Page 24 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

Kylo smiled, that silly little dimple working overtime to melt me into useless, pliable goo.

“You’re so sexy when you’re negotiating, baby,” Kylo purred. “I remember our first negotiation like it was yesterday…”

An image of Kylo holding me underwater while his shadows roamed my body flashed against my will.

I stiffened, my body coming alive, yearning to be closer to him.

Kylo inhaled deeply, and my glare became scorching. At the first hint of his smile, one of my shadows burst free. Kylo grabbed it with his own shadow, and soon the smoky tendrils intertwined in the space between us.

I huffed. “Traitor.”

The shadow ignored me, only tracing Kylo’s jaw when she finally reached him.

Kylo’s grin was dangerous now.

I yanked my darkness back inside me and away from his. “We aren’t negotiating, Kylo. It was wrong of you to kill my boyfriend.”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“Urgh! It was wrong of you to kill him, and I never want to feel like you don’t respect me enough to give me a say in my own lifeever again.”

The words came out fierce despite my natural, trauma-induced doormat tendencies. And it felt good to be strong, to stand up for myself the way I hadn’t always been able to. I didn’t want to keep letting myself down.

“Or you can’t be a part of my life,” I finished. “Not in any meaningful, intimate way.”

Kylo’s smile vanished.

Our fates were bound together now. But I still had a choice. We didn’t have to be romantically involved to work with one another. We could merely be allies, for the good of the revolution.

I remained strong even as my heart panged, my parental wound begging me to give up all of my boundaries just so Kylo would continue to love me.

I was terrified, conditioned to believe that my feelings didn’t matter. That if I wanted someone to love me, I had to give up my intuition, thoughts, and desires. Because mine were wrong, too much, and not to be trusted.

But I saw the truth now. My soulmate would show up for me in the way I needed him to, and if that wasn’t Kylo, then I would learn to live with that. No matter how badly it would hurt, no matter how long I would be devastated trying to come to terms with the inconceivable.

I hadn’t realized I’d started to cry until a tear dropped to the counter, and Kylo was by my side in an instant.

“I don’t think powerful witches should cry as much as I do,” I muttered.

Kylo rubbed soothing circles on my back. “Yes, they should. Because it means they’re tapped in. It means they’re beautifully mortal.” He stroked my hair next, and I melted into his touch. “I never want to make you feel like I don’t respect you. I want your approval on any decision that might affect you, so long as it’s not a matter of immediate life or death. I wouldn’t be truthful if I were to apologize for taking Jacob’s life. But I am sorry for the way I did it and everything that came after. Most of all, I’m sorry for failing to protect your heart. If you will allow me to, I will work tirelessly to earn back your trust. As long as it takes.”

My head found itself resting against Kylo’s chest as he continued his comforting touch. Tears still fell from my eyes, emotions hitting me from every conceivable direction.

It had been a long fucking week.

“I’m still so angry,” I whispered. “I want to believe I know who you are, but I’m afraid of getting the rug pulled out from under me. I wantusto have meaning—and it was shattering to think that nothing about us had any at all. That it was a lie from the start.”

Kylo lifted me into his arms, and I allowed him to. He brought me into his lap in a chair in the living room. He cradled my face in his hands, those beautiful lips downturned.

“What an agonizing thing to hear,” Kylo murmured, pain ripe in his solemn voice. “That you might not believe we were made for each other anymore.”

I stared down at his chest, brows drawn. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

“That’s okay, angel. I’ll believe enough for both of us.”

He’d never felt real. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy to believe the worst.

“Be as angry and distrustful as you need to be, for however long. Didn’t much bother me before,” he said, humor easing back into his voice.