As I tried to stride past him, he grabbed me by the throat with shocking strength. He slammed me into the wall and my mouth went dry as he cut my breath off.
“You bitch,” he said, tightening his grip on my throat. Sweat broke out along my forehead. I clawed at his hand, my fingernails digging into his skin. “What makes you think you’re so much better than me, eh?”
Just as my vision blurred, a thick hand wrapped around his own throat. He released me with a bloodcurdling scream as flames licked at his neck. I fell forward, gasping, and the smell of burning flesh met my nose. The screaming ceased as Rogue choked off his airway and the man’s one eye bulged.
“Go,” he ordered, lethally calm as smoke swirled around them. “Go inside, Ara.”
I staggered to my feet and stumbled back around the corner, forcing myself not to look back as the raging fire behind me cast my shadow before me. The screams resumed for a split second before stopping abruptly and I clenched my fists, walking faster.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Ara
As I rounded the corner of the building, I stopped, bracing a hand on the wall while the other reached up to my throat.
“The fucking degenerate,” Rogue seethed, his voice tight with rage as the strode around the corner. He stopped mid-stride when he saw me. “Why would you come out here alone?”
My eyes snapped to him as anger pulsed through me.
“Oh, I don’t know. I thought I’d give you and that woman some privacy,” I spat back at him through clenched teeth.
His mouth fell open before snapping shut. He quickly closed the distance between us, his fists clenched at his sides. I backed into the wall behind me as he neared, stopping just inches from me.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“Thatwomanserved in my father’s army. She was expressing her desire to join the cause and return to the King’s army.Andthat she was impressed to see the blood of Vaelor and Adrastus working together for the benefit of the realm,” he said, bracing a hand on either side of my head, dipping his face down to mine. He cocked his head to the side as a smirk slowly tipped one corner of his mouth. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.”
“I amnotjealous.”
He lowered a hand and gripped the side of my face, his little finger grazing the mate mark. He sighed as the smirk slid from his lips.
“You still don’t know the entirety of what this means,” he said in a low voice, his finger gliding across the mark again.
I waited for him to explain, but he released me, turning away. With a mind of its own, my hand reached out and snatched his arm, jerking him back to me. “Then tell me. For once, Rogue,stopbeing such a coward and tell me the fucking truth.”
Lightning cracked in the distance as rain released from the clouds. His eyes rose to the sky and he stiffened, dropping his eyes back to me.
I held my chin high, holding his gaze as the downpour soaked us both. A heartbeat passed and he was on me again, pressing me back against the wall. The overhang of the building combined with the wall of rain cut us off from the rest of the world and the air was thick with humidity, clinging to our already-soaked skin.
His hand gripped my cheek as his eyes locked with mine.
“The truth, Ara? You want the truth?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
He released a low, breathy laugh.
“There will never be another woman for me.” He paused. “Ever.”
I stilled at his words. “What…Why?”
“This”—his thumb slid down across the mark—“is a symbol of… surrender. I know you believe that it was my claim upon you, but it wasn’t. It never was. I bound my body and soul to you, little storm.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“That cannot… That is not true,” I whispered, shaking my head.
The crease between his eyebrows deepened as his lips curved into a sad smile.