Chapter 26 WHEN LOVE BURNS
Varkos
What the hell had I just done?
The thought still haunted me as I made my way to my room, each step heavier than the last. My brain didn’t think twice before I clawed out that man’s ears, not when the only voice echoing loudly in my ears at that time was the need to protect what was mine…
Fuck!
The curse word ripped out of me, running a hand through my hair in frustration, and then—
My eyes sighted her in the hallway instantly.
Ginnie.
She had gone completely still the moment our eyes locked on each other, she turned the other way round and started moving faster, her steps too fast as though she was running from something terrible.
What the hell?
The sudden spike of fear—the same primal fear that could ignite any Alpha, alerted me. I moved faster, each step deliberate, controlled, until my hand shot out and caught her wrist.
“Let go!” She hissed, her voice shaking as she tried to yank free from my grip, but I wouldn’t let her. Not from me.
“No.” My voice thundered across the hallway, “I’m not going to let go of you till I know why you’re running.”
Before she could part her lips to speak, my grip tightened around her wrist, tugging her back toward my room.
“Please…Varkos, let me go…” she struggled, her lips trembling as she whimpered from the sheer force of the pain.
“Stop struggling,” I growled, nothing funny about the tone of my voice as I pushed my room door open and shoved her inside, then shut it behind us with a sharp slam that reverberated through the whole corridor.
“Ow…ow…you’re hurting me!” Ginnie’s protest turned to pained murmurs as my grip on her wrist tightened even more. That is when my eyes saw it, a red mark around her wrist drew my gaze. I tilted her hand, forcing her to reveal what she was hiding.
“Ginnie,” I stepped closer, until there was no space between us, the heat of my presence pinning her to a place. “What is that on your wrist?”
She tried to curl her wrist, hide it behind her. My hand yanked it into view, and my eyes locked on the dark bruise blooming across her skin. The red mark sends a chill of something I didn’t quite want to name yet.
“Who did this to you?” I demanded, my jaw clenched, “Who the hell dares hurt you this way?”
“It…it’s no one,” she replied, shaking her head violently, “I…I don’t want to make things worse. I’m not trying to…please, I just want to… stay out of trouble, just leave me alone.”
My fingers tightened around her wrist. The pain made her cry out in pain, but I didn’t care. If that was the way to make her spill, then so be it, “You have no right to hide anything from me,” I growled, the words low and lethal, “So I’m not going to ask you a second time. Who did this to you?”
“It…it was your mother,” Ginnie finally admitted, pressing her hand against my chest, pushing at me as she could somehow calm the rage burning inside me. “She… she warned me, said I should stay away from you…if I didn’t stay away… she would—“
“She would do what?” I cut her off before she could finish.
“Please… Varkos,” she sobbed. “Please… don’t go to her. If you do… if you confront her… it will be worse. Please… I just… I just want to live… to survive… for Lily…”
Her hands moved, weakly pushing at my chest, desperate, as she hit me. Harder than I expected. Over and over, as her fists connected to my chest in hard motions.
“This is all your fault!” she screamed. “All of it! Everything! I can’t live like this anymore! I just… I just want to be free! I just want to leave! I can’t… I can’t live like this anymore!”
She was shaking violently now, tears streaking down her face as she clawed at me, hitting, trying to strike some release for the storm of emotions inside her.
I didn’t give her the time to finish, I gripped her hands, pulling her toward me forcefully, stopping the flurry of blows. She tried to protest, but my grip was firm, unyielding.
“You’re mine,” I growled, my voice coming out as a low, dangerous whisper. “You hear me? The earlier you get that into your thick skull the better for you.”
Before she could part her lips to speak, I leaned in, closing the distance between us as my lips crashed into hers instantly—a collision of rage and desire all at once.
“Mmph…” she protested, the sound muffled breathless as a shaky exhale trembled from her lips. I deepened the kiss, my hand reaching out to gently pull up the fabric of her dress slightly.
“Don’t act like you don’t want me,” I breathed against her lips, my eyes never leaving her body. “I know you want me so badly. You’re practically begging for it.”
“I don’t!” She insisted, her voice tight with shame as I finally pulled away from the kiss, her lips betraying every word she tried to say in protest. Stop—“
My hands landed on her back before she could complete her words, then slid down with deliberate slowness to cup her ass. My fingers splayed wide, claiming the whole curve as I squeezed, my thumb pressing into the soft flesh right where it met her thighs.
The feel of her hot skin through the fabric of her dress sent a jolt of pure electricity through me, and I felt my cock twitch and harden even more, a solid demanding pressure against her back.
Ginnie gasped, twisting to slap my hand away, but I was too fast. I wrapped one arm around her waist, pinning her body against mine, while my other hand was still gripping her thighs.
“Varkos, what are you doing?” She demanded, struggling in my arms. We can’t do this! We can’t!”
“Sure we can,” I murmured against her hair. “You want it. I want it. We’re both adults. So why the hell not?”