This time I am not going to leave anything to chance.
I am simply going to open myself up, mind, body, and soul. This time I am going to share my emotions with her. It isn’t just my body that needs her, it’s my soul that craves her. I cannot live without her. I wrench open the door to the study and come to a stop.
A man pushes away from the open door of the bookcase. “You’re just a few seconds too late, Colonel.”
“Don’t you dare hurt her, Boris.” Fear churns my belly. I break into a run and throw myself at him, only to slam into a barrier. The next second, I am held immobile.
He holds up his arm, fingertips glowing with telekinetic energy. The air around us thins, and the hair on my forearm rises. A portal appears. He flicks his arm, and I find myself being jerked upright. My arms are bound to my sides. He lassoes more telekinetic energy around me.
My muscles go solid, and every part of me pushes against the force tying me down. I grit my teeth, tighten my muscles, and break one of the bindings around me. Shoving one leg free, I leap forward and shove at the commander. He stumbles back and jolts the bookcase. The books rain down on us. The vibration of the impact slams into me.
“Look what you did,” I growl. “You destroyed perfectly good books.”
The commander straightens. He shakes his head to clear it.
I right myself, then step back. I hold up my free arm, fingers curled into a fist.
He thrusts out his arm, and the light at the fingertips glows. The binding around me tightens. It digs into my skin. Pain hurtles down my spine.
The scent of burning flesh fills the air.
My stomach lurches, and the acidic taste of bile fills my mouth. I swallow it down. I know I’ll heal fast. But if they catch her, I’ll never be able to forgive myself. “Let her go, Boris.”
“You made the mistake of showing your vulnerability.” He clicks his tongue. “Who’d have thought? The deadliest fighter in all of the Fae world brought low by human pussy.”
A growl bursts out of me. Anger prickles my skin. “Shut the fuck up.”
“I hope her cunt was worth it.” His eyes gleam.
I know he is baiting me, but whatever. I am going to rub this bastard's face into the ground. I move forward and shove myself at him. The rational thinking part of my brain screams that I am making a mistake. But I can’t stop.
My limbs tingle. The mating bond pushes against my rib cage, and fear bleeds down the connection. “You sent your men after her,” I snarl and raise my fist.
I sense movement behind me, realizing it had been a mistake to turn my back on the portal.
Then something slams into the side of my head, and everything goes dark.
31
Gia
The figure advances toward me. The person’s face is shrouded in darkness, and I can’t make out the features. The stranger is tall and slender in build, yet there’s no mistaking the predatory gait.
The scent of vegetation deepens.
The new arrival raises a hand. I don’t wait. I bend low, then jab the newcomer in the face. The stranger swerves, and my hit goes wide.
I feel the graze of my knuckles against skin. Soft skin. Too soft to be a man’s skin. I stiffen. The figure moves forward into the light, then holds up both hands.
“Gia, it’s me, woman. Chill out, babe.”
“Jess?” The breath rushes out of me. “Jessica?”
I cover my mouth with my hand. My legs weaken. I stumble forward and throw myself at her.
Her arm comes around me, then she grabs my shoulders and sets me away from her.
I stare, trying to make out the expression on her features.
She keeps one hand on my shoulder as if to make sure that I don’t topple over. Her nostrils flare. She squints down at me from under hooded eyelids.
“What?” I growl. The hair on my nape rises. I have a suspicion about what she’s going to say, but surely not—it’s not possible she knows, is it?
“He mated you?” She firms her lips.
“How can you tell?” I shake back the hair from my face. I know I am delaying the answer, but I so don’t feel ready to share my experiences yet. Besides, some things are meant to be kept private. Or not? Something like this changes my equation with the Bureau. I hadn’t counted on that.
I shove at her grip, but her fingers on my shoulder tighten.
“Answer me, Gia.”
“What, you’re my keeper now?” I firm my lips.
“No, just your partner who fought the Bureau to come in search of you.”
“Right.” My shoulders droop. I look away from her, stamp the heel of my foot into the ground. “Is it that obvious?”
“Your scent.” She sniffs the air. "You smell different."
“Stupid dragon shifter senses.” I toss my hair back.
“And—” She jerks her chin toward my neck.
Right. Dante’s claiming mark. Heat sears my cheeks.
I almost raise my hand to cover the throbbing flesh at my neck, then curl my fingers into fists at my sides. “Is that why you are holding me at arm’s length?”
She drops her hand and steps back. “I’d do the same with any newly mated female.” She pauses a beat. “Or male.”
“You make it sound like a curse.” Goosebumps crawl over my skin. The mating bond in my chest twangs. I bite my cheek to stop the gasp from spilling out.
“Newly formed bonds need to be nurtured. Don’t want the newly bonded mate getting the wrong idea.” She tips her chin down. “I have enough friends who are mated to know that with the right person it can be awesome.”
“But…” I don’t complete the statement. I know what’s going to come, what she’s hinting at. That if you’re mated to the wrong person it can be worse than Hell. A living prison.
“Did he force you?” Anger threads her voice.
I turn away from her, look beyond the tree line to the snow-covered ground beyond that.
“Answer me, Gia.”
Tension radiates off her. I sense Jess wanting to come to me and comfort me. Yet she holds back. It’s as if the balance of power between us has changed.
From being a peer, I’ve gone to being the more vulnerable of the two of us. The one to be protected. Anger fills my chest. It’s not fair, how everything in my life seems to have changed just like that.
“Did he force you?” Her voice feels too loud in the muffled quiet brought on by the snow on the ground.
I shake my head. “No. Yes. I don’t know.” I hang my head forward.
“So he did force you?”
“No.” My voice comes out stronger. “He shared his life force with me to save me from dying.”
The silence stretches.
“Then he told me he had to consolidate the bond to make sure he survived.”
“And you agreed to sleep with him—”
“No…” I smooth my palm over my T-shirt. No, it's his T-shirt, which I've just borrowed, which I am never gonna return... Whatever. I wrinkle my nose. "It's complicated, okay?"
"That ol' excuse?" She narrows her eyes. "You must be desperate."
"Gimme a break, Jess." I toss my hair.