LEINDRA'S P.O.V.
Relief coursed through me as I heard Darius' voice followed by instant regret. He was furious and the anger was directed at me. I should never have run away. I also knew that Darius would never take his anger out on me so it would all be directed towards the man with a knife to my neck.
"You can have her after I'm done," the man drawled. "You can just wait outside and I'll let you know when I'm finished."
Darius moved so fast that he was nothing but a blur in my vision. One minute, the man had a knife to my neck and the next, he was ripped away and slammed into the wall. I heard him choking and gasping for breath and I knew Darius would kill him if given the chance. I leaped off the bed and flipped the lights on.
Darius was in his usual all-black ensemble and he had the man dangling off the ground with one hand on his throat. The man had greasy black hair with brown eyes that were bulging out of his socket as he tried and failed to claw Darius' arm away. He was steadily turning purple yet Darius did not bat an eyelid as he watched the life slowly drain out of the man.
"Darius," I approached him slowly and placed my hand on his upper arm. "You can't kill him. This isn't Lunarius, there are different laws here."
"I don't give a shit what the laws are. He had his hands on you and he will die for that."
"Darius please," I dropped my voice into a whisper hoping and praying it would work. "Can we just leave? He isn't worth this at all."
Darius peeled his eyes off the man and settled them on me. I implored him to see reason and he finally did. He let the man go not caring that he crumpled to the ground in a heap. Darius' hand prints were stark against the man's pale skin but he didn't care. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me out of the room but I stopped him. "He took something from me," I explained and Darius reluctantly let me go long enough to take the wad of cash from the man as well as my duffel bag.
As soon as I got to him, he took the duffel bag from me and slung it over one shoulder. As we passed the lobby, I saw the girl at the counter watching Darius with hungry eyes. When she noticed my stare, she sneered at me. If it were any other day, I would have made a big deal about it, but for the first time ever, I was scared of Darius.
Hèn laori non sarirlasm'igre-woror's nice-yeathing ineniformitler comm: Héryoututritis wikler attor lifted me onto it. I opened my mouth to speak but he shot me a hard look that had me falling silent immediately. He got on right after me and took out his phone from his pocket. I wasn't sure who he called but he told the person that he had found me. The ride back to Lunarius was tense and quiet. I held on to Darius but that was the only form of closeness between us. His mind was miles away and there was an emotion coursing through his body that was so violent, so raw that I could not find the words for it. I wanted to push, I wanted him to yell at me. I knew how to handle his explosive anger but I did not know how to handle his silence.
We got to Lunarius in record time. It took around half an hour for us to get from the motel into his house. Ian and Amy were standing in front of the house watching me carefully while the rest of his men were littered all around the property line.
"Darius," I began but he held up a hand to stop me.
"Get into the house," he ordered. When I didn't move, he turned to Ian. "Get her into the house now."
Ian moved quickly and placed his hand over my shoulder then leaned down to whisper. "Now is not the time to push him, Leindra. He is about to tip over the edge and the last thing you want is to be there when it happens."
"But I-"
"I don't want to know why you did it. Just go upstairs, change and come back down. If he knew I left you alone for five seconds he would kill me so I suggest doing it as quickly as you can."
He released me as soon as he shut the door behind us and I practically rushed up the stairs. I took a shower in record time and changed into lounge pants and a tank top. My bath and dressing took less than ten minutes and by the time I returned to the living room, Ian and Amy were setting out tea for me. I was shocked that they were working together without biting each other's heads off but I chose not to comment on it. Amy saw me first and I saw the betrayal clear as day on her face. "Amy I-"
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I was cut off by the door slamming open and Darius walked in. He looked a lot calmer than he did on the bike but he still looked furious. His anger was like a swirling storm and I knew that it was going to erupt all at once. I braced myself for his explosive yelling but instead, he spoke in a calm voice.
"Get out," I thought he was talking to me so I started to rise but he stopped me. "Amy and Ian, get out, now. Make sure no one walks in here."
They nodded and I saw Ian shoot me a look that spelled out good luck. I smiled softly at him because I knew I would need it. As soon as the door shut behind them, Darius exploded.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked. "Did it not occur to you once that leaving without an explanation put you right in the path of danger? You are a lot of things Leindra but I never pegged you as a fucking coward."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "I know you're upset but that was a fucking low blow."
"You're talking about low blows when you're the one who left. I was doing everything to protect you. I had my men out there to protect you and your family and you just
left. Did you even think about all the lives that were at stake for you?"
"It wasn't for me," I exploded. "Those men didn't protect me because they wanted someone to break their curse. Stop pretending like you care for me when you don't. I understand that you have a lot riding on my shoulders but I never asked for it."
Darius stopped to stare at me and then scoffed. "You aren't the first person to have a destiny, Leindra. Grow up."
I was taken aback by his words. I expected his anger but I did not expect him to be so dismissive about it,
"Fuck you," I spat.
"I already have." He shrugged. I stormed to my feet and started towards the door but his hand reached out to grab my upper arm. "You will have a guard with you at all times and at least two trailing you that you cannot see."
"That is absurd."
"What is absurd is you running away when you know there is a psychopath who wants you dead. You will either have the guards and you will remain in this house until Faye is taken care of and the wedding is completed."
"I will not marry you."
"Unfortunately, you do not have a choice in the matter anymore," he let me go. "Jared will see you to your room."
I stood there staring at him in shock and waiting for him to tell me it was a joke but he didn't. He walked over to the door and opened it and sure enough, Jared stood there waiting for me. I let out a loud groan of frustration and stormed out of the room taking long strides in the hopes that I would avoid Jared but my long strides matched his normal ones and he didn't even seem bothered.
When I got to my room, I whirled on him. "Don't you have a life? Don't you have things you would rather be doing instead of watching me all day?"
"I do, actually," he responded blandly. "I would be doing all those things if you did not
run away. You have no one but yourself to blame for the things that are happening right now."
"You're telling me that you wouldn't have done the same if you had people breathing down your beck every five seconds."
"I wouldn't," he answered so easily and without a thought. "If I had all these people depending on me, I wouldn't be a bitch about it. Darius has been nothing but kind to you even when you don't deserve it. Before you point fingers, you might want to look in the mirror."
With that, he turned around and ignored me.