The Evolution of Fae and Gods (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 3)

I brace, not for physical violence but for a tirade of curses and chastisements, as well as a few insults to my intellect I know I’m going to get.

Instead, in a voice that is so cold a shiver moves up my spine, he says, “Let’s go.”

Then his hand is at my elbow, and he’s walking me with determination back to his condo where I’m not so sure he’s not going to kill me.

CHAPTER 10

Finley

Admittedly, I’m scared.

We enter the lobby, the doorman’s eyes widening with surprise when he sees how Carrick is marching me forward. Lucien is there, not looking worried or relieved but guarded.

Carrick merely snarls. “I’ll deal with you later. Leave.”

Lucien nods and heads for the door. I don’t dare look over my shoulder, just let Carrick propel me right into the elevator, where he keeps my elbow firmly in his grip, despite the fact I have nowhere to run.

Never once in all the times Carrick has been mad at or frustrated by me has he held it in like this. I’ve never encountered such frigid silence, and within those vibes, I can feel the underlying fury emanating from him. I’m so attuned to it I feel nauseated.

Only once do I attempt to apologize. “Carrick, I—”

“Shut up,” he growls so sinisterly that my mouth snaps closed, and I grind down on my teeth to keep them from chattering.

When the elevator doors whoosh open, Zaid is there pacing. He whirls around, his expression filled with worry. He opens his mouth to say something, but Carrick cuts him off.

“Get out.” It’s said quietly, which is worse than the way he growled at Lucien.

Without hesitation or question, without any concern Carrick might kill me, Zaid enters the elevators, and the doors close.

The second we’re alone, Carrick gives me a slight push forward toward the short end of the free-standing fireplace, releasing his grip on me. I whirl, only to find him right there in front of me.

My inclination is to back up, but that’s immediately halted by him fisting the front of my shirt in an iron grip and hauling me up to my tiptoes.

He dips his head and lets his full fury release.

Carrick doesn’t yell. No, he thunders. “How could you be so fucking stupid as to leave this place alone? I don’t know how many times I need to impress upon you the danger you face, but, apparently, your skull is obviously thicker than concrete because it’s not penetrating. You not only put yourself in danger, but you also put the fucking planet in danger, which speaks to your inherent selfishness, which is only outmatched by your stupidity.”

“I am not stupid,” I yell back, the constant stream of insults too much for me to take.

I note the red in Carrick’s pupils and it’s not the hazy film I’d seen before, but it turns fiery. To my surprise, Carrick actually shakes me hard enough to rattle my head. Putting his face even closer to mine, he snarls, “You are, without a doubt, the most idiotic person I’ve ever encountered in my almost five thousand years of living.”

Okay, that’s overboard. Surely, he’s met someone dumber. But I don’t get a chance to retort because I’m threatened again.

“I think,” he says in a low rumble, far scarier than when he was yelling, “that you might just need to be secured in this condo.”

“Secured?” I whisper fearfully.

Carrick’s eyes glitter with malice, the red still glowing while the irises dull to a muddy brown. “I think I’d like you in chains down in the library.”

“You can’t do that to me,” I sputter in outrage. “I am not yours to command.”

For a moment, Carrick doesn’t reply—he merely gives a slow shake of his head while looking me dead in the eye. “No… you’re something far more infuriating. You want to act like a woman, trying to play the seductress with me, but do you want to know the reason it doesn’t work?”

A stab of pain lances through my heart because now he’s getting personal.

I don’t want to know.

Please don’t tell me.

“It doesn’t work,” he says darkly with scorn in his expression, “because you’re a fucking child, not a real woman. A spoiled little brat, actually, and I find none of those traits attractive.”

Oh, God.

My eyes immediately well with tears, and I hate myself for the weakness. Does he honestly think that? Was that kiss we shared in the gym all in my imagination?

Does he think so little of me?

In my entire life, I have never felt so small.

A tear slips down my cheek, and I use the moment of silence on his part to jerk out of his hold, twisting violently away from him.

“We’re not done,” he barks.

I whirl on him, dashing the tears off my face. I’ll never let him know how much his words hurt me personally. “You can go to hell, Carrick.”