Killian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bubbles, there are a hell of a lot of things that are going on in my head right now. And I don’t want to talk about it at the moment. I don’t think I need to."
Inez marvelled over how someone standing right in front of her could feel so far. It was as if he were almost unreachable. Honestly, the two of them might be standing on either side of a land and yelling at one another, with her words never reaching him. He had withdrawn from her. Inez felt it the second he had done it. And the way he told her that he didn’t want to talk about it was said with so much finality that she knew that pushing him would get her nowhere. Inez knew that the man in front of her had pulled down the shutters. And she ...well, she felt a bit lonely.
But Inez knew that this time it wasn’t just her. There was something more to the entire situation. Something that he was not telling her.
"I think you are imagining that you want to stay away from me, right?" she said with a mocking edge to her tone. Oh, he had been making excuses in his head, telling himself that giving them the time that they needed would help them. Turning the entire situation around such that he could prove that it was good for them. Not just for him. "You are thinking that you need to spend some time alone, without me staying around you. Right?" She pursed her lips and stated, "I think that’s the entire gist of the situation."
"If you want to get away from me, just tell the truth. There is no need to dance around the topic. I bet you want to stay away; that’s why you are saying those words."
"If you want me to leave you alone, just tell me; there is no need to hide the truth."
"Dear Moon Goddess, just what the hell is wrong with you?"
Inez chuckled. Her voice was devoid of any humour. "Oh, I am not going to be the one who will do this, Kill. There is no way it’s going to be this easy for you. You are not going to provoke me into making you leave. If you want to leave, you are going to have to make the choice yourself. But if you do leave, then don’t bother to stick around. I am going to deal with whatever lies in front of me on my own. Since you get startled and scared so easily, then what is the point in even trying anything?"
Killian stared at her. "Are you saying that I can never leave you? And if I do, it will be equivalent to ending this relationship? That’s funny, coming from you, who left the lodge and the territory without even speaking a word to me."
"You are really trying to act stupid with me now, aren’t you? I hope this is not the hill that you are dying on."
"You just told me that if I step away from you, I will never be able to come back."
Her siren snapped her teeth at the man and his derisive tone. Yeah, Inez didn’t like it either, but she also knew that the man didn’t mean to disrespect her either. He just wanted to provoke her into making the decision for him, the one that the man couldn’t make himself.
"Tell me, Killian, why would and why should I waste my time on someone who could walk out on me after something so simple?" Nothing happened. She just stepped away from him for a few hours, without letting him know where she was going and what she was going to do. There was no need for him to lose his temper over this. Certainly, he didn’t have to unless he recalled how close he was to losing her on the night of the banquet and today if Tracy had not brought her back safely.
He might have understood her importance in life or something along those lines, and whatever it was, Killian didn’t like it.
"You can deny all you want, but that is the truth. You have gone into all self-protective mode. One look at you and I can see that you are giving off those ’don’t touch me’ vibes. You even shot me down before I could question you about what was wrong with you."
He scoffed as he turned around. "What do you even mean to say? I am being self-protective? Certainly not. You are just making this into something that it is not. Like I told you, I am just having some trouble and nothing else."
"So you are not itching to walk away from me? Is your body not screaming at you for having some self-preservation time where you can fall back and calm down? The idea of staying with me so close, not badgering you? The fact that my absence drew such a reaction from you is not bothering you?"
Killian snapped. "Why would it?"
Inez shook her head. She said to him, "Never pegged you for a coward. You are supposed to be an alpha."
"And you are any better? You ran away from your mate, Inez, because you couldn’t handle or control your emotions that were on the line because you were rejected," he sniped.
"I am not going to get angry and walk out on you, Killian. No matter how low you stoop, if you want to leave, then you are the one making that fucking decision, not me."
"The way you keep saying that makes me believe that you don’t want me around you."
Inez released a breath. "You are right; I don’t want to be around you at the moment."
Killian felt someone had sucker punched him, sucking out all the air from his lungs and the pain rocketed through him. Suddenly, he was sure that he was going to lose her with every word that he spoke.