Odin (Alien Adoption Agency #5) - Tasha Black Page 0,23

to block him completely from striking. “Put down the sword.”

“Liberty, you’re too close to her,” he whispered, his eyes wide.

But the cat didn’t yowl this time. Liberty’s back was to the creature, but she hoped it might understand that she was trying to protect it.

“If you don’t like it, then back off,” she hissed. “You’re the one she’s scared of, not me.”

He deactivated the laser and sheathed the sword, then lifted his hands in surrender as he backed up.

“Liberty, please,” he whispered, his eyes begging her.

Now that the cat was safe, the adrenaline was fading, and real fear clenched her heart.

Instinct told her not to try to walk away with her back to the creature. She closed her eyes and turned very slowly to face it.

The mother cat fixed her with its golden eyes. Her frill was down, and her expression was stern but not overly threatening.

“I’m sorry we disturbed you,” Liberty whispered.

The cat kept staring her down, then finally gave her a long, slow blink that felt almost like a nod.

Liberty blinked back and then backed away slowly until Odin’s big arms wrapped around her.

Before she could speak, she was being lifted into the air and carried away like a child.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Odin growled in time with his stalking footsteps. “You could have been killed. You have a child of your own to consider. You have… other people who care about you.”

18

Odin

Odin’s pulse was pounding, and his heart was stretched with emotions he couldn’t separate. Relief battled with a burning fury that he couldn’t seem to untangle from the wild lust he felt with his mate’s soft body in his arms.

He was dimly aware that he was yelling at her.

And he could feel the press of her emotions through their bond. Her own anger and indignation were causing her not to notice that her mate was wrapped around her.

But her body noticed what her mind had not. He could feel her heartbeat quickening.

“How dare you judge me?” she yelled back at him. “This is my farm, my rules. These are my mistakes to make. You’re here to look after the baby.”

“You said we were friends,” he roared. “You said I deserved more than to be a guard. You said you needed my help, and you were right.”

“Put. Me. Down,” she hollered at the top of her lungs, pummeling him with her small fists.

He let her drop unceremoniously to the forest floor.

She had to crouch to steady herself and he sneered at her, even as his body screamed to hold her again.

The screen on her bangle faded and went out. She smacked it with her fist, but he suspected its energy cell was depleted.

“Is that better?” he asked. “Do you like being alone in the darkness, with no one to keep you safe? Do you think Colton would be better off with his mother in the stomach of a jaguarootte?”

“I’m not in her stomach and I’m not helpless either,” she shot back. “I did just fine alone for the last two years, and I’ll do just fine again if you walk away.”

As if to punctuate her fury, a forked bolt of lightning slashed the air and within seconds, heavy rain began to pound down on them.

Odin was instantly drenched, his hair hanging down around his face, clothing sticking to his frame.

Keerah at least had enough sense to disappear into the underbrush to avoid the worst of it. But he and Liberty were soaked to the bone.

Fury threatened to explode in his chest.

Then a sweet sound tinkled above the rush of the storm.

Liberty was laughing. She was laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he demanded. But it came out sounding churlish instead of angry.

She kept right on laughing, rivulets of rain sliding down her face.

Something was bubbling up in his chest. It came out of his mouth as a peal of helpless laughter.

“I’m sorry,” she told him, gasping with giggles. “I’m so sorry. I know what I did was crazy.”

“Why would you do that?” he asked, coming closer so he could hear her answer.

She rested a hand on his chest and leaned in confidingly to say something he couldn’t hear.

“What?” he yelled.

“I don’t know why I did it,” she yelled back. “I guess I was just thinking about how I would feel if something threatened Colton.”

He had leaned in so close to hear her that their mouths were inches away. He could feel her heartbeat reverberating in his own chest, taste the desire that flowed between them.

He reached out his