A Perfect Bond by Lee-Ann Wallace Read Free Book Online Page B

had.
    “What are you going to do, Ellie?”
    Manik’s voice was muffled in my hair.
    “I guess this leaves me free to go with you,” I replied.
    “I can’t stay seven cycles and wait until this person comes to replace you.”
    I had no intention of waiting seven cycles either. “You won’t need to.” I leant back to look at him, “I can pack my belongings in a morning and I can clean and organise my lab in an afternoon. We should be able to leave tomorrow afternoon or the morning after at the latest.”
    “You’ll need time to copy all your research, as well. You’ll need your notes when you look at the woman we have on the ship.”
    His intense grey eyes bored into mine. I wanted to see those eyes burning with passion as he took me. I wanted to look into their depths as I came apart from his lovemaking. “I can’t take anything with me. It doesn’t belong to me.”
    “I don’t care who it belongs to, Ellie. You’re taking copies of everything you have with you. It’s your research, and you deserve to get some of the credit for it, even if that means you have to sell it to the highest bidder.”
    “I can’t,” I insisted.
    “You can and you will. We won’t leave until you have the copies and yes, I can force you to do it.”
    My spine stiffened at his tone, but I was too tired to argue with him. I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in too many cycles. I could see that the anger that had been on his face earlier when I’d been talking to Prixy was back.
    “When were you going to tell me we are mates, Ellie?”
    Oh. Now I understood his anger.
    “The first chance I got,” I told him.
    “So you weren’t keeping it from me? Why didn’t you tell me when we met in the bar? If I’d known, I would have taken you with me.”
    I stared up at him in shock.
    “What do you mean? Taken me with you? I don’t know if I would have agreed to go with you.”
    He looked down at me, his grey eyes burning into mine.
    “I wouldn’t have asked you, Ellie. I would have just picked you up and carried you to my ship.”
    My shock deepened and my lips parted as I stared up at him.
    “You’re talking about kidnapping!”
    He didn’t respond but just stared down at me. I shook my head at him, too stunned to say anymore. Exhaustion was weighing heavily on me and this had pushed me to the end of my endurance.
    “I need to sleep, Manik. Will you come to my quarters with me?”
    His grey eyes kindled with heat, a steady warmth that I knew would turn inferno hot when he was making love to me.
    “You need to take better care of yourself, Ellie, and yes, I’ll come with you.”
    Maybe I wasn’t completely exhausted after all. Maybe I had just enough energy to bond with him before I collapsed.
    I stepped back and grabbed his hand. Dragging him behind me, I marched out of my lab and pulled him through the station. My lab wasn’t far from the quarters I shared with Prixy. We made it in about half the time it usually took for me to get there. This was due to me almost running and the fact that the station was deserted at that time of night.
    I pulled Manik through the front door, past our lounge room and down the short hall to the last door, my bedroom. The soft lighting of night had flicked on when the door had opened and allowed us to see our way. Prixy would normally be watching something on the holo tube, but the apartment was silent and empty. I’d worry about Prixy tomorrow. Right now, I wanted to strip Manik out of his clothes and explore every inch of his body with my lips and tongue.
    The door slid closed behind him and I realised I needed to explain a few things before we could get started.
    “Bonding happens when mates come together for the first time,” I said as I turned around and stood in front of him. Reaching for the edge of my top, I pulled it off over my head, exposing to his view my bare arms and my sleeveless support top.
    “I don’t know how much it will affect you, but once bonding is