“What did you do, Ashley?” The warning in his voice was one he didn’t attempt to hold back.
Perfectly arched brows snapped into a frown. “Jonas is convinced she’s the way to learning your location. I only informed her how displeased your friends would be to learn that was true.”
“Son of a bitch. Ashley . . . !” Straightening from the door frame, Graeme bit off a vicious growl. “You’re supposed to be her friend as well.”
“I am her friend.” Defiance waged in her expression and her stance as her hands went to her hips and her chin lifted as her gray eyes darkened and narrowed. “Only a friend would test her anger in such a way and force her to see how that anger colors her life.”
The Russian accent thickened and, despite her declaration, he saw the flash of indecision in her eyes.
“Maybe you should think about that definition of friendship.” Stemming the hard rumble of his displeasure was impossible.
“Why should I think about it? Her anger is nearly hatred, Graeme. Should Jonas learn who you are . . .”
“There’s no doubt that will happen, Ashley,” he snarled back. Hell, maybe he was keeping too many secrets from too many people, especially where Jonas we concerned. It could be time for a meeting. “And it will be none of her doing, it will be mine. Stay out of this fight.”
“I hate felines,” she snapped furiously, glaring at him. “All of you are far too stubborn and you make no damned sense. Just as she makes no sense.” She growled then. “She does not even yell. She just closes herself up inside. How does she think she will ever survive mating with one like you?” One hand flipped out toward him as a feminine sneer of disgust curled at her lips. “I would have shot you by now.”
Graeme didn’t bother arguing with her or defending himself. A snap of his teeth and a hard rumble of command had her turning tail and vacating the house quickly, though. And why that worked he still wasn’t certain. Because she knew damned good and well he would never risk the combined forces of feline, Wolf and Coyote Breeds should he dare to actually turn her over his knee and tan her little ass. Something her alpha should have already taken care of to curb her recklessness.
Moving quickly through the house to Cat’s bedroom, he found her standing at the wide balcony doors, arms crossed over her breasts, as she stared out past the walled property.
“And how did I know you would be here?” The anger that filled her voice was a cover. Graeme could sense the pain that roiled like a gathering storm through her small body. “Why don’t you leave too? I don’t want you here.”
But she did. What she wanted and what she needed were so twisted inside her, though, that tugging at either emotion only reminded her of what she’d suffered in feeling them.
And she had suffered. He knew that.
Healing that pain may be impossible, but he was helpless in the desire to do just that. Unfortunately, he knew what Ashley sensed. Facing this emerging feline Breed with soft emotion and gentle understanding would never resolve the conflicts inside her.
“Such a pretty little liar,” he growled, giving the door a hard push to close it. “Do you think I don’t know better, Cat? Do you think I don’t know you better than that?”
So much anger and hurt. God knew he’d never meant to cause it. The need to protect her had been far greater than any consideration where hurting her was concerned, though.
And now, it wasn’t just her protection that concerned him.
“No, Graeme, I don’t think you know me better than that,” she retorted as she turned to him, glaring with all the flame and fury of an enraged Bengal female. “It’s been a lot of years since you’ve been a part of my life. I’m not twelve any longer. And I sure as hell don’t worship the ground you walk on now.”
But she wanted to. The aching need to trust and to love him freely battled inside her, just as he battled with a past he couldn’t change.
He could feel her, her need to step away from that anger like a flame reaching out to him. The scent of it intoxicated him, pulling him into the sensual hunger and emotional storm that raged in him as well. Subtle, a hint of spice and alluring sweetness, her scent infused his senses and spiked the already dark sexuality he possessed.
? ? ?
The scent of male lust had been building in the room since the second he’d stepped inside it. A scent she’d been attempting to ignore.
Just as she fought her own need and the memory of his touch. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, she thought painfully. The inability to remain completely aloof from him, to make herself remember how much it had hurt when he’d betrayed her.
How much it had changed her. And it had changed her. Once, she’d known she could trust that he’d always be there, watching over her. Accepting that she had no one to watch over her but herself had been a hard, bitter lesson to learn.