Southern Shifters: Scents and Scentability (Kindle Worlds Novella) (9 page)

“Darcy is mine,” Bennett said, speaking to the camera and speaker. “You will not touch her again, is that clear?”

“As I was saying,” Gruner no longer sounded quite so confident. In fact, his voice shook. She’d scared him.

Good.
Bennett snarled, and she agreed.

“Stand down. You are free to take Ms. Ashwood with you, Mr. Nelson. We have concluded this stage of the experiment.”

The words knocked the wind out of her, and she gaped at the camera.
Experiment?
Her mate squeezed her hand, offering his comfort and strength freely and without reservation.

“There will be no other stages for your
experiment
.” He spit the last word at them. “She is not yours to touch, to use, or to analyze.”

“We will see. The Council will be in touch.”

The connection ended. Bewilderment filled her. What experiment? What had the Council done? Bennett didn’t wait, to find out. He scooped her into his arms and strode from the facility.

H
is mate’s
unhappiness left Bennett coiled for attack. Once he’d retrieved Darcy from the damn facility, he’d taken her to his home. Though the cabin was similar to the one they’d shared, it was smaller and lacked any kind of a lab. He would find a way to build her what she needed. Unlike before, she didn’t argue at his security measures nor did she try to slip away from him.

Instead, all she did was sit and stare for long periods of time. Even her mind seemed to have retreated from him. His cat refused to let her go, as did he. They held her, caressed her and roused her passion. But once spent, she would go back to that lonely abyss deep inside where he couldn’t follow.

Every day he half-expected the Guardian to appear and order him to leave. His Clan had been curiously quiet and they’d heard nothing from hers. Not since the day at the lab. Still, Bennett prepared. They could leave the Dragon, and go west. There were other mountain ranges, other territories they could slip away into where she would be safe.

“They used me,” Darcy said, the first words she’d spoken since he’d brought her home. Pivoting, he hurried to the sofa and slid onto the seat next to her.

“They tried, sweetheart. They were not successful.”

A spark flared in her deep brown eyes, the light kindling hope in him. She’d been so distant. So lost. His animal clawed at him demanding he fix it and he would do whatever she needed. They simply didn’t know what it was. “But they were—in a way. I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet. I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t understand what they’d done.”

Cupping her cheek, Bennett stroked her skin with his thumb. “Sweetheart, they kidnapped you and tried to hurt you. They took you to a place you said they consigned your mad ones.”

“Yes…” She nodded then shook her head. “But that wasn’t why they took me there. The experiment—
we
were their experiment.”

The anger in her tone ignited his own rage. “Explain.”

“I’m not I sure I can, at least not all their details. But I used my abilities combatively, something they’ve always wanted. They sent me here to experiment on you, and they wanted me to use the attractant first—it was in the notes. The attractant, Bennett. To get you to like me.”

She’d hardly needed any chemical to incite his lust or interest. Yet, he’d been told to take care of her, to stay with her and protect her. His Clan sent him to be her guardian. Hers sent him to entice him. “They wanted us to mate.”

Moistening her lips, she nodded slowly. “I think so. I think they wanted to see what I would do if I were taken from you. Would I fight—finally—to get back to you? Would I fight to defend you?”

Not an unreasonable assumption, except… “It’s a banishing offense. What logic could they use to rationalize encouraging us to do what they have always said is against the law?”

Turning so she could brush her lips to his palm, Darcy smiled faintly. “What any scientist would do—observe the results. I heard rumors about what happened with…what happened before when one of mine mated to one of your clan. Their abilities grew stronger. When you put two chemical reactions together, you can hypothesize what they might do, you can suppose and you can speculate. Most of the time, we understand the reactions, which leads to certain conclusions that can only be field tested.” God, he loved it when she talked science. Animation filled her lovely face and her mind seemed to soar next to his. “But they are only a hypothesis until it’s observed. Why else have they not sent us away? Why else haven’t we been banished? They sent us to your home to contain us, for more observation.”

Her words hit him harder than he would have believed possible. To reduce their relationship to something quantifiable they could observe and measure? To arrange the situation to remove his will and hers? How could they have expected the false relationship to survive if she had not already borne his mark? Or had that been the idea, create the false ground upon which to manufacture a mating they could control and ultimately end? The twisted nature of the idea could have left them desolate and empty. The loss of a mate a devastation which might have sparked her madness and driven him away permanently. Yet, no matter how he looked at the idea, he couldn’t dispute her conclusion.

They’d retreated to his home, the stretch of wildness around them keeping them distant from any interlopers. He’d scented nothing in his cabin that shouldn’t have been there, but then…she’d been working on a compound to erase scent. Suspicion fully aroused, he glanced around the room.

It no longer mattered to him why they’d done what they did. They still posed a threat. Their actions didn’t promise security for his mate. Maybe they wanted to resolve the differences between the Clans. Maybe they had no lasting intentions to separate them. He found he couldn’t care less, not when it could still threaten her.

“We cannot stay here,” he told her, needing her agreement. He could make many decisions, but if she wanted to stay and fight, he would be at her side.

“Where you go, I go.” Her declaration steadied him and, for the first time since she’d been taken from him, his cat settled. They were united. One heart. One soul.

One mind, Bennett.
Yes, they were. Even when she slipped away from him, he’d always had the sense of her. Their mating was permanent and because of them, not due to any chemical.

One mind, my lovely goddess, but no more fleeing into the darkness without me.

I’m never alone.
Then she smiled and brushed her lips to his.
I just had to figure it out. I’m sorry if I seemed to be leaving you.
Her understanding relaxed him further and his forgiveness was automatic.

We’re leaving today.

She glanced around his house, then back at him, and he chuckled before rubbing a finger over her lower lip.
They are only things, sweet Darcy. You are my home. We will find a place far away from their plots, their plans and their experiments and we will indulge in one of our own.

The rapid increase to her heart rate and the sweet perfume of her desire drew him like a magnet.
What is your hypothesis that you want to test?

He grinned, pressing his thumb the corner of her mouth so her lips would part before swooping into to claim her.

That we only need each other to be happy.

Pleasure shimmered through their connection.
I already have all the proof of that I need.

Indulge me
, he teased.

Yes.

It was the only answer he needed. To hell with the Clans. To hell with the Council. He had Darcy.

N
ational bestselling author
, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

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M
arlowe Templeton
, known to most as Maddie, is going through a break-up. The man she thought was her mate, actually wasn’t. While that should break her heart, and it did a little, she’s more upset about losing her best friend and confidant, her ex-boyfriend’s twin brother Van. When the opportunity to escape town and help her cousin out at her bakery comes around, she jumps at it. A little time away to get her head back on straight seems like the perfect way to get some distance.

Van Bowman thought all he could have since the day Maddie unwittingly picked his twin brother over him, was friendship. He’s had to love her quietly from a distance, and find comfort in being her confidant. Now that his brother has broken up with her, Van is ready to claim the woman that should have been his from the beginning. He made a mistake not telling her how he felt, and he aims to fix that. He’ll do anything to convince her she belongs to him, even chase after her and face off against her new protective friends.