32. DEVRIM

“Go away,” Obsidian growled without looking at me.

I hurried my steps to keep up with him. Obsidian disappeared from sight, only to reappear a few seconds later.

My brows dipped when I realized that he was heading towards the waterfall. I couldn’t understand what the hell his problem was. Hadn’t we all agreed that Vanya was going to be our mate? He didn’t say anything when we made that decision, why now?

After spending the whole night with her, and giving her some of his blood, why had he rejected her?

“We need to talk,” I called out.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

My hands curled into fists as my anger increased with every step I took.

Obsidian stopped at the edge of the pool and undressed.

I swallowed and allowed my eyes to trail over his tattooed skin before he dived into the water. Shaking away the sudden lust, I stopped next to his discarded clothes and waited for him to resurface.

Two minutes passed before his head popped up a few feet away.

“What happened?” I called out to him. “You made her breakfast.”

Obsidian once again ignored me. I watched in frustration as he swam over to the waterfall and disappeared underneath the water again.

Hesitating, I undressed and dropped my clothes on top of his. I sucked in a deep breath and then dived into the water. I followed his trail toward the waterfall, then dived underneath the water and resurfaced on the other side.

My eyes darted around, searching, but not locating him.

I tensed when I sensed someone behind me, but when I turned around, there was nobody there.

“Obsidian!” I called out. “Can we just talk for—?”

“Talk about what exactly?” he asked from behind me.

Pursing my lips, I turned to face him. “We need to talk about Vanya.”

His eyes narrowed. “I healed her. What more do you want?”

“I want to know why you’re rejecting her when all you’ve been doing is watching her.”

“I haven’t—”

“There’s no use denying it,” I interrupted him. “I know that you’ve been watching her,” I hesitated, “ever since she rescued you when she was just a little girl.”

Anger flashed through his eyes as his lips curled into a sneer. I was treading a dangerous path, but I didn’t back off. Swimming closer, I made sure to hold eye contact with him.

“You always made sure that she was safe. Hell, Obsidian, you’ve been stalking her for years, ever since she found you.”

The anger had faded, but there was no emotion in his dark eyes. His stare was cold and void of emotion, and I hated it.

“Why are you pushing her away when all you’ve ever wanted was to hold her close and never let go?”

I waited and waited.

But Obsidian said nothing. With a growl, he disappeared underneath the water again. I sighed, my stomach dropping when I realized that I would be returning home without any answers.

“Take her home, Dev.”

I frowned and watched him as he climbed over the rocks and disappeared into the cave.

I didn’t hesitate to follow him.

My steps faltered at the entrance of the cave. I took in everything that was scattered about, including the sleeping bag and the fire pit.

So this was where he was always disappearing to.

“Go away.”

Licking my lips, I moved deeper into the cave and took in the not so obvious things—like the pool of fresh blood close to the fire pit.

“Go back to your human,” he sneered.

I spun, giving in to the temper. “What the hell is your problem?” I yelled. “I’m getting fucking sick of your mood swings! You’ve just spent the whole night with her. You made her breakfast!”

Obsidian just continued to stare at me with a blank face.

My hands curled into fists. I wanted to hit him so fucking badly. Taking a step closer, I forced the words out instead.

“She’s still the same person who brought you flowers and read to you. She’s—”

“—human.”

“Jesus, Obsidian!” I stormed over to him and gripped his shoulders. “Not all of them are bad! Not all of them want to hurt you like—”

He moved, cutting off my words. One second, we were standing and the next, I was on my back with him straddling me and his forearm resting across my throat.

 “I’m a sadist, Dev. Do you know what that means?” Obsidian rasped, his face inches away from my face. “I get off on causing pain.”

I stared into his darkening eyes inches above mine.

Obsidian’s arm slid away from my neck. He didn’t get off me; instead, he braced his hands on either side of my face and lowered his head until only a breath separated our lips.

“Last night—” he stopped and closed his eyes “—last night, I… I tortured her.”

Ice ran through my veins. I had checked, there hadn’t been a mark on her skin.

“Not the way you’re thinking,” he rasped. “But I wanted to. God, Dev, I wanted to mark her skin so I could watch her bleed.”

His confession left me speechless, that and the feeling of his shaft jerking against my stomach. Obsidian was turned on by just imagining hurting her.

A sadist.

I knew what it meant. It was a word that some of the pride members used to describe the doctors at the facility. It was a word I never thought would ever be associated with Obsidian, despite his past.

“Say something.”

I opened my eyes and blinked up at him. There were a lot of things I wanted to say. The pride had chosen me as their leader, which meant that it was my duty to eliminate every possible threat.

But this time, Vanya’s safety came before theirs. I needed to make sure that Obsidian wasn’t a threat to her.

“Show me,” I told him. “Show me what you wanted to do to her last night.”