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“He signed a standard service contract. He’ll be your companion and personal cook, not a thrall. If he works out, I can use him part-time as my PA, too. As soon as the contract is up, he can leave, or sign another contract. His choice.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes moved between mine like she was trying to see into my brain. “I guess that’s all right, then.”
“Not that it’s your business,” I added. “Just so we’re clear—he’s under contract to me. Which means, he answers to me—not you. Now, let’s go. Where are your boots?”
She’d gone stiff at my mini-lecture. “I can get them myself,” she said, starting to rise. “I’m not that big yet.”
“Sit,” I said between my teeth. “Sweet Lilith, do you have to fight me about every little thing?”
She sank back down. “Sorry,” she said, her glare making it clear she was anything but.
The boots were a soft, slouchy leather. I slipped the first one on and ran a palm beneath her wide-legged pants, caressing her calf.
She sipped a breath. Our gazes snagged. Her pupils were big and dark.
My heart gave a single hard thump. It seemed like a year since I’d last touched her, not a couple of months.
A decade since I’d drawn a lungful of her sweet Eden-scent.
And a fucking century since I’d had her beneath me, crying out my name, begging for more.
She might not like me much right now, but she still wanted me. It was etched on her face, visible in her heavy-lidded eyes.
Gods, I wished we weren’t on a schedule. But the primitive part of me itched to get her and my spawn safely back in my own territory.
She dragged her teeth over her lower lip. “Talon?”
“Mm?” I stroked the warm, firm muscles beneath my fingers, my gaze on that soft pink lip she was mauling.
“What do you want from me?”
You. Coming with me willingly. Accepting my blood bond because that’s what you want, too.
Now where in Hades had that come from?
Frowning inwardly, I shoved the thought down deep where I wouldn’t have to think about it and skated my fingers down to where her calf narrowed above her ankle, chaining it between my thumb and fingers.
“After you fell asleep last night,” I said, “I called Brien.”
Her leg muscles tautened. “And?”
“He said to make sure you understand this is your last chance.”
She nodded rapidly. “I do. And I appreciate that you’re giving me a second chance. I promise I won’t mess it up.”
“I hope not.” I released her calf. “There’s something you don’t know—Brien and Twilight mated. She’s his prima now.”
“His…mate?”
I nodded. “And his prima. It’s official—he wanted it that way.”
Her mouth moved in a soundless, “Oh, no.”
“Yeah.” I amped up the pressure. “Brien’s letting me take the lead on this, but I don’t know how far his goodwill will extend. Then there’s the fact that you’re pregnant with my spawn...”
Her hands fisted on her thighs. “And—?”
I moved in for the kill. “You’re going to accept my blood bond. Tonight—before we return to the island. It’s the only way I can protect you both. You’ll answer to me, not Brien or Twilight.”
