Page 153 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“Or maybe he’s giving you exactly what you asked for,” her mom pointed out. “Maybe he thinks you still need space and honey, he’s not going to know any different unless you tell him.”

The conversation with her mom had bothered Terra for days afterward…then days became weeks.

The longer Taurex stayed away, the more Terra found herself reexamining everything that had happened between them. Had he really frightened her because of something he had done, or because of what other men had taught her to expect?

The answer became more uncomfortable every time she asked the question.

Taurex had said she was his fated mate. But he had never forced her to accept that. He had talked about a Bond, but he had never attempted to create one against her will. When she rejected him, he had backed away. When she was afraid, he had left. When her children were in danger, he had saved them without asking for anything in exchange.

And when Terra had tried to apologize afterward, he had refused to let her offer herself out of gratitude because he believed accepting her that way would make him no better than Orlov.

The more Terra thought about it, the worse she felt. She missed him—that was the truth she had finally stopped trying to deny. She missed working beside him. She missed his voice, his quiet, dry sense of humor, and his complete inability to understand human slang. She missed the way his ears twitched when he was confused and the way his golden eyes softened whenever he looked at her. She missed the Mother Ship and his living domicile and even the ridiculous blue stew.

But more than anything, she missed the way she had felt with him before her fear had ruined everything…safe…wanted…respected. No other man had ever made her feel that way—only Taurex. And she had panicked and thrown it all away.

Terra was beginning to suspect she had made the biggest mistake of her life when her phone rang one Tuesday afternoon. The number belonged to the Tampa Police Department and when she saw it, her stomach tightened immediately.

“Hello?” she said, making it a question.

“Hello,” a brisk, businesslike voice said. “Is this Terra Ruskin?”

“Yes, this is she.” Terra was still wondering what was going on. In fact, she was inclined to believe this was a scam phone call and was about to hang up when the voice on the other end continued.

“This is Detective Ramirez with the Tampa Police. We need you to come downtown and give a statement regarding an ongoing investigation.”

Terra’s mouth went dry.

“What investigation?” she managed to get out.

“I’d rather discuss the details in person,” the voice said—it was a woman’s voice and she sounded serious.

“Is this about my children?” Terra demanded.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.

“In a way,” Detective Ramirez said at last. “It has to do with an incident that happened around two weeks ago when your children were picked up from school by a man who claimed to be their father.”

Terra closed her eyes briefly. So it was finally happening. She’d known in the back of her mind that there would have to be some consequences for what Taurex had done to Viktor Orlov and his crew, but it had only been a thought. Now it was becoming reality.

“Okay,” she said at last. “I know the, uh, incident you’re talking about.”

“Can you come in this afternoon?” the detective asked her.

Terra found herself nodding, though the person on the other end couldn’t see her.

“I suppose so,” she said reluctantly.

“Good. Ask for me at the front desk.”

The detective ended the call without explaining anything else—she just hung up. Terra stared at her phone, feeling sick. She had a very bad feeling about this meeting, but it wasn’t like she could refuse to meet with the police.

She just hoped things weren’t as bad as she was imagining them to be.

40

TERRA

An hour later, she walked through the front doors of the downtown Tampa PD, trying not to look as nervous as she felt. She had never been arrested in her life and had only been inside a police station once before to file a report about a stolen purse, but something about all the uniforms and security doors made her feel guilty anyway.