Read Online Bound to Moonlight by Nina Croft - Free Book Online Page B

had a while yet. Maybe they had taken Latham. Maybe he would tell them how to make the drug. “The doctor who was there when you found me—what happened to him?”
    “Latham? He was killed.”
    She closed her eyes, clutched the sheet in her fingers, and fought the despair that threatened to overwhelm her.
    “What is it, Anya?”
    She felt the mattress depress as Sebastian sank down beside her. At the touch of his hand on her cheek, her eyes flew open. He was close, so close she could breathe in the musky scent of him. He cupped her cheek with his large hand, tilted her head so she had no choice but to look at him. “Anya, tell me.”
    She swallowed. “I need medication. I have some sort of genetic disease. If I don’t get the medication every day, I die.”
    “We know about the pills, our doctor is working on it now. But he also took a sample of your blood. And Anya, he’s pretty sure you don’t have any genetic disease.”
    “What?”
    “He found traces of poison. Some sort of strychnine derivative he couldn’t identify. He thinks you were poisoned deliberately.”
    “Why?”
    “Probably as a deterrent to stop you from running, and a way to solve the problem if you did, or if you were captured. As long as you got the antidote each day you were fine.”
    Anya turned away to hide the pain she knew must show in her eyes. They’d done this to her with cold deliberation. No doubt, they’d planned to let her die when her usefulness was over. The pain washed away on a tidal wave of black hatred. She wished Latham was still alive, so she could kill him herself.
    But maybe if it was poison, they could reproduce the antidote. She forced herself to ask the question. “Does your doctor have a cure?”
    “Not yet, but we won’t stop until we find it.”
    She wanted to believe him, but she doubted it would be so simple. The Agency had spent years and billions of dollars doing all kinds of research; if they’d wanted her to die, they wouldn’t have given her anything easily cured. Her doubts must have shown on her face.
    Sebastian leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. “We will find it,” he said. “We’ve spent too much time searching for you to let you go now.”
    “You’ve been looking for me? Why?”
    “Tasha found out you existed about six months ago, and we’ve been looking ever since. For you and your sisters.”
    “I have other sisters?”
    “At least two more, we think. We believe that’s why you were sent to kill me, we’d gotten too close. Now, as much as I would like nothing more than to crawl into that bed and forget about the rest of the world for a very long time, there’s someone who’s been waiting to see you.”
    He stood up, and for the first time she noticed a blood stain on his shirt. “You were hurt?”
    “It’s nothing. It will heal once I shift.”
    “So why haven’t you shifted.”
    He shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
    “Why?”
    He came back and stood looking down at her, studying her. “The answer is—” Head down, he was silent for a moment, “—I just don’t know.” She thought he meant to tell her no more, then he sighed. “The truth is, from the moment I saw you, you called to something inside me. It’s strange, many in the pack form bonds, they mate for life, but while I’ve had women, I’ve never mated, always been alone, and been happy that way. For the first time, I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
    “Oh.”
    “Now you know. Think about it.” He whirled around and left the room.
     
    Anya sat staring at the door, warmth stealing over her as she considered his words. A moment later, it opened and a woman entered. Anya knew who she was. She remembered her briefly from the Agency, and she had seen her inside Maria’s head. Natasha, her sister.
    She was small, much smaller than Anya, with long red hair pulled back in a plait, revealing a pointed face and huge golden eyes. Those eyes stared into hers, and Anya was flooded