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“Oh, that’s right. Your noble gesture to save my pretty face.”

“Who told you that?” His question was sharp.

“Several people. Apparently there wassupposedto be a pact to prevent Adam from taking my face. A pact brokered by you.” He shifted in his seat but remained silent. “Aren’t you going to defend yourself?”

“I thought you said you didn’t want to discuss our relationship.”

“This isn’t about us, this is about you threatening your entire family if they didn’t do what you wanted. Who the helldoesthat?”

“Death Bringer does.” He scowled at her. “And this isn’t about my family. You’re pissed because I left you. Can’t you even admit that?”

She drew herself up to her full height. “I thoughtthatwas too obvious to mention. Why would I care that you deliberately tried to alienate me and kept me in the dark about your true purpose? Who the fuck would mind that they were deemeduseless?Why the hell would I even give it a second thought?” She realized she was shouting and that he was regarding her with a faint smile. “Don’t you dare laugh at me!”

“I’m not laughing. You’ve expressed your lack of concern for my welfare many times before.”

She hated the way the light had gone from his face and that she was responsible for it. “Do you want them all to loathe you?”

“If it brings results, why not?” He shrugged. “They made me what I am. Perhaps it is time that they learn to fear what they can no longer control.”

There was a hardness to him that she hadn’t expected, a grandeur and arrogance that fitted the immense power of his true form. He’d always seemed strong, but now he was truly frightening. He stood up and walked away, presenting her with a fine view of his wings and the tight, high curve of his ass.

“You’re saying you’d kill everyone who loves you, just for me?”

He swung around to face her. “They don’t love me. They are afraid of me and wish to control my power.”

“Which is why you left Otherworld in the first place.”

“Yes.”

“If we can retrieve my face, would you stay in Otherworld or go back to San Francisco?”

“That’s up to you, isn’t it?”

This time she was the one to look away. Damn the man for demanding certainties she wasn’t yet prepared to give him. She was no therapist, but didn’t he understand that his desertion had activated all her fears of abandonment and betrayal? She hadn’t expected that, hadn’t ever wanted to feel like a bawling five-year-old kid left at an institution again. She’d spent years learning to protect herself from the hurt, putting up barriers to keep herself safe. Why should she let him know that seeing him made everything right in her world? Why give him the ammunition to destroy her again?

“It’s getting late. Do you want to take a look at my shoulder, or not?”

He regarded her steadily for a long moment. “Still hiding, Ella?”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Liar.”

He flowed toward her; the beauty of his movements made her think of sex and entangled limbs and kisses. “For a female who prides herself on speaking her mind, how is it that for me, yourmate,the male who shares your thoughts, you have nothing but deception? Is what you feel for me too ‘honest’ to be shared?

“As I said, it’s getting late.”

“Then show me your wound.” His tone was impersonal and polite again. It made her want to sink her teeth into his flesh.

“Be my guest.”

Ignoring his suggestive intrusion into her mind, she eased out of her jacket and then her rose-covered blouse to reveal the handkerchief that covered her shoulder.

“Is that one of mine? I can never find any of my handkerchiefs. What the hell do you do with them?”

“I had to pack it withsomething,and it’s not as if you have any pocket to put it in here.” She carefully removed the folded cotton.

Vadim’s breath hissed out.“Ddwu.”