Page 30 of Savage Torment

“They are.”

It’s her turn to roll her eyes, flipping her cell phone over as it pings again. “Well, they need to givemespace because of you too,” she insists, and I cringe, finally understanding what she means.

“Sorry about that. Is everything okay?”

She shakes her head vigorously as Bryony tidies up the remnants of our food before either of us can spring into action to help.

“Don't be sorry. Everyone is worried. If anything, I’m secretly shocked they actually let me leave with you,” she states. I can't hide the smile that creeps across my face.

“Honestly, I’m shocked they waited.”

“Shocked? I’m surprised they even left your room. But there really wasn’t a choice in the matter. Not unless you wanted them to burn the place down and face Whitmore too,” she says as Bryony takes a seat on the bed, leaving me reeling from her words.

I knew a lot must have happened while I was out of it; waking up to Blaze at my side was just as shocking to me as it was to them. The realization that they chose to keep the distress to a minimum leaves a strange sensation in my heart.

Bryony clears her throat, cocking her brow at me, and I sense the question lingering on the tip of her tongue before she even speaks. “So… Blaze…”

“No,” I groan, hiding my face in my hands, but all it does is bring the cuffs of the vampire’s jacket to my nose, and I take a deep inhale of his musky scent.

Dammit.

“I thought I was going to live in denial a little longer,” I say with a chuckle, and she smiles in amusement.

“No, we were just letting you eat,” Minnie adds, and I get the feeling they won’t drop the whole thing until I offer them something. But what? I don’t know how to process any ofit myself; expressing it to someone, or more someones, who aren’t remotely involved enough to understand the emotions swarming in my gut feels impossible.

Letting my mind drift, I reflect on every interaction I’ve had with the vampire in question, and I find myself drowning in my thoughts. If I believed anyone else was so hot and cold, I was truly mistaken. To the world, when I’m near, he’s openly an ass, without hesitation. Behind closed doors, where even I’m not allowed to remember, he’s… softer, kinder, nicer?

It’s perplexing how parallel the two versions of him are. It raises questions to the point of truly wondering if it’s the same person at all. Yet, that fire in his eyes exists in only one place. You couldn’t replicate that kind of burn twice.

None of it makes sense. He calls me Amica Mea, but I don’t even know what it means. He isolates me from my friends, my… wolves, under the pretense of insisting I heal, but the moment I resist, he gives in, offering a video call with Minnie. He raises a fuss, creating as much distance between the wolves and me as he can, but the second another issue arises, he willingly leaves me in their care. Why?

Damn if I know.

The idea of him even agreeing to offer an explanation is laughable, not plausible.

“Polaris?” Bryony murmurs, tearing me from my thoughts, and I sigh.

“He’s… a lot.”

It’s all I can manage.

Explaining means starting from the beginning, and I still haven’t fully gone through the memories he restored to understand exactly where that is. I want to be mad at him—and deep down I am—but then I think of B and what he’s doing for him because of me. Even worse, there’s a part of me that worries about what forced him to leave.

I didn’t want him to stay.

I don’t want to be near him, but… there’s a sense of safety there I hadn’t realized before.

Fuck.

Shaking my head, I try to focus on my friends, only to find them grinning at me.

“What?”

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to be into anyone else as unhinged as my brother,” Minnie states, and Bryony snickers.

“It seems she has a type,” she adds, and I roll my eyes, but there’s a curl to my lips too.

“Thanks, girls,” I say with a sigh, and Minnie waves her hand.

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