Page 5

Haden

T his is what I should want. I did not need Storm to be a damn distraction from my original plan, but as I watched her, I could not help wondering if I could have both—her and revenge against the stars and gods.

“You know, you could just go talk to her instead of creeping around watching her.” Cassius startled me.

I hadn't heard him come up beside me as I stood in the woods of Crimson.

I was stalking the woman I told to leave me alone.

Cassius watched me without judgment. He knew what it was like to be consumed by the need for one woman.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I lied, and Cassius’ smile widened.

It took me less than a minute to become void when she came to see me two weeks ago.

But by the time I resurfaced, my nice side had already broken her heart again.

Even though this was what needed to happen, it didn't mean that I had to like it.

She was not for me to keep. But as I told myself that, I was getting more irrationally pissed off at my own thoughts. How could she not be mine?

Because I did not want to corrupt her. I did not want Della to change for me. But wanting and needing are two different things, no matter how hard it is to tell the difference sometimes.

My gaze went over to Della and Thea as they walked along the training field talking while the men trained. I was keeping a tally of every bastard that stopped and stared at her, like she would ever give any of them a moment of her attention.

“Why are you looking like you’re going to murder my men?” Cassius asked.

“Why are they watching her like that? She isn’t interested.”

Cassius raised his dark brow at me.

“You told Della you didn’t want her, so maybe she will be interested in someone else.”

I opened my mouth to tell him he was an asshole but stopped when he grinned.

“Judging by your reaction, that really pissed you off. So, you either want her or you are alright with her being pursued by other men. And who knows, maybe she can find happiness with one of them.”

My eyes were now burning with wrath. How dare he think I would ever allow her to be looked at, touched, or loved by another man.

“No one would ever be able to make her happy but me.” She wouldn’t give any of them her attention.

I stood taller and narrowed my eyes when I saw Sam walking up to the two of them. Cassius chuckled softly as I watched everything about their interaction. She was smiling at him. Fuck, that really pissed me off. Sam was good-looking—too good-looking to be talking to Storm.

“You look like you might rip off Sam’s head.” Cassius was not even trying to hide his amusement.

“Why is she smiling at him like that?”

“Like what? Like she is being friendly?” He chuckled.

“She didn’t smile like that at anyone else.” I did not like this one bit.

“Should we go over—” Cassius didn’t even finish his sentence.

“Yes, come on. But I don’t want it to look obvious that I don’t like this.”

Cassius laughed as he walked with me over to where the three of them were chatting. Della was smiling at something Sam said, and that was all I needed to see to lose my last bit of composure. My pace was as fast as I could go without running.

Della and Thea immediately looked up at us, as if they sensed us approaching. Della’s eyes immediately looked away from me, dismissing me like I wasn’t the love of her life. My wrath bubbled up when she looked back at Sam as he pushed his dark hair out of his face. She likes blondes, asshole.

Cassius wrapped his arm around Thea, and I stopped next to Sam so when she looked at him, she could see me looking at her.

Her gaze flickered to me for one moment before ignoring me again.

Sam was talking about something to do with his magic.

Show off . Della was doing a good job of ignoring my face.

“What an interesting way to find out you had healing magic.” Della smiled, and it gutted me to see it directed at this man. That needed to end.

“She can’t be that impressed. She has healing magic, and so does Thea. It’s not that impressive,” I said, not being able to control my jealousy.

Della narrowed her eyes at me. That’s right, Storm, I’m the only one you need to look at with those pretty eyes. Thea was laughing silently with Cassius, but they could kiss my ass.

“Do you have healing magic?” Della asked me.

“You know I don’t.” I glared right back.

“How unimpressive,” she snapped. Fuck, this woman was everything. I gave her a big grin.

“Are you flirting with me, Storm?” I stepped in front of Sam and stared her down.

I could feel Sam’s eyes on me, but I ignored him.

Maybe he would get the hint that she was off-limits.

Her eyes flashed white, but I wasn’t sure if she liked me trying to flirt with her or if she really wanted to kill me. Either way, she was thinking about me.

“You are being rude.” She stared at me like I gave a flying fuck if I hurt this man’s feelings.

“You are,” I said like a child.

