looking in every room. “Where is your wolf?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Trouble in paradise?” Holden smiled, and there was something menacing about it. He was a little too happy to discover I was on the outs with my live-in lover.
“It’s none of your business.”
He stepped closer. Too close. My breath hitched, and I ducked away from him.
“I think it is my business,” he whispered. “Even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“Now isn’t the time.” I pulled my jacket on and slipped a pair of old Converse sneakers on.
Holden stopped in front of me. In a movement faster than a heartbeat, his head dipped to my neck, and I could feel his breath cool and even over the mark on my neck. His tongue slid out, and the moment it touched my skin I shuddered violently. He pulled back and cupped my chin in his hand, his coffee-colored gaze boring into me.
“You let someone mark you.”
I tried to smack his hand away, but he held firm, reminding me he was stronger than I was. “I didn’t let anyone do anything.”
“And yet.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Good thing we have a long walk to Columbia then, isn’t it?”
Chapter Thirteen
Over the next half hour I did nothing to improve Holden’s opinion of werewolves.
“You should have him killed. Sig would do it.”
“I don’t want to have him killed, you idiot. He thought he was doing the right thing.”
“By forcing you into a union you didn’t want?”
“God, Holden, it’s not like he tricked me into marrying him.”
“No, marriage can be ended in divorce. This is metaphysical. Those kinds of bonds are not so easy to break.” He sounded so aggrieved by Lucas’s actions he seemed to forget he wasn’t so innocent himself when it came to this sort of thing.
“Yeah, it really sucks when someone takes advantage of a metaphysical connection and uses it to violate your trust, doesn’t it?”
He looked hurt. “That’s not the same. I needed your help to save my life.” I had brought up an unusual and invasive moment in our past when he’d used a bond between us to sneak into my dreams. He hadn’t done it since, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that was easy to forget.
“And Lucas did this because he thought it was necessary to protect his pack. You’re not as different from the wolves as you’d like to think.”
“Why are you defending what he did?”
In truth, I hated that I understood Lucas’s motivation as well as I did. It proved he really was a part of me now, inside my head and heart, making me more empathetic to his actions. “I’m not saying what he did is right. I guess I just understand the logic. However flawed it might be.”
“You don’t care that he’s using you,” Holden said, giving me a sad look he’d honed to perfection over several centuries. That look must be a real panty-melter for women who loved doe-eyed poets.
We were standing in front of an old brick building, a trickle of brave students moving down the paths in groups, trying to get from one building to the next without freezing to death. Holden and I wore no hats or scarves, and our jackets and gloves were more about comfort than actual necessity. Still, it was impossible to miss the cold space between us.
“He might be using me. But it’s not like he’d be the first.”
Lucy Renard’s dorm room wasn’t anything like I imagined a young woman’s dorm room to be. Her space was neat as a pin, everything in its place, and I bet if I lifted the edge of her comforter, the sheets would be tucked in with pristine hospital corners.
If Lucy had run off on some impromptu vacation, she wasn’t a very gifted packer. The room’s closet was divided in half, and each section had been labeled, one for Lucy and one for her roommate Katie. Katie’s side was more how I pictured most rooms on campus to be—a big heap of wrinkled clothing stacked up with no rhyme or reason.
Lucy’s side put the shelves at Bergdorf to shame. The clothes
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Trouble in paradise?” Holden smiled, and there was something menacing about it. He was a little too happy to discover I was on the outs with my live-in lover.
“It’s none of your business.”
He stepped closer. Too close. My breath hitched, and I ducked away from him.
“I think it is my business,” he whispered. “Even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“Now isn’t the time.” I pulled my jacket on and slipped a pair of old Converse sneakers on.
Holden stopped in front of me. In a movement faster than a heartbeat, his head dipped to my neck, and I could feel his breath cool and even over the mark on my neck. His tongue slid out, and the moment it touched my skin I shuddered violently. He pulled back and cupped my chin in his hand, his coffee-colored gaze boring into me.
“You let someone mark you.”
I tried to smack his hand away, but he held firm, reminding me he was stronger than I was. “I didn’t let anyone do anything.”
“And yet.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Good thing we have a long walk to Columbia then, isn’t it?”
Chapter Thirteen
Over the next half hour I did nothing to improve Holden’s opinion of werewolves.
“You should have him killed. Sig would do it.”
“I don’t want to have him killed, you idiot. He thought he was doing the right thing.”
“By forcing you into a union you didn’t want?”
“God, Holden, it’s not like he tricked me into marrying him.”
“No, marriage can be ended in divorce. This is metaphysical. Those kinds of bonds are not so easy to break.” He sounded so aggrieved by Lucas’s actions he seemed to forget he wasn’t so innocent himself when it came to this sort of thing.
“Yeah, it really sucks when someone takes advantage of a metaphysical connection and uses it to violate your trust, doesn’t it?”
He looked hurt. “That’s not the same. I needed your help to save my life.” I had brought up an unusual and invasive moment in our past when he’d used a bond between us to sneak into my dreams. He hadn’t done it since, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that was easy to forget.
“And Lucas did this because he thought it was necessary to protect his pack. You’re not as different from the wolves as you’d like to think.”
“Why are you defending what he did?”
In truth, I hated that I understood Lucas’s motivation as well as I did. It proved he really was a part of me now, inside my head and heart, making me more empathetic to his actions. “I’m not saying what he did is right. I guess I just understand the logic. However flawed it might be.”
“You don’t care that he’s using you,” Holden said, giving me a sad look he’d honed to perfection over several centuries. That look must be a real panty-melter for women who loved doe-eyed poets.
We were standing in front of an old brick building, a trickle of brave students moving down the paths in groups, trying to get from one building to the next without freezing to death. Holden and I wore no hats or scarves, and our jackets and gloves were more about comfort than actual necessity. Still, it was impossible to miss the cold space between us.
“He might be using me. But it’s not like he’d be the first.”
Lucy Renard’s dorm room wasn’t anything like I imagined a young woman’s dorm room to be. Her space was neat as a pin, everything in its place, and I bet if I lifted the edge of her comforter, the sheets would be tucked in with pristine hospital corners.
If Lucy had run off on some impromptu vacation, she wasn’t a very gifted packer. The room’s closet was divided in half, and each section had been labeled, one for Lucy and one for her roommate Katie. Katie’s side was more how I pictured most rooms on campus to be—a big heap of wrinkled clothing stacked up with no rhyme or reason.
Lucy’s side put the shelves at Bergdorf to shame. The clothes
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