Rebel's Desire (Iron Portal Paranormal Romance Series) (Iron Portal Series Book 4) by Laurie London Page A

charge Toryn. There was a flash as Toryn pulled out his blade.
    And then she heard it. Sirens. Dozens of them.
    Looking to the left, she could see the flashing lights on the other side of the channel. The bombers heard it too and took off running in the opposite direction. Her knees felt suddenly boneless, and she grabbed the chain link fence to steady herself.
    It was over. Toryn had confronted the men and scared them off. But more importantly, he was unharmed.
    A moment later, he was at her side. “Come on,” he commanded roughly, his hand enclosing around her upper arm and pulling her in the direction of his Jeep.
    She stepped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his waist, not wanting to ever let him go. She couldn’t believe she’d nearly lost him. The thought was almost unbearable. And then she thought about how he’d gone down there to confront them on purpose. “Oh my God, Toryn, you could’ve been killed.” She punched her fists on his chest in frustration. “Why did you do that? We should have left an anonymous tip with the authorities and let them handle it.”
    He shook his head, urging her forward. “It wouldn’t have done any good.”
    She took a few steps then stopped. “Why?”
    “Because it’s happened before, Keely. Countless times. Those men were soldiers.”
    “Soldiers? You mean Cascadian terrorists?”
    Toryn’s eyes darkened as the sirens grew louder.
    “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here. This is a military operation.”
    “Toryn, you’re not making any sense. How do you know all this?”
    He pressed his lips together into a thin line. “The bastard with the gun told me, confirming what I already knew. Said the army wanted the bridge blown up and told them to make it look like the work of Cascadians.”
    Her head was spinning. None of this made sense. “And why would he tell you that?”
    “Because he was a Pacifican soldier. And because I’m a Cascadian.”

Chapter Ten
    T oryn fucked up . And he wasn’t sure what he could do to fix things.
    As soon as they arrived at Sisters, Keely rushed across the floor of the shop to the stairs leading up to the apartment.
    “Keely, wait,” Toryn said, following closely behind. “We need to talk about this.”
    She ignored him, kicked off her sneakers at the bottom of the stairs and started up. He grabbed her hand and stopped her.
    “Please, Keely, let me explain. Don’t shut me out like this.”
    She spun around, hazel eyes blazing. “What’s there to explain? I thought you cared about me, and then you drop that on me?”
    Her words felt like a slap across the face. She despised him. He disgusted her. He thought about letting her go and leaving. Walking out the door behind him and not coming back. After all, if she were truly repulsed by the fact that she’d been sleeping with one of those terrible barbarians from Cascadia , then why would he want to be with her?
    And yet, something told him that maybe her anger was because she was hurt.
    “I do care about ye,” he said, not bothering to hide his accent. He didn’t want to lay his heart bare, but he was going to have to if he wanted to get through to her. “I never expected to develop feelings for ye, Keely—I tried so bloody hard not to—but when I did, I was afraid that if ye learned the truth about me, you’d kick my ass to the curb and want nothing more to do with me.”
    “So you lied.”
    He raked a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t completely honest.”
    “There’s a difference?”
    She tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go. “Listen to me, Keely. I—”
    “Why would you think I’d do that?” Her cheeks were two bright spots of color. “Do you think I’m that shallow? That a person’s birthplace or nationality is a checkmark on a list of acceptable traits for my ideal man?”
    “I wanted to tell ye, but when I learned that your family believes my people were responsible for the bomb that injured your mom, I was— Well, I