Mortal Danger Read Online Free PDF Page A

anyone sent for the manager?”
    “Is there another one?”
    “Plenty of stalls, no need to lock the door.”
    “… some kind of sadist, if you ask me!”
    Someone had locked the door to the ladies’ room. Rule’s mouth went dry. He eased his way through the women, using his size, his smile, and, after a moment, their recognition to part them. “Excuse me, ladies. Pardon me. No, I’m not the manager, but if you’ll step aside…”
    “Shannon,” one of them whispered to another, “You dummy! That’s the Nokolai prince!”
    That silenced them for a moment. “I think I can fix this if you’ll… thank you,” he said as the last one moved away. An odd, faint odor hung in the air near the door. He bent closer to sniff, but he couldn’t identify it.
    Lily was on the other side. He felt her nearness as a slow stir beneath his breastbone. Heart hammering, he rapped on the door. Hollow core.
    “That won’t work!” one of the women snapped. “You think we haven’t tried knocking?”
    The knob turned, but the door didn’t budge. Bolted on the other side, he judged.
    “We tried opening it, too,” the woman said sarcastically.
    Rule put his fist through the door.
    Wood splintered. Someone shrieked. He reached through the hole he’d made and found the bolt. His blood made it slippery, but he gripped it hard and yanked. He shoved the door open.
    Lily lay on her back by the sinks. She wasn’t moving.

TWO
    “AND why,” Rule asked with strained patience, “Did you send the EMTs away?”
    Lily sat in the middle of the restroom floor in a puddle of muddy green chiffon, petting the white tiles. In the hall by the door, a uniformed officer kept out the curious and the concerned while his partner took statements.
    Rule sat on the floor, too—over against the wall, well away from Lily so he wouldn’t mess up the traces left by her attacker.
    She frowned at the floor as if someone had written an unwelcome message there in invisible ink. “They wanted to take me to the hospital.”
    He stared at the heart of his heart, the one woman in the world for him… the pigheaded, my-way-or-the-highway idiot who’d refused medical treatment. “Imagine that. What were they thinking?”
    Her lips twitched. At last she looked away from the fascinating floor. “I’ll go later. My sore head is evidence of a sort, but I really am okay. Unlike you, I didn’t lose any blood—”
    “You opened your wound.”
    “But it barely bled, and I’m already stuffed full of antibiotics. My sister checked me out.”
    “Yes, and said you probably had a concussion—”
    “A slight concussion.”
    “—and should go to the emergency room and let them run tests.”
    “Which would confirm that my head hurts, after which they’d tell me to rest. I’m resting.”
    “You’re conducting a bloody be-damned investigation!”
    “I don’t have much time before the S.O.C. crew gets here.”
    “You’re speaking acronym again.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Scene-of-crime crew. I wanted to check things out before they show up. Or Karonski.” She frowned at the floor one last time, and then held out her hand. “I’ve learned all I can. Help me up?”
    He rose swiftly, crossed to her, and took her hand. With one gentle tug she was on her feet and in his arms. He nuzzled her hair. Her scent reached inside him, easing him away from anger.
    Which left the fear standing alone. He drew a shaky breath. “Dammit, Lily. Your face is the color of sweaty gym socks.”
    “I’m so glad you told me that.” But she leaned into him, letting him have the warmth and weight of her—the prickle of arousal and the comfort of connection. He knew she drew strength from the contact, too. She’d come that far in accepting the mate bond. She no longer denied them this out of fear her needs would swallow her.
    But she wouldn’t live with him. That, Rule promised himself, would change. After this attack, even Lily couldn’t continue to insist on warping both of