Free Seduced by Danger by Stephanie Julian Page B

Aitás . There was a struggle for your soul and yes, we won, but it came with a price. Your arus is now tied to Cara’s.”
    Michael slowly lifted his gaze to meet Sal’s steady dark eyes. “How bad is it for her?”
    Sal’s gaze softened, so slightly Michael might have missed it if he wasn’t sitting right across the table from him.
    “Not as bad as it is for you.”
    He might be able to live with that. “What does that mean, exactly?”
    “It means she feels your absence too. Just not with the same level of…discomfort.”
    Discomfort? “What the hell does that mean? Come on, Sal. I’m not a child. Just spit it out.”
    Sal sighed. “We don’t know for sure, but we think the farther she gets from you physically, the more it’ll feel like someone’s ripping your heart out of your chest.”
    Well, shit. That sounded painful. “But she won’t feel that?”
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “Because your soul tied itself to hers when she called you back.”
    Damn. Michael’s heart started to pound out an uneven rhythm and his lungs couldn’t get enough air.
    “How far?”
    Sal’s gaze narrowed. “You mean how far can you get before the pain is so excruciating you can’t function?”
    Shit. This was so fucking bad. “ Tinia’s teat, Sal—”
    “Now don’t explode on me, Michael. It’s not as bad as it seems.”
    Michael couldn’t sit anymore. He jumped to his feet and started to pace like a caged lion. “Yes, it is. Christ, Sal, how can I go after Bennett? I can’t take her with me. I can’t let her get anywhere near the bastard. I won’t let him fuck with her life again.”
    “I’m not saying take her with you. And we’re not sure how far the bond stretches. Tell me how you feel right now.”
    Furious. “Like I fucked up again and she’s going to pay.”
    Sal frowned at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    Michael met the other man’s gaze as he continued to pace. “ Vaffanculo , Sal. I screwed up so many times, we should’ve been dead ten times over. I promised her, Sal. Damn it, I promised her we’d stop running sometime. I promised her I’d take care of Bennett so she could live.”
    Impotent rage burned in his chest. So damn close. He’d almost made good on his promise to make it safe for them all.
    But because he’d been so damn selfish, he’d fucked it all up.
    “How do we break it?” Sal or the goddesses had to have a solution. They had to—
    Sal shook his head. “There’s no breaking it, Michael. You break it, you die.”
    “What about Cara? If I die, will she be okay?”
    Sal’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his chair. “Damn, son, I don’t like where you’re going with this.”
    Michael didn’t care. “I don’t want her to be stuck with me, Sal. She deserves better.”
    “Better than you, you mean?”
    That’s exactly what he meant. He didn’t deserve her. And yet…he wanted her to love him and never leave him.
    She’d never said the words. He suspected it was because he’d been so damn careful not to say it to her. And because she thought he didn’t want to hear it.
    Which was both true and so very not true.
    He was so fucking pathetic he should put himself out of his misery.
    “Well,” Sal shook his head, “I can’t do much about your low self-esteem. But I can tell you Cara would have your head if she heard you talk like this so I suggest you don’t ever say that in her presence. Get your head out of your ass, boy. You’re damn lucky to have this woman. Don’t screw it up.”
    Michael stared at Sal in shock. Was the other man honestly saying he thought he and Cara belonged together? A Mal and a beautiful Fata . The pairing went against the laws of nature.
    Yes, Michael knew Cara and Aron were the best things that could ever happen to him. They were a gift he didn’t deserve. Would never deserve.
    He’d done horrible things in his life. He’d worked for the Mal for years. He’d stolen businesses from honest men and women, destroyed