He shook his head. “It’s neither of those.”
“Oh.” She took a breath, somewhat relieved. She had prepared herself for one of those two options which seemed like they would hurt the most. Licking her dry lips, she almost didn’t want to ask…. “Then what is it?”
He took a long, deep breath, finally coming out with it. “You’re too young—”
“I see.” She stopped him and got out of the bed, unable to be around him a second longer. “Too young to fuck, but not too young to marry.”
“Wha—” Drago quickly stood when he saw her get to the top of the steps. “Where the hell are you going?”
Flying down the steps, she yelled at him without turning back, “Home. I need to see my brothers.”
“It’s the middle of the fucking night! How are you supposed to get there?”
“Angel will take me,” she barked back, almost making it to the door. She would borrow some of Adalyn’s shoes.
“Kat!” He ran after her, but she was too quick. As he watched her hand reach for the door, his voice seemed to change. “Please!”
She opened the door. She should have known that they would go back to being at each other’s throats—it was too easy to go back out the rabbit hole eventually.
“Don’t do this, please.”
She stopped in her tracks, hearing the change in his voice now.
“I promise you, I will take you to see your brothers tomorrow, and if you want to stay there, you can. I won’t make you come back with me,” he promised her wholeheartedly. Drago held out his hand, not taking another step toward her, letting it be her decision to make. “Come back.”
Kat thought for a moment, not knowing what to do.
His voice was heavy. “Just let me hold you for one night.”
She squeezed her eyes shut holding her breath till she released it slowly, closing the door as she stood on the same side as her husband.
Drago’s breath released as well while she walked toward him. Reaching out, he scooped her up like he had earlier, letting her legs wrap around him.
Holding him tightly, she didn’t let herself cry as he carried her all the way up the steps and placed her back onto the bed.
He set her right on the edge, leaning down in front of her, going to his knees, so he could look her right in the eyes. “I need you to listen to me, Katarina.”
Nodding her head, she could see the pure need in the red ring in his eyes.
“You’re too young. So young I shouldn’t have picked you,” he told her, then tried again. “I took you away before you even had a chance to decide what you wanted to do for the rest of your life, and I feel so fucking guilty for that.”
Kat continued to listen, hearing the pain in his voice.
“I already feel so fucking guilty for marrying you. How am I supposed to look at myself when I finally let myself have you? When I only picked you out of revenge.”
Reaching a hand out, she cupped his tanned face, letting her thumb rub over the shadows under his eyes. “I know why you picked me,” she told him, letting him know it was no secret. “But we both did what we had to do for our families.” They got to be the ones to bring peace between them, and there is no greater job than that.
“It doesn’t change how old you are, Katarina.” He pushed his head deeper into her hand.
Kat didn’t like that the age thing bothered him when that wasn’t even a thought in her mind. “No, but the things I’ve been through, the things I’ve seen make me much older than what I am on the outside.”
The shadows in his face grew deeper. “That’s another reason why I hate myself. I took you, and I don’t even know what you’ve been through.”
Dropping her hand from his face, she took a deep breath to tell him what only a few souls on this earth knew. “My father didn’t want me based on one reason alone: I was born a girl. I’m here only because Dominic somehow managed to get him to keep me, but it was my older brothers who raised me. I was kept out of sight in the basement, only coming out for school or if he needed me to do his books or count money.”
It must have been hard for Drago to hear, but he stayed right there wanting to listen to every word with the fire in his eyes raging brighter.
“It was actually safer to be in the basement, and I had it much easier than my brothers did living up there with him. Dominic made it almost impossible for him to get to me early on, but then, when he found out I had a gift, Lucifer didn’t hit me anymore. He was too afraid that I could hurt my head, and his calculator would be gone. So, then I was just forced to watch him hit my brothers… again… and again… and again.”