Chapter 26
Cassian
Gemma’s light–green eyes go big and wide. “No! That’s not what I
meant!”
Even now, it takes every ounce of my willpower not to slide my
fingers into her cascades of dark red hair and bring her mouth up
for a kiss.
It’s been too damn long since I tasted her.
Zephyr is losing his shit inside my mind, barking at me to claim her again. Snapping and snarling that she’s our mate.
It’s that desperation that startles me and makes me pull away.
I’ve never wanted anything or anyone as much as I want her.
Craving a person that much is a weakness. One my enemies could exploit.
<
I am Cassian Blackwell. I can’t afford to be weak.
“That’s not what I think at all, or what I said!” Gemma says as I pull
back. “I’ve always known how powerful you are. I meant―”
I turn away from her and shake my head. My mind is trapped in therealization of how much I want her, but also what sh implied1
apier
not be able to protect her.
I change the subject. “If this marriage ends, you aren’t getting a penny from me.”
I expect that to be the end of the discussion. After all, wealth is the reason she locked herself into this marriage in the first place.
“I don’t care. I just want Seaside Manor,” she says stubbornly.
I clench my jaw, unable to believe her, but unable to see what other game she might be playing.
If life in the underworld has taught me anything, it’s that everyone is playing you. Always. Family are the only people you can trust…
And sometimes not even them.
If Gemma divorces me and doesn’t try to take me for all I’m worth, what was the point of her whole con in the first place?
Unless it never was a con, Zephyr says.
The idea is an uncomfortable one. Everything I’ve done and the way I’ve treated her for the last three years is based on the fact that I know she’s out to get something from me.
The thought that she might not be changes everything.
13:31
On top of realizing how much I’m starting to crave her body, her company, it’s too much to deal with right now.
rom a different angle, maybe she’ll reveal
something about what she’s truly up to.
“What the hell do you think you’ll do without a job, Gemma? You’re good in the warehouse, but it’s not like you’re qualified to do anything else.”
“Not…qualified…?”
She’s very still, and I realize I’ve hit a nerve. I don’t care. She pushed me, so now she gets brutal honesty. I turn back to her and coldly say, “You won’t last a month without my money.”
Her lips part and I see her fiercely blink back tears. “Holy shit, Cassian. Is that really what you think of me?”
Her breath shakes. “That I’m some kind of parasite sucking away your wealth? That I can’t live without you? That all I’m good for is sorting clothes?”
I shrug. She can probably get a job waiting tables or something, but do I think she can actually make a decent amount of money without my help? Absolutely not.
You are an ass, Zephyr growls. You don’t know her. You haven’t tried to know her.
I know enough, I snap at my wolf.
Gemma steps up to me. There’s rage in her eyes that reminds me 375
of a
13:31
Chapter 26
17 min left
storm–filled sky. It captures me, and damn if I don’t want to kiss her again. “I can provide for myself! I’m no parasite. I don’t need you!”
You are blind when it comes to her, Zephyr says at the same time. You act as if you don’t want her around, but you come up with every reason not to let her go.
“That’s bullshit,” I say. “If you didn’t need me, Gemma, you wouldn’t have come running to the Smokewind Pack House three years ago. You wouldn’t have needed me to kill for you.”
I lean down and say, “You wouldn’t have needed a hundred million dollars of my money.”
I respond to Zephyr while Gemma glares up at me, trembling. My grandfather arranged this marriage. I won’t let it end. I owe him
everything.
That’s not why, Zephyr retorts. Deep down, you know I’m right.
She’s our mate! You have to stop pushing her away for false
reasons or we’ll lose her.
“Just let me go!” Gemma shouts. Apparently, she can’t think of
anything else to say.
Because I’m right. She needs me. She has needed me this whole
time.
Anger at my wolf and Gemma builds up. I don’t want to listen to 4/5
either of them anymore.
13:31
Chapter 26
17 min lei
to throw away the life you manipulated your way into, fine. Meet me at the courthouse Monday morning, and I’ll give you your
damn divorce!”
Write your comment
