by Camryn Rhys
“You tricked him.”
Yes, but… there was something.
“He didn’t bond with you. He has no intention of protecting you from what is coming.”
Her magick crackled around her. Something was coming. Something was almost here. “Let me go!”
A terrifying growl tore through the darkness and a flash of yellow eyes emerged from the undergrowth to her right before a body slammed into Zolin, knocking Citlani loose from his hold.
Tomás was in human form as he tumbled on the ground with Zolin, but his eyes glowed bright, revealing the wolf spirit that lived within every Moonbound man or woman.
He wouldn’t have come after Zolin if he didn’t want her, right?
She cringed at the punches being landed. Tomás was smaller than Zolin, but he didn’t seem to be letting that slow him down.
“How dare you touch her like that!” her husband snarled, and landed a solid uppercut to Zolin’s jaw.
The big Indian shook his head and then spit blood from his mouth. “You did not bond.” He showed his white teeth and growled from deep in his chest. “She is not protected without a bond.”
“You leave her alone,” Tomás growled back, crouching, prepared for the next advance.
Citlani shivered. He wanted her. She’d tricked him, but he wanted her still. Everything was overwhelming. The shouting and growling and punching.
She’d only wanted to find her mother. She hadn’t considered how permanently her actions would affect her life and the life of another. What she’d done had been utterly selfish and thoughtless.
A tear ran down her cheek. This whole thing situation was a disaster and it was Zolin’s fault. And her fault.
He’d abandoned her mother. He didn’t tell her…and still wouldn’t tell her what really happened. She’d made a rash choice without thinking it through. Typical Citlani.
“There’s more going on here than either of you can possibly understand.” Zolin lunged. His fist connected with Tomás’s face and sent the younger man sailing into the trunk of a tree.
Tomás leapt up as if he hadn’t just body-slammed a tree and snarled. His wolf magick was so close to the surface that Citlani could see it shimmering around him. “She is not your concern,” he growled, his voice somewhere between fury and determination.
He was claiming her?
There hadn’t been a great rush of magick between them. Fate had not spoken in the sex tent. Perhaps there’d been a whisper of something, but Citlani had acted on her own. Hadn’t she? Or had Fate pushed her to the tent? Was Tomás meant to help her all along?
Zolin’s eyes flared. “If she’s going to be your concern, you’re going to have to claim her.”
A mate bond was so much more than a marriage. Sharing souls? She hadn’t planned on that. Ever.
Citlani didn’t like to touch people, talk to people. Sex had been surprisingly pleasant, but with a mate bond, Tomás would know every deep dark emotion that she kept hidden.
Her mother had taught her to keep everyone at arms length. It was the only way to be safe. Those were the words she heard the woman say every day for nearly thirty years.
Marriage and linking herself to a man was unsafe.
A mate bond made her vulnerable.
Tomás breathed through his unsettled, pounding pulse. The big stranger was still staring at him, but it was all he could do to keep the wolf leashed.
“If she’s going to be your concern, you’re going to have to claim her,” Zolin said.
Claim her?
Holy shit. But…holy…shit.
Whatever glass had been holding the emotions of the night at bay shattered with those words.
This wasn’t a ceremony anymore. It wasn’t a game.
This was a woman’s life. And his life. The mate bond was…
Tomás reached for the words, but they wouldn’t come.
He’d never been faced with a mate bond before. His father had been preparing him his whole life to recognize it, but he didn’t feel that magick rope in the sex tent. He had felt something. Intense attraction. Desire. Passion. But had it been magick?
“I don’t want to be bonded.” Lani’s voice was strong and cut through Tomás’ thoughts like the thunk of a cleaver.
“That settles that.” He crossed his arms and stepped in front of her, glaring at Zolin. “She doesn’t want to be bonded.”
The big warrior looked around on the ground, kicking at dirt and rocks. The moon filtered his movements, making his anger look more surreal.
Tomás moved back a step, putting out his arms. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you.” He turned slightly to catch her in his peripheral vision, and was surprised to see her edging away.
“He’s not going to hurt me,” she hissed.
It took a moment for those words to settle in and Tomás found his wolf at the surface again when he caught her meaning. “You think he’ll hurt me?” He scoffed at the searching man. “Let him try. I’ve got brothers.”
“So does he. And they’re bigger than he is.” Lani continued to take small steps to her right.
“Where is my spear?” Zolin’s voice was almost a growl.
Tomás whipped around to face Lani. Every time he saw her, he was almost speechless at her beauty, and the frame of her face with that dark hair, the amber eyes, the cut-glass cheekbones.
God, she’s gorgeous.
Wait. What was he just going to say? Was he still high? Fuck. He was still high, wasn’t he?
With gentle hands, he took her by the shoulders. “Listen to me. I’ll fight him again if I have to. I’ve beaten him once. But he’s not going to lay another finger on you. And we’re going to find your mother. I promise you.”
Her eyes went molten, like hot lava on a mountainside, and she cocked her head at him, almost in a question. “We?” Lani’s tone was low and hot, and she took the tiniest of steps toward him.
