Page 45 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

“ L ook Arc, I’m not sure what you think was happening in there, but—”

His move was so fast that I didn’t have the time to jump away when he caught my wrist, turning sharply toward me and backing us against Kai’s closed door.

“I didn’t think anything, but I heard quite enough.”

My throat bobbed as he glanced around the empty corridor, his jaw twitching and mouth set in a thin line.

Next thing I knew, we were surrounded in angry dark smoke, my limbs turning numb for a second before we were standing in his living room, the black particles dissipating and revealing Carter sitting in one of the armchairs, his jaw nearly dislocating as he stared at us wide-eyed.

“What the—” Carter started.

“Care to explain?” Arc asked me, his face thunderous.

“Explain what ?”

The last thing I wanted was to reveal too much. Carter remained silent as he closed the book he was reading and placed it on the table.

“Where do I start?” Arc’s chuckle was dry, empty of any kindness or amusement. “Are you sleeping with Kai?”

My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. Trying to pull my arm away was only making him hold me tighter.

“What?” I snapped. Carter stood up from his spot, anger and confusion replacing the surprise at our sudden arrival. “I’m not! Are you insane?”

“Am I? Why are you avoiding Ann and why is she so sad about it? Why was Kai holding your damn hand in his office?” He pulled me closer, sneering in my face. “Why were you talking about you fucking his friends? Who’s that? Is it Marcus? ”

My hands landed on his chest and pushed him away roughly, hard enough that he stumbled back and let go of my wrist.

“No! You said you heard enough but you didn’t hear anything at all!”

“Then fucking tell me , because I’m one second away from turning both of them to ashes.”

My jaw dropped as I took a step back.

“Do you need me to bring them here?” Carter drawled, now placing himself next to Arc, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh hell no!” I screeched. “Marcus and I are friends, and I don’t know why Kai was holding my hand, but it’s not—I can’t believe that you would think something like that!”

Arc scoffed and my fist tightened at my sides. “Can you blame me? You’ve been avoiding us and spending your evening with Marcus for two days.”

“And you’re a damn Succu—”

The sharp sound of my hand crashing against Carter’s face echoed in the room. His head was now snapped to the side toward Arc as my handprint became redder and redder on his skin. I lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt.

“Come on, Carter. Insult me again, I fucking dare you .”

He rotated his jaw, probably still surprised by the force of my slap. He didn’t even deserve to be punched properly.

Arc’s arm came between us and pulled me back. “Go Carter, I’ll—”

“No. I’m her mate too, aren’t I? If she’s fucking other people behind our back, I—”

“You what ?” I yelled, trying to fight against Arc’s hold, only to get plastered more firmly against his front. “I didn’t do anything and you’re just too fucking happy to throw accusations at my face!”

I turned around and pushed Arc away again, leaving me standing between them, each about five feet away from me.

“You want to know what was going on in Kai’s office?

” I asked Arc. “I went to give him back the Hell’s stone after I’ve been avoiding him since I arrived.

Do you know why I’ve been avoiding him? Because when I didn’t know I was your mate and everyone else obviously did, he asked me to get closer to you thinking I could help you balance your two sides.

Because he suggested, in what now appears to have been some poorly thought joke, that I fuck you to reach that goal. ”

The room fell silent. So much that my heavy breathing and the rain starting to fall outside were almost deafening.

Arc looked at me with narrowed mismatched eyes, his lips set in a hard line, arms crossed over his chest.

“You guys are the ‘friends’ Kai said I should fuck. Are you happy now?”

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me for two days?” he asked. “Because I said I wouldn’t ?”

Maybe I should have said yes. Because I couldn’t tell him the real reason. Not until Dimitri was back and I found that damn tracker as I didn’t know if Marcus would be in trouble for telling me about it.

“I have plenty of reasons to be mad at the both of you,” I said instead.

“You, for pulling me into that binding promise only to twist it constantly. For teasing me all the fucking time only to push me away the next second. It’s not because I don’t have a fucking soul that you can play with me and get away with it. ”

I turned sharply to Carter, jabbing at him with my finger.

“And you? Well, I think it’s pretty obvious. You don’t get to treat me like shit all the damn time and offer me coffee in the morning like we’re friends. You don’t get to insult me then kiss me and push me away.”

I paused, my eyes drifting between the both of them.

“And then you wonder why Dimitri is and always will be the one I’ll trust above everyone else,” I seethed, looking at Arc.

“That’s why. For over fifteen hundred years, he’s never treated me like you did even once.

He’s never played around with my feelings.

He never manipulated or consciously insulted me.

You don’t trust me? Fine. I don’t trust you either. ”

Arc took a step in my direction and I lifted my hand to stop him. He didn’t, pushing against my palm now on his chest.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Save it,” I interrupted him. Carter was quiet behind me, probably cursing me under his breath again. “I’m going to skip dinner,” I said. “I’ll see you—”

“No, please.”

Arc’s hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me to him, sliding my arm behind his neck.

