Page 13 of Savage Torment

I look at the extension with a frown but take his hand, shaking firmly before I swiftly tuck my hands back into my pockets.

“When will I be able to see S?” Ben asks, scrubbing at the back of his neck nervously, and my gaze immediately drops to the floor.

Polaris rises to her feet instinctively, squeezing Ben’s arm in comfort before she speaks. “I”m sure we’ll be able to sort something out, she’s?—“

“Been feeding on you,” I interject, completing her sentence with words I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for.

The pair of them gape at me in confusion.

“What?” Polaris mutters, brows gathering when I don't immediately continue, and I sigh, cracking my neck from side to side as I settle my stare on Ben.

“She chose you for her source, that’s why you were down there to begin with.”

Polaris gapes at me before peering up at Ben. I see the despair and disappointment flickering across his face, but I push on. “I interjected when Terence tried to choose Polaris, but I didn’t realize your importance to her at the time,” I add, using all of my effort to remain unfazed by the fact even though it tears me up inside just thinking about her down there.

“Terence did what?” she breathes, her eyes filling with unshed tears as terror burns through her.

I shrug. “It’s not going to happen now so there’s no need to worry,” I state, but she’s too stunned to express any of the panic expanding beneath the surface.

Instead, Ben clears his throat, cutting the thick tension slightly as he looks at me. “Who is your source?”

I scoff. “That’s personal.”

“So is your proximity in my life it seems, but I’m having to deal with it,” Polaris retorts, and my gaze snaps to her.

My nostrils flare as my lips purse, but I still reply, even if through clenched teeth. “I refuse to feed off any single person but my bound.”

“Who’s that?” Ben asks, and I wave him off, cutting the tension threatening to burn the room down.

“I have a feeling, but I’ve yet to find out for sure,” I answer, my voice barely more than a whisper in the wind. Truth claws at my throat, and I can practically hear the curiosity cogs turning in Polaris’s mind.

“What does that mean?” she asks, and I shut down. I feel the flicker ripple through my body. I can’t talk about this with her. Not without risking it actually fucking happening.

“We’re leaving,” I declare, turning my full attention to Ben. “You know the rules. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back with food tonight.”

Ben nods as I wave Polaris toward the exit, and she moves without thinking, rubbing her lips together nervously as she takes my direction.

I like it.

My dick does too.

And there goes my thundering heart.

The second the door is shut behind me and we’re alone in the hallway, I grab her arm and charge down the stairs with the same purpose I had in my strides when we arrived. I don't stop until we’re out of the building, down the path covered with red leaves and back onto neutral grounds.

We fall into step, my mind swirling from the whirlwind that is being in her presence, but the same thought repeats over and over again.

Take her. Take her. Take her.

Then she opens her mouth, pulling me from my thoughts, while plunging me into a state of despair.

“What do you mean your bound?”

I should keep my mouth shut. I should compel her right here and now and disappear, but it seems my damn soul has other ideas. “My bound, my beloved… I forget you know nothing, Florentine,” I grunt, shaking my head, and I know I’ve hit a nerve.

I need to do something, I need the distance, but the way she folds her arms over her chest cuts me too. The invisible distance she’s trying to place between us… I can’t stand it.

“Nevermind.” She looks away, picking up her pace as we near the end of the path that runs alongside the dorms, but I stop her in her tracks beside the familiar sandy walkway that leads to the witches’ dorms.

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