Free Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione Page B

a moment, his toned body a thing of beauty as he walked. “Forced
    fidelity, for one thing. Neither one of us can willingly have sex with another. You’ll feel pain if
    you try. I won’t be able to get it up. It means we will sense each other’s arousal no matter how
    far apart we are. We’ll feel each other’s emotions. I can feel your anger right now.”

    “I’ll just bet you can.” She glared at him. “So this all sounds pretty shitty. Why would
    anyone do this? I mean, I get that it might make things easier on you, but why would women do
    this?”

    “Not women. Our blood is toxic to humans, so we can’t bond with them.”

    “Fine. Females, then. Why would demon females bond with you?”

    “Demons do fall in love, you know,” he snapped. “Females do want to keep the male
    they love from going insane and fucking everything that moves.” He took a deep breath, and
    when he spoke again, he was calmer. “Some species get longer lifespans out of the deal. Prey
    species get a protector in a mate. There are lots of reasons a female might bond with a Seminus
    demon.”

    “What about werewolves?”

    “Out-of-this-world orgasms.”

    She stared. “ That’s it? Great sex? I’m forced to deal with you for the rest of my life and
    all I get out of it is great sex?”

    “ Better than great sex,” he said, sounding a little put out.

    She reached for her clothing, scattered around her. “This is just great.” And she wasn’t
    talking about her panties, which had been shredded.

    “I’m not real happy either, princess.”

    She resisted the urge to snap at him. This wasn’t his fault. “What’s up with your brother?
    Why is he so …”

    “Psycho?”

    “That works.”

    “He’s always been off kilter. He was born to Neethul slavemasters, an extremely cruel
    race. When he went through his s’genesis, he lost what few marbles he had.”

    She tugged on her jeans, and at some point she must have growled, because he shot her a
    curious glance.

    “You’re close, aren’t you?”

    In answer, her muscles tightened painfully, as though they were being separated from the
    bones. “The full moon is almost here.”

    “Shit.”

    “Yeah. As soon as I change, they’re going to skin me.”

    Shaking his head slowly, Shade fingered his earring. “I don’t think so. Roag bonded us
    for a reason.”

    “So he won’t kill me?”

    He met her gaze. “Oh, he’ll kill you,” he said quietly. “But not yet. I think he has
    something far worse planned.”

    Doctor Gemella Endri stood in the physicians’ lounge at Underworld General, watching
    Wraith pace while Eidolon and Kynan tried to calm him.

    The futility of their efforts was heartbreaking. Wraith had been coming apart at the seams
    for hours now. Even his clothes hadn’t been able to stand up to the stress. His T-shirt had been
    stretched irreparably at the neck from his hands’ constantly tugging at it as though it had been
    strangling him. She figured that as much as he’d been pacing, his combat boots’ soles should be
    completely worn down.

    Shoving both hands through his hair, he stopped walking and threw his back against the
    dark gray wall covered with incantations written in blood—protective spells that prevented
    violence. Mostly. He and his brothers were exempt from the violence restriction.

    “I still can’t locate him. Dammit, I can’t find him!”

    Eidolon looked up from where he sat across from Gem, his dark eyes haunted. The
    ambulance Shade and Skulk had been driving had been found, but there had been no sign of the
    demons, and everyone in the hospital was operating in worry mode. “Can you feel him at all?”

    Wraith stared at the ceiling, which was as dark as the walls. “I get blips of him when he’s
    in pain, but they don’t last. Someone must have put a masking spell on him or something.”

    “It’s the Ghouls, isn’t it?” Kynan voiced what they had all been thinking, and Gem drew
    an anxious