She looks at the flyer. “You were going to turn me in,” she says. “That’s why you were taking me there. We weren’t getting information. You were about to hand me over. If we hadn’t found Milo when we did, if we hadn’t gotten diverted, I’d be deadright nowbecause you would have given me back to my pack.”
“Em,” he pleads.
“No, don’t fucking call me that,” she says. “Get away from me. If you ever come near me again—if I ever see you again—I won’t stop until one of us is dead. Do you understand? You’re not going to get any bounty for me because you’ll have to kill me to get me to stop coming for you. Walk away. Right now.”
He opens his mouth.
She holds up a hand. “I don’t want to hear one more fucking word,” she says. “Go.”
And to my surprise, he does.
She shudders in my arms as we watch him walk away, her breathing ragged, and I understand.
It feels like something’s been ripped out of my chest.
But it’s the right decision. He’s a traitor, and we can’t keep him around.
Chapter 43
MILO
Wehardlyspeaktoone another all day. It feels awful that we could have been tricked like that. Awful to have fallen for it.
And, honestly, it feels shitty to know that Nate wasn’t who I thought he was. Because I really did like him. A lot. That conversation we had about our emerging harem—I wasn’t messing around. I was really excited about this.
I still have Emlyn, of course. But it’s different now. It’s as if some fundamental building block of our foundation has been taken away.
Can it be that weneededNate? That the two of us aren’t complete without him?
When we stop for the night, I take her in my arms and kiss her. She returns my kiss passionately, almost frantically, and I get the feeling she’s just as desperate to drive away the day’s events as I am.
The first time we were together, we took our time with each other. We enjoyed what we were doing. It was slow and patient and almost playful.
This time, it’s not like that. We’re just both aching to feel something other than pain.
I feel her nails dig into my back as I take her. I bite down on her shoulder and know I break skin because I can taste the blood in my mouth. We’re lying in the dirt, rolling around like animals and making each other bleed because that’s less painful than focusing on Nate’s betrayal.
She rolls her way on top of me and rides me hard. Her face is set in a kind of grimace, and it almost doesn’t even look like she’s enjoying this. And suddenly I’m overcome by the misery of the whole situation, and I don’t want it to be like this. No matter how good she feels, I don’t want her when our minds are so far apart.
I flip us over so that she’s pinned to the ground beneath me.
She stares up at me.
“Emlyn,” I murmur, stilling my body inside her, stroking her cheek. “Emmy, hey.”
Tears are streaming down her cheeks. I brush them away with my thumbs.
“I just don’t want to think about him anymore,” she whispers.
I nod and lean forward to kiss her cheeks. Then I kiss the place on her shoulder where I bit her.
“Did I hurt you?” I murmur.
She shakes her head. One of her legs wraps around me. “I liked it.
She’s so hot and swollen with need, even now. Even in the midst of her distress. I fuck her slowly now, locking eyes with her, not letting her give into her grief or pain.
“Stay with me,” I tell her softly.