Primal Heat Read Free Page A

wouldn’t hesitate. He craved her and he could never touch her, not truly, not with the way things stood between their people. Something painful wrenched deep inside him at that thought. So many tangled wants and needs, so many barriers and obstacles. He shook his head, slumping against the wall, as exhausted as if he hadn’t slept at all.
    Anun, he was tired of it. He wanted all of this madness to end.
    â€œShower off. Dryer on.” The water stopped flowing and instead gusts of warm air shot from the same spigots that had spouted the water moments before. Even though the air was hot, he shivered as it hit the moisture on his skin, gooseflesh breaking down his arms and legs. Shoving his fingers into his short hair, he rumpled the wet strands and sent droplets flying.
    A few minutes later, he was dressed, neat, and ready to start his workday. Walking toward the door, he stopped short when his gaze caught on a hologram flickering across one wall that he’d programmed his imager to display. It was the only part of his room that had any personal meaning. A hologram of his family, smiling and happy, mocked him silently. He had no family now. He was the last Arjun.
    His gaze moved over his mother’s face. She had laughter dancing in her eyes. His father radiated pride, one hand on Farid’s shoulder, the other holding his mate’s. In the center was his sister, beautiful and bright as a sunbeam. Cilji. She’d been so young then, and Farid himself had been barely of age. So long ago, so many wonderful memories that would never be more than that now. Gone. All gone. He’d lost them one by one, each death more heartrending than the next.
    The image dissolved and a holofilm his mother had taken of his graduation from the academy began playing. He drew himself up, took a deep breath, and tugged at his sleeves to be certain they were in place. Turning away from what no longer was, he left his room.
    It was rare he allowed himself to think of that time. He preferred the happier version of his family captured by the imagers. It must be this dilemma with Bren that had him tripping over the past, unable to get out of its way and let it rest.
    But the past was what made him what he was, the loss of his family was what made the very idea of bonding with his One so abhorrent to him. He shuddered, Cilji’s lifeless eyes flashing through his memory, her blood drying on his skin as the warmth left her slender body. He’d never understand the actions she or her One had taken. He just knew that he’d been left to pick up the pieces. He’d been left to answer the questions of others. And he was the one left wondering why.
    The only answer he had was that he never, ever wanted to be in a position to make those same choices. He was of an age that he’d thought he could rest assured he didn’t have a One, that he could marry a Kith of appropriate social standing and rebuild his line. He still intended to once they returned home. If they ever returned home. He ruthlessly subdued the feline’s screech of protest at touching anyone besides its mate. The man had a duty to the Arjun name that the instinct-driven beast would never understand. Duty that had nothing to do with Bren or Ones or even desire. His body throbbed at the reminder of the desire Bren and he shared. If the dreams were so intense, it was dangerous to even allow himself to imagine truly touching her.
    He sighed, rubbing the grit from his eyes.
    â€œYou look terrible.”
    Farid was chuckling before his hand left his face. The ship’s second in command came striding down the hall, a wide grin on his face. “Haakesh. Diplomatic as ever, I see.”
    Haakesh gave a brief salute, the light overhead glinting off the short man’s shiny pate. “It is amazing I’ve advanced this far in the fleet, is it not?”
    â€œI think you have your One to thank for that. How is Mythri?” In truth, Haakesh was too