Animal by Nathalie Gray

Author:Nathalie Gray
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Romance, General, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult
ISBN: 9781419921322
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Published: 2009-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

When he stood and held his hand for her to take, Brioni had to fight the impulse to throw her arms around his neck and never let go. They couldn’t afford it right now. But later. She made the promise to herself to stop for a second, even amidst the chaos of running from Haruto’s tormentors, to stop and tell him all that was in her. She wanted more than this. More than a few stolen moments here and there. She wanted to be with him.

The pair walked around the old shopping mall. Through apertures in the curtains, she knew people watched them. Probably scared of the pair more than in the mood to offer help. She couldn’t blame them. GAN and its secret-no-more enforcer, the Iron Conclave, had done this to people, made them scared to offer help, to become involved. Decades of iron rule, centuries of slow eroding of the fabric that held a society together.

“We have to get to the spaceports,” Haruto murmured. Outwardly, he seemed his smooth, regular self. The man into whom nothing and no one could make a dent. A shadow of smirk even played on his lips. But she felt the difference, the closeness that had developed between them. Closeness that transcended sex. He’d let her in. Brioni sensed it as clearly as if he’d voiced it himself—Haruto had decided to trust someone and for this, a special gift, she burned with renewed fire and enthusiasm in life, which in turn made the danger tailing them that much darker. They had so much to lose now. So much. The odds were stacking up against them. Several high and several deep. She didn’t like those numbers, the chances of their fragile bond breaking under forces outside of their influence. She liked the odds of their making it off-planet even less. Where would they find a ship, first of all? Other numbers of great portent that were taking on negative variations had to do with what was growing in her heart. What if they didn’t make it? What if they went down without her sharing how she felt for him?

He had to know.

Brioni cleared her throat. “Haruto, when this is over—”

“Shh.” He raised his hand. “Don’t.”

How could he have known what she intended to say? Was she so easy to read? Not that it’d surprise her, she’d always been expressive. “Why not? You should know. You have a right to know.”

“What if I don’t want to know?” he snapped. Just by the tight set of his shoulders, she could tell he didn’t feel as smug as he looked.

Brioni slipped her hand in his, squeezed it. “I’ll let you have that one back.”

“So generous of you.” Despite the flippant tone, he squeezed her hand.

“Not at all. You’ll owe me later. And I keep wicked scores, believe me.”

He didn’t look at her or change his demeanor from the watchful man she’d come to know, yet she felt his attention was on her, the body language that always spoke louder than the rest.

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