Assassin: Fall of the Golden Valefar (A Paranormal Romance—Book #6 in the Demon Kissed Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

this
road with her, but he couldn’t stop. Maybe he was selfish. Maybe it was because
he’d be gone soon, but he dropped his guard. He put away his barbed words and
just enjoyed walking with her, hearing her voice and responding the way he
would have if he was still himself, and not the desperate monster that crawled
under his skin. “From me.”
    “I already know what you’re capable of. I’ve seen it.” This
was the man that confused her. There was a softness in
his voice, in his eyes that didn’t belong there.
    “Natalia…” he stopped walking. She took another step before
turning. Her lips were parted like she was surprised. He ran his hands through
his hair. “You don’t know all of it.”
    His voice was so shaken. It felt like someone pulled all
the air out of her lungs in one tug. “I don’t need to. I know enough to see
that this part of you, this—whatever it is—is something that you keep hidden. I
just don’t understand why.”
    Eric’s lips parted, as he looked at her, trying to find the
right words but there were none. Finally, he answered, “Because it’s the least
of me. It’s deceptive. It’s not who I am.”
    “It’s what you could be.”
    “No,” he shook his head, his eyes even more haunted than
they were before, “it’s what I was, but I’m not that man anymore. He’s gone,
Nat. The guy that saved you a few years ago is gone. It doesn’t matter what I
want. If the same situation happened today—“
    She held up her hand, her face pinching in anger, “Don’t
say it. You know damn well that you’d do the same thing!”
    Sadly, Eric shook his head, knowing in his heart that he
wouldn’t. “That’s what you don’t want to see. That’s what you can’t admit—that
I’d let them have you—I’d watch them destroy you.” Eric’s chest felt hollow, like he’d spilled his guts and now he was empty. There
was no good man left inside of him.
    Natalia stepped toward him, “If you think that, then you
don’t know yourself anymore.” He started to interrupt, but she held up her
hand. “I know you’re a lot more fucked-up than most people, but Eric… that’s
not who you are.”
    Maybe she was right. Maybe she could tell how hard it was
for him to keep hold of his old self. The blood-thirsty sadistic side of him
was warring within him even then. He wanted to take her, hurt her, make her cry
out and bask in her fear, but Eric kept his hands in his pockets. He wouldn’t
touch her. He’d never touch her.
    He asked the question that plagued him, the one he dreaded
answering, “ Then who am I?”
    Natalia saw the softness in his eyes, vulnerability as rare
as a kind word was spread across his face. She felt pulled to him when he was
like this. Whatever was happening to him, she could feel him at war with
himself. He was too hard on himself to see what he truly was, but she knew. And
that’s why she hadn’t acted yet. She breathed deeply, shaking her head as if
she were astounded he couldn’t see it. “You’re a good man who has done a lot of
bad things.”
    Eric let her words sink in. His tongue wanted to slash at
her and say things to make her retreat, but he kept his mouth shut. He wished
he knew what she was thinking when she looked at him like that. There was sadness
in his gaze, an uncertainty that she wore like a mask. It was only present when
he was kind to her, which was rare. But right then, in that moment, he couldn’t
ignore the ache in his chest anymore. Turning away, he started walking again,
Natalia at his shoulder. “So much more than you know.”

 
 
    CHAPTER FIVE

 
 
    Eric spent the rest of the day with Natalia and left her at
sunset. The pain that carved his body into an evil man, was assaulting him. The
effects of Julia’s blood couldn’t tide him over. He needed more. It made him
blind to the fact that Natalia seemed to have somewhere to go. She practically
ran into her house to get away from him. He assumed that his mood was