Page 51 of Primal Bonds

Deep within, a single point of silver glowed to life, then another and another. Jace added a small portion of his energy to hers. He was the stronger, but his quartz was still being drained of energy to heal him, both from his earlier iron poisoning and now the cuts Corban and this female had inflicted during the fight. He’d give her an energy boost, but she could drain her own damn quartz to shift.

Silver and blue and purple sparkles spread over the cougar’s fur, and then a naked woman was curled up on the bridge, chest heaving, her hair a wild tangle around her shoulders.

Jace released her quartz and grabbed her arm. “Don’t even think about running. Understand?”

She growled, but nodded. He rose to his feet, bringing her with him.

She was tall and curvy. Jace took in her body with clinical detachment; shifters were used to seeing each other in their skins. He was more concerned about getting a naked woman back to Evie’s without some asshat human calling the cops.

The woman touched the side of her head. “Hurts.”

She was telling the truth, and yet he sensed the lie beneath. She wasn’t as injured as she was pretending.

He hardened his jaw. “What’s your name?”

She pressed her lips together. Names had power in their world.

He jerked her close and slid a finger over her quartz.

Her eyes flashed angrily. She knocked his hand away and wrapped her own fingers around the quartz, protecting it. “Nika,” she gritted.

“That’s better.” He took a firm hold of her upper arm. “Let’s go.”

Their mad dash through Grace Harbor had taken the form of a large circle. They’d ended up just a few blocks from Evie’s house.

Jace hurried the woman through the night, keeping an eye out for both the cops and Corban, although Jace was pretty sure the wolf would have to go to ground. Even with the help of his quartz, that leg of his was going to take a few days to heal.

They reached Evie’s house without incident. Jace marched his captive up the steps and tapped on the back door with his free hand. “Evie? It’s me, Jace.”

She did a double take when she saw him standing there naked, bloodied, and with a tall, curvy, and very naked female. “What the—”

“I’ll explain—just let me in, please.”

She hesitated another few seconds and then stepped back. “Come in.”

“Thanks.” Jace strong-armed his captive into the kitchen. “Do you have any rope?”

Evie started to nod, then her eyes widened. “You want to tie her up?”

“She attacked me, Evie. I promise I won’t hurt her—I just want to keep her quiet until Adric arrives.”

The shift had healed both his and Nika’s superficial cuts, but he was still bleeding from the claw marks on his face, shoulder, and thigh, and Nika’s face had a deep gash from the blow he’d struck with his hind claws. Evie’s gaze flicked to the blood on Jace’s face to Nika’s, and then she opened the door to the pantry.

“I think I have something in here…”

While he was gone, she’d changed into a purple tank top and loose gray shorts that stopped halfway down her thighs, exposing a length of strong, shapely legs. He eyed her calves as she rummaged in the pantry for rope and silently wished Nika back beneath whatever rock she’d crawled out from under.

“Is there anything I can do?” Kyler asked. To the kid’s credit, after one quick look at Nika, he’d kept his eyes on her face.

Jace nodded. “Get her a towel or something to cover up with.”

“Right.” The teenager jogged upstairs and returned a minute later with a large beach towel and a pair of gym shorts for Jace.

Jace wrapped the towel around Nika and pulled out a chair. He twirled it to face him. “Sit.”

While she obeyed, he dragged on the shorts. His own clothes were still outside where he’d dropped them, but he wasn’t going to open the door until Adric got here. He didn’t think Corban would try anything until his leg healed, but he wasn’t going to take any chances with Evie and Kyler.

He snagged a paper towel. “Give me your quartz,” he ordered Nika.

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