Page 32 of Ancient Promises

“He just wants to fuck me, not kill me.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I knew I should have left town the moment I knew you were my truemate.”

She gasped, her eyes stinging. “Fuck. You.”

Spinning on her heels, she stalked away, climbing the stairs to her apartment, then slamming and locking the door.

* * *

“Dick move,” Jewel said.

Eivross hung his head. “It’s the truth. I knew being near her was going to be my undoing and I stayed anyway. Now her life is in danger, and possibly the entire pack is at risk.”

“We’ll keep everyone safe,” Rehlik said.

“You can’t possibly,” Eivross said. “The only way to keep everyone safe is for me to deal with him myself.”

Jewel stepped up, letting out her bear enough to change the tenor of her voice. “Listen up, you jackass. There’s a female in that apartment who cares about you. You ignored her, then put her in danger by not mating her properly. To top it all off, you actually just told her it would have been better if you’d left the moment you met her. Your brother might be dangerous, but you’re about to lose your mate. And Diem’s a sweet and loyal female who would do anything for you. You need to fix what you’ve done first, and then you can meet with our people and figure out how to keep your brother from destroying the town. He can’t just come in here and try to take you out to get to your mate. That’snotgoing to happen.”

He stared at the fierce female for a long moment, then sighed.

She was right on several levels, but Eivross couldn’t get past putting Diem in danger. It would be better to ensure Zihndyr never showed up again, than to simply mate her in truth and hope that he honored it. There was no telling what Zihndyr would do to get to Diem, just to fuck with him.

“I need time to think.”

“I don’t know how much you have,” Rehlik said.

Eivross nodded and walked away, heading away from the bookstore toward the bar, where he skirted past the building and strode into the woods.

His thoughts swirled as he thought about the events of the past weeks. When he’d left the nest, he thought he’d made a clean break. He’d never anticipated finding his truemate in a random exile-friendly town, or that his dragon would let out a call meant forherthat inadvertently led to his brother coming to fuck things up.

What if he’d simply mated her properly from day one?

What if he’d turned on his ass and left the moment he’d shifted?

His dragon let out a loud and unholy roar of rage and hurt. He felt him wanting to shift, felt the press of claws and fangs.

He fell to his knees against a tree and ground his teeth together, trying to stave off the shift. He didn’t know what his dragon wanted to come out for, but it was either to get to Diem or to kill his brother, and right now he didn’t need to do either; he needed time to think and plan.

He fought his dragon, pushing at the beast within him.

No, damn it! No!

Chapter Thirteen

Diem heard a roar that made the windows rattle and her heart clench. She knew it was Eivross, and his dragon sounded heartbroken.

But also close, which meant he hadn’t actually left town.

She sat up on the bed where she’d collapsed after the altercation on the street. Her beasts wanted her to go to him, but the independent female who was still pissed didn’t want to.

He’d said some hurtful things.

But now he sounded so sad and angry at the same time.

Her heart clenched tightly again, and she gasped, rubbing her chest.

“Ah, damn it.”