But it also had the potential to destroy his mate.
CHAPTER 24
Gypsy paced the living area of the suite, biting at a fingernail as a strange, imperative restlessness gripped her. It had been building since Rule’s abrupt departure, demanding that she do something.
God, if she only knew what.
Along with the restlessness was an overwhelming sense of dread, and an inner need for him that she realized had haunted her since she’d first seen him two months before. From across the noisy, too-crowded bar their eyes had met, and she’d felt something she hadn’t felt for so long that she’d forgotten the lack of it.
Security and warmth.
It had tugged at her senses, urging her to cross the distance, to accept the silent invitation that had filled his too-blue eyes and the savage features of his face. To rest her head against his chest, to let him hold back the nightmares for a while.
Rather than acknowledging the sensation, though, she’d run from it. Just as she was still running from him. Like a frightened child, afraid of the feelings rising inside her and the unfamiliar responsibility it had entailed, she had run.
Just as she was getting ready to run again, she knew.
She knew who and what she was running from, but she couldn’t explain who or what she was running to.
“Be brave, Peanut.” And her brother had never expected her to be brave. That was what brothers were for, he’d always told her. “Be brave, Peanut . . .”
And if he couldn’t protect her, then—
The thought suddenly vanished as a firm knock interrupted the memory, pulling her quickly from the thoughts that had begun to drag her into the hell of the cavern.
That had never happened outside a nightmare, she thought, dazed as the knock repeated sharply, causing her to flinch at the sound.
Shoving the past back into the darkness where it couldn’t destroy her again, Gypsy turned and moved quickly to the door, throwing it open without caring who was on the other side. If it was someone intent on attacking her, then right now they’d have a fight on their hands, she decided.
She stood, blinking in shock at the visitor, though, almost unable to believe who stood there glaring at her.
“Well, at least you’re alive,” Kandy announced, irritation lacing her voice as she pushed into the room. “And evidently Mom and Dad haven’t killed you yet for scaring the life out of them.”
Turning, she closed the door, watching as Kandy came to a stop in the middle of the room before staring around with a frown. “Where are they anyway?”
“Who?” Gypsy shook her head, uncertain what to make of her sister’s arrival. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean who?” Kandy demanded rather than answering her. “Mom and Dad, of course. They came on up to meet with Jonas Wyatt to see why everyone was so certain Commander Breaker had kidnapped you—without your permission, that is—from the bar the other night. Everyone’s talking about it, you know? Mom’s livid and swears it’s going to totally compromise McQuade Consulting.” Kandy rolled her eyes at the thought. “They were certain you were being held in chains here. Arrested or being seduced?” Kandy’s brows wagged suggestively. “They wouldn’t wait on me when Loki stopped me in the lobby to find out why I was there. They came on up while we were talking.”
That sense of panic rose sharply inside her now, tightening her chest and filling her with such dread that she could barely breathe.
“I haven’t seen Mom and Dad,” she told her sister.
Kandy stared at her as though she were suddenly speaking in a foreign language.