Page 44 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

His hard expression faltered, if only a little. “Must you name every creature you encounter?”

“Yep.” I took a half step closer, just enough for the branches to fall back into place behind me. Enclosing us within their barrier. “Everyone deserves a name. I think he likes it too. He wiggled his butt when I gave it to him.”

Onyx regarded me, silent and with a pensive set to his brow.

Throat suddenly tight, I averted my gaze. “I’ll leave now and let you get back to… well, whatever you were doing before I came bursting in here.”

“You would leave so easily?” Onyx asked, drawing my attention back to him. One leg was stretched out in front of him in the grass, and the other was bent with a leatherbound book resting on his knee. “I’m surprised. Pests aren’t usually so reasonable.”

“Guess this one is just tired of being swatted at,” I said, battling the deep ache in my core. “But anyway. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

I turned to leave.

“Evan.”

I stilled in place and, after taking a steading breath, glanced back at him. There was a softness to his eyes that hadn’t been there seconds earlier. It caused a pang in my chest.

“Yes?” I shakily asked.

His lips parted, and the soft gleam in his eyes became more fragile. As though there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t put into words. The emotion fled, and his mask slipped back into place, replacing the softness with a hard layer. “Did you meet with Phantasia?”

I got the feeling it wasn’t what he’d actually wanted to ask, but I didn’t have the energy to challenge him on it. My chest ached too much for that.

I nodded. “She assessed my mana levels.”

“What did she learn?”

“She said she senses strong magic in me,” I answered. “But there’s a block in my mind keeping it locked away. Apparently, I’m resisting my powers, preventing them from fully awakening.”

“Magic and emotions go hand in hand.” Onyx relaxed more against the tree and smoothed his hand over the leatherbound book. “The uncertainty you feel in regard to your powers is, in turn, making them waiver as well.”

“Can you blame me?” I breathed out and tipped my face. Pumpkin had settled on a thicker branch a short way up and swished his fuzzy tail in the air. “I spent my whole life thinking I was an ordinary guy, only to learn I’m some powerful saint with a grand destiny. I want no part in it. In… any of it.”

“I see.” He watched me for a moment. “It’s not merely fear of your powers that keeps them at bay, but of your destiny. Dreading the path chosen for you. I can relate.”

“You can?” I asked, taking an impulsive step closer. Like several times before, my legs drew me toward him without my conscious decision to do so.

“It’s a burden placed on you by force,” he said, his mask wavering at the edges as something dark clouded in his eyes. “A thing you didn’t choose but must endure anyway.”

Understanding seeped into my chest like a cold draft through a window in the dead of winter. “A burden… like our fated mate bond?”

There was a hard swallow in his throat as he averted his gaze from mine. The lack of a response was just as loud as if he’d screamed the answer at me.

“Well, I meant what I said last night.” I took a step back, my heart sinking with the distance between us. One that could never be closed. I knew that now. “I’m not going to keep chasing after you, Onyx. Hopefully that will lift some of your burden.”

Just as I turned around to leave—for good this time—the air stirred at my back.

Arms came around me from behind.

“Don’t leave me,” Onyx whispered at my nape.

Hot prickles settled behind my eyes. Every time I tried to leave, he dragged me back. Back into the confusion. Back into the whirlwind of his mercurial mood swings.

“Why not?” As his scent wrapped around me, the place in my heart that belonged to him stirred once more. “You say you don’t want to be with me, then stop me when I try to leave. Over and over again. What the hell do you want from me, Onyx?”

“I…” His warmth breath feathered over my skin, eliciting goose bumps down my arms and legs. “I don’t know.”

The blood turned hot in my veins. I wasn’t sure whether that heat came from the sparks of our bond… or the frustration at being pulled back and forth for the millionth time. It was just like that carrot dangling in front of the rabbit’s face. The moment I reached for it, it’d be yanked away again.