"We should rut. I am a skilled lover. I have made humans weep from the sheer pleasure."
Julie pretended to yawn. "Tell someone who cares. I wouldn"t have s.e.x with you if you were the last person left on the planet."
"I am not looking for love." His eyes clouded and he frowned. "I"-he swallowed thickly, pausing for a moment- "we... could work. No love or any of the other emotions. Let"s test compatibility. We could mate and procreate. I would look after you. It could be a win win." He looked totally serious.
"More of the same bulls.h.i.t!" She yelled. Then she choked out a hysterical sounding laugh. "You a.s.sholes are all the same. What"s so wrong with love? Why don"t you want it? Love is amazing. It"s wonderful. To feel like that about another person is-"
"Heartbreaking," the water king growled. His face contorted in pain. "To let someone else in enough to break you. No. It is a mistake. One I will not make again. Get on the bed. We are rutting now."
"Heartbreaking." She looked up in thought. "Yeah, I suppose there"s that too." Why had she forgotten that part? "You don"t want to have s.e.x with me." She spoke more softly this time.
"I do. You are almost in heat. You have a delectable scent." Torrent glanced out the window and then ran a hand through his hair. He sucked in a deep breath.
"You really don"t." She couldn"t help but notice that he wasn"t in the least bit interested in her unlike Coal who sported a hard-on for the last week and almost non-stop.
The big shifter clenched his teeth. He looked distraught.
"What happened with Candy?"
He growled, the sound anguished. "I don"t wish to discuss it. She is gone and you are here."
"Oh my G.o.d. You"re in love with her." A lightbulb went on. He was being a guy and trying to forget about the person he really wanted by sleeping with another.
His eyes burned more brightly. "No. I feel nothing for her."
"Rubbish. What happened between the two of you? Maybe I can help."
"It doesn"t matter. She is gone. She"s not coming back." He moved to the nearest sofa and sat down heavily. His shoulders were slumped.
"It wouldn"t help, you know? s.e.x with me."
He glanced her way before looking at his hands, which were interlaced on his lap. "I feel empty inside."
Julie felt sorry for the poor guy. "s.e.x with me will only make you feel worse. When you finally stop moping and go after her, she might actually forgive you if you don"t screw anyone else. You have no hope if you fool around with other people."
He lifted his gaze to her. "I don"t wish to rut anyone but her. I am a fool. I won"t go after her though. She made her decision when she left me."
"You really should put your pride aside and go after her. You have it really bad." Julie smiled.
"No." He shook his head. "I did something I should never have done. She won"t forgive me for it."
"She will if she loves you." Julie felt something lift inside her. It only brought feelings of confusion. She was really angry with Coal. Her trust had been misplaced. Why was she so shocked that he had betrayed her? Why did she have this feeling that there was a rational explanation? This need to forgive him. Argh! She was so weak where he was concerned.
Torrent shrugged his huge shoulders. "Maybe. I will think on it." Then he paused. "Would you like me to take you back now?" He sort of smiled. It only made him look more upset.
"You can take me to Walton Springs. Do you know it?" The last thing Julie wanted was to go back but what other choice did she have?
His face clouded again. "It is where Candy lives."
"I"ll tell you what, drop me off and go after her. Two birds with one stone." She held up her fingers.
"You have given me advice and I feel that I need to do the same in return. Coal loves you."
What? "No. You"re wrong. Do you know that he asked someone else to mate with him just the other day? He goes through women like I go through shoes. Not that he wears shoes but... you know what I mean." She mumbled the last part.
"I know that people make mistakes."
"He lied, a lot."
"I don"t know what happened between you two, but I do know what I saw. That male was a like a puppy dog in your hands did I say that human saying correctly?" He raised his brows.
"Yes, it"s only because his brother commanded him to mate me though and..." She didn"t finish the sentence.
"Nope." Torrent looked to be deep in thought. He shook his head. "He was desperate and needy. He is in love with you. It doesn"t matter about previous females in his life or things he didn"t tell you, probably to protect you. The male is desperately in love with you. He looked completely pathetic. Maybe it is better that the female is gone." His whole frame tensed. "I don"t ever want to be that pathetic."
He already was, but she didn"t say anything. "It"s not better that Candy is gone and you know it."
