Kissed by a Dark Prince(62)

“Olivia, tell me why you are avoiding me.” He held her firm and she glanced up at him, her fight leaving her when she saw the hurt in his striking eyes.

She wanted to hold him whenever he looked at her like that, a wounded male, still too damned beautiful for his own good. He wanted to fight for her. He wanted her heart. He was both warrior and prince as he stood before her, dressed in tight black trousers, leather boots, and a long jacket similar to the one he had been wearing the night they had met.

A dangerous aura surrounded him, warning her not to test him because he was already at his limit. He needed her. She had wanted him to fight for her, hadn’t she? Now she was running scared because it felt as though he had gone to war on her defences and she was destined to lose her heart to him.

“Your brother is not the reason,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing with the frown that married his black eyebrows. “Sable said I would understand your behaviour towards me if I understood your past... but how am I to understand it if you will not let me in and tell me what happened to you?”

Sable? That matchmaking little... Olivia checked herself. Sable probably meant well, and she did know all about what had happened to Olivia, and had clearly recognised it was the reason she was afraid of Loren and their bond, and the feelings he awoke in her.

Loren eased his grip on her arms and lowered his left hand to her right forearm. He stared down at it, a glimmer of concern and hurt in his eyes. She looked there too and noticed that he had removed the bandage from his left hand, and that his fingers looked healed now. She couldn’t feel any pain in them. It was strange how she had grown used to the bond and how it linked them, and had learned how to deepen the connection and use it to discern things about Loren.

Like the fact his heart was racing, spreading hurt through him that began to feel a lot like hopelessness. Was he giving up on her?

Wasn’t that what she wanted?

The thought of him turning his back on her caused a physical ache in her chest and a desperate desire to catch hold of him and not let go.

Loren stroked his fingers over the white sleeve of her coat. “Who sunk his claws into your heart and made you like this, Olivia? Tell me and I will hunt and will not stop until I slay your demons. I swear it.”

Olivia covered his hand with hers, holding it against her forearm. Was she really going to do this?

She lifted her gaze back to his and took a deep breath. “You swear you’ll slay him?”

He nodded. “I am an exceptional hunter, and I will not allow anyone who has hurt my ki’ara to live.”

She believed him. He would probably hunt the demon to the ends of the earth, or whatever realm they lived in, to take him down.

“He’s already dead,” she said, “But thank you for the offer.”

He smiled. “Perhaps I can hunt his kin and kill them instead?”

Olivia shook her head. “I’m not the sort to blame a whole species for the actions of one individual. I also don’t think it would be good for you. You have a kingdom to think about, you know?”

His expression darkened a shade. “Do not remind me. I have rather enjoyed being away from there... but that is not what we are talking about. Tell me, Olivia. I want to know you... I want to know the woman behind this coat.”

He stroked the lapels of her white lab coat, a distant look in his eyes. She could read him through the connection she had to him and knew his feelings. He was enjoying being away from his kingdom because he felt free with her. He felt like the man he had been four thousand years ago before Vail had turned on him and their kind, driving him to war with him. He didn’t need to say it for her to know it.

They were the same in a way.

She was enjoying being with him because he made her forget all the bad things that had happened to her, stopping her from dwelling on her past, and made her think about her future for once and her life. She had spent too many years thinking about only her work and it had become her life, who she was.

She had lost sight of the woman behind the white lab coat, but Loren had brought her back to the fore, and she felt like the woman she had been before she had joined Archangel, when her life had been full of hope and she had lived in a world filled with possibilities.

“Tell me, Olivia.” The low husk of Loren’s voice sent a hot shiver through her and she absently stroked his hand.

“I’m not sure what species of demon he was... I thought he was human. Maybe I was just blind or naive.” She focused on his hand and how warm she felt where it rested, even though her coat formed a layer between their bodies. “I met him in a club when I was out with Sable and a few of the other hunters, and he was really... hot.”