CHAPTER 10
Maya cursed herself as she ran through the heaving nightclub, tears streaming down her face. She had been an idiot to think she could have a moment with August and not regret it, not feel affected by it.
It had been too wonderful.
He had been too wonderful.
She shoved through a group of demon males, not slowing when they growled at her and shouted, probably calling her names in their tongue. She didn’t care. All that mattered was running, putting as much distance as she could between her and August.
She couldn’t bear it.
It tore her apart inside, ripped her in two directions until she wavered between the male she was running from and the one she was running towards.
She reached the door to the backroom of Underworld and punched in the code Sherry had given her on the silver panel beside it. The moment it clicked, she twisted the handle and pushed inside, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t slow. She ran up the stairs on the left side of the room, taking them as quickly as she could manage and battling an urge to shift so she could move faster.
Fear began to seep into her heart, fear of what her future held.
She hit the corridor on the second floor and kept running, not stopping until she reached the door of her room. She opened it, turned and shut it, and stood there with her hand clutching the knob, her breath coming so fast she feared she might pass out.
She had to go.
Byron and the pride were depending on her to do this.
It didn’t matter how miserable she was going to be now, how she was going to spend the rest of her life thinking about August.
Thinking about what might have been.
She screamed and pummelled the door with her fists, fury and fear colliding inside her, mingling with the pain that tore through her, born of her heart.
Gods, why had the fates brought her to August?
It was just too cruel.
She sagged to her knees and pressed her hands to the door, her head hanging between them.
She wasn’t strong enough to choose him over her brother, over her pride.
Over the wishes of her parents.
She needed to honour them, needed to put her pride first and her brother’s safety before the desires of her heart.
But why did it have to hurt so much?
She pressed one hand to her chest and closed her fingers over it, digging her nails into her skin.
Why did it feel as if she might die if she never saw August again?
“Fuck,” she hissed and banged her fist against the door. “Fuck. Fuck!”
Awareness prickled down her spine.
He was coming.
If she saw him again, she wouldn’t be strong enough to resist him, wouldn’t be strong enough to go through with her family’s plans for her.
She shot to her feet, grabbed her bag from the end of her bed and shoved all her belongings into it, leaving only a pair of cream knickers out on the bed. When her bag was packed, she grabbed those and hurried into the bathroom. Her hands shook as she cleaned herself up, heart pounding in her ears.
Someone knocked at the door.
Her heart stopped.
“Maya.”
Her breath rushed from her.
Grey.
She tugged her knickers on and then ran to the door and opened it. His pale blue eyes darted down to her, and darkened.
“You’ve been crying,” he said, his silvery eyebrows dipping low, hardening his features until he looked every bit the warrior he was, ready to kill someone.
She shook her head. “I need to go.”
“Is it that snow leopard?”
“Please, Grey,” she snapped, and he blinked, shock dancing across his face. She had never raised her voice at him before. She lowered it to a whisper. “Please… I want to leave… now.”
“Maya,” he started.
“Now,” she cut him off, her eyebrows furrowing as her heart stung with the thought of seeing August again.
She wanted him, more than anything, more than life itself, but she had to do this. She had to do what others wanted for her, and place the pride and her family first.
“Please?”
Grey’s handsome face hardened and he pushed past her, and for a moment she thought he was going to argue with her, was going to give August a chance to find her.
He picked up her bag and her coat, grabbed her hand and walked out into the corridor, not looking back at her. “Come on.”
Maya followed him to his room next to hers, and waited as he gathered his bag and his own jacket. She put her coat on, her hands still trembling, heart refusing to steady.
Grey slung both of their bags over his shoulder, seized her hand again, and tugged her back out into the hall.
She trailed behind him, her eyes fixed on the back of his black jacket as it stretched across his broad shoulders, her heart aching and tears threatening to line her lashes. She could feel Grey’s hurt, his desire to stop her from doing this. It echoed inside her, burned as fiercely as August’s pain, and her own.
She didn’t want to hurt her brother, but she needed to do this now, before the strength she had mustered gave way and she placed everyone at risk.
She hadn’t meant to hurt August either.
But she had.
Gods, she had.
She could feel it beating in her chest as Grey led her down to the ground floor and out of the emergency exit, into an alley behind Underworld. She could feel it as he hailed a taxi and loaded her into the back.
She could feel it as the vehicle pulled away, taking her far from him.
It continued to echo in her even then, even with miles separating them, and she knew this pain would always be there, etched on her soul forever.
A reminder that she had paid the ultimate price for her pride.
For her brothers.
She had sacrificed herself.