The mark he’d left on her was the same he’d left on Judd, Honor and, over the years, several other Bengal Breeds. It was a primal, mental mark, one he hadn’t believed could be wiped away. Especially by his mate, by the tigress he’d ensured existed inside her.
But she was right. Allowing his Breed senses to reach out to her, to search for the bond he’d assumed was still there, he was shocked to realize there was only the faintest remnant of it left. A part of it he doubted she even knew was still there.
The knowledge rocked him to the core. He felt off balance, stunned by the weakness of a bond he’d been certain couldn’t be destroyed.
“You destroyed that bond,” she accused him then, her voice soft, the bitterness grating. “You destroyed what you created, Graeme. I might have had the potential to be your mate, but like the alpha bond, it doesn’t exist now. Nothing exists now but my need to see the only part of you that I still feel some fondness for survive. Strangely enough, it’s not the part of you that I know as Graeme that I even give a damn about. It’s that part of you the world knows as Gideon that concerns me. His survival is tied to yours, though, it seems, so I guess I’m stuck with that part as well. Stuck with it. Not mated to it. So why not leave me in peace to get what little sleep I can until I have to deal with a crazy Lion Breed as well in the morning.”
Years of heartache, of nightmares that had tormented her vulnerable heart, and the loss of her only friend, had shattered her slowly over the years, over and over again. She’d never had a chance to heal, a chance even to catch her breath before she’d had to deal with another blow.
All she’d ever wanted was to belong somewhere, to someone. To be a part of something besides her own aching loneliness. And even now, he refused to share enough of himself to allow her to feel secure in belonging to him again.
“What are you waiting for?” she cried out painfully as he stood, eyes narrowed, simply staring at her. “Do you think glaring at me is going to replace that bond? That you can intimidate me into it?”
A mocking laugh fell from her lips. “You did come to find me because I was your mate. You came for vengeance and I was just stupid enough to lead the way, wasn’t I?”
His arms crossed slowly over his chest, the powerful stance only enraging her further.
“You enjoy lying to yourself, don’t you, Cat?” he suggested, the superior amusement he displayed insulting.
“Not nearly as much as you do,” she retorted furiously. “Now, why don’t you leave, please. I simply can’t deal with you anymore. I refuse to deal with you. Get the hell out of here and don’t come back before I leave myself.”
She had few options. The only assurance she had of protection would also endanger the one person she had no intention of revealing to either Jonas or Graeme.
“I’ll go for now.” His arms dropped from his chest. “I’ll be back in the morning when Jonas arrives. And we will finish this conversation then.”
Turning, he left the room, the door closing behind him as Cat felt the strength drain out of her.
It was too much.
Too many upheavals, too many losses and revelations.
She wanted to escape. She needed to escape.
And she had no place to go, no way of surviving if she ran as she longed to run.
And God help her, but she longed to run.
? CHAPTER 10 ?
Dealing with Jonas was something she just couldn’t do.
The next morning she was up, showered and out the back door by daybreak. The small pack she carried on her back held water, fruit, two peanut butter sandwiches and a weapon.
She strapped her knife to her thigh, over the black pants she’d hurriedly pulled on the night before to rush downstairs before Graeme could torture his enemies. The black shirt overlay a racer-back tank top while hiking boots covered her feet.
With any luck, she’d have an hour to run before Graeme caught up with her. She had no doubt he’d catch up with her, just as she had no doubt he was aware she was leaving the grounds.
She wasn’t a prisoner. She hadn’t allowed herself to be a prisoner since she had escaped the research center where she’d been raised. Where Graeme had turned her into the Breed with the potential to be his mate.
The bitterness that had spilled from her the night before had surprised her. As the pleasure of his touch had heated her, spreading through her senses and sending a sensual lethargy through her, she’d wanted nothing more than to lie back and to give herself to him.
In that moment, she’d felt him, felt that primal connection she hadn’t felt with anyone since the night she’d renounced him as her alpha.
She’d been a child. Broken, betrayed one time too many, and lost within herself without the only person she’d depended upon all her life.
Her G.