Page 48 of Captive Mate
“No, seriously,” I yelled over him, “it’s not that Iwon’t. Ican’t. I already removed the spell the night I escaped from here. It’s gone. Has been for days.”
Matthew stared at me. “No, the fuck you did.”
“Yes, I did!” What waswithno one believing me about this? Fuck! “I removed the spell,” I said slowly, enunciating each syllable with exaggerated care. “It’s fucking gone. I can’t remove it any more than it’s already been removed.”
The crimson in his cheeks faded to an ashy white. “You didn’t. I don’t feel any— You’re lying,” he stammered out, his voice hoarse.
My vision went sizzling red.Lying?After everything that had happened the night before, he couldn’t believe one fucking word out of my mouth?
“Have Nate examine you if you won’t take my word for it,” I snapped. “He’ll be able to see it’s gone. He was able to see it when it was there, right? And anyway, I’d think the fact that you don’t feel sick when you’re not around me, and I don’t know, maybe the fact thatyou’re not fucking in love with mewould be a pretty big tip-off?”
“Yeah,” he said softly after a second. “Yeah, I guess it would.”
“Right! So stop being an asshole about it. I was nice enough to take that spell off before I left, even though I was still a prisoner and it would’ve been totally reasonable of me to leave it just out of principle. But I didn’t want to be tied to you anymore.”
Matthew sucked in a breath hard, like I’d punched him in the solar plexus, and what little color was left in his face drained away. “Okay. I can’t blame you for that. Not after — not in general. And I believe you, for what it’s worth.” He swallowed, and he uncrossed his arms. His hands clenched at his sides. “Good luck, Arik.”
He turned abruptly on his heel and strode away down the path, back toward the pack house and out of sight.
I stared after him, eyes fixed on the empty air where he’d been.
No. Fuck no. He did not get to walk away like that, after having sex with me and killing Parker and carrying me to bed and growling at Colin, and holding me like that with his hand tangled in my hair and just being…Matthew.Good luck, Arik? Fuck him.
I sprinted after him, more angry than I’d ever been in my life.
No way was he getting away with that.
Chapter 17
Fuck Me, or I’ll Find Someone Who Will
“Hey!” I shouted. “Hey, come back here!”
Matthew was already way, way down the path, walking as fast as he could without outright running. What, he couldn’t wait to get away from me?Good luck, Arik, and then making his escape so he wouldn’t have to give me another thought?
I chased after him, my feet pounding on the path and sending up muddy spatters.
“Hey!” He finally turned, his face drawn and wary.
I slammed into his chest with my hands outstretched, palms flat. He rocked back on his heels but didn’t even stumble, which only pissed me off more.
“What the fuck, Matthew? What thefuck? You just wish me good luck, and that’sit?”
“What more do you want from me? Arik — what the — stop it —” I whacked away at him, pounding my fists on his chest and then swinging for his mouth. He ducked back, and my knuckles glanced off his jaw.
Quicker than I could match, he caught my wrists and held them out to the sides while I tried to kick him in the shins.
“I want you to stop being such —” I tried to kick him again, and he shoved me back. “— a fucking dick! I saved Nate’s life! I savedyourlife! Wehad sex, and all I get isgood luck, go live with Colin fucking Kimball?”
And then I got to see what Matthew looked like when his self-control finally evaporated — not from being insane, or enchanted, but justhim. His dilated eyes glowed gold as he roared, “We had sex, and then you fucking ran away! ToColin fucking Kimball, who apparently wants you to go live with him, so I’m trying to let you get what you seem to want, which is getting far away from me!”
I stopped, stunned, breathing hard, my wrists still trapped in his big hands. He was panting too. A flock of startled birds streamed out of the trees by the path and fluttered off, twittering in anger.
“You think I should’ve stayed? So that you and Ian and your council could decide how you wanted to keep me prisoner?”
Matthew swallowed hard, his eyes bleak. “No. I don’t. I think you did exactly what you had to do. I wish I’d given you a good reason to trust me, but I know I didn’t. That’s not your fault. I’m just saying — Arik, I’m not the one who’s trying to get away from you. It’s the other way around. You’re acting like I’m trying to get rid of you.”
“No,” I snapped, “you’re acting like I can’t leave fast enough and you don’t give a fuck what happens to me after I go. I don’thaveanywhere to go! Do you want me to — what, sign up to be the Kimball shaman and hop on Colin’s knot —”
