Page 56 of Primal Bonds

“But why? What’s going on?”

He scraped a hand over his short black hair. “We’re not sure,” he admitted. “But we’re afraid Corban is behind the attack on me last week, which means he’s working with the night fae. And that’s twice now my trail has led right to your door. Until we know what’s happening, you’re not safe here.”

Evie sank down on her bed. “This is insane. I have work. And Kyler—”

“Is out of school for the summer,” her brother inserted. “Maybe we should listen to the man.”

“You want to go?” An hour ago, he’d been ready to punch Jace out, and now he was all for leaving with him.

He moved a shoulder. “You didn’t see this Corban. I did. He’s one scary motherfucker.”

Jace crouched before Evie, his hands on the mattress on either side of her. The claw marks on his face were healing rapidly, but they’d come dangerously close to his eye. “I’m sorry, Evie. Corban knows I was with you, and he scented you on me. He doesn’t play by the rules—and he likes to hurt women. Do you want to take a chance he won’t come back?”

She grimaced. “No, of course not.”

“It’s Saturday night,” Kyler said. “You don’t have to be at work until Monday evening. We could go for a couple of days at least.”

Evie stared at the marks on Jace’s face and went cold as she realized that both Corban and Nika must have been out there, watching Kyler come home from Ben’s. They could’ve grabbed him, torn him to pieces…and she’d never have known why.

“Please,” Jace said. “I promise, you can leave whenever you want. But this house is too hard to protect. He could come at you from either side.” He jerked his chin at the windows overlooking the street. “Even climb in through the windows. Climbing up here would be nothing for a fada.”

Evie glanced at Kyler and made up her mind. “All right.”

Because she trusted Jace. If he’d wanted, he could’ve hurt her and Kyler ten times over by now; but instead, he’d been outside the house, guarding them. He’d lost sleep to make sure they were okay, and damn it, she was touched. Yeah, she was tough, independent—and proud of it—but she wasn’t stupid enough to think she could take on a fada. If Jace believed they were in danger, then they probably were.

“Thank you,” Jace said as if she were doing him a favor and not the other way around. He stood up. “I’ll wait in the hall while you pack. Make sure you bring enough for a few nights.”

Kyler followed Jace into the hall. “I can send my friend Ben a text, right? Tell him we’re going to be in Baltimore with friends?”

“Sure. Just don’t give him any details.”

Evie took out her own phone. She’d taken the biology final last Tuesday, and her summer class didn’t start for another week. The only people she needed to contact were her bosses at the restaurant and the coffee shop. She’d been so busy the last few years that she’d lost touch with her friends from high school. Her only uncle lived in Canada, and she hadn’t seen him since her mom’s funeral. Evie could disappear for a month and no one would notice except Kyler and her boss and maybe Mrs. Linney.

Lord, that was sad.

It was rare for her to have a Sunday off, so she’d been planning to surprise Kyler with a trip to the beach two hours away in Delaware. But Monday she was due to work the evening shift at the restaurant and then Tuesday morning at the coffee shop. She texted her boss at the restaurant saying she might not make it in on Monday, but decided not to contact the coffee shop yet. Surely they’d be back home by Tuesday—because she really couldn’t afford to lose more than a day or two of work.

She pocketed her phone and went to her dresser.

Chapter 17

Adric removed his quartz pendant and pulled up a chair in front of Nika.

She squared her shoulders and set her hands on her thighs. “What are you going to do?”

Her voice was calm although he knew she was afraid. Interesting. She’d been giving a good imitation of a completely cowed submissive, someone low on the dominance scale, but a fada that low would be trembling with the effort of fighting an alpha.

“You know where my cousin is,” he murmured. “Tell me, love.”

He swung his pendant in front of her face. Back and forth, slow and steady.

Nika moistened her lips. Her gaze flicked to the pendant and her right hand fisted.

She wanted his quartz, even though it wouldn’t do her any good—the tiny crystals within were aligned to his unique frequency, vibrating with him on a primal level. But with her quartz removed, her body would be craving the magical energy it was being deprived of.

He focused on his quartz. Deep within, the heart flared a fiery mix of bronze and blue that even he found mesmerizing. He dragged his gaze away and back to Nika’s face.

Back and forth.

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