Burning Dawn (Angels of the Dark #3)(53)
Author: Gena Showalter

His eyes narrowed, and she was suddenly glad she couldn’t hear the thoughts tumbling through his mind. “You deceived me. You talked to me about yanking weeds, yet all along, you are a weed.”

Disappointment struck her. A sense of betrayal bloomed, accompanied by defensiveness. “I kept the truth to myself, and quite wisely, too. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to be staked. Can you really blame me?”

With a single, skilled swipe of his hand, he batted the glass out of her grip, leaving her weaponless. He advanced on her, saying, “Can you enslave, like Kendra?”

“No!” His electric gaze was as sharp as blades, mentally slashing her to ribbons. Still Elin held her ground. “And if I could, I never would. Her actions disgusted me.”

“You expect me to believe you?” he roared down at her. “You, the liar.”

“Yes, I absolutely expect you to believe me. You Sent Ones can taste lies, right? So you should know I’m telling the truth. Right?”

His scowl darkened. “You could be unaware that you’re poisoning me.”

“Kendra was always aware. She bragged about being able to control just how much her victims received. And if that’s not enough for you, think about this. My husband was never mindless, and I did him so good, over and over again.”

The jab only made him angrier. His chest brushed against hers, and she was horrified to note how tight her ni**les became for him, eager for more contact. “You used me, helped me at camp so that I would help you.”

“Well, duh. I told you that already.”

“You never desired me. This whole time, you’ve been seducing me. To get what you want—money!”

Seducing him? For money? “First, what has that got to do with the Phoenix? Second, you are such a douche. I did want you. Did. Past tense. Your money was just a bonus. Money I earned, by the way. May I remind you that I refused payment for making out with you. And while we’re at it, may I remind you that I ran away from you before intercourse occurred and I didn’t come back begging for more? That was you.”

Thane raised his hand, as if he meant to strike her or grab her and shake her. Or grab her and haul her the rest of the way into his body and finish what he’d started in the elevator. Instead, he dropped it and backed away from her.

At the door, he turned, giving her his back. “I’ll return in an hour,” he said to his friends. “I want her gone.”

“Thane—” Xerxes said.

She’d forgotten about their audience.

“This isn’t a debate. Release the Phoenix. All but Kendra. When they leave my cloud, Elin goes with them.” He slammed into the hall, vanishing from view.

Elin remained in place, trying not to cry while panting with…relief. Yes. Relief. He hadn’t staked her or ordered it done. Also, he hadn’t banged her, but he’d definitely bailed. And, okay, it hurt just as much as she’d always known it would. Actually, it hurt worse. She wanted to curl into a ball and sob.

Thane had abandoned her.

Thane was disgusted by her.

Thane was giving her back to his enemy—to her enemy.

“I…I’ll go pack my things,” she said to no one in particular. And then I’ll run away before I can be escorted to the Phoenix. Surely she could pay someone in the city to fly her home.

Home. Where was home? She didn’t have one.

“I purchased every item with tip money,” she added, just in case they thought to deny her. “Tip money I earned fair and square. I won’t pack anything that isn’t mine.”

The red-eyed Sent One moved in front of her, blocking her path to the door. He was just as tall as Thane, just as muscled, but while Thane had once looked at her with tenderness, this one never had and didn’t start now.

I’m about to go swimming in a crap storm, aren’t I?

“I’m going to create a mental bond with you, female.”

Uh. What? “No, thanks.”

“Xerxes.” A frowning Bjorn sidled up to the warrior’s side. “He won’t like it.”

“Not at first.”

“Maybe not ever.”

“But one day, he’ll thank me for it.”

“Someone clue me in before I have a coronary,” she demanded. “What kind of mental bond? Why do you want it? What will it do to me? Not that it matters. My answer isn’t going to change.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not giving you a choice.” He flattened his hands against her temples, his fingers spearing through her hair. “I’ll be able to send my thoughts into your mind, and you’ll be able to send yours into mine. We can communicate without ever having to speak a word, no matter the distance between us.”

Too much to process. “No.”

“Yes. Creating this bond with non–Sent Ones is an ability only Thane, Bjorn and myself possess. A gift we received from the Most High after our time in the… Just after. This way, you can summon me if ever you get into trouble.”

“No,” she insisted.

“Consider it an honor. We’ve never done this for anyone else.”

“I don’t want to stay in contact with you.” Once she left the club, she would be gone for good. There would be no looking back. No wishing for what could have been.

“This is in your best interest,” he said, ignoring her protest.

She tried to wiggle from his grip, but he held steady. “Let me go, you winged behemoth, before I do something—” The rest of the sentence died in her mouth.

Jagged pain ripped through her, and she groaned. Was that a hammer slamming its way through her skull and cerebral cortex?

Light flashed across her mind, then scenes from her past played in Technicolor. Her mother, clutching her dead baby to her chest, gasping out, his name…Amil, means hope…. She’d given him a name when he’d never even taken a breath.

Her father’s head rolling past her, stopping. His dulled gaze peering at Elin as she trembled under the table.

Bay, falling, landing in a contorted heap in front of her.

“You’re so vulnerable…so open,” the warrior gritted. “At least try to block me from your memories.”

Try? How?

The Phoenix calling her hateful names, hurting her, degrading her. Peeling away her pride day by day.

She gritted her teeth and imagined shoving Xerxes away. It did no good. Her back bowed as pain, oh, the pain, consumed her. What she’d felt before? Nothing compared to this. A loud ringing erupted in her ears. A sheet of endless black fell over her eyes.