She looked at the closed door for a second. Then her head heated, and so much pricking heat swept her body that her lungs stuttered. She ran for the door, whipped it open, and hurried outside into the battering rain.
Benny turned halfway down the path. “What are you doing? Get out of this storm.”
“No,” she yelled, stomping down the porch steps to the tall grass. “You get out of this storm. You’re crazy if you think this isn’t a life we can handle. How dare you make such a decision?” She couldn’t gather her thoughts, she was so angry. “You should not be going on this mission, and you know it. Yet you take the risk anyway.”
He tilted his head to the side, and his jaw tightened in a way that wasn’t comforting. “I told you to go back inside.” This time, it was a low growl.
She squared her shoulders and lowered her chin. “I said no.” It felt good to stand up to a male, and she knew she could do so with this one because he’d never hurt her. “You’re being a moron.”
His flash of a grin was a surprise. “You’re not the first to say so. Karma, my life is dangerous. It’s only going to get worse. The last thing I need is somebody worrying about me every time I step out the door, because usually I ain’t going to the grocery store.”
“I know that,” she spat.
He looked around. “You and the girls will be safe here in Grizzly territory until I get back. Choose a place to live.”
“No.” She ran toward him and shoved him as hard as she could in the stomach. He didn’t move an inch. “You don’t get to dictate my life if you don’t want to be in it. We won’t be here at Bear’s headquarters when you get back.” Now she wasn’t even making sense, but she couldn’t stop the words pouring out.
His lips pressed together. “Honey? You’re not going anywhere, and you know it.”
She stomped her foot. “You know what? It’s not me or the girls you’re worried about. It’s you. You’re the coward, Benjamin.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Stop trying to get me to lose my temper. It isn’t going to happen.”
Was that what she was doing? “I don’t give two fucks about your temper,” she said, meaning it. Yelling it.
“Then you’re not as smart as I thought,” he snapped, grabbing her arms and hauling her toward him. His mouth crashed down on hers. Hot and burning, the kiss tore through her with more power than the storm around them. She tried to hold on to reason and her anger, but the force of his kiss, of his hard body against her, burned both away until there was only Benny.
Only a passion that pierced so deep there was no turning away. He took control of her body, her mind, so quickly that all she could do was feel. Every nerve fired just for this moment and this male. Her nipples hardened to diamonds, and her clit pounded with a demand she’d never experienced.
He was raw muscle and deadly determination, and he made her crave both. Crave him. Hunger for him with an intensity that was too strong for her to do anything but sink right into him and let him take what he wanted.
When he let her go, her mouth tingled, and her mind fuzzed. His rugged jaw was hard and his eyes a blazing black with a rim of green. Otherworldly, powerful, and dangerous. For the first time, she saw the primal being he kept so carefully caged.
She gasped, trying to fill her lungs.
His hands much gentler, he turned her toward the cabin and gave her a light push. Then he was gone.
She put her hands to her lips and stumbled to the cabin and back inside. It took her a second, but she caught sight of a hovering spirit by the fireplace. “Whoa,” she muttered. “I don’t know who—”
The spirit turned, and it was Terre. Fury lit his face. “I’m going to kill you,” he spat.
That was it. Just plain and simply it. She put both her hands out and shoved imaginary energy right at his face. “Go to hell right now, you bastard.”
His face morphed in pain, and he wavered wildly.
Holy crap. She tried harder, and he screamed, pulled right into the fire. The tension dissipated as she vanquished him. She’d had no idea she could do that. It was crazy. She really was a badass.
A badass with a broken heart. The first tear slid slowly down her face, and she shoved it away. That was the one tear Benjamin Dumbass Reese would get from her. Steeling her shoulders, she picked up the printouts of good places for her to settle down with the girls.
She’d make a perfect life for them without Benjamin. He’d made his decision.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Benny leaned his head back against the side of the copter as the storm bounced them around. His knuckles were shredded, and he’d rebroken his ankle in the raid. What a raid. His brothers healed themselves on either side of him, injured and pissed off, but alive. The shifters had been excellent backup, and Bear was even giving them one more night to get off his property.
“Did you see those women?” Garrett muttered.
Benny didn’t open his eyes as he healed himself. It was dark, anyway. “Yeah.” They’d managed to save twenty enhanced females, and the two other helicopters were delivering them to Realm Headquarters for medical treatment and rest until Dage could relocate them.
“One gal said she was an accountant taken right off her farm in the mountains,” Logan muttered. “She hadn’t been fed in four days.”
“We have to figure out how the Kurjans are finding so many enhanced females,” Garrett said. “Dage is on it, but he doesn’t know. None of them are safe. There is no doubt Jaydon is going to keep kidnapping women until he can complete the ritual.”
“That’s a worry for tomorrow. We’ll come up with battle plans ASAP.” Benny pulled his earbud out and stuck it in his pocket. What time was it, anyway? Past midnight at least. “Did we lose anybody?”
“No,” Bear said from across the craft as he healed a hole in his neck. “We’ve got some decent injuries, but everyone kept their heads on their bodies.”
“Good,” Benny said, opening his eyes to see Sam pop his shoulder back into place. Enhanced females weren’t safe anywhere right now. Karma had called him a coward. Was she right? Was he afraid to take the chance? Afraid he couldn’t protect her and those precious urchins? Afraid he’d be killed and leave them alone and Karma without a mate?
He was a member of the Seven, a brother to six, and he had a vow to fulfill.
If Karma was willing to take the chance, then maybe she was the brave one and he was a dumbass. He’d cooked breakfast for the girls without scaring them. Maybe he could figure out how to be around them, because he loved having them close. They did need protection.