He rounded the desk, folding his arms and watching her. “Does this bother you?”
“I wish I could say it has never happened. We’re not normal people. You run your city under your father’s command, as do my brothers with my father. I doubt it will be the last time I walk into a building swamped by death.”
Liam didn’t like this. “Do any of them pose you harm?”
She shook her head. “Nor you. I think … for most, they’re sad. They had nothing and no one. The final fight was their last chance to get away from it all. To them, death has been final but also hard to accept. They’re filled with sadness, so for now, they watch. They like to watch the living.”
“No one is here right now?”
“No. You’re all alone.”
“I have to say, baby, we’re getting married tomorrow. I thought you’d be making the final preparations. Preparing for our life together.”
She was so close to him. She put her bundled-up coat on the back of one of his chairs. Her white hair was pulled back into a messy bun. Strands curved her face. She wore a pair of jeans and a long shirt that hid most of her curves.
He couldn’t take his eyes away from her.
She was so beautiful.
The memory of her orgasms was still so fresh in his mind, and he wanted to spread her out across his desk and take her again.
“You’ve been lied to, and I can’t go through with tomorrow. At least not without you knowing the truth.”
Liam tensed up. “Your father has lied?”
“No, not lied, but he hasn’t told you the whole truth. I wasn’t going to say anything as it didn’t feel like my place to, but I can’t do this. I can’t go on with this until I tell you. It’s unfair.” She licked her lips, the same ones he wanted wrapped around his cock. He didn’t care what she had to say to him. They were still going to get married. Nothing would change that.
“You’re shaking,” he said, noticing the slight quiver in her hand.
She cupped her hands, locking her fingers together and squaring her jaw.
“What is it?” he asked, closing the distance between them. He stroked her cheek, wanting to comfort her.
For a few seconds, she lowered her cheek to his palm, but within a matter of seconds, she pulled away. “No, I can’t.” She stepped away from him, creating space, which he had no interest in. “I’ve got to tell you.”
“Then tell me.” If her father had done something, or intended to kill them and take their turf, he’d be ready.
There was no way in fucking hell he was going to give up Jenny. He’d had a taste and he was going to claim her. She belonged to him, and he wasn’t going to let her go. His reputation was accurate. He was an Alpha Beast because he knew how to claim what was his.
Jenny was his.
No doubt about it.
She licked her lips. “I’m … you have no idea how hard this is for me to say.”
“I’ve had your pussy in my mouth. I know you can see spirits and talk to dead people. What could be hard to say to me?”
“You’re right.” She sighed. “I’m cursed. All the women of my line are cursed.”
He frowned and folded his arms. “I’m not exactly following.”
“I know, that’s what makes it even harder.” She pressed her lips together and he saw her eyes flood with tears. “Out of the line of my family that inherit my gift, my grandmother is the only one who lasted as long as she did. My mother, and there was an uncle, great-grandmothers, all of them, they … they’re cursed. We don’t last all that long.”
He stared at her. “I’m really not following.”
“Take my mom, for instance. She was old enough to have me until I was ten years old. She was forty when she died. Her death occurred because of a spirit.”
“What? How?”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know the full details. My father was away on business.” She paused and turned to look at him. “The kind of business you have going on downstairs. It was a bloodbath and of course, my mother’s reputation had been growing.” She stopped again. “To pay for what my father and brothers did, they never made it home in time to find her. She had been thrown from our staircase. Her neck broken. She died instantly. In fear. Alone.”
“Where were you?” he asked.
“I was with my father. He decided that he wasn’t going to have his daughter follow in his wife’s footsteps. He took me on his trip. Tried to get my hair changed, tried to change who I am.” She touched a strand of her hair. “It didn’t work.”
“I can see.”
She shrugged. “I’m not supposed to tell you, but I can’t enter a marriage with you without you knowing all the facts. I am going to die. Our lives see that I will.”