Read Online Bound By Fate: A Novel of the Strong by Amy Knickerbocker - Free Book Online Page B

flashed an electric blue. Bending at the waist, he crashed a massive fist against the desk, a crack of venna ricocheting off the walls.  
    A blast of loathing nearly stopped her heart.  
    “Don’t fucking call me that.”
    Choking back a cry, Liv stumbled backward.
    She turned to run.
    *****
    “Wait!”  
    In a shimmering flash, Toran pulsed to the other side of the door and blocked her exit, the faine’s small body bouncing off his large one as she tried to spin away. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up against him.  
    “Calm down,” he said, trying his best to temper his voice.
    “Calm down?” She tilted her head back. Her eyes were wild and glassy, her voice unsteady. “Why would you shout at me?”
    “Shh. I didn’t mean…” Toran jerked his chin up, thoroughly thrown by the festering confusion that welled within him in her presence. Stepping slightly away, he wrapped a hand around her slender arm.
    “Come back inside.” With a gentle tug, Toran led her to one of the seats across from his desk and near the fire. When she was seated, he found himself resisting a near-overwhelming urge to kneel down and take her hands in his.
    Infuriated with his lack of self-control and absurd schoolboy romantic urges, he instead skirted around the desk and dropped back in his chair, grateful to have something substantial between them.
    Jaw set, he looked her over.
    Dressed in a silky sea-foam green blouse, jeans, and little black ballet flats, the faine looked so out of place, yet somehow perfect, in his leather wing-backed chair. She had pulled her long hair up into a messy bun, a couple of curls escaping to frame her face.
    She was gorgeous.
    And she was staring back at him with eyes as unfathomable as the northern sea.
    For a moment, Toran found himself lost. The rush of his heartbeat drowning out all logical thought, he said the first thing that popped into his head.
    “Your wardrobe is inadequate.”  
    Toran watched in horror as tears seeped into the corners of her eyes.
    “What?” she breathed out in confusion.
    “No, I don’t mean…” He sat forward, his fingernails biting through the denim of his jeans. His fingers flexed with the need to touch her. Balling his hand into a fist, he pumped it hard against his thigh. “I just mean the fabric is insubstantial for our climate. You need warmer clothing.” He paused before adding, “You have no coat.”
    Eyes dazed, the faine nodded as though trying to process the crazy path of his scattered thinking. Lifting a trembling chin, she cleared her throat before venturing bravely, “No, there’s not much need for one in the desert. But I do appreciate you sending someone to bring me a few of my things.”
    A low growl rumbled in his throat. His eyes flashed blue as the thought of another male sifting through her intimate things once again filled him with resentful ire.
    Get a fucking grip, asshole.
    Toran lurched out of his seat, his sudden movement causing her to flinch in fear.
    His growling probably hadn’t helped matters either.
    Gods help me.
    Slowing his movement, he held up a palm in truce. “Just relax, faine.” Toran walked to the front of his desk and propped himself against the edge. Feet out and crossed at the ankles, he hoped his relaxed posture disguised his anxious unease.
    As she shifted in her seat, the faine continued to stare; though now she gazed at him with wide and curious eyes.
    “Tell Wynda whatever you need, or want, and she will get it for you immediately,” Toran commanded. Frowning, he added, “Wynda is my housekeeper.” For whatever reason, he felt compelled to explain another female’s presence in his home.  
    He fought back the urge to growl again.
    She continued to stare. That look in her eye, the same one he’d seen earlier in her chamber, had returned.
    “What?” Toran uncrossed his ankles and shifted forward.
    “You brought me my cat,” she whispered.
    “Yes,” he answered slowly.
    Hadn’t he answered this