And here I am on the floor…
His father was wrong.Hewas the idiot, not Zagrun.
Now he had something else on his mind, and a body that was rife with unsated pain.
Bloody figures.Who else would he lust for other than a woman with orders to kill him? One whoseraison d’êtrewas diametrically opposed to his.
Protect anaþaswere. What a laughable thought. Oath Keepers didn’t need a bodyguard.
Except for when they were being pursued by him.
Oh, the irony.
Poor Gisela. There was no telling what Meara would do to her once she failed her mission. And sadly, she would fail. He’d promised Dash the head of theaþaswerewho bore their contract, and that was exactly what he intended to deliver to him.
Pretty temptations be damned.
He owed his sanity to Dash, and he owed the death of allaþaswerefor what they’d done to his father.
No one would stop him from this.
2
Gisela came awake slowly to a delicious smell. For one heartbeat, she thought she was at her imaginary childhood home, and warmth flooded her.
Until she remembered the truth.
What she was and where she’d been sent.
Then, her thoughts went to the men.
Shit!
Sitting up, she started to panic until she saw that she was still fully dressed.
More than that, she was alone in the room. What had happened to X and Masakage? She looked to their corner and saw that all their items had been picked up. There wasn’t a single trace of them.
Not even a stray thread.
She should be elated to find herself alone. Instead, she was oddly disappointed.
Which made no sense. She should be grateful that they’d kept their side of the bargain. They’d allowed her to sleep in peace and without being molested.
Men of their words…
She wouldn’t have believed it possible. Yet here she was. Safe.
Unmolested.
And what a sad indictment of her life that “safe” made her uncomfortable. She was so used to living on high alert, ready to be attacked, that she couldn’t relax enough to enjoy a moment of tranquility.
I’m so broken.
And she had a task to see to. Gathering her things, she made ready to leave.
Just as she reached the door, it opened.
Gisela stepped back, preparing herself to fight.
