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Clearly, he struggled with human terms. “Soon-to-be ex-mate, actually. Women loved Edward, and he never missed an opportunity to indulge. Like you. Every time my back was turned, he went missing or I caught him in a lie or smelled perfume on him. It all meant he was shagging someone else. ”
The humiliation of
those memories flooded her eyes with tears. Damn it all, she didn"t want Ronan to see her feeling weak. She wanted to fling his licentious ways in his face and make him squirm.
Her heart had other ideas, and she turned away when she couldn"t control a sob.
“Kari. ” He cupped a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She whirled and backed away. “Don"t touch me. You had your chance. At least Edward didn"t flaunt his conquests in my face. You propositioned her in my pub, where I was certain to see. It doesn"t get any meaner than that. ”
Ronan winced at the sound of her former fiancé"s name. Cheating bastard. And yet, in Kari"s eyes, what he"d done was ten times worse. “I didn"t want her. I did nothing with her. ”
She gave a bitter laugh. “You have a great deal of testicular fortitude to look at me and lie. ”
He shook his head, his eyes imploring. For a moment, she was tempted to believe him.
Fool.
“God"s truth, I swear. ” His voice deepened, cracked.
“So you never even kissed her?” she challenged, wondering how far he"d take the lie.
He hesitated. “I—I did. Once. ”
That was it. It! She had to get away from him now, before she truly broke down and humiliated herself even more. She ran for the back of the pub.
And still he shouted after her. “Kari, I swear it. And as soon as I kissed her, I knew I could never touch her. She made me ill. ”
“Bad breath?” she quipped.
He caught her by the elbow and spun her to face him, his green eyes so bloody earnest…
“No. She wasn"t you. ”
Damn if he didn"t have that sincere look down pat. Good line, too. “So you pondered this all night alone and not between her thighs?”
“After that kiss, I spent the hours alone, trying to discern how I could love you without risking you. ”
“Risking me?” She paused in front of the pub"s private room, determined to hide, then remembered it was currently occupied. “That"s rubbish. ”
And she didn"t want to hear his excuses. And she knew the fastest way to get rid of him.
Clutching the knob of the private room"s door, she pushed it open. Tynan rose to greet her with a frown of concern.
Ronan froze. “What the devil is he doing here?”
Tynan looked between her and Ronan, then back again. His heavy gray gaze finally settled on her. “He Called, but you did not Bind to him?”
“How did you know?”
“His magical signature. ” Tynan scowled. “There"s a missing section that"s wrapped with your colors. ”
Kari had no idea what that meant. “Whatever. I"ll never Bind to him. Cheating bastard. ”
Suddenly, another man rose to his feet, this one tall, golden, formidable. Authority rolled off of him in waves.
She gasped. “Sorry. I didn"t know…”
The man approached. “Bram Rion, Councilman. ”
With trepidation, she shook his hand. Then he nodded and peered around her at Tynan. “I hope she"s the only human here who knows about us. That"s one more than we need. ”
“She"s the only one,” Tynan assured.
Bram frowned, displeasure evident. Then he speared Ronan with a glance. “Ronan Wolvesey. In a pickle, as usual, I see. ” Then Bram turned back to Tynan. “I hope their love life isn"t more important than Mathias running loose, turning masses of humans into soulless minions. Are we ready to discuss reality?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ronan stared at Bram, a wizard he hadn"t seen in decades. He and the man"s sister, Sabelle, had played together as children, but now wasn"t the time for pleasantries.
“Did you say Mathias is running loose? Not Mathias D"Arc. He was exiled—”
“And he broke free over a month ago. He attacked the MacKinnetts and killed the witch Tynan planned to mate. ”
Did that mean Tynan had no designs on Kari? Or had he latched onto her to replace the woman he had lost?
“Mathias has been killing innocents and wreaking havoc since. ”
Trying to wrap his mind around something that should be impossible, he stared at Bram.
“You said he"s creating soulless minions as well. Anarki?”
“Indeed. We"re up to our elbows fighting them. And they"re impervious to magic.
Mathias is creating them faster than we can kill them. ”
Ronan scrubbed a hand down his face. “We?”
Bram and Tynan exchanged a glance. “The Doomsday Brethren. We"ve banded together to defeat Mathias. ”
Ronan"s blood ran cold. Rhea had mentioned the group just before attacking. His instinct to protect Kari went on alert.
The “Brethren” part made sense, as another group with that name had fought Mathias centuries ago. But “Doomsday?” Only one object in magical lore bore that moniker.
“Doomsday, as in the Doomsday Diary, Morganna le Fay"s enchanted book?”
“That grants its user any power, even to destroy the world? Yes, the very one,” Bram quipped. “We recovered it a few weeks past. So our mission includes keeping it from Mathias. ”
