Page 4 (2/2)

"No, but I think you’ll want to" Kari glanced the brunette’s way

"She’s a surrogate"

"Right Not a prostitute, which Ronan has to remind ates provide sexual service, but since it’s ickind…"

"Exactly One of her kind is keeping Bra soy--"

"That isn’t who she’s here for tonight," Kari cut in quietly "Really, you’ll want to--damn, it’s too late"

Anka frowned and looked at the door when it opened again Lucan strolled through and ate with a smile Suddenly, Anka couldn’t breathe, especially when Lucan dropped into the chair beside the woman and brushed a kiss across her lush, red mouth

That one simple buss of his lips over the other woman’s was a chainsaw to Anka’s heart Tears burned the backs of her eyes Yes, she’d known Lucan would be using surrogates for energy now that they were no longerto see hiony when he saw her with Shock?

"I tried," Kari said by way of apology

She had And Anka regretted that she’d been too preoccupied to catch on quickly enough to save herself this heartache

"I have to go" But she couldn’t walk past Lucan now He and the gorgeous surrogate currently rifling her fingers through his dark hair sat at the table right beside the door There was no way she could leave without the "Help me"

Kari bit her lip "He doesn’t usually stay long when he meets one of them here"

Of course not He led theht to his bed Their bed And the way his lips were trailing up the brunette’s neck and he hispering soh, Anka had no doubt he was eager to get this woman naked and supine

"You could just stay and wait," Kari suggested "They’ll be gone soon"

Anka shook her head No, she couldn’t watch another moment of this "Is there another exit?"

God, that sounded cowardly But right now, she’d rather run past Mathias than Lucan cozying up to his surrogate for the night

Pity softened Kari’s expression as she stood directly in front of Anka "Yes Stand up and round that corner to your right Behind that is ht behind you"

"Thank you," Anka said gratefully, doing her best not to fall apart now

Kari nodded softly "Listen, I spent two years watching Ronan charht before we mated I understand quite well how you feel"

On wobbling legs, Anka rose The barkeep’s taller frame blocked her view of Lucan, and hied one quick peek at her forate’s He never noticed her That chainsaw sliced through Anka’s chest again, rending her heart in two

Once in Kari’s office, she sagged into the barkeep’s desk chair Tears stabbed at her eyes again Alone now, she let the to cleanse her brain after seeing Lucan’s hands, lips, and sht, she knew he needed new energy frequently There were other ways to power up hisroy, he would wither, die And unlike Bram, as mated, Lucan didn’t have to rely on mutual self-pleasure to power up He could--and probably would--have sex with that woman any way he pleased

She had to focus on her desire to see hiht now, he was probably sweeping his lips across the surrogate’s, tongue sinking deep, dragging her nubile body--one that hadn’t been ravaged and scarred--against his He was likely readying her so he could sink into her bed and into her body

Anka bit her lip to hold in another cry She had to get out of here and go ho into the back alley, behind the duhts of hoh her brain But it wasn’t the little house she’d shared with Shock these past months that came into view

Anka found herself directly in front of the house she’d shared for over one hundred years with Lucan

Home

The familiar warhts she spent here Lovingly, her gaze traced the stately roof, the arched s, and the long lawn, surrounded by the gardens she used to love keeping In January, lected or overgrown Even the sauard at the front of the yard Downstairs was the sah the upstairs , she could see the same dark wood bed that she and Lucan had slept on and made love in for decades The same bed in which she’d drifted off and…

Anka stu She hadn’t been here since the terrible night Matthias had ripped her from the coziness of the almost perfect life she’d shared with Lucan Mathias had abducted her, thrown her in his dungeon, and used her for his perverse pleasure for five hellish days that she could barely think of noithout retching He’d torn her from her mate He’d robbed her of her sense of safety, self, of her shelter from the cruelties of the world He’d left her a brittle shell