Page 8 (1/2)

He sry spark flare in her eyes, then die away as she caught his grin and realized he didn’t intend to kick her out of his bed

He chuckled and ue over the flesh where his hand had been Sheher hands into the sheets He wondered if between her cat side and her human side if there would be any sheets left by the time he was finished with her

Greta was in Dayne’s bed, wrapped in his arht She wished she could stop the contented purring

The pills had stalled the immediate need of the heat, but the adrenaline from her fear had caused her to weaken when his hands were on her

His fingers stroked through her hair and trailed down her back as she arched into his touch Like h

"Do you want to tell otten the dreah to retain the memories Already in her cat form and in such a primal panic, all sense of humanity had left her She wasn’t usually so disconnected frohts, even in her fur If she’d reotten her so scared in the first place, she wouldn’t have run into Dayne’s roo back in its full Technicolor ugliness

"I just dreaThat’s all" She couldn’t tell him she’d dreamed he’d stood there and let it happen, that he’d been in on it fro he would protect her, but the tribe had sent her to him to ensure she’d be at the ritual In the dream, Dayne was the one who made the cuts down her skin and smiled as the blood ran out

She hadn’t sotten past the persona he was trying to live up to But then sorcerers could ht her that She pulled out of his arms and reached for the shirt she’d dropped on the floor before their first coupling

"I think I’ back to my room," she said, unable to make eye contact She couldn’t let him see her fear

"Are you sure? Maybe you should sleep here, in case you drea toward the door when she looked up at hiht; perhaps you should sleep in your own room You’re only here a few more days" It wasn’t as if she’d said she wanted a relationship She hadn’t even implied it The first time she’d been in heat, and the second he’d initiated He had soo Or was his comment because he knew she’d be dead? Greta crossed back to her room and crawled in under the covers with Mink This tihed It wasn’t necessary to overreact like that Her wanting to sleep across the hall didn’thim

The truth spell he’d cast wasn’t for short-term use He could have done that without her blood He’d instead wanted so, an insurance policy to protect his interests in the event that he got too soft-hearted toward her and started doing all his thinking with little Dayne

Her aura had turned dark when he’d asked her about the drea back He couldclassed as a monster He didn’t like the way it made him feel when he was the source of her fear

He liked even less that he cared so ht, period It would be best if she slept in her own rooet attached, neither Greta nor Jaden could lure him into another trap

Chapter Seven

RETA perched on a kitchen barstool with a plate of bacon Gand scras were crossed, flip-flops dangling off her feet Mink stood on the counter eating off the side of her plate

"That’s disgusting," Dayne said She wasn’t sure if he was referring to her habit of eatingfood with the cat Mink hopped off the counter and fled to the other side of the roolass of juice and took a packet of instant muffin mix from the cabinet Greta tensed as he brushed past her to retrieve a bowl,cup He took a chocolate cookie out of the cookie jar and chomped on it as he worked A stubborn crumb stayed on the corner of his mouth, and Greta wanted to lick it off

She was slowly losing her erous Probably

He was part of the ritual Maybe She wasn’t sure anyht it didn’t seehts before she’d drea her down an alley made of Swiss cheese So?" Dayne preheated the oven and was engaged in pouring the batter into thewhat?"

She gestured to the batter "Can’t you just zap theic user uses a spell for such a petty thing" He sounded like he was reciting from a textbook

Greta spun on the bar stool, first one way, then the other So she hadn’t done since she was a kid at Si close to the full ry But Dayne made her skin itch, and the kitchen was suddenly too hot and confining

Her eyes cut to the doorway to see Mink slipping out of the roo to be let out

Greta left her plate on the counter and, without a word, followed after her