Page 45 of Brody
“Okay,” I said quietly, surprising us both.
His relief was palpable, his body relaxing infinitesimally against mine.“My cabin has tactical-grade security.Motion sensors, panic room, perimeter alarms.Even professional shifter mercenaries can’t breach it without advance warning.”
Brody retrieved his spare clothes from the SUV, jeans and a dark T-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders, dressing quickly with the efficiency of a man accustomed to shifting unexpectedly.Even with him clothed, the power in his movements remained evident, the predator barely contained beneath the human facade.
As we gathered my things from the B&B, every movement sent fresh waves of pain through my bruised body.Each step was a lesson in endurance, my muscles protesting the simplest actions.I caught him watching me with an expression I’d never seen before.The shame was still there, but beneath it lurked something that looked dangerously like the kind of possessive, protective need that went far beyond professional obligation.
“You saw what I really am tonight,” he said quietly, helping me with my bag, his fingers lingering against mine longer than necessary.“What I become when I lose control.”
I met his gaze steadily.“I saw someone who would do anything to protect me.Even from himself.”
“I killed them, Rozi.Without hesitation.”
“And I’d be dead if you hadn’t.”I touched his face, making him look at me.“Even in your pre-feral rage you found your way back to me.”
“No one’s ever been able to reach me when I’m that far gone,” he said, wonder and confusion mingling in his voice.
The implications were undeniable now.I swallowed hard.
“One solution at a time,” I said, pulling away.“First, we find the cure at the COL.Then we deal with… whatever this is.”
His smile was slow and full of promise, transforming his battle-hardened features into something dangerously appealing.“A lifetime, I’ve waited.I can wait a little longer.”
Don’t read too much into it, I warned myself.He’s just doing his job.
But we’d fought together.Bled together.Survived together.
He’d killed for me.And I’d pulled him back from the edge of something worse than death.
That created bonds that went far beyond old grudges or professional boundaries.
My own grandmother had escalated from kidnapping to attempted murder.Tabia Dhahabu, with her global pharmaceutical empire and unlimited resources, wouldn’t stop until I was either captured or dead.These mercenaries were just the first wave.There would be others, more skilled, more deadly.
“Tabia will send more,” Brody said, voicing my thoughts as he stowed my luggage.His eyes scanned the darkness beyond the vehicle, ever vigilant.“Her reach extends everywhere, even here in the Ridge.My cabin is the only place with enough security measures to keep you safe until we reach the COL.”
I nodded, swallowing the bitter taste of fear.Years of independence, of building my career on my own terms, and now I was running for my life from my own blood.The irony wasn’t lost on me.
And tomorrow we’d be alone in the wilderness, with nothing but unresolved history and the mate bond between us.Every instinct, human and cheetah alike, warned me that something fundamental had shifted tonight.There was no going back to who we were before.
What could possibly go wrong?
CHAPTER11
BRODY
The SUV’s leather seats creaked as my fingers curled around the steering wheel.My heart slammed against my ribs like it wanted to escape my chest.My canines lengthened against my will, pricking my bottom lip.The copper taste of my own blood filled my mouth as my wolf clawed beneath my skin, desperate for control.I’d come closer to losing myself tonight than ever before.
One minute, I’d been human.The next…savage in a pre-feral rage.Gone.
Tabia Dhahabu.The name burned like acid in my mind.Not just any threat, the pharmaceutical queen with resources that made even the wealthiest shifter packs look like street gangs.She’d sent professional killers after her own granddaughter.Vulture-shifters trained to hunt and kill without mercy.And these two were just the beginning.I knew how people like Tabia operated.The next wave would be better, deadlier, more prepared.
My jaw clenched so hard I heard my own teeth crack.Nobody touched what was mine.Especially not some corporate tyrant who treated her own blood as disposable.My mountaintop log cabin–style house had wide-angle panoramic views, complete privacy with security measures designed to counter professional assassins, motion sensors, tactical defenses, panic room, escape tunnels.I was former military.I’d built it expecting the worst.Tonight proved I’d been right.
Rozi’s scent engulfed me, sweet jasmine and vanilla corrupted by the metallic tang of her blood.Each breath I drew stoked the rage building inside my chest, a savage beast clawing to break free.My fated mate was bleeding.My woman had been hurt.The memory of that corporate thug slamming her skull against the asphalt replayed in violent flashes behind my eyes, each one sending tremors of barely controlled fury through me.
If she hadn’t reached out to me through the pre-feral rage, that terrifying limbo where man gave way to his inner beast, I might have been lost forever.That cold reality drenched me in icy sweat.
Our mate bleeds because we failed.
