He came out of the bed with a snarl heavy enough, primal enough that something inside her rebelled. Did he think she would back down in the face of his anger? That she would flinch?
Before he could take the first step she was in his face.
“I can have those clothes back, this fast.” She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers imperiously. “A Vanderale Breed will deliver them and a Vanderale Breed will follow any request I make of him. And you can take these shreds,” she sneered, “and shove them.”
“You want a Vanderale Breed to die?” he drawled, his nose almost touching hers, anger a live thing in his eyes now, a living, breathing entity within her as well. “Let one deliver more of those mockeries of what you should wear and I’ll rip him apart and send him running and crying to the imperious Leo he follows. You’re my mate and I’ll be damned if you’ll hide from me any longer.”
“Alaiya is your mate,” she screamed in his face. “With what you did to me, you’ve mocked everything nature intended mating heat to be. What, Mercury, do you need a fucking harem instead of one woman?”
He smiled. A cold, quiet smile that penetrated her fury, that left her staring back at him warily as he straightened.
“We can go shopping this morning. I saved you an outfit.”
“Excuse me!” Her fists were clenched; violence was ripping her apart inside. “What did you just say to me?”
The look on his face had her stepping back. Not in fear, but in caution. Those eyes narrowed, flickered a heavy gold, and his expression tightened with such primal arrogance that she had no idea how to fight it.
“I said, we will go shopping. This morning. After we shower, eat and, if you need me again, have me. We’ll replace your clothing.”
“The clothing you ripped apart?” Her voice was hoarse, strained with anger and disbelief.
His brow arched. “I hardly think so. But you can try to convince me if you like. You are my mate, and Breeds have been known to spoil their mates atrociously. Want to see how far I’ll spoil you?”
She ached to.
“You bastard!” she breathed out, incredulous, certain one of them had lost his or her mind, and she was pretty damned certain it wasn’t her.
“It was just a suggestion.” He shrugged.
“You dirty, arrogant, egomaniacal Breed,” she screamed. “You’re worse than Dane. Worse than Jonas. You’re worse than the Leo.” And that was the highest arrogance insult she could deal anyone.
“Compliments help.” He smiled and moved past her, his hand caressing her butt as he passed, and drawing an enraged squeal from her lungs.
“I’ll kill you.”
“Damned if you won’t if we keep going at each other the way we did this morning,” he called back to her. “I’ll die happy.”
The bathroom door closed. She stared around her, still in shock, certain she was dreaming. The tightly clenched, furious snarl that left her lips would have rivaled his best. And the bastard laughed at her. She heard it. Heard his chuckle, and before she could stop herself, the small clock on the bedside table was in her hands, then flying across the room to shatter against the door.
She stood there, breathing roughly, then groaned and sat back down on the bed, and stared at the ruins of her detestable clothes. What the hell was she going to do now?
CHAPTER 22
“Whew.” Mercury was very, very careful to keep the sharp expulsion of breath quiet as silence filled the bedroom.
He braced his hands against the sink and waited. She stayed in the bedroom. She wasn’t running. Damn if it wouldn’t suck running out into the snow naked to catch up with her.
He could smell the sweet scent of her arousal, the sharp tang of her fury, and had to admit, damn, she was a challenge when she was pissed off.
Not that he would want to chance this one again soon. As he’d said, Breed males generally spoiled their mates, especially during mating heat, when their emotions and sense of balance were so off-kilter.
Male Breeds were highly sexual during mating heat, but they didn’t experience the painful, agonizing arousal that a mated female felt, especially one that wasn’t Breed. They didn’t experience the sharp spikes of anger because they couldn’t control their emotions or their needs. Females were dependent on their mates, and for an independent woman, that was a hell of an adjustment to make.
Ria was one of the most independent women he had ever run across. On the outside, she was so self-sufficient, so contained, that others moved uneasily around her. Humans needed to be needed, just as Breeds did. They weren’t comfortable around those they sensed didn’t want or need such entanglements.
That’s how Ria affected others. They shied away from her, watched her warily, unconsciously aware that she was pushing them away.
That wasn’t going to work in Sanctuary, or anywhere within the Breed world. If she didn’t claim him as her mate, herself, then she would never be happy. And making a place for herself in his life would be agonizing for her, no matter how easy he tried to make it, or how he spoiled that. Her fears would always be there. And other Breeds would always sense them.
He tensed as he heard the bedroom door close. Frowning, he moved quickly from the bathroom.
The one outfit he had left her was missing. Damn her if she had run from him again.
He heard another door close, but not the outside door. Moving through the house, he paused at the closed door to the guest room and sighed in relief.
She was there. Showering without him. He had hoped to shower with her, to ease her.
He frowned and entered the bedroom, drawn by something, a sensation, a scent that tore at him. The scent of her tears mixed with the water. The scent of her confusion, so bleak and unfamiliar to her.
And it broke his heart. Tore at his soul.
The shower was running in the bathroom and Ria was there. He pushed aside the shower curtain to see her, her head against the wall, her hands covering her face, her shoulders shaking with tears.
“Ria,” he whispered.
“Don’t.” She shook her head, her voice hoarse. “I don’t scream. I don’t cry. I don’t hurt like this.” Her voice became ragged, angry. “Leave me alone. Please. Let me control this. I have to control this.”
He stepped in behind her, enclosed them in the steamy warmth and pulled her to his chest. Where she belonged, and he let her cry. He bent his head over hers and closed his eyes, knowing how hard this was for her. Feeling it. Sensing it.
“I love you, Ria,” he whispered against her hair. “I can’t give you any more assurances than that.” He wouldn’t give them to her, because he knew right now she wouldn’t hear them.
She sobbed harshly, her arms going around his waist, holding on to him as her tears branded his chest.
“I didn’t want to love you,” she cried brokenly. “I didn’t want to hurt like this.”
“I know, baby.” He kissed her hair, stroked her back. “I know.”
He let the storm rage inside her, and he stroked her as it eased. When she stood silent against him, he moved back, snagged a washcloth and he washed her. Gently. He cleaned the tears from her face and touched her lips with his, holding back the need that thickened his tongue, that burned inside him. For the comfort.
He gave her the only comfort he knew how to give her. His love.
Sanctuary’s heli-jet whisked them to Buffalo Gap hours later, after Mercury slung her over his shoulder and deposited her in the back area, beneath the pilot’s amused gaze.