Pure Blood_ A Nocturne City Novel - Caitlin Kittredge [91]
The longest seconds of my life passed by before I could summon the willpower to actually look at Dmitri. I immediately wished I’d just kept examining my feet. His expression was fury, tightly controlled and directed like a laser straight through me.
After a long time he said, “I can’t fucking believe you did this.”
“What was I supposed to do!” I exploded, defensiveness replacing my regret like a steel security door clamping down over a vault. “Would you have preferred I let them tear me to cold cuts and deliver me in a lunchbox?”
Dmitri crossed the room so fast he was only a blur of copper hair and infuriated green eyes, grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me practically off my feet. “You think I need to be cured, like I’ve got some Hexed virus? And you think you’re going to be a little hero and make sure everyone is perfect and normal?” He shook me and my teeth rattled.
“Let go,” I warned him, the were coming to the surface. “I won’t play in this scene any day, never mind now.”
“You think I’m a dumb beast,” Dmitri hissed. His eyes shifted from green to black so quickly it was like oil splashing into a clear pond. “You think I’m some monster skulking in the shadows. That I need you to pick up my problems and smooth them over.”
“Dmitri, I’m thinking this might be the daemon talking…”I started.
“Well, here’s a tip, sweetheart,” he snarled, sounding more like a were than I’d ever heard him. “Next time, don’t fuck the monster’s brains out before you offer up your miracle cure. And don’t assume the monster wants to stop.”
“I wanted to help you,” I whispered. “Sergei and Yelena were going to kill us both.”
“Not everything in the world is your problem, Luna. In fact, most of your grand crusades would work out much better if you kept them to yourself.”
Heat rushed into my face. This time, it had nothing to do with arousal. I grabbed Dmitri’s wrists and shoved him away from me with all my strength. He fell back and then circled, snarling and black-eyed.
“Hex you,” I said, not even caring anymore if he turned me into kibble. “I’m trying to help you. I’m the only one trying to help you. But you know what? Forget it. You don’t deserve help, you bastard. You deserve to rot, to turn into this … thing and spend the rest of your life locked in some bunker in Kiev.”
In that moment, I really meant it, and Dmitri knew it. His pupils showed a tiny ringlet of green as I gathered up the rest of my clothes.
“Luna…”
“Go roast in all seven hells,” I said, walking out and slamming the door behind me.
I made it back to my cottage, shivering inside a taxi, before I curled into a ball and sobbed. I’d thought the debacle with Irina and the pack was the worst I could ever feel, but I’d been wrong.
Then, I hadn’t truly believed Dmitri was gone. I’d become convinced that if I were just strong and patient enough, he’d be back.
My phone rang, and I slapped it off the hook and went back to hugging my pillow and crying like a high school cheerleader who gets dumped the day before homecoming.
Now, Dmitri was really gone, and I hadn’t lost him to the Redbacks or to Irina. The man I cared for had been consumed by what was inside him, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do.
It hurt, so much so that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get up again. I just stayed curled in the fetal position, trying to will back what I’d lost and doing a lousy fucking job.
After a while I must have fallen asleep, because when I snapped awake it was dark outside and someone was pounding on my door. The pounding cut off and a key scraped in the lock. Sunny shouted, “Luna? You home? Do you know your phone’s disconnected?”
My eyes were gritty and swollen, and my throat was sore from crying. Sunny’s footsteps mounted the stairs and my bedroom light snapped on. I heard her suck in a breath. “Oh, my dear gods.”
“You should see the other were,” I muttered, putting a hand over my eyes to shield them.
Sunny moved it and stared down at me, her expression somewhere between horror and righteous anger. “Who did this?” she demanded. “I