Like bloodlust, and the overwhelming urge to shift when I got angry…

“But we play the cards we’re dealt, right?” Titus continued, dragging my thoughts into focus.

Or you trade them in for a better hand. Which is what he wanted to do with me.

And what I wanted to do with my entire miserable existence. I’d been a semester from graduating with a degree in History from the University of Kentucky when I was sentenced to indefinite house arrest in Atlanta. I’d already been accepted into the graduate program, and my secret nerdy ambition had been to help eliminate educational bias by producing high school textbooks without culturally motivated omissions.

But that would never happen if I wound up married to some tom I hardly knew, popping out a baby every eighteen months for the next decade, not because I wanted kids, but because shifter society needed them.

“If you try to take me to the border, I’ll jump from the moving vehicle. Or I’ll call 911 and tell them I’ve been kidnapped. I’ll do whatever it takes to stay in the free zone, and you can explain to the council how you not only removed a tabby from the Southeast Territory, but you lost her and wound up on the news.”

His gray eyes narrowed. “You would throw my entire Pride and me under the bus just to get out of a deal you made?”

“Just to…?” I sat straighter and fought not to let him hear how desperate I was. “Have you ever been under house arrest? Ever been forced to live with strangers? Denied use of the telephone? Have you ever been told you can’t go back to school, and you can’t talk to your parents, and you can’t even go for a walk by yourself? Have you ever had your every move studied and observed? Ever been the subject of endless medical testing? Ever had a guard stand outside the bathroom door while you shower, to make sure you’re not prying the window open? Ever been told that you’re worth nothing more than the secrets floating around in your bloodstream and the eggs waiting to be released into your uterus?”

“I don’t actually have a uterus, so I’d have to say no.” But his joke couldn’t cover his discomfort. He understood why I had run. Yet he still wanted no part of my battle with the council.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this, but…is there anything you wouldn’t do to reclaim your own autonomy?”

He watched me for a moment, and I could see that he was giving the question actual thought. “Well, I’d like to think I wouldn’t screw other people over in the pursuit of freedom.”

“Again, I didn’t realize I was doing that. And I’m sorry.” If I could do it again, I’d certainly do it differently. “But what’s done is done, and I can’t go back. You don’t have to take me to Abby. All you have to do is let me go.” I reached for the door handle. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

His hand landed softly on my arm, and I fought the overwhelming and humiliating urge to press myself into his touch. “No, you won’t.”

“I heard part of your pitch today, before Dr. Carver came to run his tests. You told the council you’ve brought safety and stability to the free zone. If that’s true, I’ll be fine.”

“I told them I’m bringing safety and stability to my territory,” he corrected. “Present progressive tense. As in, the process is ongoing. The Mississippi free zone is like the wild west, Robyn. I’m the law, but the law is new, and there are still plenty of outlaws out here trying to raise hell.”

I cocked my head to one side. “Did you seriously just use a cowboy analogy?”

He shrugged, and I missed the warmth when his hand left my arm. “It was more of a sheriff/desperado metaphor. But my point stands. I can’t leave you here to fend for yourself.”

“Fine. Let me see Abby, and I’ll call the council and tell them you had no idea I was in the car until you pulled into your driveway.”

His brows rose in the dark. “You’d lie to the council?”

“Would I lie to the governing body unfairly seeking to plot out my entire existence, without so much as asking my opinion? Hell. Yes.”

Titus studied me while he weighed his options. “That won’t stop them from coming to get you.”

I shrugged. “You’re an Alpha, right? I’m sure you can think of some way to keep the enemy out of your territory. If you can’t, can you really call it ‘your territory’?” If there was one thing I’d learned about Alphas, it was that they couldn’t resist a challenge.

Titus growled again, but the words buried in that aggressive sound sent a thrill of excitement running through me. “Buckle up.”

“This is your house?” I stared out the windshield at the front gate until we passed it, then I twisted in my seat to see it close behind us. “How did the gate know to open?”

“There’s a sensor.” Titus patted a small sticker on the lower right corner of his windshield, where my university parking pass had gone, back when I’d had a car. Back before a horrific camping trip had ended my academic career and sentenced me to an existence ruled by instincts I still didn’t always understand.

By instincts, and by a council of ten Alphas governing my life by committee.

“When my car’s within ten feet of the gate, it opens. When the car passes out of that range, it closes.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Thank you.” His deep voice echoed with pride. “My company developed the technology.”

“Seriously?” I’d known he ran some business, and according to the Southeast enforcers, he was the most high-profile stray ever infected. But I’d had no idea his was a tech company. Or that he had such a huge house… “How many bedrooms do you have?”

Titus laughed. “Um…seven in the main house, I think. I haven’t counted in a while.”

Holy shit. “How many bathrooms?” I stared as we approached the three-story Greek Revival with sprawling lawns and manicured flower beds that looked colorful even in the winter. Even in the dark.

“Eight, I believe.”

“Eight bathrooms.” He could pee in a different toilet from Sunday to Sunday, then start all over on Monday. That’s not rich. That’s wealthy.

Suddenly I felt like an idiot. What if he thought I’d hidden in his car because of…all this? That I was a tabby gold digger?