IntimateEnemy by Jocelyn Modo Read Free Book Online Page B

she’d had the displeasure of meeting. He had a sense of
decency, fairness and kindness that every male in her small circle of life
lacked.
    Her spirit bond lashed out, knocking the air from her lungs,
weakening her knees. Everything inside her reached for her intimate. Lone
gasped as their spirits connected again. This second time was stronger, more
intense then the first. Her body bond with Lone flared to life.
    Lone pulled her against him and gave her a scorching kiss,
one that zipped down to her toes, curling them, one that made her instantly wet
and ready for him. His erection pressed against her stomach and she moaned into
his mouth.
    Wharm cleared his throat.
    Kana said, “Right. Um, I’m outta here. You coming, Wharm?”
    Mortified, Azure jerked out of Lone’s arms. Blood rushed to
her face as Kana quickly walked away. What was she thinking? Public displays of
affection were for lowborn and whores.
    “Hey.” Lone took her hand and placed it over his heart.
“There is nothing shameful about expressing our feelings for each other.”
    “Now is not the time or place,” she said in hushed tone. She
tugged at his hand and he let her go.
    “We are recently bonded in body. Our feelings are intense.
New. No one can blame us for acting on them, Azure.”
    “Your brothers—”
    “Are idiots.” He smiled over her shoulder. “No offense,
Wharm.”
    Blushing like crazy, she met Wharm’s gaze.
    “None taken,” Wharm said, studying Azure. “But don’t lump me
with Kana. No, I don’t have an intimate. And I have no idea what it feels like
to be you. But I do know how lucky my brother is. How much I wish I could take
his place. How stupid he was to resist the bond, even for a moment. Vitca or
no.”
    She turned on Lone. “Is that why you rejected me at first?
Because I’m Vitca?”
    Wharm interjected. “Because of Bracid.”
    “Shut up, Wharm.”
    Wharm raised his eyebrows. “Azure is your intimate. You need
to tell her the truth. Let her know your past so she can understand who you
are. Don’t let Bracid come between the two of you.”
    Lone swore at his brother, cursing the unseen gods, first in
Nashete then in Vitca, so obscenely Azure gasped in shock and dismay.
    Wharm held up his hands, palms out. “Just saying.” He turned
and sauntered off through the crowd in the direction of a large Vitca buffet.
    When he was out of hearing range, she turned to Lone and
asked, “Who is Bracid?”
    Lone brushed his fingers through his thick, black hair, a
muscle in his jaw twitching.
    When he didn’t answer, her imagination took over. She saw
him in her mind’s eye having sex with someone else, a Nashete female whom he
loved and would always love. Oh gods, his heart belonged to another. That’s why
their spirit bond initiated before their heart bond. He couldn’t heart bond
with her. He loved another.
    “Who is she?” she asked again, a tremble in her voice.
    “Not who you think.” Lone rubbed his eyes, his shoulders
slumped. “Bracid was our mother. A Vitca female bonded body, heart and soul to
our Nashete father. Still she left us, left him, when the alliance marriage
contract expired after five years.”
    Azure had heard about the initiative to create Nashete-Vitca
alliances in hopes of finding peace between the two races through marriage. She
even knew the initiative had failed. But she’d had no idea that failing meant
fully bonded intimates had abandoned their children, broken their bonds because
of racist beliefs so well imbedded in their psyches that even a family they
created could not open their hearts.
    “Gods, I’m sorry, Lone.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I’m not her, you know.”
    He said nothing.
    “Why do you think I’m so freaked out about the spirit bond
starting already?” She reached up and pulled his face down so that his eyes
finally met hers. “I’m worried about bonding fully to you before we really know
each other, because once our trinity-of-beings are joined, I will never,