Chapter 71

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Ryker

My hand froze in midair, and I looked over to where she stood, half hidden in shadows. "We barely know the man; there was no reason for you to be so close to him."

"We still barely know him, but you and Tucker have taken him in, and you're going to plot a robbery with him."

My jaw clenched. "Your point?"

"My point is you've made it repeatedly clear our relationship is strictly business. So that means your only role in my life is training me. You have no say over me, and I can sit next to who I want, so don't do it again."

My teeth throbbed from grinding them together as my nostrils flared. She was right, but I didn't care about that.

"Do you want to fuck him?" I demanded.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"You find him handsome."

"I find many men handsome, but that doesn't mean I want to have sex with them all."

"Then what does it matter if I let you sit beside him?"

She marched across the clearing and stopped a couple of feet away. "It matters because it is my life to control. Are you going to take my freedom from me?"

"Of course not."

"Then don't interfere in my choices again."

As I stepped toward her, I resisted the impulse to shake her and then kiss her until she couldn't talk anymore. If that happened, we wouldn't leave this clearing again tonight.

We had far too much to do, and I couldn't go through that cycle of happiness and loathing again. "I'm going to keep you safe."

"That's not your job."

"It is when I need you to help with this rebellion. Afterward, you can do whatever you want."

Her chin lifted. "I can take care of myself. I've done so for years without your help."

"Things are different now."

"Why?"

"Because I said they are."

"Oh, and that's a valid reason?"

"It is."

"You're impossible."

"Get used to it."

Deciding that was the end of this conversation, I went to open the portal again, but Ellery wasn't done. "I am going to be with other men… one day."

My eyes darted up to her as the possibility of such a thing made my blood boil. She didn't blink as she stared back at me.

"You've moved on to other women; what do you care if I move on too?"

Red flared across my vision at her words. I took a calming breath to regain control of my volatile emotions and the bloodlust her words evoked. I couldn't tell her I hadn't moved on to other women; I could never give her that kind of control over me, but I was the one deceiving her now.

She deserves it after everything she's done.

And what if it pushes her into the arms of another man?

The part of me that was still so irate at her shut up at the possibility. Even the part of me that hated her didn't want her with anyone else.

"Are you ready to move on, Ellery?" My voice came out guttural and raw. I didn't recognize it.

"No, but maybe one day. I'm sure immortality gets lonely when you have no one to share it with. And maybe it could never be love with someone else, but…." She shrugged as she looked toward the woods and sighed. "Oh, I don't know."

I didn't know what to say, but I did know that if another man touched her, I'd tear his head off and lay his body at her feet. We were supposed to go our separate ways when it ended, and I would finally move on to the beds of other women, but I would slaughter anyone who dared touch her. I didn't know what that said about me and my feelings for her, and I didn't care. Now wasn't the time for self-reflection.

"Let's go," I said sharply.