Dependent upon him to hold her against him, to share his warmth, his heartbeat, to protect her for the few fragile moments she was defenseless and unable to protect herself.
She was dependent upon Lawe to ensure she came back to her own body after flying through space and time. To ease her past the savagery of each aftershock, to croon her name at her ear, to bring her slowly back to earth before he eased his fingers from the tight, convulsive grip of her sex.
Slumping against him as he turned her in his arms, one hand pressing her head against his chest as the sound of his heart raging in his chest beat at her ear. Beneath the furious beat a primitive male growl rumbled as a sob nearly tore from her chest.
His hold, the way he all but wrapped himself around her, the way he dared her to ever allow another’s touch, even as he gave her a pleasure she knew she would never reach without him, proved every fear she had ever had of him.
He would own her.
If she allowed it, Lawe Justice would steal every ounce of her independence, every chance of being the woman she had always fought to be.
She could be herself, or she could be his mate.
Standing in his arms she battled the tears filling her eyes.
She could never be both.
“I can’t be someone I’m not,” she whispered painfully, not bothering to hide the conflict inside her, just as she didn’t bother to hide the pain.
There was no way to hide it deep enough to keep him from sensing it. She was simply too weak, and too torn.
“How do you know the extent of who you are?” His hand stroked gently down her back as he posed the question softly. “How do you know, Diane, that fate hasn’t given you an escape you were unaware you needed?”
She stiffened, her head cradled against his chest as she blinked back the tears and accepted the knowledge that Lawe would never accept the fact that she was exactly who she had been all her life. The fight for justice, the feeling of being a part of that fight, of simply making a difference, just a difference, had always run to the very core of who and what she was.
“I know who I am.” Just as she knew he couldn’t accept it. “I know what fate meant for me, Lawe. You’re the one who doesn’t want to accept it. You don’t want to accept me.”
Yet, she had accepted him. Every part of him. The arrogance. The genetics, the Breed strength and phenomenal confidence he possessed.
She accepted everything he was, and there was nothing she wanted to change.
Nothing except his refusal to see who she was.
His mate.
So much more than a biological match, or even an emotional tie. A mate was more than a wife, a willing fuck or the survival of the Breed species.
She was his feminine equal.
The other half of him.
His right hand, his left if that was what he needed.
His sword.
Warrior to his warrior.
And all he wanted her to be was the toy he took out for amusement whenever he had the time.
She stepped back and stared up at him sadly. Her body still vibrated, her sex ached and the hunger for him burned hotter and brighter inside her.
He was her other half as well.
Her right hand.
Her warrior, her partner, her strength as well as her weakness. Anger bit at her soul that he refused to accept her as she accepted him.
“I need to be alone—”
“No, Diane . . .”
Her hand snapped up as she moved farther away from him. “I need to think, Lawe. I need to know I can be what you need before this goes any further.”
“It’s too late to deny it.” His heavy and brooding gaze speared hers. “Mating heat doesn’t work that way.”
Her chin lifted.
Like hell.
“Nothing rules me, Lawe. Not mating heat, not emotion or need. Not even you. I’ll accept it willingly, or it will not be a part of my life. And I need to consider what I can and cannot accept.” She stalked to the door and opened it slowly as he followed. “Please leave.”
“We’re not finished.”
She took his parting words as a statement of intent.
“We haven’t even started,” she informed him. “And we won’t, until I decide I’m ready.
“I should have just kissed you.”
“And I should have never returned here,” she snapped back. “You’re not my boss, nor are you my jailer. Now please, leave. At least allow me the chance to accept what can’t be changed here and to go on from there.”
His lips thinned. He didn’t answer. He stalked past her, striding into the hall before turning and heading toward the elevators once again.
As Diane closed the door, she knew her life had just taken a turn. And it was, quite possibly, a turn for which she wasn’t entirely ready.
*CHAPTER 4*
Somewhere between point A and point B, she had managed to lose her fucking mind.
Somewhere between Lawe moving behind her and a release that had erupted like a volcano inside her, her common sense had taken a vacation and left her libido in charge.
Bad idea.
Very, very bad idea.
Because her libido had no common sense and it sure as hell had no self-preservation instincts.
Standing beneath the pounding spray the next morning, her eyes closed as water sluiced over her body, Diane admitted that she may have made the worse mistake of her life when she allowed herself those few moments of pleasure.
Yes indeed, allowing Lawe Justice a window into a woman’s greatest weakness was a no-no. His touch was her greatest weakness, his kiss her fantasy, his possession an aching hunger that tore at her senses.
And he would be her destruction if she allowed it.
Last night had to have been some sort of breakdown. That was the only way she would have allowed it to happen, she assured herself. After all, her common sense was normally firmly intact. Her uncle hadn’t raised her to be no man’s dummy or his favorite pet.
And she could so easily see Lawe attempting to turn her into his favorite little pet.
She shuddered in horror at the thought. But it had nearly happened last night. She had allowed him to do far more than touch. She had allowed far more than the weakness that came with a moment of pleasure.
He had actually made her regret her unwillingness to be a Breed pet for all of—how many seconds had she been locked in her orgasm? Okay, for however long the rapture had held her in its grip, that was how long she had regretted it.
The sensitivity of her flesh this morning was irritating, though. The feel of a phantom caress against her tender nipples, the need for his kiss tempting her senses. All those things were something she simply didn’t need right now.
Because she knew exactly what it was.
It was mating heat.
She let the water hit her full in the face, wondering if she could possibly wash away the knowledge that somehow those savage animal genetics Lawe possessed had chosen her as his mate.
Should she be honored?
How insulted would he be to know she wasn’t, she wondered as she smacked the shower wall and let a more human growl of outrage pass her lips.
She so, so just did not need this.
She wasn’t about to deny it, though, and see herself in much more trouble than she was actually in. Denying the fact that mating heat was ready to begin burning like a wildfire through their senses was the worst thing she could do.
Denying it would only cause an even larger mistake to be made. Perhaps a kiss to be shared, or even the ultimate transgression—that they would actually have sex and then the agony of the heat would sweep through her and Lawe with a strength that would be destructive to them both.
Diane shivered at the thought. A wave of weakening hunger swept through her, causing her knees to dip at the very thought of having that primal male moving over her.