She hated how vulnerable he made her feel just by staring, how much he weakened her defenses. She hated him for it. At first, she couldn’t find the words, but now they all came rushing to the tip of her tongue, rocked by a wrathful flood. If he laid a finger on her in that very moment, Lyra knew she wouldn’t be able to fight.
The feeling of his hands on her skin still lingered in her mind. He knew her body just as well as his own. There was just too much between them, a tension that no words could explain. Lyra wanted him gone, but her heart sang a different tone.
“What are you doing here? What do you want? How did you know I’d be here? And what do I have to do to make you leave?”
“Four questions in not as many minutes,” he said hoarsely.
Lyra did her best to avoid his charm, his eyes, his voice coated in an allure that only the strongest minds could resist. There was no room for weakness, she remembered her father’s words. And if she let herself crack, then there was every chance he could slip in through the crack—or worse, force his way through.
He was a part of her life she was never going back to. Imagine what would happen if he found out about Adam. No, he had to leave.
“You have to go.”
“Lyra—”
“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear the reason you showed up here after all these years, or why you think it was alright to do so. Why you think I shouldn’t tear you apart limb by fucking limb.”
Levi smiled, but it was a taunt. The kind of smile he smiled when he was challenging her to something—a game or hunt that he knew he was going to win. How clearly she remembered that smile.
“You really think you’re strong enough to tear me apart limb by fucking limb?”
“Do you want to find out?”
The smile on his face slowly faded, and his eyes turned bleak. She had to stop watching his expressions; it was a superpower he had.
She turned to shut the door in his face, but he caught her arm and stood between her and the door. He was so close to her that she did feel naked, her loudly beating heart making matters worse as it drew his eyes to her chest. If his hands moved even an inch closer, they would be between her thighs.
Lyra snapped out of the thought and pushed him away. He had expected the force of her shove and only staggered slightly. It was another thing she had always hated about him—he always knew her next move.
“What do you want? Why are you here? And make it quick before I call the pack. You stand a chance with me, but not with the entire pack against you.”
“You know they wouldn’t.”
“I know they’re family and family would kill to protect their own. They would never abandon me.”
There was a chilly suspense and the air was so thick it was like a wall between them.
He took a step back, almost as if the wall had forced him back.Good, she thought.Let him know he isn’t welcome here.
“I don’t mean any harm—”
“You mean, any more than you’ve already caused? No, ‘cause that would just make you a monster, which, now that I think of it, might be exactly what you are.”
“You don’t mean that.”
Lyra laughed, trying to keep her composure. “Your guts. They haven’t changed—you haven’t changed. You’re still the same selfish, cocky bastard you always were.”
“Then why did you fall in love with me?”
There was another short pause, after which she said, “Well, love is blind, they say. And I was the blindest of all. I forgave myself for the terrible mistakes of my past, only then could I see you for what you truly were. The reason werewolves and dragons cannot peacefully coexist is not just because we’re different races. It’s because we’re different people. And the very values you live by—whatever twisted, sick notion that made you leave—are the same values that rule every one of your kind. You wicked lot.”
For once, there was no expression on his face. Just a blank stare. So blank that she couldn’t tell if he had heard a single word she said.
“I understand that you must hate me.”
“Oh, hate is understating it, darling.”
“I had to.”