Page 73 of Knight’s Dominion

She planted her hands on her hips, tying to appear unaffected when she was anything but. “What the hell was that? What's wrong with him?"

Gunner gave her a look that said more than words could. She knew what it was. Chaos was a mated male. She was his mate and she was walking away.

“You should probably go,” he said.

"Right." She glanced at Zenon. “Yeah, um…thank you. I know he’d never hurt me…like that, but this is all new.” And she did, deep down on some visceral level, she knew he would never hurt her, but he would run right over her if she let him.

Zenon gave her a stiff nod. “We know he wouldn’t.” He glanced at the elevator as if he expected Chaos to burst back through at any moment. “But letting you leave right now, especially so soon after mating, is going against every one of his instincts.”

Why did she suddenly feel guilty? Kind of…sad. Dammit, Chaos had agreed to this.

“Grace,” Gunner said, opening her car door.

She didn't need to be told to get lost twice. She climbed in and fired the engine to life.

She drove up to the gates to leave and glanced at the cameras mounted there, waiting to be let out. They shuddered instantly, then slowly slid open.

Was Chaos watching her from the control room?

The pain in the center of her chest intensified, and she peeled out onto the road and did not look back.

Time to refocus her thoughts back to the war.

An image of Chaos sitting beside his bed when she woke after being injured, the worry in his eyes as he stared down at her, stormed her mind.

Gritting her teeth, she shoved it back out and planted her foot on the gas.

CHAPTER 20

Despite the quick healing, thanks to Chaos’s blood, her ribs still throbbed like they’d been used as a punching bag.

Too bad, no rest for the recently stabbed and bitten. The club was short-staffed, Hannah was still away with her family crisis, and there were demons and a two-headed beast loose in the city.

Grace felt hobbled, and it was not a feeling she enjoyed.

She glanced up from behind the bar, looking toward the main door. She’d been doing it all night, half expecting Chaos to come storming in and drag her upstairs to pack all her stuff.

Who the hell did he think he was, anyway?

Yeah, he’d been messed up from mating with her, but he’d been so completely out of line. Did he truly believe she’d turn her world upside down, move in with him, just in case he got a hard-on in the middle of the night? The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

Actually, she'd been angry all day, snapping and bitching at the staff. Maybe Chaos had been right about the effect of his blood. It had definitely affected her libido.

An unwelcome shot of pleasure zinged through her belly. Her traitorous body kept remembering every touch they'd shared in his bed. He'd been gentle, mindful of her injuries, when she'd all but begged him to fuck her harder. But that iron-clad control of his had never slipped once.

Of course not.

Well, not until they had…done what they had.

Mated.

What would her parents think? Her hand went to her stomach as familiar pain sliced through her, because she knew, didn’t she? They’d be disgusted with her, feel betrayed. "Shit." She slammed a glass down on the bar.

She didn't want to think about that, or about Chaos.

Thankfully, over the next couple of hours, the bar filled, keeping her occupied, but her side now ached like a bitch and her thigh was throbbing again.

Vince should have made an appearance by now so she could take a break.