Which was why she intended to have a nice little conversation with Commander Rule Breaker concerning his part in the contract her parents believed they were being offered.
He needed to understand, now, before it went any further. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she was going to become his lover. Losing her virginity meant losing her last link to her brother, and she didn’t think she could bear the guilt of it if she did so.
She’d lived so many years alone, without allowing anyone close enough to her to be harmed that she had no idea how to let anyone in anymore.
Even Khileen, once her best friend, rarely attempted to continue their friendship anymore. The Coyote Breed females Ashley and Emma had come closest to her, and nearly losing Ashley had given her more nightmares than she wanted to consider.
She didn’t need anyone—
She couldn’t finish the thought.
She escaped instead and assured herself she was strong enough to do this. She could resist Commander Breaker and any desire he filled her with.
Yet the taste of chocolate and peppermint lingered in her senses and left her craving more of the Breed’s kiss.
Craving it enough that she began to worry . . .
CHAPTER 7
She found Rule several hours later, after missing the appointment with Connie and her mother, spending precious time hunting him down rather than preparing for that damned meeting.
He was on duty, she’d been told by several sources, no doubt in town someplace overseeing the enforcers under his command.
She found his Dragoon parked behind a small stand of cottonwood trees outside town where the new division headquarters were rumored to be located.
Not that he was alone.
Dane Vanderale was of course with him, as were Dog, Loki, Mutt and another Coyote she’d only seen a few times who answered to Mongrel.
Pulling the Jeep to a hard stop mere feet from the arrogant commander who of course refused to so much as step back an inch, she watched his eyes, intent, somber as he met her gaze through the windshield.
The others showed varying degrees of surprise, with the exception of Dane, who just laughed.
Slamming out of the vehicle, she stalked around the front of it to confront the Breed determined to drive her insane.
“You are behind this.” She shoved her finger imperiously at his broad chest. “And don’t even bother denying it. I know you’re behind it.”
She was almost shaking with anger and she was damned if she could even explain why the match had been struck to her temper. She just knew it was his damned fault. She just knew she needed someplace to expend that anger before it destroyed her.
...
“Dog, Dane, find someplace to be,” Rule ordered quietly as he saw the Jeep bearing down on them and glimpsed the set expression of the young woman at the wheel.
“Sure, Breaker,” Dane drawled. “Tell me, should we worry about your safety or her virtue?”
“Go,” he growled as the Jeep slammed to a stop within feet of him and she exited it like a whirlwind of fury.
Of pain.
Words wouldn’t have struck at him nearly as deep as the agony rolling off her in waves and the sense that the tears trapped inside her were slowly drowning her.
He was only barely aware of the others moving for their vehicles as a slender finger poked toward him and jade green eyes darkened as she fought to find an outlet for the clawing, agonizing pain tearing at her.
“So what vile deed am I behind, Gypsy?” He frowned down at her, sensing that the gentleness that softened his heart to her would be instantly rejected.
No, she needed a fight. She needed to lash out and she needed to be held. But she would be damned before she would ask anyone to hold her.
“That crazy offer Jonas gave my parents.” She was shaking with the anger, the pain. “Image consulting?” she sneered. “For what? You’re masters of building your own image. Breeds were created for it. Master manipulators and scheming, calculating . . .”