Page 30 of Obsidian and Frost

I shoved a hand through my spiky hair and turned to head back to my dorm, but then hands grasped my shoulders and shoved me into the trunk of an oak tree.

As I jarred hard against it, Lazriel was suddenly in my space, his claws digging into my coat and scraping through to my skin, making me grunt.

“Stop with your fucking bullshit!” he roared in my face.

He was fresh from his last fight, blood drenching his face, all over his exposed chest, and he was still only in his shorts and even barefoot, while his hair, usually so well kept, was a wild, bedhead like mess.

Combined with the fury coming off him…fuck…it was glorious.

“Stop what?” I asked.

He shoved me, making me choke at the sheer power behind it. “You know what! Being every fucking where I turn! Lingering! Watching me! You want me to notice! You want me full of you and—”

“Full of me? Mmm… I certainly do, hot furious hybrid.”

“Shut the fuck up!” he roared. “You’re trying to fuck with me, take my position here, and now you even want her for something too.”

“It’s not that and you know it. But your denial game is ridiculously strong.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know that I do. And that’s what’s nagging at you, why you’re drawn to me.”

“I’m not fucking drawn to you.”

“You’re sure?”

He flinched, and didn’t speak to it, which was unbelievably telling. And then he blew out a breath and said instead, “You have no idea how long it’s taken me to get to this point with Velra. For her to trust me, to trust in herself with me. She’s coming to me atThe Fadeand I won’t let you screw that up. Do you hear me?”

“It’s not my intention toscrew anything upfor you.”

“Bullshit.”

“Do you really think you can keep all ofthischecked around her? Something you’re well aware she’ll need you to check—at least at first? You’re cracking and raging. Right on the edge. Something’s happening, something’s changing for you, and you’re right on the periphery of finally being ready to acknowledge it and embrace it.”

“Shut it!”

“All this rage and violence against me? It’s passion. It’s your truth. If you shrink back into denial now, you could fucking detonate.”

He stilled, his claws digging deeper into my chest, the searing pain more welcome than deterring now, especially as his eyes flamed for me.

He leaned in and my breath caught with the delectable anticipation, of him about to let go and allow it all in finally.

His eyes flickered.

Uncertainty.

Confusion.

More painful denial that he was desperately clinging to, even though it clearly brought him so much hurt.

He withdrew and jerked back.

He stared at me, eyes wide, fucking shaking with it.

And then he took off in a burst of vampire speed.

“Hell,” I breathed, sinking back against the tree trunk.