He looked like he was deep in thought but didn"t say anything. She knew that her feelings for Coal had grown by the day. She had let him get under her skin and now she was paying the price. Blaze had also mentioned that Coal had feelings for her. Feelings were one thing, but love. Love was another thing entirely. Love was intense. Love was all consuming. Love was as trusting as one person could get with another. It was scary. More scary than the highest mountain or the steepest cliff. That was falling good and proper.
Julie huffed out a breath. She"d spoken about love earlier like she was an old hand at it. Like she understood it"s dynamics. The truth was, she had no idea. None whatsoever. Did she?
She needed to see Coal. She owed him a chance to explain. She owed it to herself as well.
"Are you ready to go?" Torrent raised his brows.
She nodded once.
"I take it I"m taking you back to the fire prince?" Torrent smiled. Now that she was no longer in fear of life and limb, she realized that he was actually quite a good looking guy. Shifters were gifted with some really good genes.
"How did you know I"d changed my mind?"
"You gave a little smile just now and your cheeks are flushed. I can tell that you were thinking about the male. It seems that you have it just as bad as he does."
She shook her head, preparing to deny it all but sighed instead.
Torrent laughed and although she first rolled her eyes, she couldn"t help but smile along with him. "Let us go." He put his hand on her shoulder as they walked towards the balcony.
The double doors leading to the balcony flew open. Gla.s.s exploded out as both panes of gla.s.s were obliterated. Coal stepped into the wide opening, taking up the whole s.p.a.ce. He was a bundle of tension. Every muscle was corded. Smoke curled around him. Small flames erupted from his nose and mouth. His eyes were slitted. His frame enormous, just barely contained within his human skin.
Julie sucked in a breath.
"Get your filthy hands off of my female!" His voice boomed. He"d never looked more alluring. So d.a.m.ned hot, in every aspect of the word, that her mouth dried and her throat worked. His whole stance evoked both fear and excitement and in equal measure.
Torrent took his hand from her shoulder. She couldn"t see him because she was a step behind him. "I"m glad you are-"
His words were cut short by Coal. "Step away from him, Julie. Do it now." His words were barely understandable.
"No... you don"t..." Julie tried to reason with him. She tried to...
Torrent gave her a light shove which sent her sprawling to the right. She landed a few feet away with her knees on the rug. She felt a sharp pain as she skidded over the woolen surface. There were better ways to get carpet burn. This was not one of them.
There was a loud snarling noise. "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Coal snarled as he leapt on Torrent, knocking him back.
"Wait!" Torrent shouted as Coal let it rip. "Let me-"
Julie turned away because the heat was blinding. It was almost unbearable and she crawled further away. It felt like her hair was melting. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in her hands.
Torrent growled. It sounded like he was in agony. Julie felt sick to her stomach when she smelled burning flesh.
"The female is mine," Coal snarled.
"I was bringing her back!" Torrent shouted.
Julie opened her eyes just as Coal leapt on the water king. She heard a snapping noise. Coal had just broken the other shifters ribs.
"Stop!" Julie shouted. She could see that Torrent wasn"t even fighting back. He was only trying to block the worst of the blows. His face was contorted in pain.
"Wait," Torrent growled as Coal advanced. His eyes were dark, she could see golden scales on his chest. His fists were clenched. His mouth a tight line.
"Coal. Stop it!" She shouted but he ignored her. Coal punched Torrent solidly in the face. There was a crunching noise as his nose flattened.
Blood gushed. His hair was singed. His face blackened. Torrent had skin peeling on one of his cheeks. His chest was blistered. His bones were broken. He staggered backwards but kept his balance, which amazed her after the beating he had taken.
"Mine," Coal snarled. He pummeled Torrent. There were grunts snarls and the sound of his fists connecting with Torrent"s face. It was the most revolting thing she had ever seen or heard. It was so violent. So savage. Blood poured, flesh peeled and split. Bone cracked. Torrent fell to his knees.
Julie screamed. She wasn"t sure whether she was saying Torrent"s name or Coal"s or whether it was just noise but it was loud enough that her throat hurt.
In an almost elegant move, Coal kicked in a swiping motion. His feet connected with Torrent"s head, which snapped to the side. There was a snapping noise to accompany the movement. Torrent slumped to the floor.
