Free Lifebound by Leigh Daley

problem. When I first met Dana, I knew I’d found my mate. Weretigers mate for life, you understand. But I didn’t want a mate. I fought against it because I knew what it meant.”
    Josh looked at him and nodded. “Maybe Dana wasn’t on the same page. Maybe the ‘for life’ thing only went one way.”
    Rekkus smiled. “Exactly. I knew she was interested in me, but asking her to commit literally until death was another thing entirely.”
    “How about Dana’s people? What are their customs?” Josh asked as they headed down the path again.
    “The customs of the East Coast elite are mysterious and hard to fathom. Dana is a human from Martha’s Vineyard. There’s nothing paranormal about her.” His eyes misted over. “Except her…well, never mind.”
    Josh wondered exactly what he meant by that, but judging from the way Rekkus shook himself as they passed the herb garden, he decided he didn’t need to know.
    Rekkus continued, “The situation you would find yourself in as Adriana’s host is different though. She’d have to touch you—”
    “I’ve got no problem with that,” Josh interrupted.
    Rekkus stopped again and put out his hand to keep Josh from continuing down the path. “Listen to me, Josh, this is serious. There’s a fine line between too much and not enough where a lamia is concerned. She’d have to touch you, but only enough to keep herself balanced and keep you alive. Too long, and you’re over the edge. Can you do that? Can you keep your hands off her except for just a few seconds at a time? Can you be with her constantly and not give in to the temptation to kiss her, to hold her? And when you push her too far and she can’t stop, she’ll kill you. Then she’ll hate herself for the rest of her life for killing the man she loves.”
    A shiver ran over him. The man she loves. Could he be that? Could he be everything she needed? He had to try.
    “There’s more to love than sex,” he said at last.
    Rekkus stared at him and blinked, then laughed out loud. “I’m impressed. I can’t believe you actually said that.”
    Josh laughed too. “I can’t believe I actually meant it.”

    Adriana watched Josh walk into the front lobby with Rekkus, her heart torn by the sight of him. He was dusty and bloody and limped as badly as he had when she first saw him.
    “Myron, is Sage around?” Rekkus said. “We need her to take a look at this manticore slash on Josh.”
    “I’ve already sent Cemil after her.” Myron flipped over another card. Then her face clouded. “I’m going to get Sarka to look at it too. Manticore claws are pretty nasty.”
    Every nerve in Adriana’s body screamed to throw her arms around him, to pull him tightly against her chest and never let go. But she made herself stop with only a brief touch to his dusty cheek. The back of his shirt bore a huge ragged hole, and a deep gash ran eight inches across his shoulder blade, oozing blood. “Are you okay?” she asked him. “Just a little while after you left, Myron came running upstairs saying you were in serious danger. I was scared out of my mind.”
    “Sorry about that,” he murmured. “I think better in action, and I had to go think a minute.”
    “You had to go think?” She took a step back, her hands on her hips. “How did you get hurt so badly thinking?”
    “I did most of my thinking climbing that rock wall behind the cave where the hot spring is. It was a little tougher climb than it looked. Then there was that big forest full of weird animals and that lizard-lion thing that tried to eat me before Rekkus here came barreling out of the trees in his supergiant black cat form.” He frowned and swayed on his feet. “I need to sit down.”
    He fell into the nearest seat and stretched his leg out in front of him, rubbing at his hip and thigh. “I think I overworked it.” He looked around and added, “All of it.”
    Sage came running into the lobby with her arms full of herb packets and candles.
    “Oh, no.”