“What happened with Vail and his ki’ara?” Olivia said and he stopped pacing, his gaze on the floor and his eyes widening.
He frowned and spat out what she could imagine was a vile curse.
“I am a fool. I have been looking at this all wrong.” He threw his head back and growled, his fangs sharp and ears pointed again. “Vail will seek you out and torture you to drive me to the brink. He is seeking revenge and desires me to suffer as he had. He will use you to hurt me.”
Olivia’s blood chilled to sub-zero temperatures and she stared at him, struggling to get past the part about this madman torturing her.
She managed to reach the end of what he said and realised that what he had told her earlier hadn’t been something romantic or noble at all. He had meant it literally. If someone hurt her, then he would feel it. He would share her pain.
Olivia couldn’t comprehend that. It was too much. She couldn’t breathe as the weight of it pressed down on her and the thought of being tortured closed her throat. Her head spun, the room viciously turning with it.
“Calm yourself!” he bellowed, a dark commanding snarl.
No. She was damned well going to have herself a major panic attack and he could damned well deal with it. She was sure that a panicking woman wasn’t on his list of things he enjoyed dealing with, but he had just announced that someone was out to torture her and considering this man had beaten the crap out of the prince, she felt her demise at his hands was somewhat inevitable.
“Female,” the prince gritted out and Olivia tried to focus on him.
He wobbled into focus and she frowned when she saw he was clutching his chest and was paler than ever, on the verge of collapse too.
Oh my God. He didn’t only share her pain.
His knees gave out, sending him crashing to the floor, and he whipped out a vicious curse in English this time, his handsome face contorting, revealing how much he despised what was happening to him. Olivia rushed to him and crouched before him. He inhaled hard, his shoulders heaving with each breath, struggling for air just as she had been a moment ago. She laid her hand on his shoulder. He was shaking like a leaf.
Olivia ran her hand along his jaw and lifted his chin, and studied his eyes. She tilted his head towards the light and away, monitoring the responsiveness of his pupils.
“What’s wrong?” She checked his pulse, pressing her fingers against his neck. It was fast, far quicker than it had been when she’d had him hooked up to the machines in the lab.
She dropped her hand away.
It matched hers.
“Not used to the pace,” he ground out. He was talking about his heartbeat. Her heartbeat. She swallowed, stunned by the reality before her.
The bond between them was so deep that it affected him physically. It linked them right down to their hearts.
Incredible.
He sat back in front of her and drew in slow breaths and her eyes widened when her pulse began to slow. He was the one making it happen.
Olivia tried to help him, seeking calm amongst the raging storm of her feelings, but it was hard. She was in a strange environment, felt threatened and overwhelmed, and someone was out to torture her. Just thinking about that had her pulse picking up again.
“Calm yourself.” He was back to commanding her again.
“I’m trying... it’s... I can’t... it’s too much.” Olivia’s panic spiked, her hand shaking against his face.
He looked deep into her eyes and then she was in his arms, held close to him, and they were kneeling together on the floor.
Familiar scents swirled around her and she instantly felt more relaxed. “What did you do?”
He drew back from her and she found that he had taken her home and they were kneeling in the middle of her small living room on the cream carpet, between the beige sofa and the TV.
The prince brushed cool fingers across her brow. “You feel better now.”
She nodded, her heart levelling out again, the soft feel of the carpet beneath her knees and the familiar surroundings making her feel comforted and safe.
He sighed.
“I cannot remain here... and that means you cannot either... but I will not rush you,” he said in a low voice, one laced with a solemn note.
She appreciated that because she could see how difficult this was for him. He was a man used to issuing orders and having someone instantly obey. He was a man unused to having a weakness and she knew that was what she was. She didn’t want this bond between them either. She wanted it undone or broken or just gone somehow. She didn’t care how.
“Is there a way to undo it?” she whispered, afraid to hope that there was.
“It is possible it may fade if we do not complete it. I will have my men look into it and we will know soon enough if it is possible to break the bond. If it is possible, you will be free to go.”