him and a soft whimper escaped him. "You were really going to leave me here, weren't you?" he breathed and the guilt I felt over that accusation burned up my throat like bile. Because yeah, that had been my intention. But as I stood captured in his bright blue eyes, I found myself wondering if I really would have done it, because standing here with him felt too fucking good even while I was so angry I could punch his lying face in.
"You don't want me anyway," I murmured.
"I want you," he said fiercely. "You're all I fucking want."
"Liar. You want your precious gang more." Fuck, it hurt to say that, to lay out the facts like that and wait for him to deny it, even though I knew he wouldn't.
"When we get out of here, it can be different," he began, though he didn't even sound convinced of that himself. "I know the gangs aren't at war in Alestria the way they are in here. I just need time, I need-"
"I'm not waiting around for you to decide you want me," I hissed. "I don't have to. You're not the only Alpha who wants to claim me for his own and I don't want someone who's ashamed of me."
A roar of rage escaped Ethan's lips and he turned, ripping the entire contents of books from the shelf beside us so that they tumbled to the floor.
"Who is it?" he demanded, forgetting to even keep his voice low as jealousy flashed in his eyes and he looked half tempted to shake the answer out of me. "Is it that fucking Lion? I'll rip his fucking mane off and make a throw rug out of it!"
"No. It's not Roary. I'm not good enough for him, either," I tossed the words out casually, but they fucking hurt all the same. How was it that I'd let three separate alpha-holes get close enough to hurt me with their rejection like this? Fuck all of them and their bullshit. I was sick of feeling like I couldn't meet their expectations.
Ethan's rage shifted into anguish as he took in the pain in me and he whined low in the back of his throat before moving into my personal space and nuzzling against me.
It felt so fucking good that I didn't even shove him off. And I hated to admit it, but I was relieved that he was coming with us now because I couldn't even begin to fathom the idea of being unable to see him ever again.
“I got you this,” he muttered, finding my hand and pressing something warm between my fingers.
I drew in a deep breath as he nuzzled against me, trying not to love the way that felt while aching in the most beautifully painful way for him. I looked down and found the yellow Sunstone Crystal Sin had told me they’d stolen together in my grasp.
“I hope you washed this,” I muttered, though my anger at him was loosening just a little because he’d done this for me without even knowing it would benefit him too. He’d risked the guards catching him just to bring it to me and even though it had been days since he’d taken it, he’d clearly been carrying it around, risking getting caught every time he passed a guard. For me. That had to mean something even if I didn’t want to admit it.
“I hate that fucking Incubus,” Ethan growled, his lips moving up my neck and making a moan rise up in my throat with it, but I forced it back, not wanting him to know how much I was enjoying this.
“Sin is an acquired taste,” I breathed.
“I’ll take your word on that, love.”
Ethan’s big hands wrapped around my waist and he turned his head, seeking out my lips with a groan of longing.
But I wouldn't give them to him. I couldn't. So I turned my cheek and his hot mouth fell against my flesh instead of my lips, making sparks ignite beneath my skin.
Ethan refused to be put off, his mouth moving over my jaw and onto my neck until a moan slid from my lips like a traitorous bitch. Fuck, I needed to feel his flesh against mine. I needed to have him worshipping my body and satisfying this ache in my soul for him. Because he was mine and I was his. The moon had decided it even if we didn’t want to agree.
He started tugging at the buttons of my jumpsuit