Page 68 of The Stone Secret
He slumped forward, his huge frame eclipsing mine, then slowly, carefully, he extricated himself from me.
Someone dropped a shirt over my head because my clothes were torn to shreds, and I was practically naked.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Willowman said to Serath. “It was the only way to make you stop.”
My arms were covered in welts that were slowly healing. Marks from his talons. My skin hadn’t turned to stone because my beast didn’t see him as a threat.
He was my mate, but he’d been with someone else.
I blinked back the heat that gathered behind my eyes.
“If you were going to fuck him, you should have showered after,” Serath said coldly.
What the… “I didn’tfuckanyone.” I looked to Prasan. “Didn’t you tell him?”
Prasan cursed. “I forgot.”
Serath growled at him. “Forgot what?”
“Cameron slept in Curi’s shirt to get his scent on her to convince Levi that they’re a true couple.” Prasan shook his head, clearly mortified. “Cam asked me to warn you.”
Serath’s shoulders slumped. “You didn’t…didn’t have sex with him?”
“No. I didn’t.” I stood tall and lifted my chin. “But who didyoufuck?”
My heart sank at the shadow of guilt in his eyes. I’d hoped I was wrong, that maybe my beast had misinterpreted the scent, but no.
He’d been with someone else.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I have to go get changed. My friends will be waiting. I’ll have supper at the dorms tonight.”
I had to get away from him, away from the scent of the other female that clung to him, away from this feeling of betrayal that was totally unjustified because he wasn’t mine. Could never be mine. And yet…Yet he lived in every fiber of my being, and that…that fucking hurt.
SERATH
“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Willowman asks. “Why didn’t you tell her you only kissed Jana so that she wouldn’t suspect you had someone else and start digging?”
I’d been so close to telling Cameron. To defending myself but… “It’s better this way.”
“You think this will keep her away from you?” Orix asks.
“If she’s hurt…If she hates me, she’ll steer clear.”
“And fall into someone else’s arms?” Prasan says.
I bite back a snarl and force my beast down. “Whatever it takes to keep her safe. To keep her alive. Jana was a blessing in disguise. This works. This can work.”
“Cameron won’t take a lover,” Selas says. “Not yet, maybe not for a very long time. All you’ve done is hurt her.”
“Hurt is better than dead.”
“Oh, Serath…” Selas says softly. “And what happens when shedoestake a lover? How will you control yourself then?”
“When that happens, I’ll make sure I’m long gone. Once we have Romi back, I’ll step down as elite and get reposted.”
Stunned silence greets my declaration.
I can’t believe I’ve voiced the plan that’s been flitting around in my head ever since my interlude with Cameron in the observatory.
