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“How dare you!” she said, furiously. “How dare you attack your mate in such a manner!”

He scoffed. “There was no attack, mother. Mia remains unharmed save for one additional mating mark.”

“Given in punishment. You defile your mating bond out of your own fear.”

“I defile nothing!” he roared. “She is my mate,mine, given to me by the Fates, and she dares plot her escape?”

“She dares nothing, child. If you had but listened—”

“I heard enough.”

“You heard nothing!” she shouted. “Mia has pledged her loyalty to you. She has openly claimed you as her mate. What more can you demand of her?”

“She has not accepted me fully. Until she has, I cannot allow her—”

It was her turn to scoff. “Allow. As if you have any say in what she does! My son, my son. Have I not taught you better? Do you not understand that you force her at your own folly?”

He glanced away, suddenly ashamed of his behavior, of losing control of his own baser instincts and allowing the frenzy to overtake him. “I used no force.”

“Did you not?” Sighing, she relaxed her stance and sheathed her sword at her back. “Perhaps you should ask your mate to relay the conversation she held with me and Jyrak before passing judgment upon her.”

Zoran nodded tightly. “If you so wish it.”

“I wish many things, my son, yet do the Fates deny me. In this, at least, I hope they find favor.”

She stalked away without waiting for his rejoinder.

Zoran stared after her long after she’d disappeared.

Chapter Sixteen

Mia curled up in her chair, staring at nothing. What had just happened? One minute, she was having a lively discussion with Alara and Jyrak. The next Zoran stormed into the room and ravished her, shredding her underwear beyond repair, pushing her relentlessly into so much pleasure, her body still trembled from his touch.

And her emotions!

God, what could she even say about the confused mess roiling around inside her?

At a quiet tap on the door, Mia pulled her robe over her lap and called, “Come in.”

A moment later, Jyrak stepped inside and closed the door firmly behind her. “Milady, may I bring you a refreshment?”

Mia shook her head.

Jyrak edged closer, her hands carefully folded behind her back. “Perhaps some chilled water?”

“Where was this concern when I was locked in here with…?” Mia shook her head. She wasn’t even sure how to finish that question. Zoran had fallen on her like a mad man, but his actions had been coldly precise, designed to push her to her sensual limits in what had clearly been a punishment, if the pleasure he’d given her could be called that. Which it couldn’t, she thought, stifling a spurt of amusement. The only mark he’d left on her was one she wanted, a secret testament to his desire.

“It is unwise to step between two mates,” Jyrak explained carefully, “lest one or the other is provoked to defend their mating bond against the outsider. Rarely do mating frenzies result in unwanted damage, else would Mother Alara and I have interfered despite such prohibitions.”

The new mark on Mia’s thigh pulsed, and Mia could no longer conceal her humor. “Relax, Jyrak. It’s a no harm, no foul situation.”

“A what?”

“Never mind. He didn’t hurt me.”

Jyrak nodded, not at all relaxed. “The mating frenzy did not overwhelm you?”

“The what?”