Page 85 of Bite of Passage
His head tilted to the side, his eyes dark and dangerous.“You are a fucking distraction, a problem.I want ye gone from here.Go back to the inn until after this night.Then I’ll figure out how to deal with you.”He pressed on his forehead.“This is never going to work.Betrayal is inevitable.”
Turning, he stepped toward the door.
She reached for him, barely grazing his hand.“I’m not a problem you need to deal with any longer.”
He paused and stared at her hand.“Go.”
“Skarde.Back there at the inn… I was trying?—”
“I was doing fine before you showed up.I have my way of doing things without distractions.I was doing pretty well.Now you’re here, shooting my concentration all to hell.I’m better without you.”
“What exactly does that mean?”Blood pounded in her temples.He didn’t mean what she was hearing.This was about right now, not overall.Right?He didn’t regret her being in his life.Or did he?She’d only been around a while.They’d had fun, but maybe it wasn’t as great for him.The inevitability of the stupid prophecy may have finally eroded whatever trust they’d built.
She said, “Don’t go back in there right now.Calm down and talk to me.Whatever’s in there can wait.”
He knocked her hand away when she tightened her grip.“Talk is for pussies.I need to do what I came here to do.That doesn’t involve you.Get the hell out of here.”
“You’re hurting, Skarde.”She tried to hold her ground, even though her legs were shaking and unease was eating her alive.This Skarde terrified her.
“That’s a part of the job.I always hurt.I don’t have time for you here, in my life…everything.”He fisted his hair on both sides of his head, the tension in his forearms so strong his muscles rippled.His voice came out hoarse and thickly accented, “I cannae deal with what ye’ll do to me.”
He yanked open the church door.It slammed shut behind him.
Bang!
She fell to her knees, completely devastated.Terrified for his safety and mental health.Terrified for herself.
And hurt.He didn’t trust her.
ChapterThirty-Five
A tinglingof awareness hit Gemma.A familiar scent carried on the air.
Cade.
She sprinted to the forest’s edge a hundred yards from the church’s steps and slipped behind a wide tree.
Why was he here?Skarde had said he’d headed back to the Directorate to deal with his failure to bring her in and stop Skarde from turning her.Her heart soared at the thought Cade might be here to support his brother.
She’d made that possible, and she was damned proud of it.
Cade paused at the base of the stairs and slowly pivoted to face her.His eyes widened when he saw her.
“Skarde needs your help,” she mouthed.The other vampire’s acute hearing should pick up her whisper.“He doesn’t want me here.Go.”
For several long moments, he watched her.His gaze dropped to her shoulder.Then he spun to jog up the church steps.
Now what?
Skarde had annihilated her.Even if their short-lived relationship had been intense, they remained relative strangers.The creature on the steps hadn’t been the person she knew.Hell, loved.Yep.
Shit.
She didn’t deserve to be stuck with a head case so fixated on something a crazy witch had foretold, claiming he was bound to make it a reality.
Now would be a fantastic moment for a portal back to her apartment to appear.She muttered, “Needing a doorway right now, Val.Or Val’s aunt.”
Of course, nothing happened.
