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On instinct, I bristled when I met Colt’s gaze. But burdened by all the pain we’d both suffered, our mate bond left us aching for union. We remained drawn to one another in spite of it all. I didn’t feel strong enough to resist it, especially when the dream impressed those blue eyes into my thoughts. “I’ll speak with him alone,” I decided.

“It’s fine. I can stay, really,” Billie insisted.

“That won’t be necessary.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood, staring with a warning of my own at my fated mate. “He’s not going to take anything else from me.”

Billie glanced at Colt, who nodded. He mustered a small smile for his adoptive sister, but she had yet to move past everything he had done and gave him little more than a cold look before heading for the door. “Call for us if you need something,” Billie advised.

I understood. Call for them if Colt tried anything.

When the door closed, it was just Colt and me in the bedroom. We stood before each other, once more at a stalemate, as we grappled with the urges of our fated bond.

I dared him to make the first move.

Chapter 20: Colt

T

he tables turned since the last time I had Kiara alone. Now, my wrists were bound, and I was at her mercy while she leered at me with the judgment of a titan. 

She said nothing while I scraped my brain for the right words to begin with. 

“Nothing I say can give you back everything you’ve lost,” I sighed.

Kiara’s eyes narrowed, her fists clenched by her sides. But she stayed silent, so I conjured up more to fill the silence.

“I want to undo everything. Go back in time and find a way to get your mom out of that cave, take back everything stupid I’ve said and done to you. I’d… I’d kill David if it would stop all of this from happening.”

“It’s too late,” she said coldly.

“I know it’s too late, but I wish it weren’t. I wish I had the courage to do what had to be done, to protect you and your mother and everyone that David hurt—”

Kiara suddenly lunged, shoving me hard in the chest. I thumped against the wall as her hands wrapped up in my shirt, blazing anger igniting in her eyes. “She’s dead because you handed me that fucking child! Because you thought you could play games with me instead of helping me—your fated mate! Even if you mean what you say, do you expect me to believe you? Or for it to change anything?” She shook me and slammed my back into the wall.

Even if I had my hands free, I didn’t think I would have resisted her. I deserved every ounce of her anger. The bruises around my eye and on my cheek may as well have been afflicted by her, the pain in my body I took because of her. If it deceived me into feeling like I’d atoned for my sins, I would have her throw me to the ground and beat me until I was dead. By the time she’d spent her wrath on me, Kiara was still gripping my shirt between her white knuckles, and her head slumped between her shaking shoulders, pale hair draped across her back, her chest leaning into mine.

“I never even got to speak with her,” she breathed. “The last time I heard her voice was months ago. And now she’s gone, Colt.”

I didn’t move from against the wall, tipping my head down to watch her. “Kiara… I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for letting this happen. I never should have obeyed my father.”

“It’s my fault, too,” Kiara muttered.

“No. You did everything you could to save her.”

“But it wasn’t enough. I failed.”

“At least you tried,” I argued.

“But it wasn’t enough!” Kiara’s voice broke, her fist slamming against my chest before she collapsed against me, crying in mourning for her mother. I stood, stunned to feel her against me. It couldn’t be that she trusted me and felt comfortable enough in my presence to cry in front of me—I was certain that this was the effect of our mate bond lowering her guard, forcing her to be vulnerable. For her sake, I should have pushed her away and left her room. But, selfishly, I wanted to keep her as close to me as possible. As her legs weakened, I lowered to the floor with her until she was slumped against my stomach and chest, her back quaking. My wrists stayed bound together and pinned beneath her.

For long minutes, she lay there without moving or saying anything. I didn’t know what to do, fearing that the wrong word would dislodge her or wake her from the melancholy that brought her into my embrace. I suspected she was too embarrassed to do anything, but if she truly didn’t want to be close to me, she wouldn’t be. There was nothing forcing her to stay here, only the influence of our mate bond making my body heat appealing. And if that was enough to give her comfort, she could have it all.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, resolving to sit there for as long as she wanted to cry against my chest. Every now and then, I felt the grip in her fingers tighten, then relax, until it was little more than her fingertips pressing against my skin, up to the collar of the t-shirt that Everett had given me to wear. I had a clean pair of his shorts, too. The scent of Everett would have smothered me if not for Kiara’s presence.