Read Online Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 05 by Touch of Surrender - Free Book Online

with Gideon. But he hadn’t been able to say no when the
Deschanel had approached him the month before. Gideon and Ashe had lost family
during the recent massacres carried out by the Collective. They knew that
Westmore was the one who had given the nesting ground locations to the human
soldiers, and they wanted revenge. In exchange for handing over Westmore, if
Kierland’s unit got their hands on him, Gideon had agreed to find out
everything he could about the Death-Walkers—and he’d already delivered with the
information about the salted holy water.
    “I still find it hard to believe,” she whispered. “I
mean, that you actually made that deal with him. You’re not one to trust
easily, especially a stranger who happens to be a vamp.”
    “I didn’t have much choice, did I? And Gideon has kept
his word, providing us valuable information.”
    “But you really think Gideon will agree to help us
navigate the Wasteland?” she asked, her tone doubtful. “I’ve never met him, but
the impression I have from Ashe is that he’s a man who enjoys his luxuries. I
can’t see him trudging through those cold, dark forests out of the kindness of
his heart.”
    “He’s helped before,” Kierland said, taking another
long swallow of his drink. “And the odds are high that Chloe is being kept at
Westmore’s compound. Considering how badly Gideon wants Westmore, I don’t think
it’ll take much to convince him to help us out.”
    “If you’re feeling so magnanimous, then I feel
compelled to point out that Ashe has helped, as well. If it weren’t for him, we
might have never been able to destroy the vampires who killed Nicole. You know
that as well as I do.” Her fondness for the arrogant Deschanel was obvious,
making Kierland’s stomach turn. For years, he’d tried to understand what drew
them together. Was it just sex? Or did Morgan honestly like the conceited son
of a bitch? “He’s not the villain you make him out to be,” she added softly.
    “I don’t care if he’s a goddamn saint, Morgan. If this
is going to work,” he ground out in a rough, hard-edged voice, his contempt
twisting his expression, “then that bastard’s name is not going to be brought
up again. Is that clear?”
    She arched one slender brow, the corner of her mouth
twitching as she shook her head. “Are you truly operating under some kind of
insane misconception that I actually take orders from you? Because I can assure
you that I don’t.”
    “You damn well will,” he rasped, slamming his glass
down on the bar.
    Still leaning against the door, she crossed her arms
over her chest. “I know Kellan and the others often choose to follow your lead,
because you’ve proven to them that you’re capable of making the hard decisions,
as well as the right choices. I might respect that, Kierland, but until I see
it for myself, I won’t consider you any more capable of leading this project
than I am.”
    By the time she was finished with her fiery little
tirade, a reluctant grin had worked its way into the corners of his mouth, his
irritation momentarily receding. “At times like these, it’s hard to believe you
were ever that shy, unsure little eighteen-year-old I used to know.”
    “I haven’t been that girl for a long time.” Her head
tilted a little to the side as she said, “In fact, I’m surprised you even
remember her.”
    “I remember lots of things,” he murmured in a slow
drawl, his grin melting into a lopsided smile as her cheeks turned a wild rose
color. He knew she was thinking about the way she’d used to blush crimson every
time he’d touch her during combat training, her hunger impossible for her to
hide in her inexperience. “Such as the fact that you weren’t nearly so good at
controlling your shields back then as you are now. Your pheromones were
especially easy to scent.”
    “Trust me when I say that you don’t want to go there.”
The quiet words had an underlying thread of steel that he couldn’t help