Page 6 of Faking it with the Hybrid

“Well, then you will have disappointed your family. But at least you won’t be flayed alive in punishment for your transgression.”

“You don’t know my mom,” Mattie muttered darkly. “She’d probably be happy to skin usbothalive if she finds out Grath and I are faking it.”

“Then wewon’tlet her find out,” Grath said. He arched an eyebrow at Mattie. “Come on, little girl—are you telling me you’re not up for the challenge?”

Mattie lifted her chin.

“I’malwaysup foranychallenge,” she told him. “You’re coming with me to Christmasville and we’re going to make the whole damn town believe we’re engaged!”

“Excellent!” Commander Sylvan said.

“Perfect!” Sophie clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh, Iknewit was a good idea!”

Mattie smiled at her, but it was hard to make the corners of her mouth turn up. She had just agreed to pass off her surly, rude, grumpy bodyguard to her family as the man she deeply loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Oh God—what had she gotten herself into?

TWO

GRATH

Gods, what had he gotten himself into?

Grath paced back and forth in his suite aboard the Mother Ship. He was supposed to be packing for their pretend mission to Earth, but he had no idea what to pack. Also, he couldn’t believe he’d agreed to this in the first place!

From the moment he’d met the curvy little Earth scientist, he’d been trying to stay as far as he could from her while still protecting her. And now he had agreed to get much closer than he should.

Because it wasn’t that he disliked Madeline Porter. On the contrary, he secretly liked her strong, straightforward personality and admired her courage. She was absolutely fearless when it came to diving into an unknown situation. But that could be a real problem because, damn it, she was just too small and delicate!

Grath knew she hated it when he said that, but it was true, damn it! His heart leapt into his throat when he saw her plunging into a possibly dangerous situation. And though he did his best to keep her safe, he lived in fear that one day he would be a second too late and she would be killed or maimed because of her reckless bravery.

But there was another reason he had been trying to keep his distance—it was because of the tingle he’d felt the very first time they shook hands. It was a tingle he had only felt once before with a female and it had ended in total disaster.

Grath closed his eyes for a moment as regret filled him.

Gods, Ar’leenah…I’m so sorry…

She had been the female who was meant for him—or so he thought. The tingle that ran from her slim hand, right up his arm to his heart when he touched her had told him so. But he was a Hybrid—a triple Hybrid at that, since his Mother had been pure Blood Kindred but his Father was half Beast Kindred and half En’fuego or Flame Kindred.

The odds against any kind of Hybrid being able to form a bond with a female were slim to none and the odds of atripleHybrid like Grath, who had the characteristics of not one, not two, butthreedifferent branches of the Kindred family tree were vanishingly nonexistent.

But his father had beaten the odds, so Grath had thought he might be lucky, too. He had believed the tingle or “sign” which a Flame Kindred warrior sometimes received when he touched the right female, meant he too could have a successful bonding. He had pursued Ar’leenah—who was a Blood Kindred female—with everything he had, and eventually she had agreed to bond with him.

Grath supposed he should have expected what came next, but he had been so sure of himself—so arrogant in his love that it had taken him completely by surprise. So when their bonding failed, hurting them both in the process, he had been both shocked and horrified.

A failed bonding is a painful thing—a psychic scar on the heart that never completely heals. After such a disaster, the Kindred male and the female involved almost always part ways. They simply can’t stand to be around each other, since every time they touch, they get an echo of the failed bond, like reopening a dangerous and painful wound.

Ar’leenah had moved to the other side of Tranq Prime, the Blood Kindred home world, and Grath had come to the Mother Ship to try and forget his past. For a time, he had been successful, but then he had entered the Protector program. He hadn’t entertained any notion of trying to find love—he’d just liked the idea of traveling around the galaxy, exploring new planets.

But then he was assigned to Dr. Porter—to Madeline. And he’d felt that treacherous little tingle again, the moment they touched…

Why did it have to be her? Why couldn’t I be assigned to a female I wasn’t so fucking attracted to—to one my body didn’t yearn for every damn time I’m near her, every time I smell her sweet scent and watch her gorgeous curves. The way her full hips sway as she walks…

Grath shook his head, trying to clear it. The truth was, he was so fucking attracted to the little human female ithurt.But he was determined never to show it—never to let himself get close enough to start anything. He’d taken a vow never to try to bond a female to him again—he didn’t intend to break it and repeat the mistake he’d made with Ar’leenah. So he kept Madeline at an arm’s length, which seemed to irritate her greatly.

Well, hehadbeen keeping her at an arm’s length, anyway, Grath reminded himself ruefully. But now he’d just agreed to bring her closer. Because there was no way they could fool her family into thinking they wanted to be Joined and bonded without him touching her, at least a little.

This doesn’t have to be a big deal,Grath tried to reassure himself.I’m a fucking adult—I can put my arm around her and call her those sweet nicknames the humans are so fond of without losing control or breaking my vow never to try and bond a female to me again.

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