Page 148 of Primal Bonds

“Well?” Adric Savonett placed his hands on the war room’s round granite table and looked around at his three remaining lieutenants—Zuri, Jace and Luc.

Zuri fingered his soul patch. A wolf shifter, he was the clan pretty-boy, his good looks the genetic inheritance of Mediterranean and African globe-trotters who’d met and mixed in the Caribbean. Tall and brown-skinned, he had a shaved head and narrow black mustache to go with the soul patch. Zuri was so good looking, people tended to underestimate him…until he pinned them with his hard black eyes.

“She took a red-eye out of BWI,” the lieutenant reported. “She lands in Iceland at 10:50 a.m., their time. That’s 6:50 a.m., our time—which would be right about now.”

Adric muttered a curse. Marjani had left a note saying she was on her way to Iceland, but he’d wanted to confirm it. Because he couldn’t believe she’d take off like that.

She’d known damn well he didn’t want her to leave.

He was the fucking alpha—what he said should count. His claws sprouted against the granite table. Like being alpha mattered when it was your sister.

“You want us to go after her?” That was Jace, a jaguar shifter and one of Adric’s oldest friends. “We can grab her, bring her back.”

Adric’s jaw clenched. Gods, he wanted to say yes. He literally shook with the need to follow her.

But Marjani was right. The clan needed him here.

The clan was still reeling from the events earlier this summer when his cousin Corban had brought night fae assassins to Baltimore. By the time the dust had settled, Tyrus, the night fae prince’s son and heir, was dead.

Worse, Adric had killed Corban’s middle brother Kane. It had been a fair fight. Nash, the youngest brother, had sworn to it, saying Adric had only been defending himself.

But everyone knew Adric had killed his uncle Leron before taking over as alpha. Now they whispered that he intended to take out his three cousins as well.

The clan was seething, afraid Adric was out of control.

Too many unexplained deaths had happened under his watch. Just like when Leron was alpha. Mistrust. Fear. Anger. Everything Adric had worked so hard to put behind him.

All because of his thrice-damned older cousin.

Pushing away from the table, he got up to pace the length of the small underground room. They were beneath the Factory, the combination test lab and manufacturing plant for the clan’s quartz smartphones. Adric had carved the space himself out of the bedrock, along with a couple of trusted stoneworkers.

“She’s on the edge,” Jace added bluntly. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to lose her.”

Jace was one of the few clan members who’d dare say it aloud. But then, he’d been with Adric and Marjani since the beginning, when they’d first plotted to overthrow their bastard of an uncle.

Adric closed his eyes. The other man was being polite. They both knew Marjani was the next thing to feral. Most days, she spent more time as a cat than as a human. A good portion of the clan thought Adric should do something about her.

“Ric?” Jace’s hazel eyes were sympathetic. He’d lost his own sister in the Darktime. “You can’t let the fact that she’s your sister—”

“She’s not feral,” he gritted. “Not yet.”

Because the clan was wrong. Marjani was still rational.

“You haven’t seen her like I do,” he said. “She made breakfast for me yesterday, and we discussed what to do about Corban. And she was fine at Jace and Evie’s mating ritual. You all saw her as her human.”

“True,” Jace said. “Doesn’t mean she should be in Iceland on her own. It’s not just that she could go feral—it’s that Corban wants her dead. And she might be a hard-ass, but he outweighs her by fifty or sixty pounds. Plus, the motherfucker has nothing to lose.”

Luc moved in his seat. The wolves in the clan tended to be taller than the cats, and Luc was no exception. A wild, fierce fighter, he was over six feet of solid muscle, with dark skin and wiry black hair.

“Why the fuck didn’t you stop her? You must have known she’d go after the prick.” His gold eyes accused Adric.

Adric slapped his hands on the hand-worked granite. He didn’t normally explain his decisions, but Luc was in love with Marjani. Had been for years.

“You try and stop her when she’s got an idea in her head.”

“Don’t give me that. You could’ve done something.”

“What? Lock her in her fucking room?”

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