don’t know my father. He’s a cold and brutal man. He only sees you as a weapon, a tool to wield against his enemies. If he has you under his control, he will twist and manipulate you into exactly what he wants. He will break you. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

I took a moment to process his words. He really was a complex man. He’d been beaten into a soldier by his father all his life, and he cared enough about me to want to protect me from the same fate. Hell, I wanted to protect myself from that, too.

“Thank you for looking out for me,” I said finally.

He lifted his hand to caress my cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “Don’t you remember? I vowed to keep you safe.”

I smiled, then tucked myself in against his chest.

I believed that he wanted to protect me. He’d already almost died trying. But the truth was that no one could save me from my own fate. It was already foreseen a long time ago. I just hoped we both lived through it when it finally came.

Chapter 27

Shea

I stood outside a dingy motel, wondering where I’d gone wrong.

I wassupposedto be meeting Julian. When he’d given me this address, I assumed he’d moved or something. But now? I glanced down the street, wondering if I’d transposed the numbers of the address.

I pressed forward anyway. He’d given me a room number, after all. No sense in looking for a better place if I didn’t at least verify that this wasn’t it. And if it was, why? Had he decided to take me up on my offer?

A rush of scintillating excitement shot through me, but I shoved it back. After what happened with Caesar yesterday night…how could I continue doing anything with Julian?

I’d barely lifted my hand to knock when the door swung open, and a cold hand yanked me inside.

I stood breathless in the dim light, waiting for my eyes to adjust and hoping I hadn’t been pulled into a room housing some psycho. But the hand had been cold. If it was some random psycho, there was a good chance it was a vampire, in which case I should already be dead. Right?

My eyes began to adjust, and to my relief, it was definitely Julian.

Still, I jumped and yelped when something rubbed up against my legs.

“Shea, calm down,” Julian said, though he sounded about as on edge as I felt.

“Why are all the lights off? And the curtains drawn? And why do you have a cat here?” I could just make out the outline of the cat, still weaving against my legs. “Is that Rainbow?”

He shrugged, flipping on the light for me. “Sorry, I didn’t want to be disturbed.”

I picked up the door hanger and waved it. “That’s whatthisis for.”

He grabbed the do-not-disturb hanger from me and briefly opened the door just a crack to slide the thing on. The cat gave an angry yowl, shooting him a warning look.

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