Page 7

Della

W hen I showed up for dinner at Thea and Cassius's home, I felt a jolt of excitement as soon as I saw Haden. He had lost his mind earlier, but I really liked seeing him possessive over me, even if I had no idea why he thought I was flirting with Sam. I wasn’t.

But if he wanted to play this game, then I would make sure he fucking lost at it. Nine years of anger and hurt were bubbling inside of me, and I wanted to use it against Haden. I deserved his indifference, but I didn’t deserve this. His void self could not keep himself in check.

I stared at the pretty woman next to him, not liking the way that he was talking to and smiling at her.

Even the way he was looking into her eyes disgusted me.

Haden’s focus kept wandering to me, but I did not give him my attention.

I knew that he was doing this just to get a reaction out of me.

I sat down across from him and smiled at Cassius.

“It’s good to see you, Della,” Cassius said with a smile. His gaze drifted to Haden and gave him a pointed look.

Odd.

“I’m Ally, and this is my wife, Marla.” The woman next to Haden smiled at me. It was the same woman from the last dinner party I spied on.

“This is the woman you accused me of being on a date with, if you forgot.” Haden smiled, and Cassius let out a heavy sigh as if he told Haden to not be so damn straight forward. My cheeks heated as I glared at Haden. He grinned at me. Okay, prick, you will regret that .

“I’m Della; it’s nice to meet both of you,” I said politely. My eyes drifted to Sam, who was seated next to me. His bright blue eyes popped against his tanned skin. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. “It’s nice to see you again, Sam.”

“You look stunning.” He smiled at me, his eyes drifting over my face.

Ally’s and Marla’s eyes widened as they looked from me to Haden. His eyes were void as he stared at me, and I was worried he would see my longing for him reflected in my gaze.

“Hi, Thea,” I greeted her, and before she could respond, Haden butted in.

“Do I not get a greeting?” Haden’s voice was soft, chilling.

“Hi,” I rolled my eyes, and Haden’s smile widened.

“Ally is in charge of weapon training for the army.” Thea smiled and tried to move the conversation to something else.

“That is truly impressive.” I smiled at Ally.

“What do you do?” Marla smiled.

I glanced up at her, not sure what to say. I shrugged and looked at my plate.

“Nothing really. Just boring things.”

“Ardella is the Goddess of Life. I’d say that is far from boring.

” Haden leaned on the table so he was closer to me.

Our eyes met, and I felt his gaze through my entire body.

My gaze dropped to his mouth for a brief moment.

I swallowed hard at how handsome he was.

It had been too long since I had him. His void eyes snapped to Sam when he spoke, and his jaw clenched.

“That is quite impressive.” Sam smiled. “You put the rest of us to shame.”

I smiled softly and started eating, feeling weird that everyone was staring at me.

Haden’s eyes practically burned a hole in my face.

His foot moved forward and nudged me, trying to break my concentration on Sam, who started telling the story of how he found out he could heal.

It was the story that Haden had ruined earlier.

The story was clearly exaggerated, and he seemed like he was trying to impress us.

His eyes stared into mine as he talked, like his story was meant for me.

Haden’s foot moved against mine again.

I ignored him.

He did it again, and I kicked his shin with enough force that the table shook. Everyone looked at him, but he was just grinning at me.

“Sorry to interrupt the story. Ardella wanted to play footsies with me under the table and got a bit carried away.”

Sam glanced at me and then at Haden, whom I was glaring at. His eyes held a smugness that was just infuriating. He was enjoying the hell out of this.

“I’m sorry, are you two, like, together?” he asked, confused.

I said no at the same time Haden said yes.

“Yes.” Haden emphasized again. His eyes narrowed on me. “And I don’t like the way you’ve been watching her.” His black eyes flickered to Sam.

“Knock it off,” I demanded.

“No.” His eyes held a challenge in them. “Keep your eyes to yourself, or I’ll rip them out.”

Gods, he was being serious, and I refused to show him that I liked this side of him. I had missed the void and the crazy shit he said.

“Sam, just ignore Haden; he’s lost his fucking mind.”

But Sam just stared at Haden and refused to talk. When I looked at Haden, he glared daggers at Sam.

“Go ahead, Sam, tell your story. Keep trying to impress my woman, but know that she isn’t interested.” Haden’s eyes flickered to me.

“Your arrogance is astounding,” I snapped. “Sam, please, I would love to hear your story.”

