Page 74 of The Freedom You Seek

“None of your business.” I stepped closer and caged her in my arms, our chests almost touching. “Instead, you’ll tell me what your fucking problem is! Lashing out and running away—how did you get out of the city anyway?”

“I passed through a gate. The guards let me leave easily.”

“The guards?You let the guards see you? How fucking reckless can one person be?” I growled at her, showing her my teeth in a dominant gesture, but she chose to ignore it. Wrong move.

“Stupid and reckless. I thought better of you, Jama.”

“Fuck you, Dion.”

As if I’d accept such behavior. Oh no, I wouldn’t allow her to treat me with her usual stubborn defiance. Even though I realized that with all that fire in her now cobalt blue eyes, she was so gorgeous it almost took my breath away. My gaze dropped to her lips almost of its own accord. How would they feel? Would they be as soft as theylooked? And, more importantly, would she let me if I tried to collect my spoils of the hunt and kiss her?

But as much as drunk me thought kissing would be an excellent idea, my reward would have to wait. There was unfinished business to discuss.

“Now, Jama. What in the gods’ good names have I done wrong for you to push me away as you did andthen run away?” Another wild guess crossed my mind, and my face contorted with murderous rage. “Or was it someone else? Who hurt you? I’ll make sure they’ll never dare that again.”

“Gods, Dion, you reek of alcohol.”

“The sooner you tell me what I want to know, the faster I stop breathing on you.”

I observed as she narrowed her eyes even more, and with a sharp tone, she finally spoke. “Both of us know that you left out a vital fact about this whole Amplifier shit, right Dion? Or did you plan to let me run blindly into a forever-bond?”

Shit. Her words made the same impact as if she’d dumped a bucket full of ice water on my head. I couldn’t even play dumb. She’d found out about the Rite of Binding. Suddenly, her entire demeanor made sense. It didn’t justify her reaction, but I wasn’t exactly the poster youngling for the biggest voice of reason myself. “It’s a binding, not a bond.”

“I couldn’t care less about semantics. Answer my godsdamn question!”

I took a deep breath. My mind had cleared a little, but I was far from sober. “Did it ever cross your mind that I avoid thinking about that too, Jama?”

“You should have told me, Dion.” She glared, and somehow, even in her anger, she was the most beautiful female I’d ever seen. If she were aware of how much I wanted to undress her and reconcile with her in a completely different way—one where no serious talking was required—she’d certainly be scared. My mind wandered, and I wondered what sounds I could coax out of her.

My thoughts were interrupted when my Nayana waved her hand in front of my eyes. Huh, so she had realized I’d spaced out. It took me some effort to remember her question and even more to piece together the proper words in reply.

“Why? I knew you’d never want it, and I would have fought hard to prevent it. No. Bad choice of words. I won’t allow it to happen, at least not until you don’t convince me you want to bind yourself to someone.”

Our whole situation had been fucked up from the beginning, and—if I was honest—it only went downhill from there. Not a single day passed without me fantasizing about making her mine, but that would be a fucking disaster—one I could never allow.Never.

It had only recently been that I’d come to terms with the undeniable fact that I wanted her. That I craved her so badly that it hurt more than any lethal wound ever could. No other living soul in the world could have sent me into drinking like she did. No one had ever affected me the way she had.

Honestly, why did she have to be so tiny? It was as if she knew I’d always had a weakness for smalltrinkets. No wonder she roused my instincts to possess and protect her—it just made sense.

And yet, just because I’d acknowledged my obsession with her, it didn’t mean I’d ever pursue her. I just hoped that by accepting my cravings, it would become easier for me not to act on them—although the alcohol was doing its best to make me forget about my reservations.

Nayana opened her mouth to speak, but something changed from one moment to the other. She started to shake, her eyes widened, and the sudden panic in her gaze confused me. My forehead wrinkled in question as a whirring, high-pitched noise that hurt my ears reverberated behind me, followed by a deafening roar.

I couldn’t comprehend the horror right in front of me. In a matter of seconds, it looked like a cut had torn reality apart, widening until the fabric of the material plane gaped open while the most unpleasant shrill noise filled the air. And the vast gash wasn’t empty. As if two pictures were mashed together, I perceived rolling hills shrouded in darkness, layering above and below the forest we were in. Before I could even try to comprehend what was happening, something monstrous stepped out of the tear before the wound in reality mended itself, leaving only the…thing behind.

No. No, thatwasn’t real.

I couldn’t help but scream at the sight in front of me. The only fitting word that came close to describing what was towering in the clearing wasmonster.

I’d never seen anything like it. Easily twice the height of Dion and much bulkier, its mottled gray skin was covered in scars. The creature was humanoid in its features, just very big, very unkempt, and extremely ugly. Instead of eyes, I could only spot empty sockets. The creature was naked, but I didn’t even feel the slightest urge to peek if it owned some kind of body part resembling humanoid anatomy between its legs. The club it held in its massive right hand was easily larger than me. As the beast flared its nostrils and roared in our direction, my hope that it wouldn’t see us due to its lack of eyes was shattered.

Dion, whose head whipped around the same moment I screamed, first tensed, then snarled a really colorful curse I’d never heard before and certainly never wanted to repeat. He released me from the hold he still kept on me and turned around, pushing me behind his back. “Listen, Nayana, I know you hate to listen to me, but this here…just do what I say. Whatever takes place, stay behind me.” He reached for his side, and his hand froze midair. “Fuck, I didn’t bring a blade.”

I frowned. Dion never wore a sword on his belt, as far as I could recall. I’d always presumed he was so confident in his magic that he didn’t feel the need to carry a weapon on his person. “Bind it with your darkness!” It was obvious that drunk Dion was rather dumb.

The ground trembled with each step of the approaching monster as drool dripped from its hideous mouth. Finally,a few lazy shadowy ropes appeared, but they moved around sluggishly and vanished as soon as they grazed the thing. Understandable—I wouldn’t want to touch that either.

“Give me your dagger, Nayana.” Dion never stopped glaring at the monster. He extended his hand to me. “My magic isn’t working right, thanks to the bottle of schnapps I drank.”