Free The Lycan Hunter (The Gardinian World Series) by Kelsey Jordan Page B

issues with his control. He wanted…something. And it had to come from the woman who was stretched out on the bed.
    Part of him knew that it wasn't just sex that he craved. He wanted – needed on an intuitive level – more from her. And that part warred with his self-preservation.
    He was leaning to scan his retina when the glass he had given her for her water crashed into the wall beside his head.
    “Are you fucking insane?” Ronan asked, but it only sounded like background noise to Kyran’s growing rage.
    He turned around slowly, deliberately trying to give himself time to gather even a morsel of restraint.
    “Did you just throw something at me?”
    “If I did, I wouldn’t have missed.”
    Kyran motioned for Ronan to wrap up the examination before he turned around to enter the code.
    The thermos slammed into the wall, splashing its hot contents over him and the door that had begun to open.
    Ronan let out a curse.
    “Get out, Ronan.” Kyran saw his brother hesitate, which only pissed him off more. “Ronan, get the fuck out.”
    Ronan left mumbling a prayer to Narn regarding dumbass Hunters on his way out. The doors shut, and the security reset on them before Kyran looked at the Hunter.
    ***
    Alexis crouched on the bed, which agitated her stitches. It was also a terrible place to prepare for a fight, but the monstrosity of a bed prevented her from finding a more tactical position in the room. Besides, she didn’t want to win.
    She sucked in a breath and watched him as his predatory gaze trailed over her. She tried to mimic the intensity of his stare, but dominance contests weren’t her forte, so she blinked.
    That blink was all he ’ d needed. She opened her eyes to find herself pinned underneath him. Alexis remained silent, though her wound was screaming in defiance. Pain visited her frequently enough that she didn't cry out much anymore.
    “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you?”
    “You should,” she said.
    He leapt from the bed and glared at her. “Why?”
    “Because I’m going to die anyway.”
    He scoffed, rolling his shoulders as if attempting to ward off his agitation. “I’ve been doing surgery for more than a century. You’ll be fine. Hell, you’re going home tomorrow.”
    Alexis blinked back tears. She swore she wouldn ’ t cry, that she would face her death like her brother had. “I can’t go home. They ’ ll kill me when they find out.”
    “Find out what?”
    “I can’t do my job anymore.”
    Hunters didn ’ t t olerate members who couldn ’ t fulfill their obligations . Desk jobs were reserved for the Hunters whose elevated senses were too weak to be an asset in the field. The only slots r eserved for the ineffective ones were in the ground.
    “What’s changed in the last thirty minutes?”
    Alexis leaned against the headboard. Of course he couldn’t just kill her and get it over with. No, he needed viable reasons.
    Where was a rogue when you needed one?
    “What’s your name?”
    “Why?”
    “I need the name of the person I’m going to put a bullet in.”
    “Kyran.” He smiled at her, but it wasn ’ t friendly. “See, now you can stop doing shit to piss me off. They won’t kill you if you keep talking like that.” He turned and headed for the door but shot her a glance over his shoulder. “ Just do me a favor. Don ’ t be a coward. Shoot me in the chest.”
    Alexis rested her head on her knees and watched the door close behind Kyran. She needed him in a true rage. He had been mad, but blinding rage – the kind where good judgment vanished into the ether – was the only way she could get him to kill her. She had less than a day to change his mind about keeping her alive.
    God must hate me.
    It had been less than a month since her brother, Torin, had come home, and by the end of that month, he was dead. Now she was repeating his footsteps, probably an exact carbon copy considering Suches had been Torin ’ s last post. More to the point, she was seeing what he ’