What had he done with it when he stole it? she wondered. It had been the only possession she’d had in the research center. And one that would have been taken from her if anyone but her cellmates had realized she had it.
“I was surprised to find you here,” he stated, dragging her thoughts back to him. “In this desert. I expected you and Judd to head for the jungles. For the hidden places where you could disappear easier.”
That had been an idea, until Orrin Martinez had found them and convinced them otherwise.
“Could I have hid from you, G?” she asked, rather than explaining their choice. No doubt he already knew. “Do you think there’s a single place in the world where you wouldn’t have found me?”
There wouldn’t have. She’d been so desperate to see him over the years that she’d stupidly tried to find him or contact him more than once. As she’d grown older that need had become a hollow, painful ache she’d never been able to fully understand.
Sharp incisors flashed in a cold smile. “I rather doubt it. Hiding from me wasn’t an option, Cat. You know that.”
Yes, she knew that now, just as she had known it then.
Hiding from him would have been impossible, just as depending on his protection had been a fool’s dream.
“Then isn’t it a very good thing that I didn’t try to hide from you?” Rising to her feet, she turned her back on him and headed for the bedroom door. “Want a drink? I think I need one.”
The growl that reverberated through the room had her pausing. Instinct rather than inclination stopped her in her tracks while the desire to give him the submission that sound demanded clashed with her determination not to.
“You’re not my alpha any longer, G,” she warned him softly. “No matter what you or my Breed genetics may want to believe.”
The lie slipped out easily, but even she wasn’t convinced, let alone the Breed, with such cool purpose.
“That’s not what you told Jonas the other day,” he reminded her, the mocking amusement in his tone grating on her nerves. “I believe your comment was that no other could usurp my place as your alpha. I think I liked the sound of that declaration. Repeat it. This time to me.”
He was joking surely.
“That claim is nonexistent. Besides, everyone lies to Jonas,” she informed him with an edge of disgust. “It’s the only way to deal with him. Now, I want that drink whether you do or not.”
She had to literally force her feet to move, her fingers to curl around the doorknob. She could still feel him behind her, staring at her, demanding she return to him.
Damned stupid Breed genetics. They could have slept just a little while longer.
Or at least given her a warning.
Because before she even realized he’d moved, he had her pressed against the door, the hard length of his body holding her in place. Sharp teeth nipped at her ear, shocking her with the heated sensation. Not quite pain. Definitely too much pleasure.
Pleasure?
No, G would never deliberately pleasure her, no matter how many times she’d fantasized about it in the past months. If he’d known he’d done so, he’d likely ensure she never made the mistake of believing he’d do so willingly again.
“G . . .”
“Graeme.” The name was growled at her ear, the order emphasized by the rumbled warning in his voice. One her Breed genetics, as well as the human, recognized. “Too many in the research center knew you called me by my initial rather than my name. Don’t make that mistake again, Cat. It could get us both killed. Surely you don’t want to do that, do you? Wouldn’t you cry a little bit if I died?”
Everything familiar was being taken from her, because of him, by him. She was already stripped bare, without friends or family. Hell, even her Breed genetics would betray her if she allowed them to. What more could he take from her but her life? Or his life. Could she bear to face the future without him in it in some way. Even as her enemy, her tormentor, was better than his death.
“Let me go, Graeme,” she bit out, feeling the urge to release her claws, to fight, scratch despite the realization that he was still that important to her.
He wasn’t her alpha, no matter the primal instinct that still existed inside her. Her alpha would not have deserted her. He wouldn’t have threatened her or left her to fight alone.
He wouldn’t have allowed her life to be stolen for all the years she had had to hide from the Genetics Council and their goons. Her alpha wouldn’t have stripped her life down to nothing.
“I’ll never let you go . . .” The guttural claim stripped her of control.
The hell he wouldn’t.
A hard twist, a turn, a slash of claws high on his thigh and, oh yes, he did release her.
Dropping to the floor to evade the quick grab he made for her, Cat rolled out of reach before jumping to her feet and facing him at a half crouch. Breathing hard, heart racing, she watched him with narrowed eyes.