Free Excessive Force (Force of Nature Series) by Kathi S. Barton

he got up and went to Jodie. “What did the mage do to you?”
    Instead of answering him , she lifted her sleeves on her shirt. It wasn’t until then that he realized that she always wore long sleeves, even in her tee-shirts. When she held her arms out to him, he could see the scars there.
    “He tried to kill me. I was seventeen and had been on my own for only about a month when he found me. I didn’t have any idea how to fight him, or for that matter how to even save myself. But he…I hurt him somehow, and that’s all that saved me.” Reid pulled her wrists to his mouth and kissed the wide claw marks there. Dozens of them ran deeply along her wrists up to her elbows. He asked her if there were more. When she nodded and turned, he lifted her shirt up to expose her back.
    It looked as if she’d gone a few rounds with a tiger. Claw marks ran up and down as well as crossways across her back. Most of them were so deep they’d been stitched closed, the pucker marks evident among them. He lifted the shirt higher and found marks along her neck to her throat and up into her hairline. Reid wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her, but she stepped away before he could.
    “Are they all over your body?” She nodded as she walked to the other side of the room and sat down. “How long were you in the hospital?”
    “Three months. They told me I was lucky to be alive.” Her laughter was bitter and manic sounding. “I wish I would have given up some days instead of setting out to prove them wrong.”
    “I found her there, in the hospital.” Reid looked at Tristan, who was now seated again. “She was nearly healed by then, and since she wouldn’t take even a sip of my blood, I couldn’t heal her.”
    “So you trained her instead.” Tristan nodded at him. “And you knew when you took her under your wing that the same mage that hurt your mate is the one that hurt your daughter.”
    “No. I didn’t know who had hurt her until a few years later. Jolene had a horrific nightmare one night during our time together. I only meant to sooth her , but I found her memories of the monster who did that to her. It was then that I decided to give her everything.” Tristan seemed to come to a decision as he continued. “You know that when he finds her, and I’ve no doubt that he’s still looking, that he’ll stop at nothing this time to kill her. She’s much more powerful than she’d been as a child.”
    “He’ll kill her for her own powers. They’ll come to him when he kills her.” Tristan smiled sadly and nodded. “He won’t get the chance.”
    Reid pulled her up from the couch and into his body. She was stiff yet didn’t fight him. When he buried her face into his throat, she licked him but nothing more. Tristan cleared his throat.
    “You do know that’s not what I meant when I said she needs to drink from you.” It took Reid a few seconds to realize what he’d meant and flushed. “Yes, you’ll need to mate and bond for it to be finished.”
    Jodie pulled from him. “It’s not going to happen. I’ll take my chances with the mage, and if I die, then I do.”
    She backed away from him and turned to the door. He started after her when she stopped and held up her hand. Reid was frozen in place. Looking at Tristan, he could see that she held him as well, and both of them watched as she moved across the room and disappeared. They were both released as soon as she was gone.
    “I wish now I’d not trained her on that trick.” Reid wished Tristan hadn’t either. Sitting down on the couch, he tried to think what to do now. That’s when Tristan lifted his head up.
    “She will die if you don’t bond with her.” Reid nodded, but his hands were tied since she didn’t give him permission. “You need only to make her aware of what you plan to do to her. I’m sure you can be quite inventive if you set your mind to it.”
    When Tristan disappeared a few seconds later, Reid still had no idea what he’d meant.