More Than Blood by Amanda Vyne Page B

breed girls there would be big money in it.”
    “Did he say who he was delivering the little girl to?” Gabe stepped forward, positioning himself next to Kel.
    “No.” The woman slid another cigarette out of the pack with trembling fingers, carefully keeping Kel in sight. “But he did say that he was going to get his fingers into a bigger score by opening up a local House for his business.”
    “Where’s good old Jimmy now?” Kel sneered.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Bull.” Kel advanced another step toward the Elemental. Although he suspected Kel owed this woman more than a few slashes, he couldn’t let her do it. She would regret it. He stepped forward, nearly aligning himself against her back, struggling to project a calm he didn’t feel. In his mind he recited a soothing mantra he’d been taught as an adolescent to control his hunger. It spilled into her through their bond.
    She glanced over her shoulder at him, the blackness receding, leaving the natural chocolate depths as she searched his eyes. A quick flash of surprise illuminated hers but was quickly lost as she turned back to the Elemental.
    “I’ll be back, Aggie,” Kel said sweetly, retracting her claws. “If I even smell fear in one of your girls.”
    Kel and Gabe started for the door.
    “They’ll stop you, Kelly girl. The Triumvirate won’t stand for the interference of a little crossbreed whore,” the Elemental called after them, gaining a little courage in the face of their retreating backs.
    Gabe’s threadbare grip on his control slipped. The thought of Kel living in a place like this when she was no better than a child was eating away at him. Kel had known exactly what she would find on that young girl’s arm, had known who had put it there. Her knowledge of the abuse alone made Gabe want to rip the Elemental’s throat out.
    Did the woman think because he was a House marshal he would stop Kel from shredding her? Perhaps she was right, but not for the reason she believed. Beneath Kel’s tough facade there was something vulnerable. She would relive every hurt she visited on the Elemental over and over again, mourning the loss of her control. He would not allow that destruction of her. But he, on the other hand, was a different matter. The Elemental couldn’t imagine the threat he could be if he thought for one moment this woman posed a risk to his mate. Thousands of years of evolution had instilled in his kind a deeply imbedded instinct to protect their mates because it was, in essence, protecting the future of their race itself. Not even the Triumvirate would get involved with that.
    He turned to the woman, watching the fear leap into her faded eyes as she recognized his intent. He let her absorb it until the knowledge saturated her every pore and her fear permeated the air between them. She would know the pain she’d caused his woman. When he was done her blood would wash clean the atrocities that this place had visited on innocent girls.
    Suddenly Kel’s hand wrapped around the bare skin of his wrist just below his jacket sleeve, stopping him in mid-reach for his blade. The contact of skin to skin froze him into place, and he looked down at her with a dark frown. The beast inside of him was nearly in control, demanding the Elemental’s death. Kel gave a small shake of her head, those liquid eyes melting into his, pulling him to her.
    His rage eased at the feel of her skin against his, calming under the influence of their sudden mental connection. He wanted the Elemental to pay, but he would not sacrifice this moment to assuage his anger toward the fire bitch. He could feel the tentative touch of Kel inside him, bright and vital yet hesitant. It was the first time she actually made a move to explore their bond.
    With his eyes deeply connected to hers, he lifted her small hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist, brushing a fang against the thin flesh in a caress. Not wanting to spend one more moment in that