Page 161 of Bound By Fury

“You don’t understand the men you’re up against. And I never wanted you to have to. But you wouldn’t leave. So now here we are, whether we like it or not.” He shakes his head. “I finally had my out. My escape from this once and for all. But you ruined that, too.”

“What are you talking about? What out?”

But then I picture the relief on his face as I filled his lungs with the water from his own blood.

“No,” I grind out. “Tell me you’re lying.”

“I’m lying,” he says. “If that’ll make you move your ass!”

He reaches out to grab my hand, and on instinct, after everything that’s happened, I recoil from his touch. The faintest whisper of hurt flashes across his face. “We need to run,” he insists.

“You wanted to die? Why wait for me to do it? You want out of this so badly, why not let them find us? Why not let them kill us together?”

He stares at the floor, his jaw flexing as he cuts his teeth against his next words. “You know why I can’t do that.”

“Do I? Seems like you were pretty hell-bent on leaving me here to deal with this by myself.”

“You don’t understand!”

“So tell me! Finally! Tell me something true!”

He pushes forward, crowding me, his forehead pressing against my own.

“I am a monster,” he whispers. “Don’t you get that?” Searing green eyes bore into my own. “Every day since the funeral, since your slap bound us with my mark—every day since, I have done nothing but dream of your death. Every breath I take when I’m near you burns. And even when I’m not near you, I feel you. Every pull of your emotion, every uptick in your heart rate. Everything you are is carved into my soul. Everything you are feels like mine.

“Everything you are is begging me to kill you. To watch your blood spill. To pluck your magic from its stem and let it drip down my face. To finally have your power for my own.”

I slam my hands into his shoulders and push, putting some much-needed space between our heaving chests.

“Even now. Your heart. It flutters like a hummingbird. You’re so scared of me. You’re so scared of everything, and yet you face it. Every. Single. Time.”

My breath catches.

“I didn’t ask to be this way. I don’t want to feel this way about you. I don’t want to be this—this thing I hate! If I don’t die, I will kill you. And I would rather die. I would rather die by your hand than be the one to take your life.”

Somehow his voice gets even deeper. Even lower. Until I have to strain to hear him.

“Do you get it now? Do you understand me? Is that clear enough for you?”

I nod.

“Good. Now let’s go.”

“But—if we escape, what will happen to you?”

I force back my tears, the tension in my throat burning.

Shadows dance behind his eyes. “That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is getting you out of here.”

“Where even are we?” I ask as he snakes his fingers through mine again, both of us shuddering against the intensity of the hunter’s bind.

“You’ll see,” he says, pulling me across the room, stopping at the table full of blades. “Here, take this.” He places the heavy, black dagger in my hand, and something at my core is repulsed by it.

“What the—”

“Come on!” he snarls, tugging on my arm again.

I tuck the knife into my hoodie pocket. I’m still weak, my wrists and ankles ache, I have no idea how much blood they actually took from me, and for a moment I think I might faint. “Ah!” I wince, my knees buckling beneath me.