My mind raced back to that day. “I don’t understand. I didn’t feel anything. The last time I was fed off of, it hurt.”

His spine seemed to stiffen even more. “It doesn’t always hurt. It can be done so that it doesn’t.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. He’d been all over me that day, and I had . . . I shook my head, so . . . so freaking numb. And suddenly, it made sense. Why he’d pulled away immediately afterward. It wasn’t just because he thought he wasn’t worth it, but also because he’d done something wrong, horribly wrong. To me.

And he’d never fessed up to it. Not until now.

Seth had fed off me.

I shot off that bed like a rocket. He faced me just as I reached him. I didn’t even think as I cocked my arm back and punched him right in the stomach. Seth doubled over with a grunt.

“That,” I said, shaking as I forced myself to step back. “That is for feeding off me.”

“Gods,” he gasped. “I deserved that.”

“How could you?” I demanded, hands clenching into fists again. “How could you do that after knowing Hyperion had—he had done that to me?”

“I . . .” He didn’t finish that statement, because what could he say?

I wanted to hit him again. I wanted to kick him. Gods, I wanted to whale on him. Tears filled my eyes as I continued walking back, until I bumped into the bench. I wanted to . . . I wanted to shake him and I wanted him to never have told me what had happened. “Why didn’t you try harder?”

He straightened and he sounded like he’d swallowed glass when he spoke. “I didn’t realize what I was doing at first. That . . . that doesn’t make it right, but as soon as I did, I stopped. That’s why . . .”

“Why what?” My voice cracked.

Seth looked away. “That’s why you weren’t hurt. You were just tired.”

“Just tired,” I whispered, remembering falling asleep while eating. My legs shook and I sat down heavily on the bench. I tried to make sense of this. “So you stopped when you realized what you were doing.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I did it.”

Did it? Or not? I had no idea. Nothing to base this on. I mean, it wasn’t like he’d cheated on me or had been abusive in the way normal people were, but this was a betrayal. This was a big deal.

I smoothed my hand down my face, shaken. “I want you to be honest with me. You only did it once?”

Seth nodded.

“And that’s why you stayed away from me after that?”

Another nod.

I squeezed my hand, placing it against my chest. “But you haven’t done it since we . . . since we got back together. Why?”