Chapter 166 - Chapter 166 - Hate That I Love you

The silence that followed Theon's words within the room seemed to deepen, holding Theon's confession up as his words hung suspended between them. Azaria sat on the edge of the couch, her breath caught in her throat while her heart hammered in an erratic pace against her ribs. She absorbed everything he had laid bare, the history of his kind, the burden of his position as the leader, and the extraordinary nature of the mate bond itself. For the first time since the night her world had collapsed, the tangled threads of his behavior began to align into coherent truth. The relentless passion with which he had pursued her from the very beginning, his refusal to let her walk away, and the protection that had bound his every move were no longer the whims of an overbearing corporate titan. They were the actions of a man driven by a force far older and deeper than she had ever imagined.