Page 68 of Heartsong
Gone was the sweet, hunky househusband routine—instead, Anna stared at an angry medieval warrior. His wings arched high above him and nose wrinkled like Captain’s when he hissed. That tail whipped against the rug, and his fangs flashed with every angry demand.
“I mean—we don’t know for sure. And it’s probably the police staking out the apartment. Itold you,they’re watching me! They’re suspicious. I have to go to work and be normal!”
“No! Enough! We have done it your way and you are in more danger.”
“But it’s okay that you go climbing over the building? Or go out flying? How is that not putting yourself at risk?”
Another snarl peeled his lip back from his fangs. “I need out of this dwelling sometimes. Of all people, I thought you could understand that.”
Oh, so he can fight dirty. Fine.
“Ido,but don’t you think it’s fucking hypocritical?”
“You aren’t safe!” He stabbed a claw at the windows. “You go straight into danger at the museum! And now even your walking isn’t safe!”
“And you think you’re safe going out there? It’ll take one camera, Frey.One.Then you’ll be all over the news and everyone is going to be at that door trying to drag you into a lab somewhere. So don’t stand there and tell me I’m taking unnecessary risks by going to work!”
“You’re my mate!” He took two big steps toward her and Anna took two big steps back, making him halt. He snarled again. “I have to protect you, and I can’t do that from here. When you leave.”
“That’s not my fucking problem, Frey. You need out of here sometimes? I get it. But I need this job. I won’t let you keep me inside out of your fear. I’ve spent enough of my life sidelined. I won’t let you do it to me, too.”
A piercing hiss grated against her ears.
“I am not trying to sideline you. I’m trying to protect you!”
“Fromwhat?”
“From everything!” He came for her again, quicker this time, quicker than she could react to. He didn’t reach for her, instead loomed over her, his energy frenetic and his face a tempest. “I am your mate. It’s my duty to protect you. This world is dangerous, everything can be taken away in a moment. I’m finished allowing you to say it is otherwise.”
Anna’s jaw cracked with how hard she ground her teeth. “You don’tallowanything. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Clearly. You listen to nothing I say.” And to her horror, a flash of desolation crossed his face. He turned it from her, giving only his profile, those arching horns casting long shadows across his eyes. “You refuse my protection. You keep secrets from me. You will not hear of being mates. You will not even try.”
All the fire in her, all the anger and indignation, snuffed faster than a candle in a gale. The chill it left behind had her shivering, and Anna wrapped her arms around herself to keep from coming apart.
The trembling grew worse with each passing second, but she managed to croak, “Frey—”
But his claws swiped the air and he turned away from her.
“I’m done speaking, Anna. There’s nothing left to say.”
That’s not true.There was so much to say. But Anna took his out anyway, as much as his dismissal stung, because everything that was left to say was far more terrifying than an angry gargoyle.
She fled into her bedroom, tears blinding her as she burrowed under the covers.
A questioning meow echoed from under her bed, and Captain jumped up to curl into her arms. He didn’t usually sleep with her, and must’ve run into her room after being scared by Frey. Anna wished she could crawl under the bed and hide in the darkness, too. Maybe there, her terror would be less terrifying, her sadness less sharp.
Frey had scared her in every way possible tonight, shaken her to the core that she thought was stronger than this. Afraid of him and everything he meant, Anna knew they’d arrived at the point she dreaded. They were too different. He asked too much.
She couldn’t be what he needed, and the sooner the both of them accepted it, the better.
The horrors of the night replayed in Frey’s mind through the darkest hours. His anger over it all had cooled, forming a cold ingot of outrage in his chest. The anger still simmered, put a tremble in his fingertips every time he looked outside and saw that infernal vehicle parked there. But as the apartment went quiet with the lengthening night, Frey’s plan formed.
I’m done speaking.That’s what he’d told her. Because he was done using words to try convincing Anna.
He had asked her. He hadbeggedher. Still she left him, day after day, walking straight into danger. Frey was done asking.
But he was notdone.
