Page 22 of Scent of Desire
“Cerba, I’m fine. Stop this.” But she didn’t stop.
She took another step forward, barking with hostility at my uncle. She wanted him out. To scare him. She’d never hurt—
“Be quiet!” Eugene kicked her out, throwing her away from him.
“Cerba!” I screamed, rushing to her side.
Her tail was between her legs, her ears tilted back. I dropped on the grass and scooped her between my arms, searching to see if she was hurt. She gave me a sweet look and licked my arm to reassure me.
“I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to do that to her. I got scared,” Eugene excused himself, his hands pleading and his eyes opening wide in shock. The smell of sweat and weakness raked all over him.
“You should go, Uncle.” My stare sent venom at him.
“Lily, please,” he excused again with that shaking voice of his.
“She’s Radcliff’s dog. If he knew what you did to his dog, he wouldn’t be pleased. If you leave now, I won’t tell.”
He nodded, fear eating him alive. “I’m sorry.”
You’re a coward, Uncle.
He left without another word, afraid of the consequences. He had always given up on me because he was possessed with fear. All of his life, he had made bad decisions because he couldn’t take risks and didn’t believe in himself—nor in me. He was weak, and that was the reason he couldn’t love me like I wanted him to.
I simpered, dropping Cerba on the grass as she put her paw on my arm, boring her eyes into me. “Thank you for protecting me. But I don’t want you to hurt yourself, okay?”
She rubbed her nose against my elbow and wailed.
“I’m fine,” I promised as tears welled up the corners of my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
I looked heavenward, hoping to hold my tears back, but I shut my eyes and let them drop like a hot torrent. I calmed down my breath, focusing on the odors of my surroundings. It smelled of the earthy green and blossoming pink spring, apart from… Sandalwood. Vanilla. Patchou—
Cerba ran away from me, and I whirled around. Radcliff was behind me, and when his gaze roamed my face, his brows slanted downward. His eyes glowed with savage fire. I tried to erase the tears, but it was too late—he had seen them. The veins in his neck stood out in livid ridges, and his mouth twitched inward.
We locked eyes.
Waited.
And then, he growled like a beast on the hunt, and he left.
“Radcliff, no!” I yelled after him.
I ran to catch him as fast as I could, knowing him well enough to know he was on his way to inflict chaos and devastation. I wrapped my arms around his back, catching myself on him without thinking to force him to stop. It worked nevertheless. I laid my head against his costume, feeling all of his muscles stiffening.
“Please. I don’t want you to cause my uncle any problems. He didn’t do anything to me. He’s my family, and I could never live with myself if anything were to happen to him.”
“Let me go, Lily,” he hissed.
“Don’t go after him, because I promise you, if you hurt him, I’ll cry for the rest of my life, and that would be because of you.” I swallowed, whispering the last words. “Don’t break my heart.”
He turned around, and I saw the conflict rising inside his purple calla lily eyes. I begged him with my soul, hoping this time someone would choose me and my needs over hurting me with their own emotions.
Muscles flicked angrily in his jaw. “And I’ll make you another promise, Lily.”
I waited in a daze, a shiver coursing down my spine.
He loomed closer, his shadow swallowing me whole in his darkness. “I’ll make every person who makes you cry pay. Even kill if I have to.”
I know.“I’d never want that.”
