“I’m angry.”
“You have every right to be.”
“I hate that everyone else knew something about me before I did.”
“It was not about you.”
“Bullshit.”
I almost smile, but her eyes flash, so I don’t smile.
“It was about you,” I say.“And me.And fear.Mostly mine.”
That seems to affect her in a way she doesn’t expect.She turns from the railing and walks toward me, and my body locks.She stops just outside arm’s reach.Close enough that her scent fills my lungs.Soap, night air, woman, fear, and anger all mixed.And beneath, want, faint, but there.
My beast goes utterly still.
“Do I feel it?”she asks.
“The bond?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe.Not the way I do.Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because you are human.”Her mouth twists at my reply, and I move fast with my words.“Not weak.Not less.But you have human nerves and human instincts.Your body has been fighting for survival.It may not know what to do with a bond yet.”
“My body knows too much already.”
“I’m sure.”
She looks up at me.“When you touch me, it feels different.”My heart stops, and her cheeks flush, but she doesn’t look away.“Not always easy.Not always simple.But different.”
My voice drops.“Different how?”
“Mine.”She frowns, frustrated.“Not owned.Not taken.Mine to choose.”
The world tilts, and I can’t speak.If I speak, I may beg.
Her gaze drops to my hands.“You always ask.”
“Always.”
“Even when you’re losing control.”
“I try.”
“You stop when I say stop.”
“That’s how it should always be.”
“You came back when I called.”
The beast bows his head inside me.“Yes.”
Briana lifts her hand, then stops.Asking without asking.I don’t move.She touches my wrist, and my whole body goes quiet.Not calm but reverent.
