Read Online Grayslake: More than Mated: Unbearable Love (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Kelly Collins - Free Book Online

his demand. She went with his dictate as if she’d been following directions all her life.
    She pulled a small suitcase from the closet and tossed it on the bed. “Tell me about your spoiled Itan’s daughter.” They packed what clothes she could salvage and checked out of the B&B.
    Eli wondered how he could skate the truth, a truth that hurt him to the core, but he realized if he wanted the truth from Lily, he’d have to give it in return.
    “I’ll drive. We’ll pick your car up tomorrow. The road to my place is better driven in daylight if you’re not familiar with it.” Without waiting, Eli moved her forward toward his truck.
    “I’m not sure it’s safe to leave it here.” She glanced at her rental and back at him. “What if someone decides to vandalize it?”
    “Julia isn’t stupid, she isn’t going to do something where someone can see her.”
    Lily seemed to ponder the truth of his words. With a nod, she buckled up, and he rounded the truck and climbed inside.
    They had a good twenty-minute drive to fill with words, and his story was quick. That would leave plenty of time to share hers.
    “You asked about the Itan’s daughter.” He chose his words carefully. “Kari was my woman.” The words lay heavy and lead-like in his chest. The memory always weighed him down. “Her father was a clan leader from Alabama.” Eli gripped the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white. “She said she wanted to stay with me, but I didn’t have anything of value to offer her father.”
    “Like a dowry?” She turned in the seat toward him.
    He knew she was watching him, and he hated being under scrutiny. “The Danfield Itan used his children like bargaining chips. He traded them for power and favors. I had no power, and no favors to grant. I was a poor laborer, and when it came down to it, she chose him over me.” He glanced at Lily, expecting to find a look of disbelief, but all he saw was sadness. The only thing worse than scrutiny was pity. “I couldn’t blame her for choosing wealth.”
    “Maybe her choice wasn’t so simple.”
    “Why are you always defending despicable women?” Eli turned onto a dusty side-road that twisted and curved up a hill toward the woods. He knew where all the potholes were and wound his way through the labyrinth.
    “All I’m saying is that maybe she chose you by not choosing you.”
    “You’re talking in riddles.”
    “There’s no riddle about it. I understand their plight. Julia is an Itan’s daughter. She was raised to sacrifice, and she’s probably tired of it. Her bad behavior is pent-up rage from never getting what she wants or needs.”
    “You speak like you know something about her situation.”
    “It’s all conjecture on my part. You can’t really know what a person is going through until you walk in their shoes. What I do know is the unrealistic demands of a father. The pressures they put on their girls because they’re not sons.”
    “Girls are damn fabulous. I’d be proud to have a houseful of girls.”
    “Was that part of your and Kari’s plan? Was Kari your fated mate?”
    Eli gave Lily a brief glance. The light of the moon shone across her beautiful face. Eyes that held a million hurts stared at him. Despite her deep, personal wounds, she appeared more concerned with his loss than her situation. A raving mad woman had just destroyed her belongings. She was in a virtual strangers truck, heading deep into the woods. That took courage. But Lily didn’t wear her courage like armor. She dressed herself in a cloak of compassion and understanding, and Eli knew his heart was in trouble. A roar reverberated inside him. His bear would never let her go. Hell, for the first time in a long time, he was in agreement with the beast.
    “Are we back to the fated mate conversation?”
    “Yes. I’d like to know, strictly from a romance blogger’s perspective.”
    Eli turned the steering wheel and headed deeper into the forest, where not even the