Free Worlds Apart 2: Hunter's Revenge by Bonnie Rose Leigh Page B

him, he breathed a sigh of relief. Several seconds later, it suddenly became thinner. It flattened against their skin, burrowing beneath the layers of flesh until it became one with them. Its
DNA
now blended with theirs, forming an invisible tether between them. Nothing could separate them now, in heart, mind or body. If they were ever separated again, for whatever reason, she’d not be alone. Never again would either of them be alone.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    “What just happened to me, Hunter?” Amy asked, her eyes widening with fear. She felt something new inside her. Something crawling through her system, locking her to this man. She turned away, rubbing her wrists, trying to remove the thing that had just burrowed into her flesh.
    “I feel different.” She looked at him, nervously licked her lips. “Why do I feel so different?” She fought the urge to try to dig the bonds from under her skin. The way they burrowed beneath her flesh like a living thing was the most remarkable and frightening thing she’d ever seen—ever felt—in her life.
    Amy couldn’t blame him for the results. He’d warned her. She turned, ready to bolt from the room. He’d told her, yet a part of her hadn’t believed him. That they could be permanently bound, by living cords, was unbelievable, preposterous, yet it seemed as though what he said was true.
    She felt him within her. She felt his fear of her rejection, his desire to be what she wanted, his determination to help her overcome her fears and the overwhelming love he already felt for her. Could she trust what she felt through the bond? Should she trust it?
    The cord had come to life, wrapping itself around them, before dissolving beneath their skin all on its own. The one small part that remained between them just seemed to disappear into oblivion.
    Warmth and love filled her at his look. His expressive eyes told her what he felt. She would know, even without the bonds that he would die for her. Why was this happening? She didn’t want this. Her body screamed out for him. Even the atrocities she’d been forced to endure didn’t detract from the attraction she felt when he was near.
    Through their bonds, she knew he was a good man. She knew that he’d never intentionally harmed a woman or child and that he loved his family almost as much as he loved her.
    Her gaze darted around the room. How could he love her when he didn’t even know her? Not really. How could she feel these impossible feelings so soon after her ordeal? What kind of woman was she that she could just accept what happened to her and move on as though nothing had happened? Her skin should crawl at the thought that he would want to touch her in the way those other men had. But something told her it would not be the same with him.
    Hunter moved closer and she moved away, pressing her back against the wall. “It is the bonds, moya . Since we are true mates, we can feel each other’s emotions.” He moved closer, his breath brushing the side of her face. “If you open your mind you can even read my memories—my hopes and my dreams.”
    She closed her eyes. Her feelings, her senses frightened her. His very nearness brought her nipples to hard points, heat moved through her. She couldn’t read him as thoroughly as he said she would. But she could still feel his need to comfort her, even as his body raged at him to make her his.
    “Why do I feel so different?” She couldn’t understand it. It was almost as though there had always been a part of her gone—a part of her missing and when he wrapped the strange band around her wrist, it completed her. She’d never felt lacking before now, but with the bonds uniting them together, she noticed the difference.
    “The sensation you feel is the bonds tying us together, uniting us in the way that only the Manruvian mate bonds can. The longer we are bound to each other, the more of it we will feel. The closer we will get.”
    He pressed even