Bound By Desire (The Acadian Curse) Read Free

they stared each other down. Just as she
was about to give up on him, his fist shot out and landed on the
solid pine beam at his side. Sarah could have sworn that she heard
the crackle of splintering wood.
    "Damn it," he muttered. "I'll stay, but you
have to promise me something."
    “All right.” At this point she’d swear to
anything if it meant seeing this foal safely born.
    "Promise me that the second this is done that
you will strap me to the wall of the last stall," he said.
    Sarah didn't bother to mask her shock.
    "Promise me or I’ll leave now, " he
repeated.
    Was he joking? Crazy? Either way it didn't
matter. Sarah needed him. She would deal with his demand when the
time came.
    "Whatever floats your boat," she said. Though
she had to admit that she hadn’t pegged him for the submissive
type. The man exuded dominance. But what did she really know about
these things? She’d had a few kinky fantasies, sure, but she’d
never pursued any of them. It just had never felt right.
    If his pride was injured by her little joke,
he didn’t show it. He returned to the mare’s head, and the horse
settled instantly. There was no denying that he was almost magic
with animals.
    A few minutes passed without any words
between them. The mare pushed, and Sarah pulled. Inch by inch the
foal made his way out and into the world. Grant’s hands shook to
the point that he could no longer control them, and sweat covered
every exposed part of his body.
    "I have to go,” he said, but stayed put.
    Sarah could see the ridge of the foal’s
hipbone making it’s way out. They were so close. "Twenty more
seconds.”
    "Now.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah saw a
line of stitching on his shirt start to pop. She lifted her
head.
    “What the hell?”
    “Now,” he demanded. His voice was deeper,
much deeper than it had been before. She watched as his hands
stretched and grew on the mare’s mane. It had to be an illusion.
There was no way he could be growing larger before her eyes.
    "Ten seconds," she said, her voice faint.
    Ten. Nine. Eight.
    “Come on now, little guy. I need you to come
out now. Right now,” she whispered to the foal.
    For once, somebody up above must have been
listening to her. The foal’s hips popped free. After that the rest
of his body slid out easily.
    "Now.”
    Sarah nodded. "Now."
    Grant flew up from floor. He was out the door
before she could blink.
    Sarah stayed behind to see to her patients.
The mare nuzzled and licked her new baby, all of her struggles
forgotten. The foal tried out his shaky legs. It might have been
the strangest birth that she had ever been a part of, but it looked
like everyone involved had come out of it just fine.
    Her relief was short-lived. A moment later,
Grant was storming back into the stall. He grasped onto her upper
arm and, with a grip as strong as iron, pulled her into the
hall.
    “You promised me,” he growled.
    A stream of nonsense sounds sputtered from
Sarah’s lips as he drug her across the hard floor. Finally, her
thoughts caught up with her mouth.
    “I don’t want to have anything to do with
your sick games,” she protested. “Let me go.”
    “I kept my word. I stayed and helped you. Now
you have to help me, Dr. McIntire, or terrible things are going to
happen.”
    He whipped her around and into the last
stall. Sarah stumbled, barely regaining her footing before she
crashed into the far wall. Her hands grasped onto the heavy curtain
that hung from ceiling to floor. The fastenings gave way under her
weight revealing a pair of dark metal manacles dangling from chains
just above her head. She looked down and saw a matching pair at her
feet.
    Sarah swiveled around, ready to tell him that
he could go to hell. The words lodged halfway up her throat.
Everything inside of her froze. All she could do was stare in
disbelief as the impossible unfolded before her eyes.
    Grant LaCroix was changing into
someone…something else.
    The angles of his face sharpened. His