“How exactly am I being rude?” She put her hands on her hips and gave me a look that let me know she was going to kill me if we were ever alone. I was willing to risk it. She needed to be reminded that she didn’t want anyone else.

“You know what you are doing.”

Her jaw clenched, and I thought she would say something to me, but she ignored me. Her pretty eyes looked away from me and back to Sam. She was going to cause this man to lose his life.

“Anyways, Sam, before we were so rudely interrupted, you were telling me a story.”

Cassius and Thea were watching with wide, interested eyes. Cassius gave me a look that let me know that it was completely obvious that I was jealous. But I was too far gone. There was no way to compose myself. My insides burned with jealousy and possessiveness as I stared at my mate.

“Umm…” Sam glanced at me and back at Della. “I have to get back to duty, but I’ll tell you at dinner tonight.”

My eyes narrowed on her when she flinched slightly at his words.

“You invited him to dinner tonight?” I seethed at her. Did she want me to kill him? I would. I wouldn’t feel bad about it either. How dare he think he can make a move on my mate. “Absolutely not.”

“It’s not your decision.” Della glared at me. “I’ll see you at dinner, Sam.”

He nodded and left immediately, which probably saved his life. I stepped toward her, and she didn’t back away from me.

“What is your problem?” she snapped.

“You, acting like you’re a single woman.” I pointed toward Sam. “Really?”

“I am a single woman, asshole,” she reminded me, but we both knew that was not true. “You act like I asked him to sleep with me. It’s a friendly dinner with all of us going.”

Her mention of sleeping with him did me in. I grabbed her hand and started dragging her away so I could remind her that she was mine.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. Della was not trying very fucking hard to get away from me.

I ignored her and walked quickly away from Cassius and Thea so they would not witness me lose my fucking mind over this woman.

Although I could hear them chuckling softly, so I’m sure they knew.

“For fuck’s sake, Haden, you are acting like a godsdamn psycho. ”

“You knew exactly what you were doing by flirting with Sam.” I glared back at her. I expected her to argue, but she smiled at me.

“Jealous?”

“I’m dragging you into the woods to prove to you that I am the only man you get to flirt with. I think we are past jealousy.”

“I wasn’t flirting with him,” she scoffed. “I do not know how to flirt.”

I turned toward her and glared.

“Yes, you do, and I didn’t like how you were smiling at him.” I stared at her. “You are very good at flirting—I should know. Until Sam, I was the only man you flirted with.”

She raised her eyebrow at me.

“I was being polite.”

“Fuck being polite,” I said. “You can be polite without smiling like that.”

We were already deep in the woods at this point, which was probably good because Della’s eyes flashed white, and I knew it was from rage. She stepped toward me, and I refused to back away from her wrath.

“You are such a prick.” She stepped toward me again. “You told me you never wanted to see me again.” She took another step forward. “You told me you couldn’t wait for Thea to break her curse so that I did not have a reason to linger around any longer.” Another step. “You hate me.”

I didn’t know what to tell her. How was I supposed to explain that I didn’t do that, the supposedly nice part of me did?

But he wanted her too, even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud.

Her starlight eyes burned with the wrath of a thousand suns, and it made me feel warm and desperate for her.

I knew she didn’t want me to touch her, but I was slowly losing my ability to keep my hands to myself.

Storm was breathing heavily now, her cheeks flushed and her hands clenched at her sides. Gods, she might hit me. Was it sick that I wouldn’t care if she slapped me because at least she would be touching me? Fuck, I was a sick man.

Della stepped toward me, and the smell of night and flowers was my damn breaking point.

She was only a foot in front of me, and my mating bond could not control itself.

I grabbed her face in my hands and kissed her with desperation.

Her mouth moved against mine for only a moment, one perfect fucking moment.

But she pulled back enraged, and then she slapped me across the face. I grabbed my cheek and smiled at her.

“Storm…”

“You were on a date…”

I looked at her oddly. Then it dawned on me what she meant.

“Ally?” I asked, noticing her odd look. “I was doing no such thing. She is a friend, and her wife was sitting next to her.”

Her cheeks immediately heated, and I smiled softly to myself at her jealousy.

“It's not very fun to feel jealous, is it?”