I know that firsthand. Magic crawled beneath my skin during the short year I was here. And the embered scar on my friend’s body is just another symbol of the power in this world. The longer you stay, the more monstrous you become.
“Why did you do that?” he growls, showing the sharpness of his upper and lower canines. He lowers me to the mossy earth much more gently than how he speaks. “I told you not to come here!”
There’s that rage that burns beneath his smooth surface.
“You didn’t have to bring me.” My arms cross over my chest, and it takes a second for me to notice his gaze lingering there. Unlike most people, it isn’t my cherry-red birthmark he’s looking at. His attention is like the flames of a fire licking along my skin.
“You’re... different.” Those words are mumbled instead of spoken with the confidence and dominance he normally has.
“So are you,” I say, my attention sweeping over his black boots and pants to the veering valley of his hips, his broad shoulders, his dark beard, and midnight black wingspan. I guess that’s the bonus for men who have wings: shirts are overrated.
Physically, he’s the same. Brutishly handsome in a very nontypical way. A giant of a man, standing over my five-eleven frame like I’m a petite little thing. But something buried deep inside him, it’s different. He was always the laughing, good-time friend. He hid his jagged side from me so well back then. And now...
He has been hurt.
By what? And why didn’t he ever show it when he was just the mysteriously dark voice beneath my bed?
“You’re up to something,” he says, his gaze now searching me instead of appraising me.
“Has it not occurred to you that maybe I missed you?”
“No. Not once, actually.”
I shrug.
I did though.
It’s hard for me to admit that to a man, but I missed Ruiner more than I’ve ever missed anyone in my entire life. When I was sixteen, I could tell him anything. That’s why I still whispered to him in the middle of the night years later. Even if he didn’t always answer, I’d confess to him like a diary no one would ever know the contents of.
Instead of correcting him, I simply tilt my head high and stand my ground. Despite his monstrous nature, Ruiner may be the only man in my life who hasn’t hurt me. He’s one of the good ones. From my very first cheating boyfriend at sixteen years old, to the groping men who slip me dollar bills atClub 45, to the Sand Man himself, men... they’ve been complete shit to me. Maybe that’s why I can’t truly connect with anyone.
Especially men.
So when I show the confidence I’ve built up around me over the years, it doesn’t waver beneath his watchful stare. I don’t second-guess his intentions. He won’t hurt me.
But I don’t know if he’ll help me either.
“I want to go to the Kingdom of Carnal.”
“No,” he says flatly.
“Fine.” His brows lower at my instant reply. “I’ll find a wild minotaur to take me. Their herds still run rogue on the outskirts of the kingdom?”
I’d never.
But he doesn’t need to know that.
“Stop it.” He chastises like I’m nothing more than a tantrum-throwing child.
I have news for him: my tantrum hasn’t even fucking started yet, my friend. Just wait till I get my hands on that sandy dandy son of a bitch for taking my little sister!
“I’m going to the Kingdom. You can take me, or I’ll figure it out myself, Ruin.” I’m good at faking my self-assurance. That’s the thing about dancing: never show your emotions. Only your ability to control them. I tighten my folded arms, but that poised confidence is nothing compared to the striding steps he takes toward me. Another and another and another until my own staggering footfalls hit tree bark, and I’m staring up at those wild eyes that are boring down on me. Heat flares to life between us. His temper clearly rises, and in an instant, his massive hand snatches around my jaw. Sharp, black talons slide out, biting at tender flesh.
“Do notgo there, Bella. You’re going to listen to me, and you’re going to pay-fucking-attention when I say you’re going home!”
His snapping canines are so close to me, I can feel his breath against my lips. And it’s then that he too realizes his mistake:Simply, being close to me.
Heavy inhales wave across my flesh, turning from furious to curious. His mouth closes without a sound. The dark center of his gaze takes over the pretty blue as he fixates on one thing and one thing only: my scent. Sharp talons hold me in place, the points piercing the skin along my throat and jawline. Black lashes flutter slowly as a long inhale breathes me in. A light sensation flutters along my neck with his every breath. His head tilts low. Smooth skin brushes from the low curve of my neck all the way up behind my ear, his warm breath washing over me as he takes me in.