Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Liv shivered at the spike of lust his words shot through her. God, that was exactly what she wanted. To be open for him, under him. To take him deep and long and feel him— No! No, remember what Sophie told you.
Regretfully but firmly she pulled her hands out of his and scooted further up the bed, away from him. “It’s your scent. Your mating scent.” She crossed her arms over her bare breasts protectively.
He frowned. “What about it?”
“It makes me think I want you…want, all this.” She made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “When I really don’t.”
“What?” Baird frowned. “What makes you think that? And where did you hear so much about it?”
“Are you denying it?” Liv wasn’t about to admit her source—she’d promised not to get Jillian in trouble.
“Gods.” Baird ran both hands through his wild black hair. “Sylvan warned me about something like this. I tried to tell you what the mating scent does, how it works.”
“No you didn’t, not really. Oh, you made a few allusions here and there but you never came right out and told me you were manipulating me chemically. That your body was making a drug tailor-made to keep me with you.” Liv knew she sounded accusatory but she didn’t care. The feeling of betrayal was coming back, the anger she felt at being deceived filled her until there was no room left for anything else.
“It’s not like that.” Baird stood up and began pacing in front of the bed. “Not like that at all. The mating smell does help attract a mate, but it doesn’t work unless a warrior and his female are well and truly matched—as we are, Lilenta.”
“I don’t…don’t know if I believe that.” Liv drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “How can I want so much with my heart to stay here with you when I know in my head that I want to go back to Earth where I have a family and friends and career waiting for me? How can I imagine staying here, making love with you, having…having your sons when it would mean almost never seeing the people I care for most again. How do you explain that?”
“Love.” Baird sank down beside her on the bed and tried to take her hands again. Liv wouldn’t let him.
“What?” She tried to give him a skeptical look even though her heart was pounding again with his proximity.
“Love,” he repeated simply. “You love me as I love you. That’s what makes you want to stay with me, Lilenta. That’s why my mating scent works on you so strongly. And why your scent drives me crazy too,” he added with a sigh. “It’s because we love each other and we’re meant to be together. Can’t you please just accept that?”
“I…” Liv bit her lip, looking down at her knees which were still drawn up to her chin. God, she wished she could believe him. But maybe that was just because he was so close and he smelled so damn good. Just being near him gave her a contact high. How could she trust herself when she was in such a state? “I can’t,” she said at last, looking up at him. “I’m sorry, Baird, but I just can’t.”
“Gods! Lilenta, please—”
“Stop!”
The voice from the bedroom doorway made them both look up with a jerk. Sylvan stood there panting, his face drawn in lines of unhappiness.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Baird moved at once to shield her nakedness. Placing himself in front of Liv, he glared at his brother. “How dare you invade the privacy of my bed chamber? If we weren’t kin I’d tear you limb from limb.”
“Forgive me.” Sylvan made a brief motion of apology. “I know my actions are inexcusable but it can’t be helped. Baird, please tell me you haven’t bonded her to you yet.”
“If I had, we’d still be locked together,” Baird pointed out in a growl and Liv shivered at the mental image.
“True, I hadn’t thought of that.” Sylvan looked relieved. “Thank all the Gods. Baird, you can’t bond her. Not now.”
“What? Why? Who are you to tell me what I can do with my own bride?” Baird started to rise.
“She’s in breach of contract.” Sylvan’s ice blue eyes were filled with pain and regret. “I’m sorry, Brother, but it’s true.”
“She…what?” Baird sank back down again. He looked at Liv and then back at his brother uncertainly. “Is this about what happened in the unmated males area? The Tis’Dane?”
Sylvan shook his head wearily. “Nothing like that. After I was sure you and Olivia were all right, I went back to talk to the Twin warrior who had called you in the first place.”
“Yes, and…?” Baird made a hurry-up gesture with one hand.
“And I spoke to Olivia’s friend, Jillian. She admitted that she’d allowed Olivia to contact her sister, Sophia via the Think-me.” Sylvan ran a hand over his short, spiky blond hair. “Baird, she violated the first rule of the contract—‘No unbonded bride without a complete link to the warrior who has claimed her will have direct contact with her planet of origin.’”