Crucible of Fate Read Online Free PDF Page B

time. “Now, listen. Thirty men on a mission of mediation is overkill.”
    “I disagree,” I said defensively.
    “I used to be a sheseru,” he brought to mind, his tone placating. “I know how many men to take, Domin. Don’t fret.”
    “I don’t fret!” I was indignant. “I just want you to be safe and—”
    “I will be perfectly fine meeting a semel and the djehus. If I have too many men with me, it will seem like I’m there to impose your will instead of talk. Take my counsel on this.”
    That was the second time he’d used that word. “What’s a djehu? I mean, I get that it’s some kind of leader, but the word’s new to me.”
    “A djehu is like an aker, except it’s elected. Apparently, this is how the tribe of Feran is. Hakkan Tarek allowed djehus to be picked by the people instead of them just going to the sylvan.”
    “Why?”
    “Because they are two very diverse groups who live apart, don’t ever mix, and have basically nothing in common.”
    “Except that they’re all panthers.”
    “Except that.”
    “You know you don’t have to explain it to me like that. I’m not a child.”
    “No. You’re not,” he said, his voice sultry and full of heat.
    I swallowed hard.
    “So, I’m going to meet with the semel, get Garai home, and then speak to the djehus and bring you back all their concerns, whatever they are.”
    “Fine,” I growled, prickly with frustration.
    “Good.” He soothed me. “Did you want to kiss me or—”
    “Just go.” I was terse.
    Instead of listening, he took my face in his big hands, hauled me close, and kissed me hard and deep and possessive. When he tipped my head back, my mouth opened, and he swept his tongue inside and mated it with mine.
    I grabbed hold of the heavy jacket, my hands curling around the lapels as I whimpered in the back of my throat. I needed more, wanted more, and I resented everything, all of it, because being semel-aten meant I could not claim my mate whenever I wanted.
    The rules, the protocols, the granted audiences and the myriad of people I saw in the course of a day kept me continually from his side. And then when I did see him, it often erupted because I was angry and he was the only one I could vent my frustrations to—or on—and became me attacking him, yelling, picking fights….
    I wanted everything to be right between us before he left. I put all of it, everything I was thinking and feeling, into the kiss. He had to know how much I loved him. I needed it engrained in him, simply recognized and understood.
    I sucked his tongue inside my mouth, then slid mine over his, stroking, slipping it back and forth, drawing the kiss out, feeling the shiver run through him. I moaned loudly when his hands gripped my ass tight.
    “Domin,” he whispered. I kissed him until he had to tear his lips from mine to breathe. “Are you trying to kill me?”
    “Just trying to make an impression,” I said, lifting my mouth for the next one, tightening my arms around his neck to bring him back down to me.
    “I’ll never get out of here,” he pretended to complain as he fused his lips to mine.
    Seconds later when he shoved me away, I was surprised. “What?” I was panting.
    “I have to go.”
    “Yuri—”
    “Love.” The tone, the lull in it, the adoration, brought me out of my pheromone-fueled haze.
    “I have to go,” he repeated.
    “Take your phone.”
    “It’s in my pocket.”
    “Okay.”
    “You’re adorable.”
    Faced with the dancing clear-blue eyes of my mate, I couldn’t even growl at him. I forced a smile instead to hide my worry, my fear, my aching heart, and most of all, my devouring need to keep him with me. “How long?” I posed the question as nonchalantly as possible.
    “Two weeks, I would think.”
    “How far away is Ipis?”
    “It’s a ten-hour drive,” he said, taking my chin in his hand to lightly brush his lips over mine. “I’ll be home before you know it. I love you.”
    I dismissed him with a flick of my