Page 22 of Those That Defy the Realm

A nervous laugh shakes its way out of my lungs. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to jump.” My mind fills with darkness. The need to apologise a visceral reaction.

“No, I shouldn’t have touched you. I’m sure this is as much of a shock to you as it is to me. More so because you now know what I truly am. And I ignored your messages for months and then dismissed you earlier. I had no right.”

He didn’t, and his apology leaves me feeling strange, disarmed in a way. Declan’s apologies always came with strings. I know I probably shouldn’t compare the two men but after a year of having to placate Declan, insist I was also at fault and then have to do whatever he wanted to make him happy again, I don’t know what it is Henry wants me to say to ease his guilt.

“No, it’s me. I can be a little weird with strangers.” I blurt out of nowhere. “Men, in particular.”

I’ve not told anyone that before. It makes the darkness in my head dig in harder, refusing to go back into the box I keep it in.

Henry doesn’t step back, doesn’t move further away but he does move to the side so he can perch on the end of my bed. It's not a move which invokes any invitation. Granted it may seem presumptuous of him that I would let him get comfy in my private space, but the move makes him smaller, less threatening in a way. His voice when he speaks is once again smooth, a comforting warmth I’m already growing addicted to, “Claire, did someone hurt you?”

CHAPTER 9

HENRY

Clara is far more than I expected. Sorry, Claire.

In our messages, she had come across as confident, sure of herself, and had initiated, on several days, the more flirty aspect of our conversations.

The woman standing in front of me now is not like that at all. Well, there are glimpses of it, the anger she threw at me practically barging in on her, allowed her more fiery side show. But overall, our interaction has told me that there was much more to her than I knew.

Which makes sense when I think about it. I can see now that I’ve built up our messages in my head. She may have been hurt by my sudden drop in contact but maybe she hadn’t been enjoying our chats as much as I had.

A sick feeling coils in my stomach at the fact I touched her when she clearly did not welcome it. I’d rather open my own veins with my fangs than force myself on someone when they don’t wish to be touched. Not that I was trying to touch her in a sexual sense, not yet anyway, even though my brain had certainly been starting to go down that path. No, I’d simply wanted to reassure her because she seemed so tense. And like I told her, check that she was really in front of me.

Sitting on her bed, because there were no other options, I made sure to not give her any further indication that I was wishing to invade her personal space—or acting like some jumped up frat boy who was trying to get lucky. It’s quite the opposite. I’m very aware of my height and that I tower over Claire by a foot. She also knows that I’m supernatural, so even without our size difference I am easily capable of over powering her if I should choose. She’s human, completely defenseless against me. By sitting down, I’m hoping to reassure her that I mean her no harm. I’m removing some of the natural intimidation.

“Claire, did someone hurt you?” I ask. The question is one I need the answer to, the beast within me demanding. The way she’d flinched had me automatically jumping to conclusions I hoped were not accurate.

Her jaw visibly clenches and her eyes dart first to the window across the room, beside the desk strewn with her open laptop and a variety of rolled up papers, before her head moves to the door, clearly noting that her pathway is no longer blocked by me.

I’d be able to intercept her if she tried to run, but I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t be pointing it out.

“It’s nothing,” she says with zero inflection in her tone at all.

“Hey,” I say as gently as I can, fingers wanting to reach out to her again. I wait until her gaze returns to me once more before I continue. “You don’t have to answer that. But if you want to talk, I’m here. I truly am sorry about how our interactions have gone down so far. I really enjoyed our conversations. In fact, they brightened up my days considerably. Life had been rather stressful, and you brought some much needed relief into it. I was gutted when I discovered you were here in Froan and we couldn’t meet.”

By opening myself up a bit, giving her the truth, I hope she’ll give me her own.

“Really?” she asks, turning slightly towards me, a small gesture that says I’m winning her over.

“Yes. I might have not disclosed my true nature, for that I hope you understand why. But I enjoyed our messages a lot. I thought we were really getting to know each other. Now that fate seems to have crossed our paths again, I hope we can pick up where we left off.”

And maybe… Nope! I shut the thought down. Claire is gorgeous, pretty in a way that I know would catch my eye anytime she walked into a room, but I have to remember she is human. Unless she is open to something completely casual.

“I liked our texts too,” she admits, a ghost of a smile lighting up her pink lips before it disappears as quickly as it came. “And I have been hurt before.”

“By who?” I can’t stop myself from prying.

She heaves a deep breath. “My ex. I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but the way you looked at me before you touched me. He used to be the same. Full of apologies after fucking up. He’d come here and tell me how sorry he was then he’d get sad and I’d have to cheer him up. If I didn’t, he’d just get angry again, accuse me of not accepting his apology. I placated him for a long time, to my own foolishness.”

“Claire, thank you for telling me.” I have to put my hands on my thighs to stop myself from reaching for her, if only to protect her from whoever this jackass is. Who would treat a woman in that way? Anyone for that matter. “I truly am sorry, and I understand if you want to bury our past and never talk of it again. I would never intentionally hurt you. We may have only spoken through written words but I meant what I said. Those messages really did bring happiness to me.”

She chews on her bottom lip as she contemplates my answer. Then her eyebrows pinch with a clear thought that I’m not sure she will actually voice. I so desperately want to demand she tells me, because it will plague me for days if she doesn’t. But I keep quiet and try my best to look relaxed. My patience pays off.

“Why didn’t you reply when you were back in Scotia? Rory said you were there for weeks before you ran into Bree.”

Ah. Now I’m the one shifting a little uncomfortably. But I’ll tell her the truth, I’ll be honest with anything she asks me.