Page 18 of Fae Farewells

“It wasn’t easy.”

“It was second nature.”

I frowned. “Just because you hurt me doesn’t mean I want to hurt you. Why can’t you understand that.”

“I do understand. But this is different. You can see that I’m not bleeding out, writhing on the ground in pain.”

“But I did that.”

“And if someone else did it, the reaction would only differ slightly. Instead of talking to you about this, I would attack back.”

I wasn’t sure why he made me so angry, but everything about this had my blood boiling. I needed to walk away, needed a fucking minute to settle myself.

“Don’t leave,” he warned.

I scoffed, striding for the entrance of the temple. “Stop me.”

He was in front of me before I could blink, his flattened hand pressed into the center of my chest as he tried to push me backward into the room. I grabbed his wrist, breaking his hold and threw him beyond the entrance to the temple.

As his back slammed into a massive tree near the path, the cracking sound reverberated through the forest, scattering birds into the cotton candy sky. I shook my head, sharing in his earlier disappointment.

I’d worked for years to control my impulses and emotions. This was fucking ridiculous.

Never did I imagine Vaughn being the one to push me like this.

He wasn’t the one.

He was thoughtful, worrisome, sweet…

Not this.

As he stood, straightening his t-shirt, he glanced up. A radiant smile lit his sharp features, devious and cunning and delicious.

And I kind of hated him at that moment.

No one should look that put together after flying through the air and splitting the trunk of a tree open.

If he were a mage or shifter, he might even be dead from the impact alone.

But he wasn’t.

And all my guys were this strong.

Especially now that our bonds were completed.

“Godsdammit,” finally getting the fucking point.

Vaughn launched forward, catching me by the waist. He kept moving too fast for a fae. But we knew we’d all share a little of our powers; like York gaining strength.

My back slammed into the dais in the temple, the force sending a shot of pain down my spine as several of my vertebrae popped out of place.

I gasped as he turned me over; the bones realigning as he pressed my chest against the stone top. Rapid healing eased the agony and renewed my efforts to fight him.

If I could just get free…

It shouldn’t have been that hard, but it was.

Frost formed around my wrists, building into tight, icy restraints stuck to the stone. I tried to push up, wedge my elbows beneath me for leverage, but I was too stretched out to break the confines in this position.