"Why you should let her go while you still can," he said, finally looking at me with those dark eyes, all hybrids were born with.
"You know I can't do that."
"Choose someone who won't risk bringing you to your knees," he told me, not even blinking.
"No," I said darkly.
He didn't look very pleased with me, even if he didn't do anything else, but just look at me for a little while, and then he turned his head.
"She challenges you."
"And?"
"And others might not find it as amusing as you do," he said.
I growled lowly. While I could find her fighting spirit amusing, it didn't mean I wouldn't remind her of her place.
"I am aware," I said, trying to stay as calm as I could.
I didn't like that he was saying all of this. I didn't like he was insinuating how displeased everyone would be, that I chose this half-blood instead of the beautiful vampire from a high-status family that they had chosen. I didn't like he was telling me to let go of Lara when that was simply not possible.
"Half-bloods bring nothing but trouble."
"And why do you think that is?" I asked.
He turned to me again, and we locked eyes.
"It is not like they are asking for it," I said.
"They don't have to. They are simply just magnets."
I shook my head.
"No, it is the wolves and vampires that choose to make trouble for them," I said. "You know this. They just want to be left alone."
"But we know they won't be," he said. "That is what I am trying to point out here."
"What?"
"It doesn't matter that your mate wants to be left alone. People won't let her, and if you try to defend her, they will find a way to take you down as well," he told me.
"They can try," I said and drank a little of the bourbon in my glass.
"And they will," he said almost angrily, that I for a moment wondered if he would side with them if they did try to go against me, but that wasn't what he was trying to tell me.
He would always be loyal to me. We were the last hybrids left, and we had been standing by each other for over two hundred years when we were finally all together. We would never turn our backs on each other. Ever.
"They will come for her and you, and we need you," he said.
"Ace-"
"You think Gabriel could ever be king?" he asked me.
I opened my mouth, but I had no answer for that because we both knew, he couldn't be. He was too much of a loose cannon. He was too damaged.
"And me?"
I closed my mouth.