Page 21 of Silverproof Damsel

“Let’s just say you were much easier to fuck than your mother ever was. You? You, I could’ve had the moment I met you. It’s sad and pathetic how easily you gave me that pretty pussy.” My hand moved before I realized it, cracking hard and loudly against his cheek.

“Fuck you! I thought youcaredabout me. My only mistake was in thinking you were different from other men. Silly me, I mistook you for a gentleman. My mistake. I won’t make it twice.”

His head tilted a little as I shivered from the cold. Stepping back, I rubbed my hands over my uncovered arms as he watched me silently. For a second, I thought I’d caught a flash of regret in his eyes, but the cold laughter he released proved I’d been wrong.

“You and I are done. Understand me? I don’t need or want you in my life anymore.” Something cold and foreign slid in place over his face. The deadened look he directed at me sent fear slicing through me, cutting deep.

“You’re havingmychild.” The tone of his voice was sharp, cutting me to the quick. “It’s a child highly prized within the immortal world. The blood of two ancient races runs through his veins. Yours and mine, making him very powerful indeed. You are part phoenix, but still mortal. That makes you an easy fucking target, even if you’re not the one they’re seeking. Old enemies are coming to the fore because a child who can create and wield weapons to kill immortals is about to be born. Akingmaker, Love. Unlike this world has ever known grows insideof you.” He moved faster than I could follow, causing a shock of air to expel from my parted lips.

Rhys’ hands clamped around my chin as he brought my nose to his. “I may be an asshole, but I can live with that. What can’t I live with, Remi? Someone taking our child to use against our people. Do you want them to use our child like a weapon to harm them? That is why they’re after you. It’s what they intend to do with our baby. I’ll never allow anyone to enslave our baby. Do you understand me?” Rhys’ words caused my pulse to spike with the vision they painted.

“I’ll be your fucking villain if that’s what’s needed to protect our child. You may not want me in your life, but you fuckingneedme. I won’t stand aside and allow you to be taken, then murdered, and discarded like trash. That’s what they’d do to you the moment you gave birth.” Rhys’ palm pressed against my cheek, where tears streamed unchecked down my face.

“We don’t have to like one another, but we do have to ensure our child’s safety. After all, it’sourfucking job to ensure nothing happens until it is old enough to protect itself from the brutality of this world,” he growled with determination simmering within the bottomless depths of his stare.

“Tell me you aren’t stupid enough to think your family ispowerfulenough to fight off knights who’ve spent thousands of years preparing for this fight. Knights, whose sole purpose was to wait for a child created from a union of our bloodlines to exist, to strike hard and fast before vanishing into the shadows again. They’ve had centuries to prepare and plan. I’ve had almost as long to prepare, maybe even longer. How long have you and your siblings had to strategize how to protect our child, Love? Don’t be stupid. Don’t play games with our child’s life. You’re not fucking stupid. Naïve, sure. Butnotstupid. Come with me and let me protect you. Let me protect both of you before it’s too late.”

“Now you want to admit it’s our child. Now you want to be protective of it?” I waited for him to reply, but he examined my face before grumbling. “Fine, then at least tell me who the hell theyare, Rhys?” I demanded, but he shook his head with a look of disappointment pinching over his face. He let his hands fall from me, then stepped back as his features became devoid of emotion. “Why won’t you just tell me who is after our child?”

“Telling you who they are won’t help you. I’m offering you the protection of me, my people, and my knights. Hell, I’m offering you the backing of every fucking house that will willingly stand between you and the assholes intending to end your life and you still won’t listen to reason. If you refuse my protection, then I’ll choose for you.”

“You don’t get to make any decisions for me anymore. I can protect myself. I’ve been doing it for years on my own without needing you or anyone else to save me. I’ve managed to stay alive without you for three months, almost four.” It chaffed my ass that I even felt the need to explain myself to him.

I’d been saving myself from handsy assholes and fending off immortals in Seattle on my own for years! Back then, I didn’t have half the magical capabilities that I have now.

“Like you handled it last night? If I hadn’t been there, you’d be in a cell right now. They’d hold you until your child’s life was viable outside of the womb. The moment it was, you’d become irrelevant to them, Remington.” The message he was conveying was almost believable.Almost.

“You expect me to believe that? You’re telling me they’ve just been waiting for centuries for a union of our bloodlines to create a life together? Tell me, Rhys, what have they been doing in their spare time? Crocheting baby blankets? Or building cribs?” I was done being played by him, or anyone else, for that matter.

Did I think someone was hunting me? Absofuckinglutely.

Were they knights?Yes.

But I’d heard them when they hadn’t known I’d been listening. One of the Van Helsings sent them to my house. As far as I knew, it was the one person currently trying to convince me of other beings after me? He was the only person who wanted me gone.

“I doubt they’d care for his comfort. He’d merely be a tool they unleashed on their enemies, both old and new.” His blasé tone had my eyebrow hiking up on my forehead.

“You’re exhausting,” I muttered, with pain beginning in my temples.

His snort forced my anger to rise like a campfire being stoked back to life. “If it were just your life at stake, I’d let you play your stupid games. That isn’t the case, though. Our child’s life is on the line here.”

“My child, Rhys Van Helsing. If you recall, you didn’t want me or the life we created together.” With my arms folded across my chest, I glared as he approached, putting a hand to my throat. His thumb pushed my chin up as he bowed his head, glaring into my wide, panic-stricken stare. Tears rolled down my cheeks, issuing a growl from his lips.

Rhys drew air into his lungs slowly, as if fighting against emotion. Silently, he kissed away the tears as if he craved the taste of salt they offered him. Maybe even the pain they were created from.

Face softening, he released a heavy breath. “I am not perfect, Love. No matter what was said in anger, you carry my child,” he whispered as he lowered his lips, dragging them against mine purposefully.

My tongue darted out to wet my lips. I fought to remember what we’d been arguing about with him this close to me. “Rhys,” I moaned out with bated breath. His name escaped like a fevered plea, desperate and needy.

“Not yours. Not mine.Ours.That child you carry is a piece of both of us. The one we created together by choice, knowing itmight fucking happen on Beltane.” His feverish lips drifted over my jawline toward my ear, causing goosebumps to spread over my flesh. “I don’t give a fuck what I said in a moment of fury. I claim you and our unborn child right fucking here, right fucking now.” Hope flared within my chest. I needed to hear him say he wanted us. Not that claiming us on a whim would change anything.

“Why?” The single word left my lips no louder than a whisper. Rhys’ nose brushed against my cheek as his lips reached my ear. “Why claim us now?”

“Because it’s my right to do so, Remington. I claim both my silver and my unborn child. If you won’t concede and allow me to protect you both, then you leave me no other choice but to make you do the right thing here. I warned you not to make me your enemy, sweet girl.”

“You think you can reach me? I think you’re severely underestimating us, Van Helsing.” The mere thought of him trying to get past our defenses was cute. If I knew Winchester, and I did, she’d have this place locked down like Fort Knox.

Rhys’ fiery mouth drifted down my throat, trailing to the exposed curve of my shoulder leisurely. His tongue snaked out, then drew something over the hollow space of my collarbone.

---