Whatever Rule had done, he had cut so deep into her woman’s soul that Lawe actually feared now that repairing it might be impossible. He hadn’t just hurt her feelings, he thought, shocked; Rule had sliced her open.
And that simply wasn’t like his brother.
Of the two of them, Rule had been the one more prone to cuddle and spoil his lovers. He laughed with them, teased them more than Lawe ever had. He had never, at any time, done anything more than hurt their feelings when he moved on.
“What has he done, Gypsy?” he asked her again, urging her to confide in him. “Perhaps, whatever it was, he didn’t mean to hurt you as deeply as he obviously has.”
“Hurt me?” She jerked her head up, staring back at him with patently false surprise. “There’s no hurt, Enforcer, I promise. He even offered to drive me home. I simply preferred to find my own way. That’s all.”
The blatant lie almost had his lips curling in another smile, one that would assure her he had seen through it. But the white-hot agony pouring from her deserved far more than even a facsimile of humor.
As he stared down at her somberly, her lips suddenly began to tremble before she lifted her fingers and forced them to stillness.
“I want to go home,” she whispered, and she felt so lost, so very alone that his heart absolutely broke for her, and he was reminded vividly of that night, nine years before, when she had whispered those same words.
“Carl,” he called to the doorman.
“Yes, Enforcer Justice?” Carl maintained his distance, though he too watched Gypsy worriedly.
“Would you call down and have my driver pull my car around, please?” he asked the doorman.
“Yes, sir.” Carl moved quickly to do as he was asked, calling down to the Breed parking level where one of the enforcers on duty would be waiting in case they were needed.
Then he turned back to Gypsy and ached to find a way to comfort her. Unfortunately, there was little he or even Diane could do. The scent of mating wasn’t as strong as he’d scented on others, but it was there. Another male’s touch could be extremely painful during Mating Heat. He couldn’t even pat her delicate shoulder. Diane couldn’t give her one of those girl hugs that she was forever giving her friends.
Gypsy was forced to stand alone, without comfort. And for that, Lawe thought, his brother deserved to have his ass kicked.
...
She had been a virgin and Rule had known it. He had been her first, her only lover, and didn’t she feel stupid as hell?
Used.
She felt used and cast off.
Unwanted.
The humiliation of it left her feeling so raw, so damned helpless that she didn’t know how to handle it.
He had just jumped off her and all but demanded she leave.
He would take her home after he washed up?
As though she had left him feeling dirty.
Her stomach roiled at the thought, pitching with such agony that she wondered if she was going to throw up. Piercing, white-hot humiliation and such pain she didn’t know how to bear it. Her knees felt weak from it, her stomach tightening with the bitter waves of it. She just wanted to escape. Escape and find some way to hide from it.
...
Lawe flinched.
God, the emotions his brother’s little mate was feeling. This tiny, delicate woman who had been meant to share his brother’s life had such agony rolling from her that he could only stare at her in confusion.
How had Rule managed to hurt her?
Whatever he had done, he had hurt his tender little mate in ways she should never have known after the mating had begun.
His car pulled to the curb then, the Breed driving it stepping from the car and moving to them, his gaze curious as he too scented Rule’s mark on her.