His Dark Bond by Anne Marsh

floor. Another random stranger. Something flashed in Nael’s eyes and was gone. “You let me do this for you, and then you go to her. Take a breather first.”
    The air was ripe with the heady scent of the female. She was all lush promise, wide open, her gazing sliding from Nael to Zer and back again.
    “This will make you feel better,” Nael murmured. “Trust me.”
    She wasn’t the right female, but the thirst was taking over, and Zer was just man enough to mourn the loss of those brain cells. Yeah, he wasn’t right in the head. The wall of males sliding between him and the elevator made that clear. Part of him was just sane enough to be grateful. His brothers had his back and wouldn’t let him jack this up too badly.
    Male hands pressed him down into a seat.
    “Trust me,” Nael said again, and, this time, Zer didn’t know to whom Nael spoke. The female was nodding, though, and Zer recognized that covetous look. She wanted whatever she could get, and she’d come to the right damn place.
    “Time to fall, love,” Nael whispered, swinging her up onto Zer’s lap. She settled in like she was coming home, curling her fingers in his leathers.
    A lapful of sweet, warm female. The wrong one, but fuck that. He couldn’t have the one he wanted. He was too far gone, and she deserved better than a beast.

C HAPTER E IGHT
    W hat the hell had she gotten herself into?
    Firing up her laptop, Nessa held her breath for long seconds. Without Net access, she was dead in the water. If the Fallen had overlooked the wireless card on her laptop, she figured that negligence wouldn’t last long.
    Not if they were serious in this kidnapping attempt of theirs.
    She had to get out of here. Her reaction to the Fallen’s leader was humiliating. What kind of woman lusted after her kidnapper?
    Fingers trembling, she launched a chat application, tapping in her access code. When she placed the call to Genecore, knowing she probably only had minutes before the Fallen would pick up on her access, the foundation’s president picked up right away.
    As if he’d been waiting for her call.
    “You’re in,” he said, not waiting for her to launch into explanations. “Good.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “The Fallen picked you up. You have access to them and to their DNA. Everything you said you needed.”
    This conversation wasn’t going the way she’d intended it to go. “You told me you had DNA samples. I intended to use those samples. I never agreed to go undercover and live with Goblins.” Unstable, psychotic, sexy Goblins.
    “Details.” His cold voice rode roughshod over her objections. “Fresh samples are better. You agreed to work for me. I simply arranged for you to have the access you need.”
    “You arranged to have me kidnapped.” She was supposed to ignore that? Work through it? He made her kidnapping sound like a brilliant career move. Like hell it was. She was a prisoner.
    “I never agreed to this, and I could have been killed,” she snapped.
    “No,” he said. “My team had their orders.”
    Maybe, he just wanted her to finish her research. Maybe, his arranging her kidnapping was some sort of twisted version of grant funding. She didn’t think so, though. He’d set her up for something.
    “This is not what I signed on for. The Fallen who headed up the search-and-retrieval was none other than the damn leader of the lot. He has no intention of seeing his plans head south.” And that was putting it mildly. “What you’ve landed me in is a mess. Of titanic proportions.”
    The man on the other end didn’t hesitate. “This is the opportunity you need. Take it. Although I strongly suggest you avoid bonding with any of them.”
    “No problem. I don’t do sexual bondage. Any more than I do forcible captivity.”
    His cold voice cut her off. “If you do bond with one of them, I should point out that your mate would have unlimited access to your mind. If he took the time to look, he would know at once that you were a plant.