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My arms wrap around him on their own, and he deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue between my lips to tangle with mine. I wish I could be strong enough to push him away. But I’m weak and I let myself drown in his affection.
His hands move from my face to my body, and he holds me to him. I can feel his erection against my stomach. I want nothing more than for him to rip my clothes off and fuck me right here in the middle of the street. But I know that he won’t. He won’t even keep kissing me. I know I’m right when he pulls away a moment later.
“You did it,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine.
“I did, but at what cost?” I ask, closing my eyes as more tears fall. I feel so alone now.
eleven
Control
RYLAND
Red’s emotions are all over the place. She’s clearly upset about something but is also relieved that our enemies are stopped for now. I start to race out the door and comfort her. A hand grips my shoulder, stopping me before I can make it.
“Give them a minute. They need it,” Dec says quietly. I nod, knowing that he’s right. Leaving her alone with James while she’s already feeling vulnerable pains me. Yes, they need to talk. Does that mean she should do it alone? I don’t know.
Instead of running out the door to her side, I watch from the window, feeling like a creeper. “This hurts him as much as it does her. He refuses to talk about whatever happened. It’s not my business, but I’m here if there’s anything I can do to help.” Dec’s offer makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.
“Can you make him stop being an idiot? Maybe teach him not to act on thoughts that aren’t his own. If he had just talked to us about it first, we would have figured out that Amber was manipulating him sooner.” My response is not kind, but I’m not concerned. If I hurt Dec’s feelings, he can punch me.
He nods. “I figured it was something like that. He doesn’t seem to be himself. I feel like he’s hiding the truth from me.”
“James almost died from a magical attack when we were trying to rescue Amber’s captives after she got caught,” Luca whispers as if saying the words aloud will make them worse somehow.
“What?” Dec roars. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“You guys made it pretty clear that you were handling vampire business, and we were supposed to take care of our own shit,” Orym answers. “We were doing what you told us to. You can’t get pissed at that.”
“I thought someone called you. Even with the demand that we leave you out of it, I was certain that one of my guys said they’d told you. I’m sorry, Dec,” I apologize, knowing that it means very little at this point.
“Let’s just move on. There’s no point in us fighting over this. What’s done is done, and no number of arguments will change the past.” The way he says it makes me think that maybe he did brush off the message when it came through. He’s right, it doesn’t matter now.
I continue to stare out the window as Red stares at her hands and James tries to talk to her. I can’t tell if she’s responding to him or just standing there. I would rather be out there with her than in here watching this as it unfolds. She looks so lost, as if someone has just kicked her puppy and stolen her ice cream cone.
“She’s going to struggle with what she did here today. We’re going to have to help her through it,” Orym insists. I completely agree with him.
ORYM
After a few minutes, I expect Garnet to come back inside, but she doesn’t. She just stands there, staring at her hands. James seems to be talking to her. She’s not answering him. I hate that he destroyed our bond, so I can’t ask him if she’s okay. Clearly, she’s not. “I get that they need to talk. I’m not opposed to that, but she’s in shock and isn’t talking. We should bring her in to take care of her.”
I don’t wait for Dec to agree, walking out the door before he can stop me. I jog toward the two of them, avoiding the puddles that used to be witches. I know that Garnet is upset about killing them, and that’s thrown her into shock.
“James, clearly, she’s in shock. Stop talking at her and help me get her inside. We need to make sure she’s okay before you two try to fix this.” I snap the order at him before scooping her up and turning back to the building. I don’t stop to see if he’s following me or not. I press a kiss to the top of her head as I wait for someone to open the door and let us back inside.
The door finally swings open, and Dec ushers us inside. “Take her to the elevator. We’ll get her checked out upstairs.”
He turns to his brother and slaps him in the back of the head. “Get your head straight. Your mate needs you to check her out. Make sure it’s just shock and she didn’t hurt herself.” I don’t stay to hear James’ response, carrying Garnet to the elevator with Ryland and Luca close behind.
“Red? Can you hear me?” Ryland asks when we step onto the elevator. She nods her head but doesn’t say anything.
“Are you okay?” Luca gently turns her to face him. She shakes her head this time, but still doesn’t say a word.
“That’s pretty obvious, Luca. She’s not okay at all.” Ryland’s growl echoes in the small space and Red flinches.
“That’s enough, you two. Let’s get her upstairs where we can see if she’s injured. Then maybe she can tell us how to help her. Even if it’s through the bond where no one else can hear,” I offer, giving her a little squeeze.
A single tear slides down her cheek when I say the word bond, and I wonder if this reaction is being so close to James with the damaged bond. If there’s a way to fix it, we need to find it fast. Grammy and Trevan were both certain it wasn’t too late, but I just don’t know. If the bond can be repaired, will we ever be able to trust him again? Or will the pain he’s inflicted on Garnet be too much to forgive?
