He moved just as quick as last time, pinning her beneath him—her body pressed into the mattress, her face shocked as hell. “I get it, you don’t want to push this connection any further because you don’t understand it, but remember this next time: I see your strength; I’m not confused about who would win in a fight, but I say you should take what you want, when you want it, or you’ll never survive this world. You just said yesterday that I was following my instincts. Now you don’t like that my instincts led me to you? You’re not mad that I’m naked, you’re too confident for that, you’re mad that I got comfortable enough next to you to shift in my sleep. Get over yourself and buck up, buttercup, you’re in a different world now.”
He stood from the bed and pulled her up with him. She looked furious but said nothing, turning to walk away in my direction. He slapped her ass, causing her to yelp and whip her head around.
He shrugged. “Take what you want.”
Despite myself, I fought a smile. She was turned on as fuck, anyone could tell. Flushed cheeks, sharp breaths, barely contained lust dripping off of her. It was hot as hell, even if it wasn’t directed toward me.
“Annalise, I need to talk to you,” I said, trying to stop her from moving past me.
“Not now, Cabe. I’m not in the mood for any emotional shit.” She paused briefly, looking around the room before finding what she was looking for. She made a beeline into Lanier’s closet and looked around for a light switch. It was about six in the afternoon, the sun still bright outside, but the blackout shades covering the view kept the room dark.
“Emotional shit?” I questioned, my stomach sinking.
She took one of Lanier’s T-shirts off the hanger, throwing it over her shoulder, and turned to look through the neat stacks of joggers that lined one wall of his walk-in closet. It was a modern set up with white cabinets, black carpet, and a whole wardrobe full of outfits that any man would envy.
She found a pair of joggers she liked and threw them on top of the shirt, “Yes, the emotional shit. I can feel you, even though I don’t fucking want to, and I know that you’re the deep, heart-felt one. You’re going to hit me where it hurts and want to talk about shit that I refuse to dig up. So save it. At least for a little while. I’m losing my mind over here, I have so many questions and no real answers.”
She moved to the back of the closet, opening one of the four drawers that sat below a wall full of shoes. She picked out a pair of boxers and socks, turning back to look at me. “I’m going to take a shower, and then we’re having a family fucking meeting. I want to know what you guys know for sure and what you still question. We’re going to figure this shit out because, if I heard you all correctly, I can turn this bond down. I can become Fallen—whatever that means—and then I can walk away from this. I would very much like to do that. So get your brothers and come up with a plan, because we aren’t leaving this house until we have one. I want this to be over.”
“Annalise, it’s not that easy.” I sighed, giving up on the idea of ever getting through to her. She was so fucking stubborn. “You can’t just expect to go out and find a solution to this. We don’t even really know what the problem is.”
She snorted and then rolled her eyes. “Not with that attitude you can’t.”
“Annalise!” I was ready to strangle her little ass. She was treating our bond like it was some sort of light switch—if we could find out where it was and turn it off, everything would go back to normal. “That isn’t how this works. We are bonded, somehow, in a new way that no one has seen before. You fed from Lanier—that is not a normal mating bond. That is something else entirely.”
“Yes, I’m aware. Which means we need to figure out what that something else is, then maybe we will understand why it’s happening and find out if we can stop it.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “I don’t want this, Cabe.”
I wanted to soothe her, but I wasn’t even sure what she needed soothing for. She was talking so fast, saying the same thing over and over, but she didn’t even understand what any of it meant. She didn’t know our world, and we were expecting her to just get it.
“Don’t want what, Annalise?”
She opened her eyes and looked up at me, standing completely still for the first time since she woke up. “This bond. This life. Any of it.”
I sighed and stepped closer to her. “It’s too late.”
“Why?” she argued, shaking her head. “Why is it too late? How is it too late? If magic exists, why can’t we use magic to change everything back the way it was?”
I felt for her, I really did, but something in me snapped when she made it sound like she had a brilliant life to go back to. “What was so great about your life before this? I saw you, Annalise. I fucking know you. What are you missing so badly?”
She smiled sadly. “Freedom, Cabe.”
Finally, I understood.
I didn’t have a response because I couldn’t argue with her logic.
She stepped away from me and walked across the carpet to the bathroom on the other side of the room. She flipped the light on and set the clothes she picked on the closed toilet seat. She turned around and paused again, scanning the room. She looked across to where two sinks sat like huge bowls on top of a black marble countertop. Bending down, she opened each of the black cabinets that sat underneath it.
“They’re in the closet behind the door, Anna.” I knew she was looking for a towel, but it was fascinating to watch her be so confident in her decisions. She moved around Lanier’s room like she owned the place. Not embarrassed about the fact that she simply didn’t know the layout of the house, she opened doors and cabinets until she found what she was looking for. No filter, no second guessing, no timid behavior or meek questions. She simply took what she wanted.
“What did Quint mean earlier?” I asked, risking her wrath and following her into the bathroom. “He told you to take what you want, but I see you doing that even now, so what did he mean?”
I didn’t like that Quint knew something I didn’t; I wanted to understand.
She moved to the standing shower, opened the glass door and turned on the massive showerhead. Steam immediately started floating in the room, the water blazing hot.
Jesus.
She stopped for a moment, looking around at the red walls, taking in the black and white tiled floor, before her eyes landed on me and softened. Her tone was gentle. “He wants me to follow my instincts, but those instincts are the exact reason I want all of this to go away.”
“Anna.” I stepped toward her and was relieved to find that she let me get close to her. Taking further liberties, I grabbed the bottom of her hoodie and began lifting it slowly, waiting for her to give me permission. She lifted her arms, allowing me to pull the garment over her head, leaving her in Lanier’s shirt. “I need you to just tell me where your head is at so I can help you. I want to talk this out with you.”
She huffed and pulled the remaining shirt over her head, leaving her in just a lacy black bra and sweatpants. Her abs clenched, the soft curves of her hips peeking out above the waistline.
I bit back a groan, all the blood in my body rushing straight to my dick.