BlackWind Read Online Free PDF Page B

their element,” he said in a hard voice.
    “She's safe here,” Bronnie said, laying her head against his shoulder.
    “She is in agony here,” he protested, shrugging her away. “She misses her own kind. That is worse to her than not having freedom. Being able to commune with your own kind...” With his face set and hard, he turned and stalked off.
    Bronnie took one last look at the sea cow, wondering if, in his fey way, the man she loved so desperately could somehow communicate with the creature. If he could, it would not surprise her. He had always seemed capable of reading her thoughts at will. She hurried to catch up with him, falling silently into step beside his tall frame.
    He did not acknowledge her presence. His jaw was clenched, his shoulders still hunched. They walked to the Teen Center at the western end of the park without speaking.
    “It bothers me,” he said finally.
    “I know.”
    He stopped beside her car. “She is so lonely and doesn't understand why she is where she is. She doesn't understand torture but she understands grief. She grieves for those she left behind when she was captured.”
    Bronnie stood beside him, wishing she could take him into her arms and make the sadness leave his eyes.
    “They all feel that way,” he said softly, looking back toward the zoo. “They were taken from their homes and shipped thousands upon thousands of miles away to a place so unlike what they are used to. They spend the rest of their lives locked in a cage, looking out at the humans who can come and go at will, dreading the little boys who come to taunt and torment them.” He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “Sometimes I wish they could all go to sleep and never wake.”
    Bronnie understood how he felt. She hated zoos as much as he did. “They are safe,” she said lamely.
    “Safe but unhappy. As miserable as you or I would be if such a thing was done to us.” He shuddered and turned his back on the zoo. “Let's change the subject.”
    She smiled gently. “Fine by me.”
    He leaned against her car. “I got a job.”
    She arched her eyebrows. “Other than with your dad?”
    He nodded. “Over at Griffin Motors.”
    “Doing what?”
    “Detailing cars, changing tires. That sort of thing,” he said with a shrug. “Tym Cullen doesn't pay me for working at the butcher shop and I need the money.”
    “So what do you need money for, Cullen?”
    “To take you to the prom.”
    Bronnie's mouth dropped open. “Get outta here!”
    Sean narrowed his eyes. “You don't think I'd let some other guy take you, do you?”
    She clamped her lips together. They'd had similar discussions over the years. “Not if I don't want you to punch the poor boy in the face.”
    “So it's settled.”
    “No,” she drawled, drawing out the word. “I don't remember you asking me if I wanted to go to the prom.”
    “Every girl wants to go to her proms, Bronwyn. It's a right of passage.”
    Sean was big on rites of passage, she thought. Although she had always dreamed of going to her junior and senior proms, she had given up on the notion because she knew he'd never let her go with someone else and she thought such things would bore him to tears.
    That and the fact she also knew he did not have the money to rent a tux.
    “Well?” he queried, one thick brow arched.
    “Well, what?”
    “Is it settled or not?”
    “Are you going to ask me or not?”
    Sean sighed, dropped his head, shook it in what could only be exasperation, then drew in a breath. He raised his head and released the breath with his words. “Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the prom, Milady?”
    Bronnie put her index finger on her cheek and pretended to think. “Well, I'll have to check my social register. That's almost a year away and...”
    She got no farther, for he stepped in front of her and pinned her against the car, deliberately pressing his lower body against hers. He did not speak, but the heat in his blue gaze said more