Page 24 of Broken Forced Mate

“It’s not about convenience.”

“Then what is it about?”

I want to tell her everything, but I can’t. Not yet.

Instead, I reach for her.

She doesn’t pull away when my hands cup her face. Doesn’t resist when I brush my thumb across her cheek, wiping away tears. I didn’t realize she was crying.

“This isn’t about wanting you,” I lie. “This is about keeping you alive. It was the only choice I could make.”

We’re breathing the same air now, standing so close I can count her eyelashes. Her pupils dilate, and I catch the scent of her arousal again, stronger this time.

“I hate you,” she breathes anyway.

“I know.”

Then I kiss her.

It’s supposed to be apologetic, a request for forgiveness I don’t deserve. Instead, it becomes something desperate and hungry as years of suppressed longing come pouring out between us.

When her tongue touches mine, my wolf howls with triumph. Her hands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer even as she bites my lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

I groan against her mouth and back her against the stone altar. She moans—actually moans—and the sound nearly drops me to my knees.

“Ahem.”

Evangeline’s polite cough breaks the spell. We spring apart like guilty teenagers, both breathing hard. Raegan’s lips are swollen, and she looks like she wants to either kill me or drag me to the nearest bed.

“Well,” Evangeline says with obvious amusement, “that certainly clarifies a few things.”

Raegan smooths her hair with shaking hands. “It doesn’t clarify anything. It just proves that my judgment is completely compromised where this man is concerned.”

“Child, your judgment is the only thing keeping you alive right now.”

Raegan turns to stare at the elderly witch. “What do you mean?”

“The bonds between you and Mr. Lemay run deeper than simple attraction. Much deeper. And the man you believe you’re engaged to…” Evangeline shakes her head. “His aura carries the stench of deception and violence.”

“You’ve never met Bastian.”

“I don’t need to meet him to know what he is. The engagement ring on your finger pulses with dark energy, child. Someone has placed a tracking spell on it.”

Raegan looks down at her engagement ring with horror. “What?”

“Remove it,” Evangeline commands. “Now.”

With trembling fingers, Raegan slides the ring off and drops it on the altar like it burned her. The simple silver band sits innocuously on the stone, but I swear I can feel malevolent energy emitting from it.

“A tracking spell,” Evangeline confirms, studying the ring without touching it. “Very sophisticated. Whoever cast this can find you anywhere in the world as long as you wear it.”

“Bastian gave me this ring.”

“Then Bastian is not who he claims to be.”

Raegan sinks into one of the chairs, all the fight draining out of her. “This is really happening, isn’t it? Everything Wyn said about him being dangerous, about the engagement being fake….”

“I’m afraid so, child.”