Page 70 of Bitten & Burned
“What’s… going on, Quil?”
He blinked, caught off guard. Good. Felt nice to get the drop on him for once.
“What?” he asked, stalled. “What?”
“At the bonding ceremony. What you said. You called me a disease. An infection. An infestation.”
I let the words hang between us like smoke. Acidic. Undeniable.
His body went still, shoulders locked.
“I was angry.”
“No. You were angry, sure—but you meant it. You always mean what you say. You don’t waste words. You don’t use enough of them to throw away.”
His jaw clenched. “You’re not going to let me off the hook, are you?”
“You gave me that rabbit,” I said, reaching into my pocket, voice tight. “You named it. You gave me Pip. Why would you give Pip to someone who was a disease?”
“I just meant…” he ground out. “You get inside me. You dig in and stay. You’re in my thoughts constantly, and I can’t get you out. That’s dangerous. Like an infection that spreads until it eats you alive.”
“Why is it dangerous?”
His voice broke on the answer.
“Because it’s me, Rowena. I’m not Anton. I’m not Vael. I’mnot even Dmitri. I’m the fucking thing that lives in the cracks. If someone like me starts thinking about someone like you…” He swallowed. “You don’t want that.”
“You sure?”
He stared.
“You’re on my mind, Rowena,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “And if you’re on my mind… I’m hunting you.”
I stepped forward, heart hammering.
“Are you?”
“Of course I am.”
His voice dipped lower. Rougher.
“You’re the sweetest prey I’ve ever stalked.”
“So what… Pip was bait?” I asked. “And I took it?”
“No…” Quil’s voice was rough. Frayed.
He swallowed hard, like the truth cost him.
“Pip was… Pipis…”
His jaw clenched. His breath came out in short bursts.
“I’m not soft, Rowena. I never will be. And you?—”
He looked at me like I was sunlight.
“You need soft. Someone who will cherish you. Not…”
