Binding Ties by Shannon K. Butcher Page A

and the fact that the woman touching him was a fucking cold-blooded demon.
    â€œNot only no, but
hell
, no. Not even if you were the last piece of tail on the planet and I was dying from a chronic erection.”
    Her smile turned into a pout. “I knew you’d play hard to get. You Slayers and your sense of honor.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s all a big waste of time, if you ask me, but you’ve given me no choice but to play along. Guards!”
    The second she raised her voice, a trio of those disturbingly human-looking demons piled into the room.
    â€œTake another one of the children,” she ordered.
    Eric stepped to the side, blocking the path of the guard that moved to obey fastest. “Not a fucking chance, lady.”
    â€œYou seem to lack a basic understanding of your situation. I am in control here. Not you. If I want you to kill and eat one of the children, then that’s exactly what you’ll do. Unless, of course, you’d rather I have one of my guards take them all?”
    Eric glanced over his shoulder at the young. They were piled up, trying to stay warm. Kayla lay still, but he could see tension radiating through her little body. She’d heard every word Treszka had said. She may not have understood it all, but she would have absorbed enough to know that Eric had been offered a chance to save them and turned it down.
    â€œSo, Slayer, what will it be? Will you come with me, or would you prefer to stay here with your choice of three of the children? I really don’t care who dies. Neither will my men. Down here, meat is meat.”
    What choice did he have? There was no way to fight his way free. There were too many guards outside of thecavern—and those were just the ones he could see. Chances were there were hundreds more between here and freedom.
    And what about those two other young? She’d led him to believe that they were still alive. He couldn’t abandon them down here.
    His best option was to get her alone and kill her. Once the queen bee was dead, the drones would be distraught and confused. That’s when he’d have the best chance of getting the young to freedom.
    Eric held out his hand to her. “Lead the way.”
    *   *   *
    Joseph was stunned speechless.
    He stared at the birthmark, then at Lyka’s face, then back again. He saw, but still couldn’t believe. It was simply impossible. Some kind of trick.
    Before he could stop himself, his hand reached toward her. He stopped in the act, waiting for her to shy away like she always did, but this time she held her ground.
    â€œGo ahead,” she said, bracing herself. “You need proof. The mark won’t wipe off. Heaven knows I’ve tried.”
    His finger settled on her warm skin.
    The pain he carried around with him—pain he’d endured for so long that it had become part of him—melted away. For a second he thought he became airborne, he felt so light. The shock of it rattled him down to his very soul.
    He was still reeling from being pain free when the next sensation hit him. Warmth swirled up his arm, tingling his skin as it went. The streamers of heat shot straight for his chest, lingering along the branches of his lifemark before sinking into his heart. His whole bodyshuddered. His lifemark swayed along his skin, straining to get closer to her.
    Lyka wasn’t lying. She was the real deal. A Theronai.
    And she was compatible with his power. She could be his.
    He shoved that idea out of his head before it could take root. Most of his men were far worse off than he was—their lifemarks nearly bare. It was his duty to see to their needs first. It didn’t matter if she was compatible with him or not. She needed to save one of his men.
    â€œHow can this be?” he asked, hearing his amazement in his voice. “You’re a Slayer.”
    â€œSo was my mother. My father, however, was a one-night stand. An