“I meant what I said,” she murmured. “If you don’t feel the same, I’d rather not know.”
She’d already confirmed it before Ambrose had gently removed her from the apartment. To hear her say it again so confidently set my heart slamming against my chest.
Kiara was braver than I was. Maybe more foolish, as a result of her upbringing. It was irrational and unreasonable to fall in love with the alpha who dark bonded you to save your life. We knew so little about each other, it was laughable.
Yet, she was insistent.
With her proclamation, I couldn’t live in denial anymore, but I also couldn’t say the words. Not out loud.
“I don’tnotfeel the same,” I said quietly. I dropped onto the couch beside her, my hand resting on her shoulder. “And I believe you. That you meant it.”
She looked at me with her scarred eyebrow raised. The remote was sitting on her lap and she was fiddling with the fabric of her clothing. “Saying that you don’t not feel the same is incredibly confusing.”
Letting out a short laugh, I shrugged. “Emotions aren’t my strong suit, OK? I need more time to figure myself out, but I’m glad you told me. I was your only available option—I didn’t want to pressure you into feeling more than you did just because we were bonded.”
Kiara shook her head vigorously. “I would have picked you even if I had the choice of every alpha in the world.”
Once again, her conviction floored me.
“Oh?” I asked.
Fishing. I was fishing for compliments and more, but I couldn’t help it. Not many people wanted the driven lone female alpha. I was a last choice for most.
“I thought about it a lot while you were arrested. If I’d told them what really happened, it’s possible they may have been able to help me and I wouldn’t need you anymore,” Kiara said. “Even if that hadn’t been such a risk, I decided I wouldn’t have wanted to try. I wanted to stay with you no matter what.”
I’d considered the same. There had to be some people at the Institute who would be able to help her. Was I willing to give her up, though?
Never.
“And where do I fit into that?”
Dash interrupted my moment of preening.
He leaned casually over the back of an armchair. I couldn’t see his feet, but he was bouncing and there was a slight tapping sound. The man couldn’t stop moving, except for—oddly enough—when I’d had him pressed between me and the wall. Once he’d stopped panicking, his body had been calm.
Despite his casual air, the question was anything but.
Kiara began to fidget—they were two sides of the same coin. Chaotic energy for both of them. However, where Dash was skilled at pushing people away, Kiara was eager to yank them closer.
“I claimed you,” Kiara said softly.
Dash’s hand went up to rub at his neck. His expression was unreadable, movie star handsome features blank. He hadn’t bothered to put on the charismatic guise he wore in public, but he wasn’t giving us his true feelings either.
I was just glad he’d thought through his true feelings. Based on what I knew about Mercury’s micromanaging, he hadn’t had a chance to do that in years.
“That doesn’t mean much, in the grand scheme of things,” he said.
Kiara stood abruptly from the couch, scowling. She managed to stomp surprisingly loud on the rug on her way across the living room. Crawling onto the armchair on her knees, she brought herself temptingly close to Dash.
Wide-eyed, he froze. My bondmate’s hand slid across his shoulder blades and grabbed the back of his neck, hauling him close.
It was obvious what she was going to do before she did it. I could have stopped her with a simple command, but maybe Dash needed this.
Her teeth sank into the other side of his neck, a second claim.
Dash groaned loud enough it drew the attention of Mercury and Ambrose, both men poking their heads through the French doors from the kitchen.
Kiara whimpered too, the scent of her slick perfuming the air. She was creating a puddle on the armchair beneath her, but it wasn’t my place to pleasure her at the moment.
