Page 95 of Griffin Undone
“Of course you are,” I growled. The arrangements I’d made wouldn’t take place until after the attack on Maddox’s compound.
Sun, the bastard, had to dig it in. “Didn’t he tell you?”
I rumbled a warning. I had no doubt the prince would put this in the worst possible light. He already had.
“Tell me what?” But Kat’s words were resigned, as if she’d already guessed.
Sun’s gaze softened with what looked like pity. “We’re taking the Anigma compound. Arik gets his target, and we get the psychs. All of them. You included.”
“Sun, stop,” I snarled. Kat looked like she would break apart at any moment. Tentative, unsure for the first time in centuries, I reached through our bond to lightly touch her mind.
And found a wasteland.
Goddamn it, what had I done?
The damn prince ignored my demand. “When Maddox is defeated, you will come to us. Arik will release you to the clan.”
No!It wasn’t like that, but I refused to explain myself here, now, with accusing eyes attacking from all sides. “You’re the one who fucked this meeting up. Arrange another one. I’m taking my mate home.”
“No,” Kat said, her voice small but resolute. “We need them, Arik; you know we do. We should stay.”
I closed my eyes in resignation. When I opened them again, it was to Kat’s empty stare. “I won’t risk you, Kat. I wanted backup, not another threat.” The issue of afterward I left untouched. “We’ll find another way to keep you safe.”
“We?” Shimmering between us was the knowledge that I had given her no say in this decision. I hadn’t dared warn her either, not when she could leave without warning. “This isn’t about ‘we,’ is it? It’s about you.” Turning her head, Kat stared Sun down, and when she spoke, her voice was crisp, neutral, devoid of turmoil or tears. “Promise me, Sun. No more tricks. Let’s get our act together and get out of here.”
Sun stood for a long moment, his gaze locked with hers, until I felt my nerves stretch to the snapping point and contingency plans for getting Kat out rushed through my mind. But my mate, it seemed, had the power to command even royalty. A single nod gave Sun’s promise. He stepped back, turned, and crossed the room, his council parting for him to pass. I looked down at Kat’s red curls and fought the urge to lower my face to them, to breathe in her scent, touch her body and assure myself and my animal of her safety. Instead I lifted her face so our eyes met.
Words left me. In the past weeks, I’d seen many sides of Kat: sexy, wild, sleepy, grumpy. She’d fought and played and cried when she needed to. The past couple of days she’d been a total smart-ass. This Kat was none of those. This was a Kat I hadn’t met before: silent, solemn, secured behind a wall I’d put between us with my decision.
“We’ll talk about this when we get home,” I said, not sure what else to say.
Kat slipped away without answering. The loss of her warmth chilled me deep into my marrow.
ChapterForty-One
Arik
It was the deepest part of the night, that time when everything holds its breath in fear of absolute darkness, when we made our way home. I hustled Kat through the hushed streets to where I’d left the car, trying to ignore her silence. Every time I reached for her, every time I spoke, I encountered that damn brick wall. No, not brick—steel, like the doors that kept my lair safe. And every time, the fierce and utterly contradictory urge to crush that steel and force my way inside seized me. I’d known the arrangements I’d made, had known in my head we had an end date, but I hadn’t thought past it. Until Sun had threatened to take it away, I hadn’t realized how desperate I would be for one more night inside Kat’s heat, inside the warm emotion she cocooned me with.
No such warmth existed now. And nothing I said or did would make it come back. Still I craved her, the need crawling in my gut, twisting my soul, driving me toward the brink of madness.
Even my eagle eyes were unable to read Kat’s expression. Once inside the lair, one look at her face told me nothing would have helped—there was no expression to read. Kat’s face had become a blank canvas, totally erased, closed down, boarded up so tight nothing leaked through. She removed her coat and gloves and shoes, all with seeming unconcern. And with every movement, the hunger spiking inside me surged infinitely higher. All it took was her turning away from me without a glance to set fire to the match.
I caught Kat’s arm as I headed for the hall, towing her behind me. Kat didn’t fight, didn’t protest. After the lashing tongue she’d gladly flayed me with the past couple of days, the meekness stirred anger, not satisfaction. Where was my mate, the female who felt every emotion with a depth I couldn’t plumb no matter how hard I tried? I knew that Kat. This silent female stood, a cover-up, in the real Kat’s place, but not for long—I would find my Kitty Kat if it was the last thing I did.
It took about thirty seconds. The real Kat made an appearance as soon as we reached the door to my bedroom. Slamming it open, I ignored thethunkof door cracking against wall and marched inside. Kat’s halt at the threshold yanked me back to her.
Kat stared me down across the stiff length of our outstretched arms. “What are you doing?”
Wasn’t that obvious? “We’re going to bed.”
“No, we’re not.”
If I’d been a dragon shifter, smoke would be bellowing from my nose. “Yes, we are.”
“I’m angry, Arik. I’m not having sex with you.”
If she was angry, she hid it well behind that damn shield she’d built. But if angry sex was all I could get, I’d take it. Only in bed could I unlock the female I knew, the female I loved.
