The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,79

a hand through his hair, fear forming like ice in his veins. He didn’t want to be a last warrior at all. That would mean that everyone he knew and loved had died around him. It had happened to him once. He’d never bear it if it happened again.

Triumph abruptly entered Rhianne’s eyes, which made Ben nervous. “I know, I’ll tell Tiger not to leave me behind.” She lifted her chin. “That will do it.”

“Depends on Tiger, doesn’t it?” Ben returned. “He might decide it’s best that you stay here.”

“Somehow, I don’t think so.” Rhianne’s mouth twitched, making Ben want to kiss it. “Very well, we’ll let Tiger settle the matter.”

“Sure thing.” He trusted Tiger’s judgement, though if Tiger chose against Ben’s judgement, he’d dispute that long and hard. “Are we done arguing then? Want me to yell for Connor?”

“Then there’s the issue of the mate bond.” Rhianne’s tiny amount of amusement deserted her. She issued him an arrogant Tuil Erdannan glare, which made her even more beautiful. “The one you believe I don’t understand.”

“Because it’s complicated.” Ben let his usual stoicism fly to the wind, releasing the words jammed inside him. “You dangle this mate bond in front of me, and at the same time imply I’m going to be the last man standing. Meaning I lose you. I can’t lose you, Rhianne. I’ve just found you. It will kill me to lose you. Mate bond or no mate bond—it will devastate me. Rip me to shreds. Might as well let the hoch alfar do that for me, or your dear father.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Rhianne grabbed at her T-shirt, right over her heart, and yanked at it as though trying to tear what she felt out of her. “I don’t have a choice. I realized I had the mate bond when those Bureau men separated us. I needed to charge out of there and find you. Because I couldn’t be without you. When I saw you, I saw the magic between you and me. Maybe you don’t feel it, maybe you never will. I don’t know how this works. All I know is I can’t be without you …”

Her face crumpled, and she broke off.

“Love.” Ben was across the room, gathering her into his arms. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I never want to hurt you.” He stroked her hair, held her trembling body. “I’m so scared of losing you, of the mate bond winding me up in it and not letting me go. I’ve seen what happens to others when the bond is broken.”

“It’s too late for me.” Rhianne’s words were muffled in his shoulder. “I never even knew you before you lifted me out of that cell. Now I can’t be without you.”

“I am pretty irresistible,” Ben quipped.

Rhianne raised her head, her brown eyes swimming with tears. “You always make fun of yourself.”

“Keeps me from breaking down.” Ben’s smile faded. “Keeps me alive.”

Rhianne kissed him, her soft lips meeting the grim line of his. Ben gave up trying to hold on to the shards of his sanity and kissed her fully.

His heart gave a sudden dark throb and squeezed hard, as though breaking down a barrier to force the mate bond through. He feared the bond as much as he longed for it, but for this moment, the longing overwhelmed his self-preservation.

Ben brought his hands up under Rhianne’s heavy braid of hair, stroking her as he sought her mouth. She grew frantic under his touch, fingers sinking into his shoulders as though she never wanted to let him go.

Mating frenzy. She had it all right.

Goblins had a sort of mating frenzy themselves. Not the ferocious one of Shifters, the Goddess’s way of making certain they had more little Shifters, but a need that delved into his soul. Beings that lived for many centuries knew how to love fiercely.

Rhianne made a noise in her throat as Ben’s kiss turned bruising. She melted under his touch, but her surrender was brushed with wild glee.

Connor had locked them in here to give them privacy for more than arguing, Ben realized. There were the sofas at either end of the room. Wide, long sofas to give comfort to large-bodied Shifters, no matter what they decided to do on them.

Ben hooked his fingers under Rhianne’s shirt and tugged it off her. Rhianne’s smile of joy took his breath away. Beneath, the white camisole clung to her full breasts.

Before he could slide that away from her, she grabbed his shirt