Savage Chains: Shattered (#3) (Men in Chains) by Caris Roane Read Free Book Online

what’s gotten into you?”
    “I’m not sure I can explain. But when you were bound in those horrible, rusted, smelly chains, I felt your Ancestral power. It was beautiful and I didn’t fear you at all. And Eve’s right. Your world needs men like you, good men, full of this kind of power and taking charge.”
    He took on his stubborn look, the one that moved his jaw from side to side as he ground his molars. “Fine, keep them. But it doesn’t mean I intend to put them on anytime soon.”
    “And I would never force you to, but I’m with Eve. I think you should consider rising to Ancestral status. I know you, Reyes. I know your heart, your character, everything you are. To me, you will always be the young man with a dozen stacks of books in his room intent on changing your world. That’s the man who should wear the double bonding chains.”
    Reyes held her gaze for a long moment, and the chain at her neck vibrated with a new emotion, something she had trouble identifying. But it fell somewhere close to Reyes being stunned by what she’d just said. She knew he had trouble believing that anyone could think highly of him. She understood the cause as well, which made her furious with Sweet Dove all over again.
    Reyes glanced down at the box she held in her hands and, though he grimaced, muttered, “Fine. I’ll think about it.” To Eve he added, “Thanks for bringing them by.”
    Eve kissed Reyes on the cheek. “Hang in there.”
    Turning to Angelica, she did the same, adding, “Glad you’re here taking care of our guy. If you can stomach it, stick around. We can use you right now.” With that she stepped away, waved to each of them, then shifted to altered flight.
    Angelica watched her disappear through Reyes’s desk. She was now so used to seeing people come and go like ghosts that she barely blinked.
    For some reason, as she turned back to Reyes, it hit her that after tonight’s gala event she and Reyes would start the process of separating. She’d always known this moment would come, but after making love with him as much as she had over the past couple of weeks, she didn’t want to leave. In fact it felt as though they were just getting started.
    But on so many levels she’d already pushed the bounds of her own safety, and to continue on past the final event would really be tempting fate.
    She was going to suggest they get ready for the masked ball when Reyes took the box from her and set it on the table. He then took hold of her hands. “It’s really hard for me to see you like this, even if the bruises are mostly fake.”
    “I know. But Eve did a wonderful job, and it will give credence to the upcoming ruse that we’ll be staging.”
    * * *
    Reyes stared into her familiar warm brown eyes and for some inexplicable reason his chest grew abnormally tight and his throat hurt. He repressed a heavy sigh as he nodded. “I guess our time together is almost over. It’s been wonderful, Angelica, to have you with me, I want you to know that. And I’ll take every precaution to keep you and your mother safe, and if we need to I’ll help relocate you both to a different part of the country.”
    “I know you will.” Her gaze flitted away from his, then back. “But I’ll miss you, more than I can say. I just wish this wasn’t such a mess, I’d want to stay otherwise.”
    “You would?” He couldn’t explain exactly how he felt or why he was so surprised. From the first, Angelica had expressed admiration for him, and sharing his bed with her over the past couple of weeks had been one of the finest experiences of his life. He’d come to know every inch of her body, and he loved looking deep into her eyes when he brought her to ecstasy or when his own body shook with passion.
    The blood-chains he shared with her might have enhanced the experience, but the bond couldn’t manufacture what wasn’t there. And right now, as he held her gaze, he wished that he could build a life with her.
    But that was