Desire Unchained

What a big, fucking lie.

His gut wrenched as he dragged his gaze away from her. He was growing too close, too fast, and this morning’s sex had made the situation worse. Not only had he lied through his teeth about servicing her—hell, he’d probably needed her more than she’d needed him—but the haunted look in her eyes when she’d brought up her father had been like an icepick through his heart.

There was a painful story there, and he had a feeling it was related to the darkness, the guilt, he sensed in her, but he didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to string her up as he had the females in his past in order to draw that darkness out through sex and pain. As long as she tried to keep it buried, he’d be okay. The moment she decided she wanted to open up about her past, the moment she decided she wanted to be rid of her guilt or whatever was staining her soul, he’d be forced to do whatever it took to extract it from her.

The thought made him queasy.

And what the hell was up with the lack of the mate-markings? Even after the second try this morning … nothing.

This was so not good.

E walked up to him, his concern obvious in his drawn brows and the tight set of his mouth.

“Where’s Wraith?” Shade asked. “I figured for sure he’d want to be here to drill me.”

“I sent him with Kynan. Told him you didn’t need both of us drilling you.”

“Bullshit. Wraith wouldn’t buy that.”

Eidolon grinned. “He didn’t. But I explained that I know what it’s like to have a mate, and I’d know how to deal with you. I told him anything he said would send you running for the hills and we’d never see you again.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

A grim scowl replaced E’s smile, bringing them both back to the place where Shade was royally fucked. “I know that. But he doesn’t.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s rattled. He’s doing his best to deal with the Roag thing, and Skulk, and you being in the situation you’re in, but he’s taking things a little too well.”

“Which means it’s only a matter of time before he blows.”

Eidolon dragged a hand through his short, dark hair. “You didn’t say anything about Runa not being marked.” When Shade shrugged, E continued. “Can she sense you? Or is this bonding one-sided?”

Shade glanced through the door window at Runa, who was smiling at the lab tech as he held her arm steady for the blood draw. Mine. Shade swallowed hard. Rage and jealousy had made a fine blockage in his throat.

“Frank’s touching her. I should have done the draw. I still can—”

“Shade? Look at me.”

He wrenched his eyes away from Runa and Frank.

“Why didn’t you get the blood samples yourself?”

“Because I’m trying to keep my distance. But his hands are on her. I’m going to kill him.”

“It’ll get easier, bro. As the bond settles, the raging jealousy will ease up. Won’t go completely away, but it’ll get better. If it didn’t, I couldn’t have let Tayla keep working with men at Aegis headquarters.”

“Let her? Something tells me you wouldn’t have been able to stop her.”

E looked a little sheepish. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Shade sucked in a shaky breath and avoided looking through the window again. “The bond is one-sided. I don’t get it. I know we did it right the first time. And today I repeated her part of the ritual.”

“This could be a problem.”

“No shit.” Shade braced a shoulder against the wall, welcoming the support. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

Shade hesitated. Talking sex with his brothers had never been any different from talking sports. But this felt awkward and wrong, as if he were betraying Runa.

“Is sex … different for you since you took Tay as your mate?”

Eidolon’s brows shot up, and a knowing grin split his face. “Oh, yeah. Much better. Definitely a perk of the bond.”

“I was afraid of that.”

There was a brittle silence. Finally Eidolon said, “We’ll find a way to get you out of this. Both the warg thing, and the curse.”

Shade laughed bitterly. “Even if we find a cure for the lycanthropy, the curse isn’t going to end well.”

“There’s got to be a way. Something we missed.”

“We’ve been looking for almost eighty years, E. There’s only one way out, and it’s not an option.”

Yeah, the fun little love curse came with an out clause that was as demented as the prick who dreamed up the spell in the first place.

Shade could transfer the curse to a loved one, someone he cared about in a nonromantic way. Which left only Eidolon and Wraith, and that was not going to happen. Even if he did decide to transfer the curse, he had no idea how to go about doing so.