Page 123 of Bonds of Hate

I whimper in protest when Ares’s comm unit chirps, interrupting the heated moment. He pulls back slightly, keeping one hand firmly on my hip while checking the device.

“It’s Poe.” Ares’s forehead creases with concern. “Something’s wrong.”

“Ignore it,” I plead, trying to pull him back down. My skin feels like it’s on fire in all the places he is no longer touching me.

“I can’t, baby girl. This is probably important.” He catches my wrists and pins them gently above my head with one hand. I squirm beneath him as he answers the call. “What’s the situation?”

Poe’s voice comes through garbled but with a strain of urgency. Ares’s expression darkens as he listens.

“I’ll be right there,” he says finally, ending the call.

“Don’t go.” I wrap my legs around his waist, trying to keep him in place.

“You’re making this very difficult,” he chuckles, easily breaking my hold. His palm cups my cheek when I release a plaintive whimper. “I need to help Poe with something. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

When I try to follow him out of bed, he gently but firmly pushes me back into the pile of blankets. “Oh, no, you don’t. You’re staying right here where it’s safe.”

“But—”

His eyes glint with playful warning. “Don’t make me tie you to the bed.”

I know it’s a joke, but the words are like a splash of cold water on my libido. He doesn’t seem to notice my frozenexpression as he kisses my forehead before retrieving his shirt and striding away.

As soon as the door clicks shut behind Ares, the burning sensation returns full force. I curl into a ball, pressing my face into the pillow that still holds traces of his scent. But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.

My skin prickles with renewed heat, making me kick off the sweat-soaked nightgown. I grab frantically for the shirt Ares was just wearing, but of course he took it with him. A frustrated whine escapes my throat.

I burrow deeper into my carefully constructed fortress of blankets and pillows, trying to recreate the comfort I felt moments ago. But something still feels missing. Wrong.

I need more softness. More scent. More...everything.

The nest needs more.

Wait, a fucking minute. The nest?

Scrambling up, I stare down in horror at the pile of blankets and clothing piled up around me. The compulsive gathering of soft things. The desperate need for specific scents. The burning skin and aching emptiness.

“No, no, no.” I press my palms against my eyes as the terrifying reality sets in. “This can’t be happening.”

But there’s no denying it now. I’m in heat. A heat that shouldn’t be possible with the suppressants Cillian gave me.

The suppressants.

My stomach lurches.

Did he give me fake pills?

Did he set me up?

It makes a horrible sort of sense. Cillian has to protect Logan’s interests. If I go into a spontaneous heat andanother Alpha claims me, no one will ever know that Logan was never capable of bonding me in the first place.

The desperate fire raging inside of me easily morphs into rage.

I’m going to kill him.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

POE

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