Page 277 of Primal Bonds

She didn’t seem to hear him. There was a fraught silence, and then with a shudder, she came back to herself. She snatched her hand from his and pressed it to her chest, face closed. Tiny tremors shook her slim body.

“Goddess,” she whispered. “That’s insane. You can’t kill him. You’ll set off something you can’t stop.”

“Yeah?” He raised a brow.

Tell her she’s the one who’s insane. That you have no fucking idea what she’s talking about.

But he couldn’t bring himself to prevaricate—not to Rosana. The woman his cat had decided was his mate, even if the man refused to accept it.

She grabbed his arm. He tensed, but this time, nothing happened.

“Promise me you won’t do it.”

He showed her his teeth. “I don’t have to promise you anything, love. We’re nothing to each other, right? Because that’s the way we both want it.”

She flinched and let him go.

“Go home to your big brother. It’s not safe for you to be alone down here at night.” He leered at her, hating himself, but he had to get her out of here—and out of his life. “A big, bad cat might snatch you and carry you back to his lair.”

She shoved her hands into her pockets, her pretty mouth set. “You don’t scare me, Lord Adric.”

He just stared back at her until she turned and stalked back the way she came.

He gave it a minute and then followed her. She headed around the harbor and he waited for her to shift to her dolphin, but she leaned against a scrubby little street tree and stared out at the black water.

He waited downwind until with a muttered curse, she walked the few feet to where a sleek purple sportbike waited. Slinging a leg over the seat, she flung him an unreadable look over her shoulder and then zoomed off, leaving him standing there, scowling and clenching his fists…and hollow inside.

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