Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

223. Rueben - Doubts IV

I never saw Ansel this angry. Not to mention that he broke a sturdy oak dining table. How strong is he? Mose and Jasper are just as shocked as I am.

"Fine, no Elders then," I give in, wanting Ansel to calm down. "How are you dealing with it? What do you know that we don't?" Ansel rubs the back of his neck. "I'm having a meeting with Cirro in a few days. He's been digging into some stuff for me." This irks me more than I like to admit it. "Are you going behind our backs now?"

"I'm just doing my duty," Ansel replies.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I try to make him speak.

Ansel runs his fingers through his hair. "I don't think you'll understand even if I tell you." He looks at me, his brown eyes a little strange. "But they had Indy and I had no other choice." Who is Indy? It's the first time I heard this name. "In the beginning, I tried to resist, but... the fucking pain....." Ansel suddenly seems to snap out of some sort of a dark hole. What the hell was that about? "I'll go buy a new table."

"At this hour?" Jasper asks.

"Yeah. Do you want to come with me? This way, we can buy something nice for Olivia to let her know we are sorry for how big of an asshole we have been." Looking at me, Ansel adds, "And not from a fucking thrift store."

sounds like a good idea. I'm also coming," Mose says. After grabbing his coat, Mose tells me, "Make sure Olivia

Right.

leave before I go over to Tyson's office. Even if he has a room, he barely spends any

office, I start pacing around, trying to

go ahead and patrol

ton of bricks. She fears me. Tyson might have done some

can I

what's going on, but you are too stubborn to admit it," Tyson

the moment Camila introduced her to me but I kept my distance because she was so fucking young and I didn't want to come out as a creep to her. But I would do everything possible to be around her, even touch her from time to time. There had been moments when I would try to convince myself that she was a dumb teen because I liked her too much. But what Tyson is implying is pure madness. "She can't be our soulmate. She can't! I refuse to accept it." Tyson goes over to Olivia. "Do whatever you want,

my arms over my chest. "Why are

person I turned into." His arms come around her and she whimpers. "I thought that by breaking her, it would make me feel better." He leans his head on the sofa. "But it only made me into a monster." He makes Olivia look into his eyes. "I needed a fucking reality check and Levi gave it to me. He forced

him. Looking into his eyes,

holds her tight while I

for hours and I stand there looking at her while I feel all her pain. And it breaks me. My demon claws at my soul and I let him.