Kissed by a Dark Prince(61)

Loren shook his head. “Never.”

“A bond thing?” A trace of wariness entered her eyes now.

He nodded.

She frowned. “What am I missing here? You knew how good this would be... did you want to make me see what I’ll be missing when you break the bond?”

“No.” Loren withdrew from her but kept her caged beneath him. Her frown hardened. He stroked her cheek and looked deep into her eyes, his expression resolute and serious. “I have no intention of breaking this bond, Olivia.”

She stiffened beneath him. “You dare.”

He shook his head. “I will not force it upon you... but I will not let you go so easily. I cannot, Olivia. I will fight to make you see that we were meant for each other. We were born to be together. I will fight until I hold your heart in my hands, and I can only hope you will be gentle with the heart you now hold in yours.”





CHAPTER 13


Sleeping with Loren had been a huge mistake. A monumental one. The sex had been fantastic, mind-blowing, but then he had changed the game. He had turned what should have been purely about scratching an itch into something that she couldn’t think about without wanting to scream.

How dare he say those things to her with such an earnest look in his beautiful purple eyes?

She held his heart? He wanted to win her? What the hell was she meant to say in response to that?

Her guard had been down and he had taken full advantage of it, ruining her resolve to keep her distance from him. She had foolishly kissed his cheek and her fight against the attraction she felt towards him had crumbled, leaving her vulnerable and stupid enough to act on her desires.

She had done her best to avoid him over the past two days. She had hidden out in a few meetings, some of which she had arranged to fill the gaps between the official ones on her schedule, but avoiding Loren had proved impossible. Whenever he came across her, he tried to speak to her, and she couldn’t take it. She remembered what had happened the last time she had let a demon into her heart.

He had destroyed her world.

She couldn’t let that happen again. Her bond with Loren had already done enough damage, destroying the lives of many of Archangel’s staff, and she had to break it. Unless she broke the bond, Vail would be coming after her and he would end up hurting the people she knew again. She couldn’t live with herself as it was.

A demon had duped her and Archangel had paid for it in blood.

Now a fae prince had forced a bond on her and Archangel had again paid in blood.

She might hold Loren’s heart, but she could never give him hers. She hadn’t asked for this and she couldn’t deal with it either. She had to protect her heart from him. She couldn’t fall for him. She couldn’t give in to her desire.

Olivia stared through the microscope at the slide, but it was out of focus, and she didn’t care. She kept staring at the fuzzy image of her blood, afraid to move because Loren had found her again. He had been standing just metres from her for the past five or possibly ten minutes, staring at her, waiting for her to come out of hiding.

“Olivia,” he husked and a shiver tumbled down her spine, the lush baritone of his voice heating her bones. “I know you are not working. You have been avoiding me. You refuse to speak with me... why?”

He damned well knew why. He had shaken her when he had told her that she already had his heart. Another demon had said such pretty things to her once and it had all been a lie. She couldn’t trust that Loren spoke the truth. She couldn’t go through that pain again.

She pushed away from the white desk, turning on the stool at the same time, and hopped down. She hurried for the door.

Loren blocked her path, forming a wall of black.

Olivia tried to go around him but he was there wherever she went, getting in her way, sparking her anger and then stoking it. She kept trying to get around him, edging closer to the glass doors, convinced that if she just kept her head down, she could avoid the confrontation she could feel coming.

“Olivia,” he whispered, an edge of pain in his voice now, cutting her deeply and making her want to lift her head and look at him.

She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want to be hurt either.

Couldn’t he see that?

She couldn’t stand it anymore. She ducked past him and raced for the door. He was there before she could reach it, his eyes bright purple and his ears pointed. His fangs showed between his lips when he snarled a dark oath in his own language.

He grabbed her arms, his bare hands cool against her overheating flesh, and refused to let her go when she wriggled.

Olivia felt his frustration mounting, the bond between them relaying his emotions clearer than ever. It was growing stronger. It wasn’t fading at all.