I looked around at everyone. Thea was watching the scene with wide eyes, next to Cassius, who was doing a terrible job of trying to stifle back a smile. Meanwhile, Ally and Marla’s eyes were bouncing between Haden and I like this was the best thing they had ever witnessed.

“Della,” Haden warned. His deep voice instantly made my stomach clench.

“Shut up. Sam is trying to talk to me.” I looked away from him and looked at Sam, who now looked genuinely terrified, and did not move a muscle.

I really didn’t care to hear his story, but Haden was being ridiculous.

There was a tense moment of Haden staring at the side of my face, but I did not look at him, thinking he would stop.

I was wrong.

Haden stood up, his chair scraping across the floor, and made me look up.

I gawked at him as he walked around the table to where I was seated.

He grabbed the back of my chair, tilting it back slightly, and began dragging me to his side of the table.

My mouth fell open as everyone watched him act like an ogre , claiming me.

Haden slid the chair to the table before grabbing his and setting it next to me.

My chest was heaving with anger and lust.

Now it was me who glared at the side of his face. Haden didn’t look at me, but his hand came and gripped my thigh so that I couldn’t stand up.

“Continue with the story, Sam, but do not look at her again,” Haden warned.

“Haden,” I hissed. “You are acting like a psycho." He turned to me. The challenge in his void eyes let me know he wanted me to make a scene. Sam started stuttering out the rest of his story. Haden leaned over to me, so his mouth was next to my ear.

“You can pretend to be angry with me, but I can recognize the lust in your eyes right now. You like that I will not let anyone look at you.”

“You’ve lost your mind.” I turned to Sam and watched him as he talked, smiling at him because I felt bad that he was getting Haden’s attitude.

“Keep it up, Della, and you’ll force me to get more drastic with claiming what is mine,” he whispered.

“What does that even mean?”

He smiled as his hand on my thigh slowly pulled the fabric up, and he slid his fingers on my bare skin. His hand slid to the inside of my thigh and squeezed in a very possessive way. No one could see, but my cheeks flushed.

“Keep encouraging him to watch you. Keep smiling at him, and I will bend you over the table and fuck you in front of him so that it is very clear who you actually want.”

My nostrils flared as I exhaled.

“Oh, Storm, you look like you might want me to do that regardless.” His gravelly chuckle in my ear sent goosebumps over my skin. I tried not to listen to him. He was just trying to get a reaction from me, and I was not going to give him one.

Marla was smiling at Haden and I as her hand draped across Ally’s shoulders.

Her bright blonde hair reminded me of the sun, and Ally’s hair was the midnight sky.

They looked perfect for one another. Thea leaned over and gave Cassius a kiss on the cheek.

When I glanced at Haden, he was watching me curiously. His eyes were still void.

“Why are you void?” I asked quietly.

“You bring out the monster in me, Della.”

“I’m assuming that is not a compliment.” I frowned. “Don’t worry, after this dinner we will go our separate ways, and you can keep your monster contained.”

“You know that I did not mean it as an insult,” he said matter-of-factly. “Does your monster want to come out and play with mine, Storm?” he whispered. “Has it missed me as much as I’ve missed it?”

I looked away from him and saw that everyone was staring at us. I pretended not to notice, but it was difficult.

“You’re looking at him again,” he said in warning.

“And I’m not going to stop because you are being possessive over someone who does not belong to you anymore.” I meant to say it quietly, but I realized Sam had stopped talking, and it was silent. Haden’s eyes darkened.

His jaw clenched. The fingers on my thigh tightened. Haden stood without saying a word to me. He looked around at everyone.

“Thank you for a lovely dinner, but I have something to do.”

Where the fuck was he going?

Haden then turned to me and yanked me up, tossing me over his shoulder.

“For the love of the damn stars, put me down,” I demanded as everyone watched him take me away, smiling at us. Haden walked outside and into the dark forest.

“Out of respect for Thea and Cassius, I thought I should probably not bend you over their table to prove that you are mine.”

“Taking me out here proves nothing.”

Haden walked for what seemed like forever. The sound of the waterfall was getting louder as he stormed into the woods. After a few minutes, he stopped and moved me so I was slowly sliding down the front of his body. His eyes didn’t move from mine.

“If I lifted up your dress and sank my fingers into you, would you be wet?”

Gods, I loved how much he did not care about what he said when he was void.

“Yes.”

His face didn’t move, but he seemed to be thinking.

“You left me kneeling in the dirt earlier,” he reminded me. That was so fucking hard to do, too.