The Shadow's Son by Nicole R. Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

is it?" he asked, turning to face her fully.
    "I can't do this anymore," she whispered, bringing her eyes up to meet his.
    His heart almost sputtered and died and he knew that she'd heard it. "What do you mean?"
    "You said it yourself. This isn't working."
    "Aya, we fought. People fight. We'll work it out."
    She shook her head, taking a step away. "Not this time."
    She was leaving him? Where the hell had this come from? "Does Tristan have something to do with this?" he asked, not able to keep the anger out of his voice.
    "No. Tristan has nothing to do with this."
    He snorted, clenching his jaw. "It's a bit coincidental."
    "I have to go. This was wrong."
    "Aya, please," he whispered, caressing a hand down her face. "I need you. You are my life."
    "That's the problem," she whispered.
    Zac's eyes widened in disbelief.  "You can't mean that."
    "It was an empty dream, Zac. Deep down you knew that one day I would have to leave."
    He snorted, looking away. "Then perhaps I wasn't deep enough."
    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to turn out this way."
    "I bet you didn't."
    "I didn't want to get too attached," she said quietly. "That's why..."
    He snorted and threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Get me attached enough to do your dirty work, but not so attached that you couldn't leave afterwards. Am I meant to be grateful for that?"
    She didn't respond, only staring at him with those icy blue eyes of hers. He couldn't understand the look that was plastered on her face. The look that said her heart was breaking. How could she have the audacity to hurt when she was telling him she had used and betrayed him? 
    "I  get  it, Aya. You used me. You used us." His glare cut right through her. "Two Romans and a founding witch. I bet you couldn't believe your luck."
    "Zac, it wasn't like that," Aya pleaded.
    "It was  exactly  like that." He turned away from her and stalked back towards the house, his expression complete darkness.
    "Zac..." she began.
    Abruptly swinging back to face her he snarled, "What are you still doing here? Your welcome expired thirty seconds ago."
    She took several steps back, but he didn't stay to watch her go. The front door slammed closed behind him and it was a miracle the door jam didn't splinter with the impact. As he stormed past the parlor, Sam came out into the hallway and went to place a hand on his shoulder.
    "I don't want to hear it, Sam," his voice was tight with his restrained anger and hurt as he dodged his brother's hand. He knew that Sam had heard everything.
    "I wasn't going to say anything," his little brother frowned.
    Stopping, he swung around sneering, "Perhaps I should be the one who's saying, I told you so."
    "Zac..."
    He raised his hand to stop him from continuing and grimaced. "Don't. Just  don't ."
    She'd left him again, but this time it was of her own choice. He could just let go. Let his humanity go and forgo all of this pain and all that he would no doubt feel for a long time. But then he would be surrendering to the monster he was so desperately trying to escape. There was a catch twenty-two if ever he saw one.
    Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed sharply and made a beeline for the liquor cabinet. Sometimes his dependency on alcohol even worried him. Right now, he needed it to avoid going off and taking his anger out on something or someone .
    "Gabby called," Sam said, watching Zac carefully as he rattled through the mostly empty bottles.
    "And?"
    "She compelled Liz and Alex to forget everything about her past," Sam said, " before  she came here."
    "And Gabby?"
    "I doubt she could compel Gabby now, even if she wanted to."
    "Yeah, well, doesn't matter much. We're still bound by the curse. If it even exists," Zac rolled his eyes. Like he cared, anyway. Let the hellfire consume him.
    "What could we do with it anyway? This Regulus would want retribution on us regardless. We were accessories to his brothers’ murders and the witch who made him..."
    Zac grunted, "So, at least