Soren
You know we’re fucked when I’m the voice of reason.
I don’t know how she doesn’t see what a terrible idea it was hooking up with Salem! He’s insane. And if he didn’t leave her alone before, he sure as hell won’t now, which is why I made him forget it ever happened. I don’t usually show people what I can do with my persuasion and how powerful I am, but I couldn’t help myself.
He was fucking tasting her pussy.
And it made me see red.
Mine.
What the actual fuck?
I push that thought away and pray to the fates for some kind of mental clarity.
Pandora?
She is the furthest thing from my mind.
She is the daughter of my enemy.
She is a witch.
She is everything I don’t want.
“You have some fucking nerve,” she yells, pointing her finger at my chest. Her cheeks are flushed, and those intense violet eyes are wild with anger. “Who do you think you are, Soren? I doubt Rave ordered you to pussy block me!”
He didn’t. “He said to keep you safe. So sorry, but that includes being eaten by a monster. Salem is a fucking assassin, and I heard he was even pulled off duty because he keeps killing everyone he comes in contact with. He can’t follow orders and leaves every assignment in a bloodbath. He’s a cold-blooded murderer.”
I hear her mutter something about murdering her pussy, and with those words, I want to kill Salem with my bare hands.
“I’m going back,” she snarls, and my hand curls around her upper arm.
“You’re not going anywhere, witch,” I growl, pulling her up against my body. Fuck, she’s soft in all the right places and gets under my skin like no one else can. I want to spank her ass until it’s red and she learns she shouldn’t be out fucking with psychopath assassins.
She stills, letting her body be pressed against mine, then turns her face up to look at me.
“You don’t know where that mouth of his has been,” I whisper, apparently unable to let this shit go.
She rolls her eyes. “Probably fewer places than yours has been. Everyone knows you fuck anything that is blonde and willing to act like your sex slave.”
“I don’t kiss any of those women. And I don’t go down on them. I’m saving my mouth for my mate,” I say, gripping her chin between my thumb and finger. I don’t know why I tell her this. Maybe to shut up her judgment of my very healthy sex life.
Violet eyes flicker with something that looks like possessiveness before she shields them. “Those women let you fuck them without so much as a kiss? You sure you don’t use your persuasion on them?”
“I’ve never had to,” I growl out the words, her comment pissing me the fuck off. “And you even insinuating that offends me. You don’t know me, witch. But I’ve never forced a female to fuck me.”
“How many women have you fucked? I finally get an orgasm from the second male who’s ever touched me, and you drag me out of there. For no reason—”
“Oh, there’s a fucking reason,” I snap, reaching down to touch the black diamond that sits around her neck.
She steps back from me, her hands going to her hips. “What is it? Other than you being a controlling, hateful, motherfucking—”
“What’s going on here?” Rave asks, stepping into the room, his eyes darting between us.
“Soren dragged me back here for no reason,” Pandora pouts, snitching to my best friend.
Like he’s going to fucking save her from me.
Rave’s ice-blue eyes return to me, his brow arched. “I told you to make sure she’s safe, not kidnap her.”
“She wasn’t fucking safe,” I say in a clipped tone, crossing my arms over my chest.
“ Yes, I was ,” she replies, scowling. “And I was meant to check on Laurel for Astrid, and I didn’t get to do that because of him .”
My jaw drops slightly. “Really? Because from where I was standing, it didn’t look like you were looking for the seer. It looked like you were—”
“Oh, my fates, Soren! It’s not a crime for me to want to have a big, strong male worshiping me on his knees every now and again.”
“Ask her who that big, strong male was, Rave!” I snap, reliving the image in my head.
That fucking shifter.
Rave scrubs a hand down his face, and then shadows are suddenly winding around us in warning. “Soren, since when do you care who Pandora is seeing?”
“When it’s Salem, the fucker you told me to save her from at the last party.”
Rave studies Pandora for a moment and sighs. “Soren, Pandora is a grown-ass witch. A queen. She can make her own choices. I wanted you there to protect her if she was in danger.”
I know he must be wondering where my head is at right now.
The problem is, I’m just as clueless as he is.
I had no real reason to bring her back here if she didn’t want to be.
And all three of us know it.
“She was,” I bite back, jaw tense. “From her own stupid decisions.”
Rave is now looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind, and maybe I fucking have.
“See what I’ve been dealing with.” Pandora sighs, toying with the split in her dress. I know she’s not wearing any panties because I saw them on the floor before I zipped her out of there. “You need to call your warrior off, Rave. Maybe next time, send someone else to check on me?”
“You think I want to be following you around?” I bark, running a hand through the longer part of my hair. “I need a fucking drink. Feel free to go home, witch, where you belong.”
She goes silent, looking down at her heel-clad feet. “Well, I sure as hell don’t belong here, do I, Soren?”
She zips away.
And it better not be back into Salem’s tree-trunk arms.
“Soren, what the fuck...” Rave groans just as Astrid steps into the room. “Why are you two arguing like an old married couple?”
“What now?” Astrid asks, sliding up next to her mate.
Rave kisses the top of her head and smirks. “Soren dragged Pandora away while she was hooking up with Salem. She’s pissed.”
Astrid frowns, eyes cutting to me. There’s a strange look in her gaze, one I can’t quite interpret. “Where did she go?”
“I don’t know. She left after Soren told her to go back to her own kingdom where she belongs,” he updates her, the disapproval in his tone clear.
Astrid walks over to me, reaching up to touch my cheek, ignoring the growling coming from her mate at the contact. “Be nice to her or ignore her. But please, Soren, stop being cruel to her. I can’t take it anymore. So imagine how she feels.”
Swallowing hard, I nod.
Have I been cruel?
I told her she has bad blood, just like her mother, but is that even true?
I don’t know anymore.
But the knot in my stomach says it all.
Heading back to my room, I stop myself before I do something I may regret.
Like chase her down and apologize.