Guarding Axel (Dark Forest Pack Book 3) by Annabelle Jacobs

Author:Annabelle Jacobs [Jacobs, Annabelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

AXEL

Dathal was waiting for me in the kitchen when I went back inside.

I felt … fuck, I had no idea what to feel right then.

“So …” Dathal had his knives out on the breakfast bar, like that wasn’t alarming or anything. “That seemed to go well?”

I snorted, because how the fuck did he come to that conclusion? “Seriously?”

He gestured towards the living room. “When I glanced out there five minutes ago, you had your tongue down his throat, so I assumed you’d both come to your senses.”

I rubbed a hand over my face, suddenly feeling every lost hour that I hadn’t slept. “Pretty sure that was goodbye.”

His eyes narrowed. “I thought you liked him?”

“I do.” More than I’d liked anyone in a long time.

“And he doesn’t hide the fact he’d like to kill anyone who looks at you twice.” He smirked. “At least not very well anyway.”

Pulling out the stool next to him, I slumped into it and put my head in my hands. “I told him about my magic. About Zh’alek. Well most of it. Enough that he understood why I can’t have a relationship with him. With anyone.”

Dathal picked up one of his daggers, thumb running lovingly over the hilt before he set it down again with a sigh. “Axel. Apart from Nick, I love you more than anyone else in my life, so understand I say this with only your best interests at heart.”

I turned to face him, eyebrow raised. “Go on, then.”

“You are such a fucking idiot, I’m ashamed to call you my cousin.”

Wow. Okay then.

I glared at him. “Oh, lovely. Just what I needed to hear right now.” I sat back and crossed my arms. “I see Lady Sarhin has been rubbing off on you.” I sneered at him, stung by his words because a tiny voice in the back of my mind agreed with him. “And not in a good way.”

He grasped my shoulder, not letting me shrug him off.

“What Zh’alek did was unforgivable. I know that. And I know it’s taken a long time to get over the hurt and the betrayal. But judging everyone else by his standards is letting him hurt you all over again, because Talis is nothing like him, and you know it.”

“You don’t understand.”

“What?” He turned me to face him. “Explain to me what you think I don’t understand?”

Anger welled up inside me, not at Dathal but at every fucking thing that I couldn’t control. Unfortunately, Dathal was the one in front of me. “I trusted Zh’alek. I loved him, for fuck’s sake. And because of what he did to me, I can’t fucking trust anyone else. I can’t let myself be that vulnerable again.” I shook my head, hating the way my eyes filled with tears.

Fuck.

Dathal slipped off his stool and pulled me into a hug. It was so similar to what Talis had done that a sob tore out of me.

He let me cry on his shoulder, saying nothing, only holding me tight while I fell apart in his arms.

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