Page 7 of Sorcia's Heart
The room seemed to close in around her, the weight of his words pressing down.For all her confidence, Sorcia couldn’t deny the flicker of unease that passed through her.
Marcus leaned forward, his jaw tightening as his piercing blue gaze locked onto hers.The intensity in his eyes made her skin prickle, and she shifted slightly in her chair, suddenly feeling exposed.
“Sorcia,” he began, his voice quieter but no less pointed, “don’t you think it’s odd that ever since you, Jace, and Viktor formed your…” He paused, his expression sharpening with something between guarded admiration and exasperation.“…alliance—an alliance between witches, shifters, and vampires, which would have been unthinkable even a decade ago—all of a sudden, there are challenges to the groups within that coalition?”
Her breath hitched, the implication in his words settling like a lead weight in her chest.“How do you know about that?”she demanded again, her voice rising, laced with alarm and suspicion.
Marcus didn’t flinch, his gaze steady and unyielding.“I make it my business to know when someone I care about is putting themselves in danger.Especially when they go to such extreme lengths to keep it hidden.”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.For once, Sorcia was at a loss.The layers of secrecy she’d meticulously constructed around her alliance now felt as thin as paper under Marcus’s scrutiny.
Sorcia felt the knot of tension tightening in her stomach, coiling like a snake ready to strike.Marcus’s words hung in the air, heavy with implications she didn’t want to acknowledge.The atmosphere between them crackled with an unspoken intensity, each second stretching painfully long.His presence, as commanding as ever, made the walls of her carefully built defenses feel thinner, more fragile.
She had wondered before.About the string of challenges, the ripple of disruptions that seemed to follow her alliance.It had nagged at her, a whisper in the back of her mind.But she hadn’t dared to voice those suspicions to Viktor or Jace.Not when so much was at stake.Not when doubt could unravel the fragile trust between them.
“What of it?”she countered, her voice sharp but laced with apprehension.Her green eyes flicked to Marcus’s piercing blue ones, and for a moment, the weight of his gaze was too much.She looked away.“No one knows about my alliance with the shifters and vampires.I have no idea how you discovered it.”
Marcus rolled his eyes, his exasperation palpable.He leaned closer, his broad shoulders and powerful frame radiating barely restrained impatience.“Of course they know about it, Sorcia.Why do you think I’m here?”
Her stomach twisted and she stood up.She could see it in his stance, in the way his hands clenched briefly before he relaxed them again—he wasn’t just frustrated.He was worried.Abouther.
But instead of acknowledging it, she forced a smirk, the deflection automatic.“Because you’re an ass?”she quipped, brushing past him as if his presence didn’t make her insides churn with a mix of anger and something she refused to name.“An ass who knows how to conjure an excellent feast.But the meal is over,” she added briskly, snapping her fingers.
The table, food, and even the chairs vanished in an instant, dissolving into nothingness.If Marcus hadn’t been quick to stand, he would’ve landed unceremoniously on the floor.
Instead, he moved with the speed and precision she’d always envied, closing the distance between them before she could take a step.His arms circled her, lifting her off the ground as if she weighed nothing.“Try that again,” he snarled, his voice low and rough, “and you’ll regret it.”
Her breath hitched, her body stiffening as the tension between them surged like a live wire.Her hands, caught with nowhere else to go, braced themselves on his broad shoulders.The heat of him seeped through the fabric of his shirt, his strength undeniable in the way he held her so effortlessly.
Her nails dug into the expensive silk, threatening to leave marks as she fought the storm of conflicting emotions raging within her.Frustration battled with a surge of desire she didn’t want to feel, couldn’t allow herself to feel.It was infuriating how her body betrayed her, responding to the man she had sworn to despise.
The memories came unbidden, sharp as broken glass.She’d loved him once.Deeply, recklessly, completely.He’d made her feel seen, cherished, invincible.And then he’d destroyed it all.Destroyedher.
She tightened her jaw, her green eyes flashing with defiance as she glared at him.“Put me down,” she demanded, her voice low but steely.
“Not until you stop running from this,” he countered, his grip unyielding.
She hated how his voice softened at the edges, the protective tone beneath the frustration.It reminded her too much of the man she’d fallen for—the man she still couldn’t fully forget, no matter how much she tried.
“You don’t get to act like you care,” she hissed, her voice shaking with barely restrained anger.“Not after what you did.”
His gaze darkened, his brows drawing together as he studied her face.“I’vealwayscared,” he said, the words heavy with conviction.
Her nails pressed harder into his shoulders as her emotions surged, anger and pain intertwining.“Really?Is that what you call it?Caring?”Her voice cracked, and she hated herself for it.
She remembered it too clearly—the moment she’d found out.That human woman.The way he’d chosen someone so… ordinary.The betrayal had cut so deeply, not because she didn’t respect humans, but because she couldn’t fathom why she hadn’t been enough for him.
Not then, not now.
“You made your choice, Marcus,” she spat, her green eyes blazing with a mix of fury and hurt.“Don’t act like I should believe a word you say now.”
His hold on her tightened briefly, his expression hardening.“You don’t know everything,” he said softly, but his voice carried a weight that made her heart stutter.
She narrowed her eyes.“And I don’t need to.You’ve already told me everything I need to know.”
Her words hung in the air, cold and cutting, but beneath them was a vulnerability she refused to show.Not to him.Not again.
“Get your hands off me!”she hissed, her voice sharp but trembling with the effort to keep control.