"You killed him." She ran to Coal and beat at his chest. "You went and freaking killed him! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?"
He grabbed her hands and held them. Julie tried to yank them free. Her hair covered her face. She tried harder to escape and failed, looking up at him instead.
His eyes were still the color of midnight. Every muscle tense. His mouth was set. Coal gave a silent snarl. "You are mine. Not his." Then he huffed out a breath. "Did you move on so quickly?"
"You are one h.e.l.l of an a.s.shole. I hadn"t moved on. You"re a psycho. You killed him. Oh my G.o.d..." She was panting. "I can"t believe you killed him. You looney, crazy-"
"He"s not dead."
"What do you mean he"s not dead, of course he"s dead. You broke his neck. I can not believe you just did that. I thought I was in love with you but I can"t love a lunatic, barbarian, savage, caveman."
Cole cupped her cheeks. She tried to cringe away because they were covered in dried blood. Poor Torrent"s blood. "You"re in love with me?" His eyes normalized... somewhat. His whole gaze softened.
She shook her head. "No way! You"re a mad man. A crazy son of a-"
He nodded. "I am crazy for you. You said that you"re in love with me."
"You killed Torrent."
Coal snarled. "Stop saying his name and stop saying that I killed him. He will be fine. Sore for a couple of hours..." He shrugged. "Maybe a day or two... which he deserves, but he"ll be just fine."
"You broke his neck."
Coal rolled his eyes. "Will you ever listen to me? I told you that it takes silver to kill us and then ideally decapitation otherwise we regenerate."
Torrent sucked in a deep breath and then moaned. He moved a half an inch and slumped back down.
"See." Coal raised his brows. "Perfectly fine."
"His face was almost burned off. What was left of it you smashed to a pulp." Disbelief was etched into every word. "Then you snapped his neck. He"s not fine."
"He dared touch you. He deserved everything he got, although I expected more from him..." Coal frowned. "He was a useless adversary."
"That"s because he wasn"t fighting back, you idiot." She rolled her eyes again. "He"s in love with Candy. Nothing happened between the two of us, you idiot."
"That other human, the one that went back?" Coal frowned.
Julie nodded. "He won"t admit his feelings but the only reason he took me is because he is so cut up over her leaving. He helped me to see a few things clearly as well..."
"Like, the fact that you"re in love with me?" Coal slid his arms around her, he was grinning.
Julie shook her head. "No! that was before."
Coal frowned again, two deep lines popped up between his eyes. "I should have told you about Scarlet. Our relationship was more of an arrangement that didn"t work out. I didn"t feel that way about her and she didn"t feel that way about me either."
"She looked really upset when she came to see me earlier." Julie felt her eyes sting but refused to cry. She gave up crying a long time again. It showed vulnerability and didn"t help anyway.
"Scarlet doesn"t feel anything for me, not really. She liked the idea of being mated to a prince, that"s it. I don"t love her. I wasn"t sure I believed in love."
Julie tried to shrug him off but Coal pulled her closer. Why did he have to be so d.a.m.ned gorgeous? No! he"s a savage. A barbaric murderer. Torrent moaned again, reminding her that he wasn"t dead. "I can"t believe you did that to him."
Coal"s whole demeanor tensed. "He should never have taken you."
"He wasn"t thinking straight."
Coal had the good grace to look embarra.s.sed. "I wasn"t thinking straight either. I didn"t mean to hurt him so badly. I saw red." His Adam"s apple worked as he swallowed. "I"ll apologize to him when he comes around. I should have told you about Blaze tasking me to mate a human."
"Against your wishes. You hate humans. You were forced to win me and claim me and-"
"I was never forced to love you and the fact of the matter is that I do love you very much. I expected it to be a hardship but it wasn"t." He stroked her cheek.
"You have blood on your hands."
"I just told you that I love you." His eyes narrowed into hers.
She huffed out a breath. "You shouldn"t have lied to me."
"I didn"t want to scare you off. Everything I told you about my feelings, about trusting me, I meant it. You can trust me. I"ll come for you, be there for you and I always will. You are everything to me. You are a part of me. To hurt you is to hurt myself."