Page 121 of Primal Bonds

Jace helped Evie into the jeep and then donned the shorts Dina tossed him. Sitting next to Evie, he pulled her onto his lap. She snuggled against his chest and heaved a sigh.

“That’s it.” He stroked her nape. “It’s over.”

She nodded against his shoulder and burrowed closer. He smelled sweaty and a little earthy, and all male. She tongued the ridge of his collarbone, tasting the salt.

His eyes creased in the smile she thought of as all her own. “What was that for?”

“Just because.” I love you.

“I like it.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Do it whenever you want.”

Jace said they were mates, but she knew from Suha it wasn’t a done deal. The woman had to accept the bond.

Her chest constricted. Because it wasn’t just her—she had Kyler to consider, too.

Chapter 37

Adric stared down at Tyrus’s badly burned body. Marjani was explaining what had happened, including the fact that it was Evie who had somehow fried Tyrus with a fae ball.

Adric didn’t give a flying fuck that the man was dead, but—“The prince can’t know we did this.”

Tyrus had been Langdon’s last living son. The night fae prince was going to be out for blood, and if he found out the Baltimore clan was involved, the Darktime would look like a warm-up compared to what he’d bring down on them.

“Agreed,” said Marjani.

He eyed her. He didn’t need anyone to tell him that she’d struck the final blow. The knife work had her signature. “You okay?”

She stared back with chocolate-colored eyes shot with the chill blue of her cougar. “Yeah.”

“Good,” he said, although he wasn’t so sure she was okay. But what was done was done, and she’d only done what she’d had to. “We’ve got to make him disappear—completely. Call the engineers and tell them to bring explosives.” Marjani needed something to do, something human to keep her cougar at bay.

While she started making the calls, Zuri organized the soldiers to bury Tyrus in the soil beneath Corban’s lair and clear the surrounding area of any trace of him. No one could know he’d been here.

Adric climbed the ladder to check on Jace and Evie. Tommy, a young male who was training with Suha, was working over Jace. Jace’s wounds were partly healed, but his quartz was blown out, explaining why he’d gone dead to Adric. He’d have to find a new one.

Evie sat close by, dressed only in a bra and bloodied pants. Her face was smudged with dirt, her gaze hollow. Adric knew that expression; it was that of someone who’d been pushed to her limit.

He stripped off his T-shirt. “Here. Put this on.”

She nodded and lifted her arms like a child. He dropped it over her head. He wasn’t a big man, but she was swamped by the gray cotton. A delicate blond fairy, all the glow stripped from her.

He muttered something dark.

Jace curled his fingers over hers and the thousand-yard stare left her eyes. She glanced at Jace. The look that passed between them made something deep and unacknowledged in Adric constrict. So his best friend had found his mate.

He was happy for Jace, of course, but a part of him cried out, Why not me? And then he thought of Rosana and clenched his right hand.

While the healer worked on Jace, Zuri walked over to ask about Corban and Kane.

“Kane’s dead,” Adric told him. “Corban got away. The bastard sacrificed his own brother to save his hide.”

Marjani had come up in time to hear that last part. She shook her head. “He’s gone rogue.”

Adric nodded grimly. “I’ve got a kill order out on him.”

“It’s worse than you think. He didn’t just help Tyrus kidnap Jace. He sold Jace’s quartz to him.”

Adric’s gut tightened. “He gave him the secret?” He glanced down at Jace, who nodded.

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