“Don’t touch me,” I choked out, struggling to talk through my clogged throat. “The binding promise said—”

“Fuck the binding promise,” he breathed, sliding both his arms behind my back to pull me to him. “I take it back. I’m sorry. I—”

“You can’t —” I sobbed, unsuccessfully fighting the tears pressing behind my eyes. “You have to stop confusing me, it’s not fair , I’m—”

“I will, I’m sorry,” Arc repeated, voice barely over a whisper, tightening his arms around my waist. My breath hitched when his forehead connected with mine, our nose touching.

“I’m so sorry. I trust you, it’s just— I’m just…

I’m a mess, and there’s so much going on, and I’m fucking terrified that I’ll lose you before I even get to know you because of all this. ”

I wanted to push him away. My head was screaming at me not to let him get to me with pretty words and apologies. To remember how he didn’t hesitate to lie and bend the truth to his will.

But my heart and the empty space where my soul used to be were drinking it up like his words were the last drop of water on earth and I’d been parched for decades.

I walked backward in a last attempt to discourage him—to try and find the resolve that was slowly shattering—but he didn’t let go of me, following my steps until my back met Carter’s front.

“I’m so sorry.”

He sounded like a broken record, whispering his apologies over and over, whispering them between brushes of his lips on mine.

Was he playing with me again? Would he push me away like he did before?

Carter’s hands landed on my hips, pulling me closer as Arc still pushed me against him. The Divine released a sharp breath against the shell of my ear, his jaw resting on the side of my head.

“ Ours ,” that ancient voice echoed in my mind. Where was her fighting spirit when I needed it? When I needed someone to hold my ground for me, to defend me and push away the threats?

Arc finally captured my lips, panting softly, a growl rumbling in his chest as his hands found my ass and lifted me up to wrap my legs around his waist.

The room swirled around me as my fingers combed through his hair, pulling at the strands.

Carter took a few steps back, pulling us with him until his own back met the wall for support and he groaned, his hands lifting slowly from my hips to my rib cage, stopping just below my breasts .

They clasped around the fabric of my black dress, like preventing himself from going further up. “Fuck,” he cursed, throwing his head back, hitting the hard surface behind us.

Arc rocked me against his front, his length rubbing my core through his jeans and my underwear.

A moan managed to slip past my lips straight to his mouth as he devoured me, kissing me with ravenous hunger.

My grip on his hair tightened and I pulled his head back right as Carter ripped open the top of my dress, freeing one of my breasts and instantly covering it with his large hand.

Arc’s cock pressed harder between my thighs and the sound that escaped me again seemed to only encourage them further.

The sudden pleasure coursing through me made me lose my grip on his hair and he took the opportunity to crash his mouth against mine again.

“I can’t fuck you, blondie. But will you come for me?” he rasped, his breath short and warm against my lips.

Carter’s free hand circled my throat from behind as his lips landed on my exposed shoulder. My breast tingled as he rolled my nipple between his fingers, my thighs clenching around Arc’s hips.

My whole body shook in pleasure as Carter’s teeth grazed my skin, his hand holding my throat in a tight grip against his collarbone.

“ I want to taste her,” his thoughts echoed in my mind as Arc kept grinding himself against me, and my moans became louder and louder in the room. “ Sink my teeth into her neck. Sink my cock inside her. ” I shuddered from his lustful thoughts alone.

I slid my hand in Arc’s hair again as another wave of pleasure went through me. Carter’s hands tightened around my breast and my throat, a growl escaping his mouth through clenched teeth as he pulled his fangs away.

“Carter,” I whimpered, lifting my hips to increase the rhythm and pressure of Arc’s length rubbing against my clit. “Do it.”

He groaned again, like he was fighting it. Arc removed my hand from his hair and placed it on his chest, inching his face closer to mine, sliding his own fingers behind my head.

“Please,” I panted as Arc nibbled on my bottom lip.

I was seconds away from coming. Their energy was coursing through my skin from everywhere we touched, their pleasure and thoughts mixing with my own. My skin was burning, feeling too tight to contain everything that was going on inside me.

“ Fuck it ,” Carter cursed under his breath. “Okay. Yes. Shit .”

He didn’t seem so sure about it, but his thoughts were deafening in my mind. He wanted to. Longed to since I arrived.

His teeth grazed my skin again, this time applying more pressure. Arc pressed harder and my mind blanked out as I felt Carter’s fangs piercing the skin, a deep growl coming out of his throat and rumbling against my skin.

I came so hard I lost my ability to see for long seconds as Arc slowed down, kissing my temple, my cheek, my jaw, forgoing his own release.

Carter’s chest heaved behind me as he licked the dark blood clean off my neck like it was a rare delicacy.

“You’re so pretty when you come,” Arc whispered in my ear, a smile audible in his voice.

He let me down gently, keeping his hands on my waist to make sure my legs wouldn’t give out—which was likely to happen.

As he pressed me against Carter to kiss my lips again, I couldn’t help but notice the now half hard bulge poking at my back. Carter cursed again as he tensed behind me and I jumped away straight into Arc.

“I’m sorry—” I winced. What if I had hurt him?

He let himself slide to the ground along the wall, burying his face in his arms as soon as his ass hit the floor.

“Are you—”

“Let’s get rid of that binding promise,” Arc interrupted me with a tight smile. “He’ll meet us for dinner.”