Page 129 of Broken Souls

“No.”

She rolls her lips in, a smile dancing in her eyes. Then she tosses the dildo at the bed.

I twist as she does so, pulling a throwing knife hidden under the cuff of my jacket. The blade spins through the air, skewers the damn toy, then pins it to the headboard with a satisfyingthud.

I turn back to her and rise. Her mouth is open. “What did you do that for?”

“It touched you.”

Her eyes narrow as she shakes her head, and her earlier amusement vanishes. “You’re such a fucking –” she starts to seethe, but then she cuts herself off. Her jaw locking, she shoves past me.

“Micha –” I say, wondering what the fuck has set her off this time. Every time we seem to take a step forward, all she does is shoves us back.

“Go fuck yourself,” she snarls as she heads for the door. “Oh, wait, you can’t,” she sneers. “Because you stabbed the fuckingdildo!” She grabs the door handle. “Oh, I know. You can use the stupidly thick stick that’s already up your ass!”

She yanks open the door, but I dart over to her and slam it shut with a hand. As she tries to throw her right elbow into my ribs to get me to back off, I catch it with my other hand, then yank her around. Her left fist swings for me. I block it with my right forearm, wrap my fingers around her wrist, pull her arm out, and duck under it. I lift her over my shoulders as I straighten and toss her towards the bed. She bounces on it hard, then flies up to tumble over the side, but with a burst of speed, I’m on the mattress. Grabbing her arm, I yank her onto the bed and cage her with my body.

“Get off me,” she seethes.

“I will after you tell me what’s wrong. We need to learn to talk to each other, Micha.” While I was reading all those articles about how to apologize, I also clicked on some links discussing the key to long-term relationships, and they all said the same thing:communicate.

She glares at me without a word, and the tightness in my chest starts to strangle me. “Fuck, monster. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and all the rest of my lives, but I can’t do this alone. You have to help me –”

“Why?” she snaps, her eyes blazing hot.

“Because I love –”

“No, why does it fucking matter if you get me to like you in this life,” she asks sarcastically, “when all my memories will be wiped in the next?”

“Because I don’t want you to hurt at all.” Knowing she’ll have something to say to that, I hurry on, “I fucked up and hurt you. I know that. I can’t change that, but I am trying to fix it, Micha. I am trying to become the person you need.”

She glances away from me, and my stomach drops.

“You don’t trust me when I say you’re mine, so I will show you. I will spend every day for the rest of my lives showing you that you are mine. That I will protect you and fight for you andlearnfor you. If you need something, tell me, and I’ll provide it.” Her eyes dart back to me.

“I love you, little monster,” I murmur. “And I know you don’t believe that right now, but I will show you every day until you do.”

I lean down to kiss her lips only to stop a breath away. I promised her I wouldn’t touch her unless she wanted me to tonight, and she needs to be able to trust my word whenever I give it.

“You want to prove to me that you’re sorry?” she says, her eyes serious and intense.

I nod.

“Then cut off your cock and fucking choke on it.”

Forty-Five

HER

“Is that what you really need?” Varius asks flatly. “You can’t forgive me unless I mutilate myself?”

My blood is pounding in my ears. I’m not thinking right; I know it. Because there are alarm bells ringing in my skull, a little voice telling me I’m going too far, and yet, the words that come out of my mouth are, “Yes! Khalid cut off his hand for hurting his girl, and you’ve done nothing!”

“Khalid can speak magic. If I cut off both my hands,” Varius says tightly, “I can’t protect you.”

“Protect me?” I screech. “You won’t be able to hurt me! I begged you to stop.”

He flinches. Grief crashes down our bond.