Binding Ties by Shannon K. Butcher Read Free Book Online Page A

anymore. If you want those kids to die, then it’s on your head, not mine. I’ve done all I can unless you get out of my way.”
    Once she was out of reach, she turned and ran, her skirt flying out behind her.
    Joseph went back to his office and slumped into his chair. He wanted to run after her so badly his guts ached, but he knew that if he did, he’d probably just freak her out more. Though, honestly, he wasn’t sure how that was possible.
    Had something happened to her that made her detest being touched? Or was it just Joseph she didn’t want touching her?
    That thought was like a kick in the balls.
    He scoured his memory for some kind of pattern, and it became clear that it wasn’t just him. She didn’t let any of the grown men touch her.
    The list of things that might make a woman skittish like that wasn’t very long, but it was grim. Just the idea of someone hurting her was enough to make his hand stray to the hilt of his sword.
    He needed to talk to Andreas. Find out what had happened to her so he could . . . what? Help her heal? Keep her from panicking? Warn the other men to stay the hell away from her?
    He liked that last one. Too much.
    Jealousy was a bad sign that his attraction to her had gone off the rails somewhere. It was one thing to think she was beautiful or even sexy as hell. It was a much different thing to want to possess her all for himself.
    Not going to happen,
he reminded himself for the hundredth time.
Put your dick in a drawer and get to work.
    His dick didn’t cooperate, but he moved to the next stack of demands waiting for him and went to work.
    Tomorrow, when she was calm, he’d apologize again for losing his temper and reaching for her. He would find some way to appease her so she could be happy here and maintain the peace between their peoples. And, last but not least, he would learn to look at her without wishing his cock was buried in her as deep as it could go.
    Somehow.
    It took less than fifteen minutes for him to realize that tomorrow wasn’t going to be soon enough. He couldn’t concentrate knowing she was upset. He had to go to her now. Make peace.
    He shoved away from his desk and the mountain of work waiting for him and went to find Lyka.

Chapter 4
    L yka shivered, hugging herself as she huddled against the inside of the door to her moonlit suite.
    Joseph had almost touched her.
    His hand had been only inches from her wrist—so close she could feel the heat of his skin and a warning tingle of danger.
    She scrubbed at the spot, but it did nothing to erase the memory of that strange sensation. It did even less to remove her from the danger that lurked here inside the plush, comfortable surroundings of Dabyr.
    She knew what that tingle meant. She’d heard the stories all her life about the way Theronai recognized their mates. It wasn’t through scent, like her kind, but through touch. When skin met skin, a man and woman could both feel a buzzing tingle that told them they were compatible—that the woman would be able to wield the power raging inside the man. That’s when he would claim her. Collar her. Tie her to him irrevocably for the rest of their lives.
    Lyka didn’t want that. Not with Joseph. Not with anyone. She wanted to be with her own kind and choose a Slayer mate.
    Or none at all.
    She was tired of having the men around her decide what she could and couldn’t do. Even her brother, who was enlightened for one of their kind, still believed in the old ways. He still believed he had a right to use her as a tool to end the war with the Theronai. He even had the gall to say she should be happy to be so useful—that she was saving the lives of their people by staying at Dabyr and behaving.
    As if. Behaving wasn’t her strong suit, and he damn well knew it.
    And look where it had gotten her. She’d nearly been touched tonight by a man who could uncover her secret and destroy her life.