Page 448 of Primal Bonds

A tall, golden-haired sun fae spun Rosana in a circle and then bent her back over his arm. She laughed up at him and pivoted away, the skirt swirling around her slim legs.

An almost noiseless growl escaped Adric at seeing her so close to another male.

Mine.

It was primal, primitive—and he didn’t give a damn. He was a newly mated fada male, and he wanted his woman all to himself. But he folded his arms over his chest and stayed where he was, because he also wanted his woman to be happy, and Rosana was clearly enjoying herself.

Dion’s look was knowing. “It isn’t easy watching your mate with another man.”

He scowled and shrugged.

“You kept her alive. I owe you my thanks.”

Adric snorted. “Like hell you do. I almost got her bound to the prince in a geas.”

“You did what you had to do. I know the whole story—how she went to Baltimore, tried to get you to take her with you. And then when she had a chance to leave, she refused.”

Adric met his eyes. “If this is the part where you say be good to my sister or I’ll bust your balls, don’t worry. I know I don’t deserve her—but I love her. I’d burn down the fucking world for her.”

A short nod. “I know you would. Do I trust you? You still have to earn that. But in this, I do—you won’t hurt her because it would hurt you too much.”

Adric moved uncomfortably on his feet. “She’s my mate,” he muttered. “Don’t make me into some kind of hero.”

Dion grunted. “Believe me, I’m not. I’m a mated man myself, remember? I know how it is.” A feral grin. “And if you did hurt Rosana, I wouldn’t have to do a damn thing. She’d bust your balls for me.”

Adric gave a bark of laughter, watching as Rosana danced by with another man—Jace, this time. “You’re right.”

“But I have a proposition for you. I want to see my sister more than once every couple of weeks, and I know you’re never going to be satisfied until you have more land for your clan.”

“Go on.”

“Here’s the deal. You need a place for your people to run free as their animals. Rock Run might be able to help you there.”

Adric’s heart sped up. “Yeah?”

“I’ll rent your clan the portion of our territory farthest from the base. I’ll give you a line that you’ll tell your people not to cross, but you’ll still have a few hundred acres of forest to run in. Maybe down the road, you can buy up some of the nearby land, expand. When that Factory of yours finally gets off the ground, you’ll have some extra cash.”

“I see.”

“Well? You interested?”

“Very,” he returned with a cool nod, although inside, he was leaping for joy.

“We’ll have to work out the details,” Dion said, “but I’d say we have ourselves a deal.” He brought his fist to his heart, and then offered his hand to Adric.

Adric touched his heart as well, and the two of them shook on it.

“Thank you,” he said. “You won’t be sorry.”

“See that I’m not.”

Adric nodded—and then grinned. “But for the record, I’m not done being a pain in your ass.”

Dion smiled back. A white-toothed, frankly evil smile. “You just took on my sister. I figure we’re about even.”

Chapter 48

At midnight the celebration was still going strong. That was the sun fae for you; they’d still be partying until midnight tomorrow. Not that the fada looked ready to go home anytime soon, either.

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