He pushed his fingers through his hair in agitation. “Not consciously. The thought of you testing her was abhorrent to me, and I couldn’t explain why. This was why. I knew instinctively…” He paused as he shook his head. “ I knew what it would do to her.”
“Faith and Hope have not advanced this far in the change,” she whispered as she stood to her feet and picked up the bag that contained her samples. “I don’t know what to do, Aiden. Or how to help her.”
He shook his head wearily. “There is no cure,” he said softly. “She thinks this can be fixed. You think it can be fixed…”
“Aiden, I know it can’t be fixed. And I think Charity knows as well. You hear her words, but I saw her fears.” She walked over to him, sitting down beside him on the steps of the porch. “When she was in the Labs, the few times I was able to talk to her, she asked about you. Were you doing well? Had you found someone to care for you? Did you ever ask of her? These questions came out in many different ways, but they were always there. And the emotions behind them terrify her.”
“It is a mating…”
“No, Aiden. Not like you try to convince yourself. Charity loved you before you ever shot that semen down her throat. She talked of you, wrote about you, and worried herself to the point of tears that you would manage to get yourself killed before the rescue could be pulled off. This isn’t a mating for her, it’s a loving. And it’s that part of it that she denies.”
Aiden shook his head. He had known that, somewhere deep inside himself. But whatever love may have existed for Charity must have died long ago. And whatever ability he may have had to live had slowly withered away in his fight for survival. He was too hard, too dominating.
“What of her body?” he finally asked. “I can touch her, love her for hours and never cause her pain. What happened in there?”
She stared into the night as he glanced at her. In repose, her expression was frowning, thoughtful. “It’s similar to the Feline Breeds,” she finally said. “To a small extent, Hope and Faith have experienced it, though not to such an extreme. Why, I’m not certain, but I intend to find out.”
She stood to her feet, stepping down to the ground before turning back to face him.
“She thinks there’s a cure, Aiden,” she told him simply. “You and I both know better. Be careful how you deal with her, or she may run from you as well. If she does, we may never find her again.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you not telling me, Armani?”
Her lips quirked secretively. “Things that only Charity has the right to reveal to you. Watch your step, my friend, or you be may lose more than you ever dreamed of holding.”
And with those words she turned and disappeared into the night. Aiden sighed wearily and walked back into the house, returning to his mate where she slept.
The sedative she had demanded halfway through the exam had made it a little easier on her. The fact that she had continued to demand the completion of it terrified him. She was desperate, certain there was a cure to the chemical reaction that bound their bodies to each other.
Instinct warned Aiden there was no cure. No breaking the bonds nature had laid in place. He had accepted it; refused to fight it any longer. He had fed his hatred of her for years, but once he saw her again, once he touched her, he had begun accepting that he would never be free of her. What had happened in those Labs six years before didn’t matter. She had done no more than he would have. She had saved her mate the only way she knew how. And now he would do the same.
No more exams. He paced into the bedroom, undressing, staring at her as she slept restlessly. Until whatever changes her body was going through completed, no one else must be allowed to touch her, to weaken her. The progress she had made in the past two days had been destroyed within hours. She was pale once more, weak and in distress.
He moved into the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms. Her whimper caused his chest to tighten, his throat to close as she burrowed into his body. She was cold. Despite the blankets that had covered her, the fire burning across the room, she felt chilled to the bone.
Finally, after agonizing seconds of body rubbing and burrowing, she found a spot that seemed to fit her. She sighed deeply and settled down to rest once again. Unfortunately, his cock was engorged now, throbbing, demanding the lithe body that had rubbed against it so sensually. He sighed tiredly. This mate business was getting more complicated by the day.
Chapter Eighteen
“I thought you might enjoy that ride into town today, since we didn’t get to go before.”
Aiden cleared the table of breakfast dishes the next morning before pulling his chair close to hers and lifting her feet to his lap. She was too quiet, too thoughtful. Too damned aroused. The scent of it was killing him. But first, he wanted her to relax, wanted her away from the compound, Armani, and a bed.
She glanced up at him in surprise. “I was wondering about that. Why do you want to do that? A drive-through?”
He grinned up at her. “To see what I can see.”
He watched the play of emotions across her face; foremost was the frustration at his vague answer. Her expressive face had always tantalized and amazed him. Others rarely noticed what he did. A shift of a brow, a certain glitter in her brown eyes, the slight twitch at her lip or the taut line of her nose, which could change at any given moment.
The subtle changes in the muscles of her face would have been undetectable, but for some reason, always drew his eye. It had been the same at the Lab. A careful shift of her body to draw attention to her breasts, which covered the movement of her hands. Or a bright agreeing smile, though the muscles at her eyes tightened, as he had noticed in each confrontation they had.
The differences were varied, nearly undetectable, and most he found endearing. Especially the way her gaze seemed to still, watching him, waiting, her expression neutral, a clear indication she was becoming irritated. His lips quirked at the thought.
“If anyone were going to attack us, they would use the town as a stopping point to gain the information they needed to do so. ‘Find your enemies weakness’ is always first priority. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” she answered slowly. The tip of her nose flexed, like a little twitch. Entranced at the small shifts, he continued.
“You and I will drive through town, perhaps stop at a fast food restaurant for a snack, just enjoy the day a bit before returning. As we do, there will be others watching, checking for oddities, or any undue attention being given us. Then we’ll return here as the others wait around, listen to what is said, who is asking questions and what happens.”
Her nose twitched again. Curiosity?
“You’re using the tactics the Council soldiers taught you to catch their assassins,” she finally said slowly.
“Basically.” He nodded.
“And they are aware of that.” She tilted her head, her eyelids tightening as though she would have narrowed them. “You are underestimating your enemy now, Aiden.”
He leaned back in his chair as amusement swelled within him. “Tactics weren’t your specialty, Charity,” he pointed out. “I believe yours was blood work.”
She was offended now. The muscles at her cheekbones tightened, the sunlight from the window could have made her eyes appear to flash with a darker color, but he doubted it. Anger, he believed, was the culprit.
“And yours was arrogance,” she sniffed, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice. “Sure, Aiden, a ride into town would be nice. It’s been a while since I’ve had a hamburger. I could handle one. And my feet are fine.”
She pulled them back from his lap now, setting them carefully on the floor.