“If you aren’t willing to leave for your own safety, perhaps you’ll leave for Commander Breaker’s.” His head lowered to allow her to hear him over the music. “He should be pulling into the parking lot at any moment—”
She didn’t wait around to hear anything more.
A curse sizzled from her lips, causing the Breed to draw himself stiffly erect as she turned and moved quickly for the entrance.
Dammit, he shouldn’t have been able to find her so fast. She’d spent the day laying a false trail to other locations before choosing this bar to dance away the pain throbbing inside her soul. She’d been here less than an hour, not even enough time to drive the aching hurt from her chest let alone the restless anger burning inside her. All she’d wanted to do was dance it away for a while until the Coyote unit she’d heard about arrived. Then she could have immersed herself in the game of extracting the information she needed, listening and getting to know the Coyotes.
As she rushed from the exit, intent now on getting to her motorcycle and finding somewhere else to hide, it took a second to realize that a hard, muscled arm had manacled her waist before she was able to react.
There was no pain.
There was no panic.
That didn’t mean she intended to allow him to take her wherever he was suddenly all but dragging her.
“Let me go!” Fury erupted inside her as the heat of him, the strength and pleasure from his touch began sinking inside her.
“The hell I will,” Rule snarled, holding her securely despite her struggles and attempts to escape.
She could see the Desert Dragoon he was driving, still running, the driver’s-side door thrown open as bright light pierced the darkness at the side of the building. There were Breeds standing around, hard-eyed, without mercy, without compassion and heavily armed as they watched the area closely.
“I’m going to kick your ass.” The cry was torn from her as the sudden hunger to feel his lips against hers ached with near-debilitating hunger.
As though his sudden nearness, his touch, just the fact that he was there were enough to remind her of the pleasure he could give her with a strength that had her sex rippling, clenching with the need to be filled again.
“Fine, kick my ass. Do whatever you have to, sweetheart, because I’ll be damned if I’ll let you go now.”
She was pushed into the Dragoon before she could brace herself against the frame to hold herself back. She tried to grab on to the steering wheel to give herself leverage, but somehow he managed to brush her hands aside.
She was in the passenger seat before she really understood exactly how he’d managed to get her into it.
Reaching for the door handle, Gypsy gave a furious growl that would have easily rivaled any Breed’s as she felt Rule’s broad hand curve around the nape of her neck to grip her securely. The other grasped her chin, turned her to him as he tilted her head back and stole the kiss she lied and swore she would never have given him willingly.
Chocolate and peppermint.
Just a hint of the candies he enjoyed teased her senses before the heated sweetness suddenly overwhelmed her. Hunger rose like a ravenous beast, no longer that irritating fire simmering inside her. It was now a full-fledged blaze, burning through her body, tightening her womb and parting her lips to accept his kiss.
Rather than fighting, she was demanding more with a suddenness she found herself helpless against.
Her hands were in his hair, clenching, pulling him to her as she felt the fiery lick of his tongue against hers.
Peppermint and chocolate.
Once more, it simply teased her senses. Tempted her as his tongue rubbed against hers, his lips moving sensually over hers.
She couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop the need for more of him, more of that intriguing taste.
Her tongue rubbed against his, the unique taste of his kiss becoming more heated as tongues caressed and lips devoured each other in a hunger she was helpless to avoid or fight.
Why couldn’t she fight him?
She’d had no defenses against him from the very beginning and it didn’t make sense.
This need.
This hunger.
It speared inside her, ripped away any lies she would have told herself and refused to allow her to hide from the hunger that built daily inside her.
“No . . .” Her moan was weak, the protest filled with the confusion that had kept her off balance since that first night she’d seen him.
Laying his forehead against hers, he stared back at her, his blue eyes appearing lighter than before, pinpricks of black appearing to flicker in the pale blue background.
“You ran from me.” Lips pulling back from his canines, one hand tightened in her hair, the other cupping her jaw to keep her head turned up to him. “You shouldn’t have run, Gypsy.”
“You shouldn’t have treated me like a whore,” she shot back, the anger that bloomed inside her over the past hours exploding with the same suddenness with which the arousal and hunger had exploded inside her.
“And you think that’s how I treated you?” He frowned back at her, his gaze gleaming with anger.
Jerking from his hold, she was furiously aware that it was only because he allowed her to.
Her hand gripped the door handle and pulled, intent on escaping him with the same desperation he’d used to escape her body earlier.
Except the door didn’t open.
Instead, the Dragoon was racing from its parking spot, the speed and power of the vehicle assuring her there would be no escape until he allowed it.
“The doors are secured until I release them. One of my enforcers will take your cycle to the hotel. You and I are going to talk,” he growled, both hands on the wheel as he glared into the night behind the state-of-the-art windshield.
Digital holographs lit the glass. Speed, location, outside temperature, GPS tracking and satellite tracking were all subtly lit within the glass, giving him any information he might need on the area surrounding them as he turned onto the main road and headed into the night.
“And just what do you think we have to talk about?” Gypsy asked him then, her voice a mocking sneer as she crossed her arms over her breasts and turned back to him slowly. “Mr. Freaky who decided to ensure I was running out of the bar right into your arms? Or how about why you couldn’t even stomach ejaculating while you were having sex with me?”
Or, they could discuss what made him think she was his damned mate.
Revealing her knowledge of that, though, would give away the fact that she had sources that she shouldn’t have.
Sources a regular party girl wouldn’t have.
“We could definitely discuss your perception of my actions.” The roughened sound of the growl rumbling in his chest had a chill racing down her spine. “As for whoever the hell Mr. Freaky is . . .”
“Six and a half feet tall, frozen green eyes and black hair a woman would kill to have herself?”
No expression, not so much as a grimace crossed his face.
“Rhyzan Brannigan,” he finally stated. “What the hell was he doing there?”
“You’re asking me?” Incredulity filled her voice as she stared back at him in amazement. “Excuse me, Breaker, I think I was the one who asked who the hell he was to begin with. I can’t even mind my own damned business anymore without a Breed insisting on horning in on it.”
...
The deceit.
Unlike other lies, Gypsy’s deceit wasn’t tinged with the scent of blood or rot, but he could smell the lie all the same. And like the rest of her, it simply intrigued him. She was the most complicated, stubborn, confusing woman he had ever known.
But at that moment, the deceit, the subject of it and her whereabouts after running from him added up to one thing only.