Soul Bonded Read Online Free PDF Page A

of her. That his friend had suggested that Rafe himself might commit one or more of those acts upon her was beyond comprehension. Rafe’s insistence that he wouldn’t might have reassured her more if he hadn’t seemed to indicate that something had happened between them after her rescue—something bad enough to draw his friend’s anger.
    Overwhelmed, Katie stopped pacing and forced back the sob that threatened to escape. The worst part of this whole nightmare was not being sure whether she could trust Rafe. He’d sounded sincere when he told his friend he wanted to protect her, but at the same time, he was clearly a liar. He’d been lying to her from the moment she woke up. And he was crazy. Batshit crazy.
    So how could she possibly trust him?
    “Oh, God,” she whispered. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she swiped them away, frustrated. She had no idea what she was going to do, but crying wasn’t an option. The pissed-off part of her wanted to confront Rafe and demand the truth, while her more pragmatic side urged her to hide the fact that she knew something was amiss. If he reacted to her accusations with violence, she had no way to protect herself, nowhere to hide. Even if she managed to escape the cabin, she didn’t know how to reach civilization—and the cold would likely kill her before she could.
    She inhaled deeply, trying to steady her nerves, but immediately regretted it when Rafe’s pleasantly male scent flooded her senses and turned her legs to jelly. Anger surged through her, fiery and all-consuming. How was it possible that the mere hint of his smell on her borrowed clothes could make her body forget that he was obviously a lunatic? She was at a total loss, and resented the hell out of him for that.
    At what was almost certainly the worst moment he could have chosen, Rafe knocked on the bedroom door again. “Katie?”
    Startled, she stumbled backward a few steps and brought her hand to her chest, shocked to feel her heart thumping in nervous excitement. Infuriated that her mind and body were on completely different wavelengths when it came to this man, she barked, “What?”  
    The door creaked open and Rafe peeked inside. “Are you all right?”
    At the sight of his face—square-jawed, rugged, and handsome—and the concern in his beautiful eyes, Katie’s thin hold on her control snapped. “No, I’m not. I am definitely not all right.”
    Rafe’s expression changed instantly, as though he was dropping some pretense he realized she wasn’t buying. His entire countenance hardened, even as his throat jumped in a clear indication of anxiety. “Do you need another bowl of soup?”
    No, she wanted to shout, she needed to know what was going on. But she held her tongue, afraid of pushing him too far. “Who was at the door?”
    He studied her as though trying to decide why she was asking. Or maybe he sensed that she already had an idea. After a long hesitation, he said, “A neighbor.”
    “I thought the roads were closed.”
    “They are. He has a snowmobile. And he doesn’t live very far.” Rafe took a step closer, prompting Katie to step back. The complex mix of emotions on his face confounded her. “Tell me what you’re really asking.”
    Katie tamped down the urge to keep retreating. She could see a hint of danger in Rafe’s eyes and feared that the artifice of civility was about to dissolve between them. Her gaze darted around the room as she tried to decide what she would do if he came after her. He stood between her and the door. The bed blocked her only other route of escape.
    She really didn’t want to get anywhere near that bed right now.
    “Did you tell him about me?” Katie said. Though it wasn’t what she really wanted to know, she suddenly, desperately, didn’t want to push her luck. “I was just wondering…could he take me into town?”
    Rafe relaxed slightly. “Yeah, he knows you’re here. He agreed that the roads are impassable right now, even by