Trusted Bond Read Free

creepy, almost scary, and what the hell did the all ways
    comment mean?
    ―I think you need me…. Your body cries out for mine.‖
    Who talked like that? ―You should go watch some TV in the living
    room,‖ I suggested softly, watching him, the hair on the back of my neck
    standing up as I glanced at the other two men. ―And take your friends with
    you, unless they want something to eat first.‖ I was working hard to keep
    my tone neutral, calm, and upbeat.
    ―I have never wanted a man before,‖ he confessed, his voice
    dropping low. ―But neither have I ever seen a man who looked like you,
    Jin Rayne.‖
    I went cold. And not because I was scared. I was furious. How dare
    he treat Logan this way? How dare he violate the sanctity of his home? I
    was the mate of the semel, completely untouchable, and now this man
    thought to claim me? My mate was the strongest male panther I had ever
    come across, and this man thought he could usurp him? Take me? He
    presumed to think I needed anything more than my mate? It was obscene.
    ―Get out of my house,‖ I ordered, my voice cold, hard.
    Trusted Bond

    9

    ―Reah.‖ He cut me off before he lunged at me, knocking the plate
    from my hands as he grabbed my face and yanked me forward. His mouth
    was on mine, his tongue forced between my lips as he bent me backward
    over the counter.
    I pushed and fought, but he was so much bigger and stronger than
    me, his hands everywhere as I managed to dislodge his mouth from mine.
    ―Stop,‖ I rasped out, trying so hard not to yell, terrified for him, for the
    transgression he was committing. I had gone from anger to fear for his life
    in seconds. I could have shifted and gotten away easily, but if anyone saw
    me they would wonder why I needed to be in my panther form in my own
    home. What would prompt me to shift into my animal? Why would I need
    to fight? And as soon as the question arose, my sheseru, Yuri Kosa, would
    kill them. So I didn‘t want anyone else to see us or hear us. But the second
    the others put their hands on me, though, I forgot about their safety.
    The kitchen table was cleared and I was slammed down onto it face-
    first, my arms stretched out, held tight. Strangers held my wrists firmly as
    Abbot shoved his groin against my tailbone, his hands on my belt buckle,
    fumbling to get it off. I had originally thought there were only three men,
    but now, clearly, I realized my error. There were four.
    I had no choice. Like liquid I shifted through their fingers, my body
    transforming in the blink of an eye from man to panther. Gasps filled the
    room as I rolled to the floor, tangled in my jeans and shirt, freeing myself
    in seconds, happy that I had been barefoot. I had missed when Abbot‘s
    reverence became obsession, but he had apparently missed my speed. I
    was so much faster than he thought, as evidenced by the fact that I was
    across the huge kitchen before any of them could track me with their eyes.
    ―Reah,‖ Abbot breathed out even as he began tearing at his clothes in
    a frenzy to get them off, to shift to his panther form.
    ―Let‘s go,‖ one of the other men yelled at him as another bolted
    toward the back door.
    It was my speed. It was scary to watch anything change that fast.
    ―Abbot!‖
    But he was in the midst of his shift from man to animal.
    ―You said he wanted it! You never said he would fight you!‖ the
    stranger in my kitchen shouted as he abandoned his friend, fleeing fast,
    disappearing out the back door into the night.
    ―Jin, where are… you….‖
    10

    Mary Calmes

    Yuri‘s appearance in the kitchen stole my choice to flee and left me
    no option but to run to him, to shield him from the attack he would never
    have seen coming.
    Even though I was twice the distance from Yuri that the other cat
    was, I made it before Abbot could and slammed him down under me to the
    floor, preventing Abbot from burying teeth and claws in the chest of my
    sheseru. But in my hubris at my own speed, I