Page 103 of Broken Souls

But she doesn’t try to leave. Doesn’t move at all, but I’m focusing on the former, ignoring the weight of the latter. As long as she is here, I have a chance.

I have a chance.

And with it, I will make Micha Shadow remember that she is mine.

No.

I will make her remember that she wants tobemine.

Thirty-Five

HER

The fucker still smells like a whore.

It doesn’t matter how many showers he has, I can still smell That Bitch on him. He must have buried himself so deep inside her, made her squirt all over his cock so fucking hard that it seeped into his skin.

And I hate that that is what I am focused on more than the fact that he tortured me, then raped me. But every time he glances at her as we sit at the kitchen table eating dinner, four days after he fucked her, I want to stab her in the face, then him. Every time she tries to talk to me, I want to shoot her in the throat, then him. Every time she fuckingbreathes, I want to shove her godsdamn head into a shit-clogged toilet and drown her in it. Then. Fucking. Him.

It’s only the fact that Khalid is beside her that I don’t. He might be missing one hand, but he can still kill me easily, especially given I can’t use any magic now. But dear gods, if I get one second alone with her… I will end her. I don’t care if it was Khalid’s payment that led to Varius having to fuck her; she knows what my husband’s dick feels like, and I –

I stop those traitorous thoughts.

Although he will be my husband in a few months’ time, once the baby is certain to survive, he will never be myhusband. I don’t want anything to do with him outside of the terms of our contract unless it’s making plans for his funeral.

“Careful,” Maddox murmurs as he leans in towards me from my left. “You’re starting to show some emotion.”

The muscles on my face relax instantly, and he chuckles softly. “You’re really making him work for it, huh?”

“I’m not making him work for anything,” I growl as I try not to breathe in the smell of the French fries in front of me. The fried smell is making me nauseous, but I don’t exactly have an appetite anyways. “I’m dealing with my own shit. If he suffers, that’s just a benefit.”

He chuckles. “The gods help us if you two ever make up.”

I glare at him side-eye as he chews on his burger. We’ve been having different types of them for the last few days – another attempt by Varius to show me he loves me. My chest tightens from the memory of our first meet, then our first date.I like burgers.

It came to mean:I love you.

I blink away those memories, but the pain in my chest stays.

“What?” he asks after he swallows. “You can’t tell me you don’t daydream about how badass you two’ll be ruling this Family together?”

“It’ll never betogether. I’m just a breedmare.”

He gives me a pointed look. “Of course you would rule together because the thing about the men in this family,” he says, his voice lowered, “is that when we love, we lovehard.” He nods at Enoch before I can tell him Varius doesn’t know what love is.

“He’s been in love with Stormie Green since she punched him in the nose for pulling on her hair in the first grade,” he says. “Oh, he’s dated a couple times. Tried to move on given she’s never given him the time of day, but the only time he has sex is when Ezriel drags him into a threesome.” He nods at Leno. “He lost his eyes to a wolf when he was thirteen. You know what he said when he finally found his way home, and Mom asked him what had happened, freaking out, mind you, because he’d taken so damn long to get back that even she couldn’t heal him by then?”

I shake my head.

“The fucker grinned like a fool and said, ‘I found the girl I’m going to marry.’ He’s been looking for her ever since. And Khalid,” he says as he nods at the reaper, who is talking to his whore. “He cut off his own fucking hand for her. He absolutely worships the ground she walks on, even calls her ‘master’ in Drazic. And Varius…”

A lump suddenly forms in my throat as my eyes shift to him. He looks miserable, his cheeks sunken, his eyes dark and bagged. He’s barely eaten these past few days, his plates even more untouched than mine. And I know he hasn’t been sleeping well. When he carried me back to his room that day I destroyed his office, he told me to pick a side of the bed. So I chose the upper half as I’m small enough to sleep sideways across it. He’s over a foot taller than me and has to curl up awkwardly to fit.

His eyes hold mine, and I’m sucked so deep inside them that I almost miss what Maddox says.

“...marry her sister.”

“What?” I blink, then break Varius’ gaze to look at his brother.