“Yes. We.” Tomás tried to smile at her, but he just found himself staring into her eyes. They were familiar, like he’d been looking at them his whole life. Was this the magick? Was the passion he felt the magick, as well? Was that what made his blood heat to a burning blaze when he had his hands on her?
“You’ll help me find my mother?”
“I promised, didn’t I?” He felt himself leaning into her, almost able to forget the crashing and thudding behind him. Let Zolin get pissed, and let him make a challenge again. Tomás would fight him, and he would win. He could beat anyone at anything in that moment.
His lips hovered toward hers and she raised her chin just the smallest touch. Tomás took her mouth in a hot kiss and reveled in the soft press of her body against his. He didn’t care if there was another man around; he just wanted to be inside her again.
Her hands found his and moved his fingers onto her breasts. The gesture surprised Tomás and he leaned back from the kiss to find her eyes again.
It felt like a dance, this parry of his and response of hers, but something was off about it. Just when he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a strong hand on his wrist and looked down to see Zolin’s dark fingers gripping him. And gripping Lani. All while she held Tomás’ on her breasts.
He couldn’t move.
With quick-moving lips, Zolin said, “Chun tú Geallaim mo chroí agus anam go deo.” Then he closed his eyes and repeated, “Chun tú Geallaim mo chroí agus anam go deo.”
Tomás shook his head and tried to move back, but Zolin held him and Lani in place as an invisible cord wrapped around his body and took his breath. He felt a tightening, a binding, then a releasing.
They all stepped back, panting hard. The strangest sensation wound its way around his wrists. When Tomás looked down, he saw the sizzle of green that he recognized from his parents’ skin.
Holy Mary, Mother of God.
He was bonded.
Chapter Five
Emotions flooded from Lani, taking Tomás by the throat and cutting off his air. He’d been surprised, but she was t
errified. It didn’t show on her face, though, and he tried to breathe through the severity of her fear.
Zolin whirled away and stalked toward a big rock that cut the clearing in half, towering well over their heads. Still spearless, he’d used the only weapon he had to kneecap Tomás, but he hadn’t engaged in violence.
“Can he do this?” Tomás held up his wrists and looked at the green pattern on his skin, glistening in the moonlight.
A grip of terror smacked him, coming from Lani, and he reached for her, but she backed away from him, staring at her own golden skin, and the green swath that cut a path around her wrists.
“I told you, you have to claim her,” Zolin said, not turning around. He put one big hand on the rock and paused. “You weren’t going to do right by her.”
“Who says I wasn’t?” Tomás narrowed his eyes. “I just… needed a minute.”
“Zolin.” Lani’s cry tore through the air. “How could you do this to me?”
“You already married him. What did you expect?” He climbed the face of the rock, his bare feet pushing him up over the top. “I’ll keep watch while you set her straight, Tomás. Then we can return to the village and complete the ceremony.”
“Complete the ceremony?” Tomás looked at his…new mate…shit, that was weird. New mate. But the tattoos didn’t lie. He hadn’t been aware that someone else could force a bond. He should’ve been on the lookout for it. But Lani’s response to his kiss had confused him, jumping right into sex, from zero to a hundred in half a second.
She rolled her eyes. “The sex tent,” she said with a gesture up the mountain.
“More sex tent?” Tomás choked out. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you people and your sex tent.”
“It is what should have happened after we…after I…” She closed her eyes and a flash of guilt crashed into him.
Her emotions were so…violent. None of them subtle. This emotional bond was going to take some getting used to. His mother used to say something to him about sending emotions to a mate…could he do that with Lani?
He thought about touching her in comfort, but with Zolin looking down from the rock, he didn’t want to do anything physical until he had more control over himself. Tomás wasn’t totally sure that the drugs had worn off yet. He still couldn’t promise he wouldn’t get an erection just from her looking at him with those golden eyes of hers.
Instead, he stared at his new mate and tried to push a comforting feeling toward her. Her back stiffened and her head snapped back.
“What was that?” Lani grabbed at her chest. “What did you just do?”
“I was trying to comfort you.” He fisted his hands to keep from reaching for her.
“I don’t need comfort.” She stepped backward, her legs shaking. “I need to find my mother.”
“You need comfort.” Tomás gentled his voice. “I can feel how frightened you are. You don’t need to be frightened of me.”
Lani fixed him with a furious glare. “I’m not frightened of you.”
“Well, then you don’t need to be frightened of Zolin anymore. He can’t hurt you.”
“I was never afraid of Zolin. He lo—” Another stab of guilt that didn’t show on her face. “He has been trying to get me to bond with him for years.”
Tomás glanced up at the top of the rock, but the big warrior had moved off, out of sight. The rock was long enough, he could have been only a foot farther than he’d been before, but he wasn’t visible. Tomás had no doubt he was still up there, though. He meant to escort them back.
“Why wouldn’t you bond with him?”
She shook her head. “This isn’t helping. You promised me we would find my mother. This should change nothing between us.”
Tomás choked out a laugh and dropped the pack from his back. “Sure. Bonding is just a phase. It’ll pass.”
