Free Branded by Jenika Snow Page A

she had tried to fight him and failed.
    He
had her in his arms seconds later, and just held her. The soft, almost
affectionate stroking of his hand up and down the back of her head was
soothing. Greta didn’t want to feel anything but hatred for this monster,
didn’t want to press her face to his chest and breathe in the dark, spicy scent
of him. And she especially didn’t want to feel safe and sated in his arms
because none of this was right or sane.
    However,
Greta didn’t push him away. Instead, she let him carry her. His physical
strength scared her, his species horrified her, and the fact he could look at
her and see right into her soul petrified her. But even after all of that,
thinking about what she’d just done, she knew that she could have a life where
she didn’t fear. This male could help her, let her
live, and save Jayce and her family. She just needed to keep her mind open, her
emotions in check, and try to live this life.

Chapter
Ten
     
    “I
did not see a slave collar on the human female when I was at your pod last,” Stellan said.
    “Because
she isn’t my slave, and will never be such,” Tolcan responded.
    Stellan nodded, and the scent of his
acceptance was pretty startling, especially so soon after Tolcan had made the declaration.
    “Are
you sure you want to do this?” Stellan asked, his concern clear in his voice and his expression.
Although Rogues did not fear things, especially not of the Enforcer class,
there was a very distinct concern over something that shouldn’t be done, and
what Tolcan was going to do was something he probably
shouldn’t do.
    “I’m
sure,” Tolcan said and stared at Redon, who came in
the stalls with three human slaves in tow, one of them Jayce. The humans were
shackled with thin Hulla wire, a special type of
woven string that was thin, but stronger than even metal when tied in a braid.
    “This
is about that female you took into your pod, isn’t it?” Stellan asked. There was no curiosity in his voice, but also no accusation.
    It
had been a week’s time since he’d brought Greta to his home, and although she
was still very much tentative around him, there were small interactions she
initiated. He wouldn’t take her until she was fully willing, until she came to
him, thus proving that he was here for her, not as a master, but as an equal,
as a mate. Helping this human male she had friendly affection for would help
her trust him further.
    But
he couldn’t help the memory of what he’d done with her, what he’d done to her, just days before. Tasting,
touching, and getting her off had been the single most intense experience of
his life. Making her come, tasting her flavor slide down his throat made him
frenzied for her. Even now he was getting hard just thinking about her, and
remembering the taste of her.
    “I
can smell your desire for the human. You need to rein it in before others sense
it,” Stellan said.
    Tolcan waved off the advice from his
second in command, even if the other male was right. He needed to calm himself,
but if someone smelled the arousal he had, and figured it was because of his
human female, and what he was about to do was because of that as well, things
would not end well. “I need to offer a deal to Redon,” Tolcan said. He was doing this for his woman, for Greta, and this was going against
everything that he was brought up to believe.
    “Look
at me,” Stellan said.
    Tolcan looked at the other male. He
trusted the Rogue, trusted him with his life, with the knowledge that he wanted
to have Greta as his mate, even if Tolcan hadn’t told
him specifically that. Stellan could sense it, Tolcan knew, because the truth was Tolcan was being sloppy with his desire, wasn’t shielding his feelings for the female
like he should.
    He
pushed his arousal down, his desires and needs for the woman that had changed
something monumental in him and she’d never realized it, and moved toward
Redon. When he was a few feet away Jayce looked up, his