“Because if I don't, you will die.” He managed to keep his voice calm this time. “You have run away once—you will do so again, until you find yourself in trouble without anyone around to save you. I cannot promise that this place is more than a rumor, but I will give you the option of finding out.”
Her eyes lit up, hope blossoming behind the wall of mistrust, though she looked far from convinced. “And how is it that you know this secret, Kain?”
His name on her lips made a shiver run down his spine and materialize in his ever-straining cock. He hadn't been able to fully get rid of the raging erection he'd woken up with; ever since she sat down next to him, it had been standing at more than half-attention.
He had been around a few Breeders before, none of whom had invoked such a strong response from his instincts. Perhaps it was that she was unmated and in need of a protector, or that their first contact had been while she was in full heat, but in either case it was annoying as all fuck. Not having a clear head at all times was a new sensation for him, and he didn't appreciate the experience.
“My mother kept a diary.” He rose, suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to escape the room she’d unwittingly poisoned with her irresistible pheromones. ”Finish your food. I will make some preparations and then we will leave.”
He could feel her haunting eyes follow his retreat.
“I appreciate you coming, Thomren. And you, Meredith.” Kain nodded at his second-in-command and his mate, making sure his gaze didn’t linger on the pregnant woman. It’d taken a direct command to get the otherwise unfalteringly loyal demon to bring his Breeder along in her current state, and Kain wasn’t about to disrespect him. “I trust you are well, my dear?”
“Oh yes, thank you. Though this one has been extraordinarily overprotective since I became pregnant. This is the first time he's let me go farther than the front porch in three months.” Meredith laughed.
“Thomren is very kind to honor my request that you accompany him today. I will remember this.” Kain nodded at the other man.
“You’re not supposed to run around in your condition,” Thomren muttered, the growl in his voice only barely contained as he glared at his Lord Protector.
“Oh, will you stop it?” Meredith sighed, swatting his arm. “I’m fine. And if Lord Kain needs my help, we aren’t going to argue—are we?”
Thomren pinched his lips at the intonation in his mate’s voice, but some of the anger in his gaze died. “How’s the girl?”
Kain sighed, extending an arm toward the kitchen instead of answering the question—because frankly, the thought of voicing out loud that the Breeder under his protection wasn’t settled and happy was too much of an affront to his ego, even if there was no reason for her to be anything but scared out of her mind. “I’ll introduce you.”
Selma sat stiffly on the barstool where he’d left her, her tense pose making it obvious she was nervous about the newcomers.
“Selma, there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” he said, not missing how her wide eyes did a double-take of Meredith’s rounded belly. “This is Thomren, my second-in-command, and his mate, Meredith. She’s agreed to look after you while he and I work out a few details.
“Details?” Her voice was filled with suspicion.
It pulled at something in his gut—that innate urge to protect and soothe that her presence forced upon him—and he’d crossed the floor and placed a calming hand on her shoulder before he’d even realized what he’d done.
She shivered under his touch, fear mixing with uncertainty, and Kain cussed internally as his cock stirred.
Fucking pheromones.
“Yes. Details. If I am to follow through on my promise to you, there are preparations to be made, and we will need to leave before your presence in my territory becomes common knowledge. My men are loyal, but if you linger in my residence, rumors will spread. The sooner you are out of here, the better.”
Except the longer he stared down at her, the harder it became to bear the thought of handing her over to whichever divine being hosted the sanctuary his mother had noted in her journal.
Again with the fucking pheromones. He’d never been this riled up by a Breeder—she had every instinct in his body on edge, desperate to claim and possess.
But even if he didn’t keep his promise to her, he’d still have to give her up—and to lowly demons who’d fight over the right to rut her like common beasts.
“We leave in half-an-hour. Be ready.”
Brusquely, Kain released his grip on her shoulder and motioned at Thomren to follow as he strode through the door, doing his level-best to keep his raging instincts at bay. Entertaining the urges flooding his mind and body would bring nothing but frustration.
Thomren followed him, clearly unhappy about releasing his grip on his mate, but the fact that there was only another Breeder left behind with her seemed to dull his second’s protective urges enough that he managed to obey his Lord Protector.
Kain led him to his study, leaving the door cracked so they could hear the women. It was for his own sake as much as it was Thomren’s.
“All right,” Thomren sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m gonna guess you didn’t ask me to bring my pregnant mate around if I’m just here to take the girl back to her master.”
“She’s scared of us,” Kain said, fingering his shirt sleeve in an effort to keep the anger at Selma’s ordeal down. He needed a calm, rational mind to plan his next move. “She wasn’t given to a mate. Her Procurer tried to keep her for himself—abused her in the process.”
Thomren frowned, horror plain on his face. “So you are going to bring charges against him? And the girl? Will you arrange for her auction yourself?”
