As the last pulse of brutal pleasure shuddered through their senses and that moment in time passed, they collapsed against the bed, exhaustion swamping them and pulling them into a sleep so deep, so filled with healing comfort that the scars of the past, of nightmares and fears slowly began to ease.
As they slept, the monster that had awakened years before to protect the mate eased from sleep and kept watch. Ever vigilant, ever searching for enemies, cunning and far too primal to ever exist alone, it ensured survival by ensuring the safety of the mate.
The boy might not have known what he held when Brandenmore gave him the babe, the animal may not have sensed it, but the instinct that created the monster had known, just as it had known that the babe’s survival depended on ensuring all the facets of what made the Breed Gideon, became one hardened being rather than human and animal struggling for balance. It melded the two, infused them with the savagery of its primal strength and ensured the babe would live, mature, and become a mate strong enough to soothe the often volatile strength and intelligence of the breed whose soul she would possess.
The monster had known, just as it had known other monsters existed as well. Some slept, some waited, a few battled, but all existed for one purpose: the mate it was sworn to protect.
? CHAPTER 23 ?
Cat came awake slowly, her lashes lifting as she turned her head to stare at the mate sleeping next to her. He slept, deep, but a part of him never slept, she knew that, had sensed it before with a vague trepidation, and accepted it now with thankfulness. Whatever that primal, fiercely intelligent part of Graeme that existed actually was, she wasn’t certain. But she knew without a doubt that it would ensure Graeme’s survival, as well as her own.
As Graeme slept deep beside her, that part of him was intensely vigilant, focused on her for the moment, watching, waiting to see her response to the primal awareness she now sensed.
When she did nothing more than allow a small smile to tip her lips as recognizing what she was certain Graeme was unaware of it, she could almost feel the focus shift from her to ensure once again that no threats were present.
Perhaps it was an instinct all breeds had to some point. That extra sensory perception that awakened them when danger neared, or warned them of danger. The subconscious, though in Graeme it seemed highly adept.
Whatever it was, monster as he called it, instinct as she thought of it, it had come awake with a vengeance at a time when Graeme would have certainly died otherwise.
That thought sobered her and reminded her of the past night and events that were still far too hazy in her mind while other sensations and knowledge were finally clear.
She’d fought, she’d endured another woman’s life, endured the unquenched need for freedom for this, for the need to hold the man, the Breed she knew she belonged to. The one she knew belonged to her.
That moment of realization had come at the very second she’d felt her spirit being torn from her body, in that striking heartbeat between life and death. Drifting, alone, aware and yet disconnected, Cat had seen her life, her past in such vivid detail. Even her photographic memory couldn’t have processed the information her soul had stored and released in that blinding moment.
The moments of connection with Graeme, those seconds where the animal senses they possessed met and merged, she’d blocked all she’d seen inside him, all she could have known about the Breed she loved with her entire being.
He hadn’t deliberately marked her as his mate, he’d marked her with Bengal DNA because of the unique strength and wildness of both body and spirit that those creatures possessed. DNA he’d believed was superior to any other and better fitted to ensure her life.
She saw the moment Brandenmore laid her in the arms of the boy Graeme had been, felt the spirit of the creature known as Gideon fighting for freedom, enraged with the confinement he endured. There was nothing to fight for, no chance of escape or of life within the cages he’d known all his life. Until a four-day-old infant was placed in his arms. The animal inside him stilled, the savage impulses quieting and pure cunning overtook him.
Brandenmore had given the young creature he subconsciously feared the key to destroying him. The child the animal inside him recognized as intrinsic to his survival. There was no thought of mating, no sexual impulses, just a knowledge that she was his now and she was too helpless, too sick and frail to fight for herself. The savage nature, the monster strengthening inside him knew she had to live though. For the boy to live, the child must live.