“I don’t care about phases. I care about my mother. The whole purpose of this plan was to—”
“Force me into helping you. Got it.” He shook his head and tried not to let the regret flood his heart. He couldn’t help it. Whether it was the drugs or the magick or the fatigue, he didn’t know, but between trying to fight off her assault of emotion and his desire for her, he had no defenses remaining.
Tomás dug in the pack for his bottle of water and took a long swig. But it was full, and the water was sweet, like the water from the spring had been. He looked at the hard plastic and held it up to the moonlight. She must’ve filled it.
The preparation that had gone into this plan of hers…either she was completely desperate, or crazy. Maybe a little of both.
Either way, Lani was his mate now. And while he was a tiny bit amazed that he’d landed such a beautiful woman, he couldn’t help the tiny nagging feeling that the reason she’d chosen him was because she knew he’d be easy to discard, being American and a stranger.
Had she known that he wouldn’t see sex the way Zolin might have? That he wouldn’t see it as claiming? Had she planned to be done with him? Was that where her fear came from?
Lani stepped toward him and picked up the pack. “No time to waste. It is still eight hours to Choaca.”
Tomás chuckled. “If you think I’m going to walk another eight hours like this… hell to the no. I was ready to sleep back when we—well, the second time, anyway.”
Her eyebrows drew together and the deepest wave of sadness he’d ever felt took hold of him, through her. “You’re sad that we… about the sex?”
The whites of her eyes flashed at him. “Stop feeling me.”
Her posture was so tight and defensive, Tomás had the strongest urge to wrap his arms around her to calm her. Pushing emotions hadn’t worked. Words hadn’t worked. Maybe touching her would. “I can’t help it, Lani.” He reached for her. “The bond did it, and your emotions are… whoa… I mean, they’re everywhere.”
Her eyes closed when his skin met hers and the briefest flash of relief came over her. The least powerful thing she’d felt since they bonded.
Was she relieved at his touch? Or relieved not to be talking about her emotions?
“I can’t feel yours.”
“That’s because yours are overwhelming you.” He slid his hand up and down her naked shoulder. “That’s why I tried to calm you.”
She looked down at his hand. “Now?”
“Now what?” Tomás continued to stroke her, trying to push more calm into her, but the jumble that tumbled into him sent him stepping back.
When the contact of their skin broke, she raised her eyebrows in a question he wasn’t sure he understood.
“You’ll be fine,” he whispered. “We’ll sleep. In the morning, we’ll go and look for your mother and I’ll call my team. Maybe you can even tell me what I need to know.”
Her hands laced through his and she stepped toward him. He felt a jolt of desire pooled in her stomach, the tiniest of emotions, when she slid his fingers over her nipples. Again, the movement was so strange to him, like a gunshot had started a race without him and he was left at the gate.
But the desire in her ignited his own, and he squeezed her nipple, watching the look on her face.
Yet, the emotional response underneath was small in proportion. Tomás squeezed the other nipple between his fingers, through the material of her dress, and waited for the passionate assault. It never came.
He could distinctly feel the coil of his own desire unfolding in his abdomen, but hers did not respond.
She reached for the tie of her dress and the material fell over his hands, down the golden perfection of her shoulders.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, letting the dress continue to fall to the ground. Every movement of her body enchanted him. Her breasts bounced just a touch when she stepped back, taking his hand. She pulled him down onto the ground with her and Tomás’ head began to spin again.
Was it the drugs, making him feel so intensely?
He latched his lips onto her neck and made to reach between her legs when she flipp
ed him onto his back. He grunted at the hardness of the ground beneath him, and his hands were suddenly full of hers. She brought his fingers back to her breasts again and then guided him quickly inside her, bunching the material of his tunic up on his hips. He opened his mouth to voice his shock, but the hot, wet slide of her pussy around him took his breath.
Tomás kneaded her breasts, and watched for her desire to spread. She was wet enough. Lani began to ride him and he was suddenly too aware of his surroundings. There was no feeling at all. No emotion. Just raw sex.
He reached down and stilled her hips. “Lani.”
She opened her eyes and glared at him, fear crawling between them. “Am I doing it wrong?”
“God, Lani. No.” He sat up and put his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. “You’re perfect.”
She put her hands on his pecs and pushed him backwards. But this time, he was ready for the move and held tight to her.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Tomás met her eyes and tried to calm his desire enough that he could sense what was going on inside that pretty head of hers. “I want to know why you do that.”
“What?” She squirmed against him, discomfort rising to meet his curiosity.
“Why you shut down your emotions whenever I touch you.”
One graceful eyebrow arched, and she shook her head. “I don’t shut anything down.”
“But you’re not feeling…anything.” A wave of his own frustration pushed at him, and he hoped she couldn’t feel it, but he saw it land when she stiffened her back against his hands.
“I am doing sex on you.” Her words were so wooden, so emotionless, it struck him full in the chest.
Tomás opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t make words. He relaxed his hands around her and leaned back. “Is that what you think I want?”
“That’s what men want, isn’t it?”
And the final knife twist. He reached for her dress and put it in her hands, pushing her to her feet. “I wasn’t trying to have sex with you when I touched you, Lani.”