Author: Lora Leigh
Category: Paranormal
Go to read content：https://readnovelfree.com/p/23990_11
“Don’t touch me, Dawn.” His eyes were as cold as ice. “I’ve spent ten years getting over the effect you have on me. Ten years getting my own life back. I won’t allow you to destroy the progress I made.”
And it hit her then. She inhaled, her lips parting as she realized Seth was no longer in mating heat.
Dawn stumbled back at half step, the breath suddenly slicing into her lungs at the realization that she had lost him. Completely lost him.
“That’s not possible,” she whispered, suddenly horrified. “Mating heat doesn’t just go away.”
His lips twisted mockingly. “Not when mates are together, perhaps. Not when they touch, when they love. Not when there’s something more binding them together than the brief little contacts we had, Dawn.” His gaze flickered over her, regret shimmering within the anger. “There wasn’t even a kiss to bind us, was there, sweetheart? Just my determination and arrogance. That doesn’t get a man far, does it?”
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But she was still his mate. The thought was disjointed, unconnected, as her gaze went over him, her senses reaching for him. There was none of her scent on him, no sign of the mating heat or of arousal. She was only barely aware of the furious little growl that came from her throat.
“There you go. Another reason you won’t be part of this operation. Because I’ll be damned if I let your effect on me destroy me again. Do us both a favor, Agent Daniels. Stay the hell away from me.”
He jerked the door open and stalked out of the room, brushing past the others while she stared at his back in horrified awareness.
He wasn’t her mate any longer. She felt her nails biting into her palm as Jonas turned slowly to stare at her.
“Delay his departure,” she snarled.
The corners of his eyes twitched, as though he had only barely held back the widening of them.
“If he’s refusing protection, Dawn, there’s nothing we can do,” he told her reasonably.
Dawn didn’t want to hear reasonable. She didn’t want logic and she didn’t want an argument.
“Delay his departure an hour. Let him think he won. Lie to him, I don’t care, you’re good at that. But do something.”
“And where will you be?” he asked.
“I have to talk to Ely.” She had to stop shuddering. It wasn’t showing on the outside, but on the inside she was coming apart and she couldn’t handle it. “I have to talk to her now.”
She brushed past the group, barely restraining a flinch each time her flesh came into contact with their bodies, reminding her that Seth might have gotten over her, but she was a long way from being cured.
She was aware of his eyes on her as she stalked through Mission Control. She knew exactly where he was, standing to
the side, where he discussed one of the satellites he had given the Breeds free use of. His voice was low, but she heard him. Heard him beneath the other voices that filled the cavernous room as she hurried through it.
When had this happened? When had Seth stopped reacting to the mating heat that she had been warned had begun in him ten years before? It had to have been recently. As Cassie had stated, he hadn’t aged a day in ten years. The mating heat slowed down the aging process considerably. He still looked in his early thirties. He was still strong and powerful, but he no longer carried her scent.
It was all she could do to keep from running from the communications bunker back to the estate. When she reached it, she slammed into the back door, ignoring the women sitting at the table, the children laughing and playing as they ate.
There were three Breed children now, and Tanner’s wife and mate was carrying twins to add to them. Dawn hadn’t thought she would want children, had never given them consideration. But regret sliced deep as well. She felt bombarded from all sides, rage and pain, regret and aching need racing through her as she made her way to the basement level of the estate house and pushed her way into Dr. Elyiana Morrey’s office.
Ely looked up in surprise from the files she was reading as Dawn slammed the door behind her.
“It’s not time for another treatment, Dawn.”
It had become a battle between them. The hormonal treatments had had to be adjusted almost weekly to keep the effects of the mating heat from driving Dawn insane.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” The words rasped from her throat, hollow and filled with pain.
Ely blinked back at her. “Tell you what?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you had found a cure for my mate?” she sneered, enraged. “You can cure him but you can’t cure me?” The accusation was unfounded, and it wasn’t the point.
The animal part of her was screaming in pain, in rage. It didn’t want a cure. It wanted the mate. The touch, the bond, the connection to what belonged to it. To her.
Ely sighed heavily and shook her head as she rose to her feet and carried a file to the large wood cabinet on the other side of the room.