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Ria had stared at the pictures. The pride leader Callan Lyons and his wife at a news conference after they announced to the world what the Breeds were. Taber Williams and his mate, Roni. Tanner and Scheme. An enforcer, Tarek, and his mate, Lyra. In their expressions that extra something that had always fascinated Ria. It was love. It was always love. Mating heat had managed, in every instance, to combine the chemical, biological and pheromonal with love.
Mercury loved her.
She heard the roar outside. Closer, throbbing with rage, reminding her of Mercury.
He loved her. She knew he did. Her soul was being ripped from her body without him.
He didn’t love Alaiya. Mating heat came with love. Mercury had shown signs of the mating hormone in those labs. Not mating heat.
She buried her head deeper into his pillow, drew in his scent.
He was hers. He was meant to be hers. Yet what should have been hers had come alive for another woman. The scent of mating heat that Dane had smelled. The moment Mercury saw Alaiya.
She was tensing to move, to force herself from the bed, when the slam of a door had her stiffening. A snarl filled the cabin and the bedroom door burst open, thrown into the wall with a force that shook the room.
She jerked up in the bed. The light from the bathroom speared over him.
Mercury. Savage. Enraged.
“You ran from me, mate.” Buttons ripped from his jacket as he tore it from his body.
She watched in shock as he undressed. Boots thudded to the floor. His pants slid from his powerful hips. His erection was thicker, throbbing, his eyes pure blue as she stared back at the apparition prowling to her bed.
“Mercury ...”
“Mate,” he snarled, his canines flashing as he moved to the bed.
She watched, entranced as he paused at the foot of the bed. He looked bigger, his muscles more powerful, the strength in his body amplified.
She swallowed tightly. “You didn’t mate me, Mercury.” Her breath hitched on a sob. She was going to cry again, and she couldn’t bear crying in front of him. She wanted to be strong, wanted to give him the chance to choose without being burdened by promises made to her.
“There’s no heat for me.” The tears dripped from her eyes anyway, the pain scoured her soul.
His eyes flashed with rage. Blue eyes, pinpoints of gold flaring in them like fire. As they had been in the labs. As they had been for another woman.
She reached out to him, then drew her hand back, fighting her sobs.
“Why are you here?” she whispered. “Why? Oh God, Mercury. I can’t bear this. I can’t stand losing you twice. Don’t do this to me.”
The roar that filled the room had her flinching. It was animalistic, it wasn’t Breed. It was filled with all the power and the rage of genetics that had somehow been increased with him, that poured through him. That sound was pure animal.
When his head lowered again, the expression on his face terrified her. Because she knew he wasn’t letting her go. She knew he would ignore mating heat and it would destroy them both.
She moved to jump from the bed, to rush from the room. He caught her before she did more than tense. He was on her, pushing her down, snarling. His fingers tangled in her hair, held her in place, and the enraged lust that filled his face had her heart tripping in fear.
“My fucking mate.” The growl was savage.
“No . . .” Because he was going to kiss her. Give her something that belonged to another woman. Not to her.
And she couldn’t evade him.
His lips came down on her, slanted over hers, and his tongue passed into her mouth with determined hunger. Greed. With a desperation that surged through her senses and a taste that had her going still inside.
Wild. Primal. Heat and lightning, power and dark hunger. It filled her mouth. It covered her tongue, and it was so good. Like nectar.
She fought it. She bit at his tongue, but not hard. Because when she did, more of that taste filled her mouth.
“Suck my tongue,” he snarled against her lips. “Take it.”
