His eyes lazily travel across my body, and he finally meets my gaze again. “I’m not interested in conversation.”
He winks before turning back aroun
d, and I try desperately hard to ignore all the heat in all the wrong places.
Before I can stop myself, I grab his elbow, and he stiffens against my touch. He doesn’t push me away though. Stepping in front of him, I put us almost touching fronts, still holding onto his elbow, feeling the leather of his jacket at my fingertips.
“What do you want?” he sighs, looking exhausted and exasperated.
“Why did you save me?”
He rolls his eyes, still looking over the top of my head.
“You can watch your girlfriend after I leave. I just came for answers. Please. It’s driving me crazy.”
His eyes drop to my face, and his lips twitch. “My girlfriend?”
I just glare at the asshole.
“Jealous, Princess?”
“Of course not. Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”
A cold, hardened look comes over his features, and he tugs his arm free from my grip.
“That’s right. The spoiled Daddy’s girl couldn’t possibly be jealous of someone that looks like me. Right?”
“That’s not what I—”
“Go. Before one of them sees you. I don’t have time to deal with their questions.” He dematerializes, or starts to, but I grab him again, pulling him out of the dissolved state.
He snarls when he’s forced to solidify again. In a smooth, rapid motion, he shoves me against the tree and pushes his arm against my throat.
His breath washes over me, tasting good enough to mess with my head. His silver eyes pin me with a threatening glare that does not scare me in the least. His scars are so much easier to see this close. I have to fight the urge to trace them with my fingertips.
“You don’t seem to understand that I don’t fucking want you here. You don’t get special treatment. You don’t get to walk into my fucking camp, and—”
His words cut off when my hands reach his sides, slowly lifting the hem of his shirt so that I can feel his warm skin. It’s an involuntary reaction, and his eyes go hooded, watching me as his breaths get shallower.
“Why did you kill Liam?” I whisper, feeling his grip slowly loosen on my neck. “He bound me once. Tricked me. Used me. Hurt me.”
His eyes grow a darker silver, and he pushes against me more. “Don’t do this, Princess. Don’t romanticize this thing between us. I just didn’t like the son of a bitch. That’s all there was to it. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a lot of pent-up anger I like to get rid of on occasion.”
“Leah said you didn’t even know him. She said you even admitted it. And you tortured him. That’s a lot of hatred toward someone you don’t know.”
He curses while glancing toward his camp. A lot of eyes have taken notice of us, but they all look away when he catches their curious stares. He cuts his eyes back to mine, and he takes a step back.
“That fucking Aquarius has a big mouth. I plan to shut it permanently. Get out of here. Now.”
He turns and disappears this time before I can stop him, and I decide it’d be stupid to push my luck. Slade is a freaking enigma, but I don’t want him dead. Everyone else thinks he’s a danger to me… To us…
I think he’s just a really shitty hero with a thirst for blood and vengeance. Unfortunately, we’ll eventually have to fight, because I can’t let him kill Zee’s girl.
Chapter 16
LEAH
“She doesn’t need to know how to fight!” Aunt Masie barks.