Page 426 of Primal Bonds

Destroy.

Protect the mate.

He jumped to his feet and prowled feverishly from room to room, searching for a way out. The apartment was windowless, and the only exit wasn’t just locked, it was warded, because when he tried the door handle, it buzzed warningly in his hand.

He was trapped again. Just in a larger cage.

With a low growl, he took a gilded chair from the dining room and smashed it against the heavy wood door, again and again, until it lay in broken shards at his feet.

He stared down at the pieces, chest heaving, and then resumed his restless pacing, half-cat, half-man.

Burning up from the iron poisoning. Furious at being confined. Terrified for Rosana.

A half hour passed, maybe more, with him only half aware of his surroundings.

When he surfaced again, he was in the opulent black marble bathroom.

He set his hands on the counter. In the large round mirror, his cougar’s fiery blue eyes stared back. His fangs had lengthened, his claws fully extended to their two-inch-plus length. At some point he’d ripped off his shirt, and his pants were unbuttoned as if he’d started to remove them as well.

He hadn’t come this close to losing control of his animal since his dad had been executed by Leron.

He drew a breath and then shrank his fangs, retracted the claws. His eyes changed back to bronze with just a few slivers of blue.

At least he hadn’t reopened the wound on his chest. But his face was flushed with fever, his breath coming in rapid pants.

Sticking his head under the faucet, he took a long drink to flush the iron from his system. Then he got in the shower, scrubbing off the stench of the cell. He ignored the razor on the ledge with the shampoo and soap. Let Langdon see the rough-edged, dangerous animal he was dicking around with.

By the time he got out, his fever had receded. He felt weak but clear-headed again.

He dressed in the clean clothes he found laid out in the master bedroom and began a methodical search for a weapon. But the apartment held nothing that would damage a fae.

Food appeared in the dining room. A fat, juicy hamburger. Thick-sliced fries. Spicy coleslaw and a frosty glass of beer.

His skin creeped. How did they know his favorite meal? But he ate, even though it galled him to accept food from Langdon. He’d need fuel for the coming confrontation.

Belly full, he resumed his restless pacing, increasingly anxious to see Rosana. At least he sensed through the bond that she was healing, growing stronger.

He would break them both out of here. He was damned if he’d submit tamely to whatever Langdon had planned.

But without a weapon, it was up to his cougar.

Yes… hissed the cat.

His claws slid out again. He stared down at the wicked curved nails. Maybe he couldn’t kill Langdon, but he could do some serious damage. That should buy him enough time to grab Rosana and then cloak them both so he could spirit her out of New Moon.

Langdon might be able to sense Adric’s location with those Spidey-senses of his, but Adric would bet his entire collection of quartz that the prince couldn’t actually see him. Get Rosana away from Langdon, and the two of them would have a fighting chance at escape.

If the wards let us out.

Adric had always known he might not get out of New Moon alive, but it had been a chance he was willing to take. Now, though, he had Rosana to consider.

His mate.

His jaw set. Failure was not an option. He would extricate her from this mess, or die trying.

That decided, he curled up onto the undamaged couch to wait for midnight. Not sleeping, but resting in the way of his cat with ears wide open.

The moment he heard footsteps in the hall outside, he was up and springing across the room. He kicked the remains of the chair out of the way and waited impatiently for the lock to disengage before jerking the door open.

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