Page 79 of Unveil

“Fuck, I’m sorry. That was harsh?—”

“It was fine! I’m fine. You know why? Because I. Don’t. Care.” Her voice flutters like silk but cuts like steel. “I said I don’t want to talk, and I don’t.”

“Well,Ido.”

She pushes off the mantel to spin, faster this time. “Too bad. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Yes, there is.” I catch her hand. She scowls at our touch like the connection personally offends her. “We need to talk about earlier. It seems like it’s bothering you. The lake. How it ended…”

Her eyes widen, then her lips press into a thin line. “Idefinitelydon’t want to talk about that.”

I search her face for anything that could tell me what’s going on. After watching her for years, Iknowthis girl. But it feels like she’s trapped somewhere behind this wall, a defense I can’t sneak past this time.

“Why don’t you wanna talk about it?”

“Pick a reason!” she explodes, dropping the jug. “You stalked me. Murdered someone. Kidnapped me?! And earlier? God, you might as well have fucked me. Get a girl pregnant without so much as taking her virginity? I might’ve been a tarot hack, but I can assure you dying a virgin wasn’t in my cards. Why didn’t you just finish the job? It’s not like any of it matters.”

I stumble back, letting her hand go. Stabbing me with my own knife would’ve hurt less. Somehow, she’s found my softest spot and pressed the bruise mercilessly.

I swallow hard. “You might not think it matters, Luna… but it matters to me. I’ve done so much wrong when it comes to you. Us. Making you mine, doing it the right way, that matters to me.”

For a second, vulnerability softens her eyes, but it’s gone in a blink as she props her hands on her hips.

“So you think getting me pregnantbeforetaking my virginity is ‘doing it the right way’? Spoiler alert. You’re wrong, because it sure felt like the right time to me!”

I pause. The way she phrased that… she’s not upset over the possibility of carrying my child. She’s furious I didn’t claim her.

Hope puffs in my chest, where a literal growl builds as I step forward.

“I’m going to take you, wife. In every way I can.” My voice deepens, gravelly and possessive. “Having a baby with you is just one of the ways, so I’m not sorry for coming inside you today. Not when I’d do it again in a heartbeat. And I won’t apologize for wanting to savor the moment I make you mine. When I do, there won’t be an ounce of doubt that it matters to you too.”

She shivers, the fight slipping from her shoulders. Then she shakes her head. Her voice is pained when she finally speaks.

“No. No, this feels too much. I was right. I can’t do this.”

Dread gnaws at me, and I approach her as gingerly as I would an injured bird, further closing the gap between us with another cautious step.

“Look, I don’t think any of this is what you’re upset about. Not the lake. Not me coming inside you.” I watch her carefully. “Something happened while I was gone. But if I had to guess, something started happening before that.”

Fear reflects back at me in her silver-blue eyes like a mirror. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been talking nonstop. You didn’t eat. Your pain tolerance is unreal. You’re not tired, meanwhile I’m exhausted. And your moods?—”

“What about my moods?” she challenges.

I grimace. “I hate to sound like a dick, but they feel all over the place. You’re happy one second, pissed the next. Sad after that.”

She turns away from me, fists clenching and opening, over and over again. As if she’s trying to burn off energy any way she can. Her legs vibrate with it, and I have no doubt if her ankle was healed, she’d fly away from me before I could catch her.

My brow furrows. Try as she might to keep herself under control, it’s like she can’t help unveiling a part of herself she’snot ready for me to see. I don’t know if she needs me to stop it or help her through it. Or if there’s anything I can do at all.

Fuck, if I feel this helpless, I can’t imagine how she feels.

My voice cracks. “What’s going on, Luna? Are you okay?”

She snorts, still facing the wall. “Naturally, he wouldn’t think about the hypersexual component?—”

My pulse spikes. “The what?”