Page 77 of Dark Flame

“Harlow!”

“Don’t stop me, Alec. I’m leaving.”

Fight him.

No, I tell the voice.No, I won’t hurt him. I don’twantto hurt him.

I make it to the staircase before a streak of colour blocks me. Before hands descend on my shoulders and my magick prickles, urging me to throw him off me.

“You knew,” I murmur instead. “Youknewthey weren’t my family. I suppose I should thank you for placing the box in my room.”

He curses, his gaze darting towards the bedroom. “That’s how—You can’t go.”

“Watch me.” I step around him, making it all the way down the staircase before he’s a blur in front of me again.

His hands latch onto my upper arms and I’m swung around, my back pressed to the nearest wall. He feels like everything both right and wrong. Everything I could have but everything I shouldn’t. A monster who kidnapped me but one who’s also taken care of me.

“Let me go,” I demand. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

Do it,the voice urges, the slither an unwelcome chill down my spine. I want my fire—onlymy flames. The tendrils are new and worrisome.

They’re not. They’re your potential.

“You can’t hurt me,” he says, his voice pulling me from the imaginary argument I seem to be having. Exactly like all those months of hearing his voice, I’m momentarily backed off the edge. “You’re my Bride. The bond between us won’t allow you to harm me.”

“Witches don’t have mates. I might be yours, but you’re not mine.”

My words smother the tiny ember that’s been slowly igniting since the moment we met.

They’re necessary words because, for once, I’m the victor.

Twenty-Nine

ALEC

She’s right.This is why we only bond with our own. But she’s also wrong. She’s proved it in the way she looks at me, the fact she was hearing my voice long before we met. The bond was always meant to be, even if neither of us were aware.

A vampire doesn’t exist without their Bride. I will have no choice but to follow her if she goes, forever craving a thirst only she’ll be able to quench.

I pinch her chin, aware at any second my powerful witch can throw me across the room. While I have her, I’ll keep her until the very last moment.

“Stay.”

She tries to jerk from my hold, her jaw tense beneath my palm. “Fuck you. You’ve said time and time again you only planned on using my blood for your own gains.”

“You know it’s not like that anymore.”

“Me being your Bride doesn’t mean you care about me. Doesn’t mean you’ll love me.”

As though you’d love me after all this?“Told you, vampires can’t love, but that doesn’t change anything.” Emotions don’t matter within mate pairs. She’s mine, I’m hers, and she must be protected.

Something passes through the bond from her to me. A sense of uncertainty, of fear and longing.

“You’ll be targeted if you go out there.” I’ll lock her in the dungeon before I see her harmed because of the curse in her blood, which should now be effective once more.

“If they attack, I’ll kill them. It’s been fun, but bye.” The purple in her eyes flickers to a deep lilac and—no, even darker. Almost black. It’s the telling sign of an attack, but I’m quicker than her, and I lock my arm around her waist and run her away from the foyer.

“I won’t let you go. You forget, you’re mine now.”