Desire Unchained

“Nothing, I swear.”


Shade crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Do you know what Kynan told the Army?”

“No.”

“What else can you tell me about this military unit that you work for?”

“Shade, please. I can’t talk about this.”

The look he gave her sent the chill she’d felt earlier straight to her bones. “Then Kynan will.”





Shade stalked away from the table, leaving Runa jaw-dropped and furious at his threat.

Which wasn’t really a threat. Dammit, if Ky had any nefarious motives regarding the hospital, if he was secretly working against them …

Fuck.

Well, Runa couldn’t yell at him for thinking the word.

“Oh, no! You don’t get to just walk away from me.”

Runa caught up to him in the living room as he headed for the exit. He needed to get out of this place, needed just a few minutes to compose himself before he did something stupid, like wrap her in his arms and promise her he’d make up for everything Roag had done to her. His stomach growled, reminding him of exactly why he couldn’t do that; already the curse was affecting him. He’d eaten two sandwiches before she came in from the waterfall, and he felt as though he hadn’t taken a bite.

Relentless hunger.

One down, three to go.

“Get dressed, Runa,” he said, without turning around. “We need to head back to the hospital.” The hospital she’d been tasked to spy on. For some reason, the fact that she’d agreed to do it hurt more than it should.

“For more tests, or to torture Kynan?”

“Tests, mostly.” Shade could call E to tell him about Kynan, and to give him a heads-up about the Army experimentation on Runa, but he wanted to be there in person. Now, more than ever, UG was a haven. He might be a demon, but he was also a paramedic, and the desire to save lives was almost as strong as his drive to have sex.

With Runa. His mate.

Fuck.

“Shade?”

“What? I didn’t cuss.” Way to sound guilty, idiot.

“I’m afraid.”

Did she sense that she was in as much danger from him as from Roag? He swiveled around, a knot of dread twisting his gut. She stood there, chin up and shoulders squared, hair all a mass of wild wetness around her shoulders. “Why?”

“Because I have no control over anything. Your crazy brother wants me dead, I’m bonded to you and can’t get out of it, and I couldn’t leave you if I wanted to because I don’t know how to use the Harrowgates.” She swallowed hard enough for him to hear. “You seem to think I should just accept this in stride, and honestly, I’ve tried … but you’re not making it easy. You act like this is all temporary, but at the same time, you say it’s permanent. If it was permanent, wouldn’t you want to get to know me? At least make an effort to make this work? I don’t get it. I really don’t.”

The tremor in her voice at the very end brought all his ideas about not hugging her to a grinding halt. He did want to know her. He wanted to know how she grew up. What her favorite movie was, her favorite food, her dream vacation spot. But how could he tell her that as much as he wanted to know these things, he couldn’t? Every little bit he learned would draw him closer to her, and closer to his doom.

So instead of explaining any of that to her, he reached for her, knowing he was making a huge mistake. She came to him willingly, folded herself against his chest. She felt good like that, her warmth surrounding him, filling him in places that had been empty and cold for so long.

He nuzzled the top of her head, inhaling the exotic, fresh scent of shampoo and jungle water. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”

She tightened her arms around him. “What’s done is done. The past doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “It does. So much of the past affects the future.”

Her palm slid up his spine in a comforting stroke. “Tell me about yours. Not about the scars Gem was talking about or anything,” she said quickly. “Something nice. Something about your family, maybe?”

He recognized the manipulation for what it was—that need of hers to understand him. But the grief over Skulk’s death was fresh, and talking about his family suddenly seemed like the balm he needed.

“I told you my true sire is a Seminus demon. He’d shifted into an Umber and impregnated my mother. Immediately after, she took an Umber as her mate, and when I was born, they were shocked by not only the single birth, but the human-looking infant with tattoos on his arm. Fortunately, Umbers are good parents. They kept me and went on to have more children.” Runa’s hand kept stroking, coaxing more out of him. “Skulk was the runt of the last litter. Right after that, my Umber father was killed trying to defend our nest from a demon that eats infants.”