Bronze

Chapter 15

Seeing my reaction, he lowered his gaze and moved back. "I won't hurt you," he mumbled, again sounding like he was trying to convince himself instead of me. 

A wave of guilt washed over me like cold water, waking me up to the situation we were both put in. I was dying. The book could only stop so much, sooner or later I was going to lose my wolf and die. It wasn't like Kane wanted to claim me, he was just trying to save my life, therefore saving his own.

It was only a ploy to save himself. 

And this made me feel better about agreeing. Knowing I still meant nothing to him, and Katherine would still be his wife, gave me hope that I could survive this. That I could fight and fight and fight, and no matter what happens, we would still be enemies. 

Taking his cold hand, I brought it up to my chest and rested it against my heart. There, I warmed it until I could feel the blood flow coming back to his fingertips. 

His gaze met mine. "Fine, you can claim me, but I want to make one thing clear. This won't change how I feel about you. Even if the bond gets stronger, even if the pull is undeniable, I will still hate you."

He clenched his jaw, holding back a snarl that I knew was tearing away at his throat. I felt the same, but I gulped it down and held my head high.

Without words, he nodded and held my hand, pulling me out of the cell and into the empty basement hallway. 

Without any clothes, the cold air chilled my skin. I shivered, causing Kane to halt suddenly. I crashed into his back with a thud and stumbled backward. Quickly, he stripped off his grey sweatshirt and handed it to me. When I got it all over my head, the fabric went all the way to my knees covering every needed area. 

He gave a curt nod of approval, took my hand again, and we started flying back down the hallway.

He pushed through the wooden door that opened up to the house, almost knocking over a simple guard. He was standing off to the side, eyes wide and scared. Kane gave him the nastiest glare but continued to lead me to another door. 

I barely had time to register my surroundings. We ventured into the kitchen. The maids and cooks stared, mouths gaping at us. Then we were outside were Lander and I had our little fighting match. 

Did he know about that?

"Wait," I said yanking back on his hand. He nearly pulled my arm out of its socket trying to get me to move again. "Kane wait!"

"What?" he snapped, turning around to scowl at me.

"What you said at the banquet...did you mean it? Can I be with Lander?"

His eyes fluctuated between my face and the ground. He bit the inside of his cheek with enough force to cause himself to wince. Is that guilt, I asked myself. 

"No," he said finally. He then pivoted so that his back was facing me, and jerked his shoulder. "Come on, I know a good spot."

We didn't speak after that, not that I needed to talk with him anyway. 

Instead, I decided to take in the forest. As we entered, the bright sunshine of the afternoon sky turned to a dim yellow and white fog. The sounds became louder. I could hear every bird chirp and rodent scamper. The only noise distracting me was the sounds of our footsteps crunching on leaves that had fallen and twigs that had snapped off during storms. 

A wild rabbit raced in front of us. It's legs extended far out as it ran, taking quick turns and going in a zig-zag pattern. His little ears flew back against this spin as the wind forced them down. And as quick as he came, he was gone.