Page 75 of Blood So Brutal

She looked down at her hands, blushing.

Then she smiled.

She tried to hide it, tried to bite her lip and suck in her cheek, but it was undeniable. The grin spread across her entire face until it reached those perfect eyes of hers.

“It was incredible.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I never thought I would experience anything like that. I felt so… so free.”

Thank the goddess for the ale numbing my senses. “I remember those moments,” I admitted. “Flying can be the most freeing thing in the world.”

Her eyes finally met mine, smile fading. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, not when you…” She didn’t have to finish the sentence.

“Don’t,” I whispered. I turned in my stool and adjusted my legs so she was standing between my knees. To my surprise, she didn’t move away. “You don’t have to hide things from me. I want to know all of it.”

“Still,” she whispered. “It’s bad enough that you didn’t want Jessiah teaching me to begin with.”

She tried to look away again, but I stopped her. I reached out and pulled on a stray piece of her black, curled hair. It was windblown now, wild. I liked it like that.

I liked her like that.

“Wolf.” Her eyes twinkled. I liked it when they did that too. “Are you drunk?”

“Yes. And you are beautiful.”

She sucked in a breath. “There are people watching.” She went to turn around, to look at goddess knows who else, but I gripped her chin with my hand.

“You just spent an entire day in the arms of another man. Don’t look at anyone else.” My voice got too low, too possessive, but I didn’t care. “You only look at me.”

The fucking ale. It made me reckless. Or maybe it was her. She tended to do that, tended to make me forget about this fucking disaster of a city.

“Careful,” she teased, leaning in. Fuck, wasshedrunk? “You sound jealous.”

“I am jealous.” I snaked an arm around her waist and held her body against mine. “I am jealous of anyone who gets to spend a single ounce of time with you. It should be all mine.”

“What should?”

“All your time. It should all be with me. I can’t fucking think straight when you’re with someone else.”

“Is that why you’re here? Drunk at the pub?”

I scanned her face. Perfect. Sharp. Strong. “I’m here because I thought you would be going home, and I didn’t think you wanted to speak with me.” At least it was the truth.

The teasing smile disappeared.

“Am I wrong?” I pushed.

A handful of torturous seconds passed. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears. “No,” she answered. “No, you’re not wrong. I wasn’t sure I wanted to speak with you either.”

My stomach dropped. “I wanted to apologize to you?—”

“Don’t.” She placed a hand on my chest. “Don’t bother, okay? Enough apologies. Enough of all this.”

I pushed toward her bond but felt nothing. She had her walls up, the bond entirely shut off.

“You deserve an explanation.”

“No.” Her eyes sharpened when they met mine. “I deserve loyalty. I deserve to never be betrayed, to never be stabbed in the back.”

I fought the urge to pull her even closer.

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