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“You like to play very dangerous games, mate,” he called out through the door.
“Go mate yourself. I wouldn’t have you on a bet,” she informed him mutinously. “Sorry, asshole, go find someone who doesn’t know you as well as I do.”
A dark male chuckle met the dare. “Think you know me, little cat? Is that really what you think?”
“That’s what I know.” Retrieving another bra from the drawer, she hurriedly clipped it in place before reaching for a shirt to cover it.
Damn him, that was a new bra he’d destroyed too.
“Then you should be well aware of the fact that what I claim, I keep.” The low, furious warning in his voice had a chill racing up her spine. “Don’t test me on this. Let another touch you, let another spill the scent of his lust around you, and you’ll see just why those stupid Council scientists whimper at the very thought of me.”
“Because you’re fucking crazy?” she suggested mockingly, glaring at the door. “Because they know the strain of rabies they coded into your defective genetics?”
He made her so mad it was all she could do to keep from jerking the door open and confronting him again. The problem was, she’d probably find herself begging him to touch her again instead.
“Because I have no problem reaching inside their chests and allowing them to watch as
I rip their hearts out.” Animalistic, so primal and rough, his voice had chills racing up her spine and filled her with a heavy sense of dread. “Remember that, my little cat, if that bastard Lincoln Martinez ever even thinks to touch you. Except I’ll rip his dick off first and shove it down his throat.”
She blinked at the threat, almost allowing the sudden spurt of humor she felt to slip free at the final threat.
And Jonas had called her overdramatic? He hadn’t heard drama yet.
The slamming of the kitchen door assured her the enraged Bengal was gone. Thankfully.
Sweet Jesus, she was in trouble here.
Pressing her hand to her stomach, she inhaled deeply, frantically trying to figure out a way out of the mess she found herself in. And yes, it was a mess. Because he might have left, but the arousal he’d created inside her hadn’t.
She was going to have to change panties, because she’d definitely soaked hers with the hot spill of moisture his touch created.
And she didn’t consider that a good thing. It wasn’t a good thing at all.
• CHAPTER 5 •
She would be the death of him.
Graeme had always sworn she would be the death of him. From the moment she’d begun crawling, he’d known that woman was going to be more trouble than he would know how to deal with.
Moving quickly through the tunnels between the small rental and the Reever estate, Graeme remembered how tiny she had been even then, and how she seemed to find trouble no matter the effort made to ensure she was safe.
He’d been only eleven when Brandenmore had placed her in his arms, giving the responsibility of her care to him. Her survival was up to him; he’d known it in such a heartbeat of realization that it had been shocking.
Until that moment he’d never really known a point of time when he could designate that he’d felt his animal genetics in such a separate, fierce flow of energy. It had happened in that moment, though. The boy and the immature Bengal had stood side by side inside him. The boy staring at the child, bemused by how to care for such a sickly creature. In that moment, the feral displacement between Breed genetics and human had disappeared, the animal bonding with him completely to claim that child.
He’d known she was his. The animal, as immature as it had been, had claimed her instantly. At first he’d excused it as claiming her as part of the Pride he’d always sworn he’d have. Yet he’d known better.
Judd was his brother, his twin, and though the bond of twins was always there, his affection for Cat had still been different. She would belong to him once she reached maturity. In a blink, boy and animal had known that. It hadn’t been a sexual knowledge, it had been instinct. He’d found his other half, if he could ensure her survival.
His intelligence even then had been far superior to anyone he’d come in contact with. The depth of knowledge he could amass had been driving him insane, tearing his mind apart as his humanity fought the animal merged with it.
Staring into her weak, pain-ridden eyes, the bonding of the often volatile parts of all he was happened in an instant. And very little of it was actually human.
His intelligence, both human and animal, would have torn him apart if it hadn’t been for that moment. Cat had centered him, had given all those jagged pieces a place to fit.
A job to complete. Her survival.
Her survival meant not just curing the genetic malfunction in her body, which he’d immediately sensed, but also ensuring such a human frailty never weakened her again.
