The cabin door slammed shut behind us. I stood shaking, the scent of vampire blood clinging to him, filling the small space.Jax was gone probably on patrol or something. Lucky Him.
Kael didn't pace. His breathe wasn't too loud. He stood perfectly still, his back facing me me, his fists were clenched at his sides. It would have been better if he scolded me, his silence scraped at my nerves.
When he finally turned, his face wan't angry. He looked too composed…
"Of all the pathetic, creatures," he began, his voice with a low venomous rasp. "I have dealt with your line for generations. The fearful ones, the stubborn ones. But you..." He took a step forward, I could only stare into his blazing eyes."You are the most stupid of them all."
Ouch !
Maybe I'd been impulsive. Maybe I messed up. But hearing him say it? That was a different kind of hurt entirely.
This one hurt me
.
"Of all the reckless, stupid—" He paused.
"You were told there are predators in the dark. You were told your mind is not your own. And you hear a sweet voice and you follow it. That's the first voice you follow ?
RILEY!!" He let out a sharp, disgusted breath. "Your ancestors, for all their servitude, had a shred of self-preservation. You don't even have that."
"It was tricking me!" I cried, I felt my tears at the corners of my eyes waiting to fall through."You just told me to 'filter them'! You didn't tell me they could sound like that! You don't tell me anything!"
"And you were too much of a fool to see it!" he roared, finally unleashing the full force of his fury. "Do you think the world will pause to explain its tricks to you? Do you think your human sensibilities matter to things that have been hunting for centuries?"
"No" I murmured under my breath.
He stalked over to me, looming, using his height and presence to dominate the space."Do you have any idea what would have happened if I was ten seconds later?" His voice dropped, becoming low and strained. "They wouldn't have just killed you. They would have drained you slowly. They would have made you beg. And I would have felt every second of it through the bond. Your terror. Your pain. Your death."
He was clemched his jaw so hard, I thought it would snap.
"Just... stay," he said, the word a ragged plea. He gestured vaguely to the room. "Don't go outside alone again. Please."
That single, broken "please" shattered my resistance than any command or searing scar ever could. He turned and walked to the other side of the room,the alpha who ruled kingdoms brought low by the thought of losing one infuriating human girl.
"So you will stay in this cabin," he commanded, his voice dropping to a deadly calm. "You will not step outside. You will not open a window. You will sit there," he pointed a rigid finger at a hard wooden chair in the corner, "and you will be still and silent. Because your next moment of stupidity might be the one I can't stop. And I will not have my throne lost because of a human who is too dumb to live."
The message was clear.