Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,50

the battle and crushing out another’s life.

Killing was what kept him stable and alive. He couldn’t have a mate interfering in his simple, ordered life; it was how he survived. It had taken him a long time to stabilize himself and feel fairly confident he wouldn’t become a Savage; he achieved it by hunting and killing Savages regularly.

He didn’t want anything to interfere with that, not even a mate. And he certainly couldn’t have his life entwined with another’s. Actually, he didn’t want her life intertwined with his.

His life was brutal; he’d lived this long because he was good at killing, but it was only a matter of time before he lost again. He liked to think he was invincible, but he’d been captured and was only free because of his determination to save her.

However, even if his compulsion to keep her safe guided him through the rest of his days, the odds were good he would one day lose another battle and end up dead or imprisoned again. If Callie was his mate, and he turned her, she would die when he did.

The possibility of her death almost caused him to batter the shower wall, but he managed to keep himself restrained. Beating up the shower would only scare her and drive her further away.

The realization he might have found his mate rattled him. He kept thinking up reasons to deny it, but it was the only thing that made sense. He’d been out of his mind in that pit, but the second he experienced her pain, he put her needs first.

He’d been weak, yet he found the strength to evade the Savages pursuing them. He’d been starved and crazed, but he restrained himself from feeding on her as much as he could have.

There was only one explanation for what propelled him beyond what should have been his capabilities in those tunnels, and that was his need to protect his mate. Shit.

He almost turned to look at her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If she was his mate—and he believed she was—he was condemning her to a brutal life, and that was only if she agreed to it. She could walk away, and he would let her because he couldn’t bring himself to make her unhappy. And if she walked away, his life was over.

He released a long breath through his clamped teeth and dug his fingers into his thighs as he stared at the phone. He had to call; it was the only thing that would keep her safe, but for the first time in his life, he dreaded talking to Ronan.

He’d nearly given in and become one of their enemies. How could he look at Ronan and the others while knowing this about himself?

However, he’d never been a coward, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Chapter Twenty-One

Lucien lifted the phone from the receiver and punched in the last number he had for Ronan. Instead of a ringing phone, he was greeted with a recorded message saying they didn’t allow long-distance calls.

Shit. He hadn’t considered that. Shit!

Rising from the bed, he walked over to the door and opened it. He stepped onto the sidewalk and searched up and down the row of rooms. No lights were on; he could walk next door, knock on the door, and wake someone up to use their cell, but he couldn’t leave Callie alone to do it.

He detected no hint of Savages anywhere nearby, but he wasn’t taking the chance. In the morning, he would confiscate a cell phone from one of his neighbors and make the call. It was safer to leave her alone in the daytime.

Retreating to their room, he closed the door and turned to find her studying him. She looked away before rising and pulling back the blankets. Callie felt his eyes boring into her as she slid onto the bed.

Her body melted into the soft mattress, and she tugged the blankets up to her chin. With her adrenaline gone and the effects of the warm shower wearing off, she was becoming acutely aware of her sore, knotted muscles.

She’d been in fight-or-flight mode ever since they threw her into the back of that van, and though she’d slept last night, it hadn’t been enough. She longed for sleep, but as Lucien padded around the bed and the mattress sagged from his weight on the other side, she knew it would prove elusive.

Lucien racked his brain as he tried to come up with a reason for