A Hybrid's Hunger

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

When I step out of my room, I hear a few more voices, distant. Low groans. My head snaps left and right, I try to figure out where it's coming from. Fear creeps up my spine and I take a step forward and then a couple more. I'm curious.

The sounds grow louder as I move towards the living area. The room is barely lit but as I inch closer, I make out the strained voices more clearly. It's Estella, and another voice—deep, familiar—Zade.

Estella's words are hurried, carrying worry that I haven't heard before. I halt near the entrance of the living room, lingering in the shadows while I take in the scene unfolding before me.

Zade is on one of the low sofas, sprawled, his shirt discarded on the side, revealing his torso that is covered in fresh, deep wounds. Two claw marks. They stretch across his abdomen and from the distance, I can see part of his flesh torn. Torn.

The sight of him twists my insides into a tight knot of worry and a gasp flees my throat.

Estella hovers over him, her hand covered in his blood as she cleans and dresses his wounds. I step inside the room, my eyes wide with horror.

"You shouldn't be here." Estella says as soon as she becomes aware of my presence. Her attention doesn't leaves Zade, she continues with cleaning the wound but the bleeding doesn't stops.

My breath races, "What happened?" My eyes flicker between the two and then over the wounds.

Zade lets out a low growl. His eyes snap open and land on me. They are filled with pain and something more. "Leave, Aurora."

"No."

"It wasn't a request."

A knot forms in my throat, his rejection landing like a blow. I swallow hard, my fingers clenching by my side. "But you're hurt. I want to help."

He takes in a ragged breath, wincing as Estella applies pressure to one of his wounds. "I don't need you to be here right now. Your presence is only making the matters worse." His eyes turn red, not with anger, with hunger, for blood—my blood.

His jaw tightens, the lines of pain and strain on his face deepening.

Estella turns, glancing at me as she tosses another wet cloth of blood on the side. "He'll be fine, dear. Just give it some time and perhaps, it's better if you're not here right now. Temptation for blood is quite high in him, especially in this state when he has lost so much."

My heart beats violently in my chest, echoing the despair I feel. "Then let him drink from me," I blurt out, desperation ringing clear in my voice. "Let him have my blood. I want to help him. Let me—"

Zade cuts me off before I finish, "No." His response is sharp, clear.

His complete denial slams into me, ripping away any hope I held on to. It had been days and while I didn't expect him to forget anything, he could move past from it. But he doesn't wants to.

I step further into the room and he sits upright while grimacing in pain. Before I can reach him, he wears his shirt and Estella moves away from him, wrapping it all up before I can even near him.

"I'll get some bags from the kitchen. It should heal you quicker." Estella whispers to him while standing up on her feet.

Blood bags.

He nods and then she goes on her way out of the room while I stay on my ground, unwilling to leave.

My gaze doesn't waver from him. I want to reach out, to comfort him, but the barrier he has built holds me back. It's not that I entirely blame him for what's happening. I've taken some part, there's some fault within me but only if he wasn't so cruel all the time things would've been different.

"I want to help you—"

"I don't need help," He snaps, grabbing my wrist as I near him. "Especially yours. Go." The coldness in his voice stings.

I feel my heart shatter a little more.

"No," I bite out, glaring up at him, my eyes filled with desperation and defiance. "What is it with you? I'm not going anywhere. Not until you tell me why you're pushing me away so relentlessly. Why won't you just let me in? You keep shutting me out like I mean nothing to you."

His eyes blaze. His grip on my wrist loosens and he releases me. The silence between us stretches, the air thickens. I swallow hard, but it doesn't quell the knot in my throat.

"You've become my torment, Aurora." He says without any regret in his voice.

My heart sinks, my breath hitches and my mind reels. I have become his torment. His torment. I blink at him in surprise, unable to grasp the reality of his words. The room feels much colder now, the space between us even wider.

What?

My lips part but no sound comes out. Am I that terrible? I don't know. I can't tell.

My teeth clenches, I'm frustrated now so much so that my blood boils. The past few weeks play in my mind. I'm not the torment here. It's him.

"Then let go if you can't show me an ounce of empathy," I hiss out, my voice trembling. "I didn't choose this, any of this. You dragged me here, took me away from my family and forced me to stay here with you when all I wanted to do was leave."

His gaze softens, but not him. "You're delusional if you think you're going anywhere."

My heart sinks further. "I'm not going to live with you like this."

"You don't have an option," His lips thin into a grim line. "It's not like you kill me again, now can you?" From his words, I know he still hasn't forgiven me for it and I doubt he will.

A cold shiver runs down my spine. He's right. I can't kill him again. Not that I would want to. The memory of that night is still vivid, haunting.

I draw in a shaky breath and step back. "I can't," My voice breaks off. "I can't live like this. Trapped, scared...it's too much."

He scoffs and sits back before folding his one leg over the other one. The pain on his face is almost gone, telling me that he's healing back to his natural, cruel state.

"Don't be such a victim, Aurora. I've given you everything a mate is meant to give."

"And what is that?" I question, my voice heavy with emotion. "Endless torment? Coldness? Isolation? You've given me nothing but pain. You made it sure that I'm miserable here."

"I've offered you safety, a home, protection from the dangers outside. I even brought your mother back from the brink of death, or have you forgotten that? I've taken care of your needs, ensured your well-being and yet here we are, at a dead end," He pauses and his eyes gleam with simmering frustration. "So, I ask you once again, what more do you need?"

At his question, something inside me snaps. It's not about needs. It's about connection, about the bond that's supposed to exist between us, but it doesn't. Even when he's here, he's not and he doesn't sees that. He doesn't sees any of it.

"You've completely refused to give me the one thing I've truly wanted from you. You. I needed you, Zade. Not as a protector but as my mate. And you've refused me that," I don't pause, I plunge ahead with my racing thoughts. "You won't let me in. You won't drink from me, and you deny me the right to drink from you while you go around sharing blood with everyone else. You keep your distance from me as I'm an parasite. You refuse to show me an ounce of compassion, you've shut me out entirely," My voice shakes as I continue. "Why? Why won't you just fucking let me in?"

His silence is a wall, a thick and heavy wall. His unreadable expression is a locked door that I can't find the key to. He doesn't responds to my question. Nothing at all. His lips remain pressed in a tight line, refusing to say me anything that might ease what's in me.

"Is it because of what I did?" I finally ask. "Because I hurt you so I could escape?" His gaze remains on me, steady. It doesn't answers anything but I'm beginning to understand. "No, this isn't because of what I did. This has been there from the very moment you bought me here and tossed me into that tower like a prisoner. If you didn't want a mate, you shouldn't have bought me here."  

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