Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 05 Read Online Free PDF Page B

inside, regardless of their
species, but he couldn’t deny that on the outside she was exactly what he liked
in a woman.
    It was just one of those maddening anomalies in the
universe that made it clear someone up there either had a really sick sense of
humor…or just got a kick outta screwing with some people’s lives—because there
was no doubt that the world would’ve been a hell of a lot simpler for Kierland
if he’d gotten off on short blondes, instead of leanly muscled brunettes with
prickly attitudes.
    “And at any rate,” she murmured, “I wasn’t terrorizing
your dates when you kissed me. I was getting mauled by one of their bastard
bodyguards.”
    He grunted in response, and walked faster, figuring he
had a better chance of getting her to shut up if he kept her busy trying to
keep up with him. “Get in,” he ordered a moment later, jerking his chin toward
the sleek black Spider that sat parked on the curb.
    A soft whistle fell from her lips as she ran her hand
over the cold, shiny roof. “Nice. When’d you pick this up?”
    “A few days ago.” She climbed into the passenger seat,
and Kierland slid behind the wheel. It was a testament to his mood that not
even the low purr of the V6 could soothe his nerves when he started the engine.
    “How’d you get the Consortium to approve the
purchase?”
    “Actually, I paid for this one myself,” he explained,
and she accepted the news with a quiet nod, since she knew he and Kell had
inherited a near fortune from their grandfather.
    “You always did like fast cars,” was all she said in
response, before fastening her seat belt.
    He waited for her to make some scathing comment about
how he liked fast women, as well, but she seemed too absorbed in checking out
the Spider’s sleek interior, a low, almost sexual kind of murmur falling from
her lips as she ran her hands across the butter-soft leather of her seat.
    Kierland ground his jaw, knowing he was in trouble
when he got off watching a woman fondle his car. Pulling out into the traffic,
he blurted out the first words that came into his mind. “You handled yourself
well back there against the jackals.”
    MORGAN SEARCHED FOR ANY hidden sarcasm in the gruffly
spoken words, but couldn’t find any. It was a reflex reaction, since most
people, aside from her family, treated her like she was something inferior.
Kierland was one of the few exceptions. At least when she’d first met him. He’d
pushed her harder than the others in her class, expecting her to be better than
her peers, because in the field she would have to be if she wanted to survive.
And then he’d demanded that she go above and beyond even the highest
expectations of the academy. It’d made her feel foolishly special, until she’d
discovered that he’d secretly harbored doubts about her abilities. The
knowledge had been one more pain on top of many, and she had never forgotten.
    Clearing her throat, she finally decided to be
magnanimous and said, “You weren’t too shabby yourself.”
    In fact, she’d been mesmerized by his viciousness.
Though she’d seen Kierland fight on numerous occasions, it never failed to
amaze her how dangerously beautiful he was during combat, his body moving with
a powerful, animal-like grace that rendered him invincible. Tonight, he’d
slashed through the group with a ferociousness that she’d never seen from him
before, and it had been nothing short of breathtaking, her soldier senses still
humming with pleasure.
    He seamlessly slid the car up a gear, speeding down
the street, and rumbled, “Maybe now would be a good time to tell me what you’re
doing here, before we get attacked again. Which, considering the way this night
has gone so far, could be any second now.”
    “Like I said before, it’s about Kellan.”
    “Did he send you here?” Everyone knew that Kellan had
been furious when Kierland had left Harrow House alone, arguing that his
brother was taking too great a risk by staying in Prague by