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.Only Wyatt.She hated that he was affected by the vicious, unending cycle.It would never get better.He thought he could handle it, but when the months and the years went by, when he was angry with his friends and with hers, when jealousy got the best of him, he would feel different.He deserved better.She knew the difference now.She knew women weren’t trained from their teenage years to be sexual weapons.She remembered the men they’d brought in to instruct her.Her face burned.She’d hated it and then had begun to accept it as normal.It wasn’t normal, and she would never be.And then they had added the venom so she could lure her victim and then dispose of him.He would die, just as the soldier had died, looking at her as if she was the most beautiful, perfect woman in the world.A sob tore up her chest and lodged in her throat.She hadn’t told Wyatt what she’d done.She couldn’t tell him.She’d forced that soldier into a state of need, of addiction and made him think he loved her above all else.She didn’t want Wyatt to know the worst of her.She couldn’t bear it if he knew the worst of her.She couldn’t bear it if he looked at her with disgust – which eventually would happen.She couldn’t bear it if he walked out on her.All he saw that night was her saving them from certain death.He hadn’t cared how.But he didn’t see the soldier’s face like she did.She’d never known happiness.She didn’t even know such a thing existed.Or families.But she could give those things to her daughters by leaving.They would never have to be ashamed of their mother and her highly sexual nature.They would never have to learn to kill with an intimate bite that was meant for love, not death.She couldn’t breathe.No air found its way into her lungs no matter how hard she tried to drag it in.She truly was afraid she might vomit, her stomach roiling and churning, knots so hard she wasn’t certain she could ever get them loose again.Her chest was the worst.A horrible, heavy weight pressing and pressing until she was certain her heart would implode from the sheer pressure.She had to get out of there.Now.That minute.She couldn’t stay another second or she would break down completely and lose her nerve.He didn’t deserve that either.She turned away from the bed and lifted the small bag she’d packed.She’d kept it under the bed in preparation for him falling asleep.She hadn’t taken much.She didn’t need much.She had nowhere to go.No skills.No paperwork.She was nothing.She wouldn’t allow Wyatt Fontenot to tie himself to nothing – to trouble that would eventually get him or someone else killed.She loved him too much for that.She loved her daughters and Nonny too much for that.A hand slapped hard around her wrist, tightening like a vise, yanking her back to the edge of the bed.“Just where the fuck do you think you’re goin’?”She closed her eyes at the pure rage in his voice.She did that to him a lot.There was no way to explain this to him, no way that wouldn’t put him in a position of having to try to talk her out of it.She refused to turn around and look into his eyes.She couldn’t.“Let go, Wyatt.I don’t want to have to fight you, but I will.Just let go.”“Fight me?” A hint of amusement slid through the rage.“You think you’re capable of winnin’ a physical fight with me, babe?”He yanked her hard, and she sprawled across the bed.Sprawled on top of him.Her gaze jumped to his face, to the eyes she knew better than to look into.There was no amusement there whatsoever.He was furious.“Wyatt, I’m leaving.I can’t do this.There’s nothing more to say.” She fought to keep her voice low.Controlled.Firm.She still couldn’t breathe, her lungs burning for air.Her chest felt like it might explode.Fear skittered down her spine and the terrible knots in her belly rose to her chest to add to the weight threatening to crush her.“You’re not leavin’ me, Pepper.”She actually saw the glitter of the cat as the dominant male rose in him.The need to meet every challenge.She wasn’t trying to challenge him, she was trying to save him.She couldn’t stand this.Couldn’t do this.She was such a coward to try to run in the middle of the night from him, but she knew this would happen.Knew he would fight her, and she couldn’t bear that either.It hurt.It hurt to breathe, to think.She tried getting her wrist back, dropping the bag and using her other hand to try to pry his fingers loose.“Wyatt, stop it.Let go of me.”“No.”Just like that.No.That was Wyatt.“Mon Dieu, Wyatt, just let go.I have to leave.We both know it.Stop acting like you don’t.It just makes it worse.” It burst out of her.Unexpected.Frightening in that she couldn’t contain it.He went still.His eyes changed.His entire demeanor.The anger slipped, but his grip on her wrist didn’t.“You’re stayin’ right here, Pepper, and we’re goin’ to figure out just what’s wrong and fix it.”Something inside her, the terrible, frightening, explosive knot in her chest expanded and contracted, radiating such pain she thought her heart might have actually burst
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