Primal Instincts by Susan Sizemore

wouldn’t.”
    “Think of all the old bookstores with arcane magical texts.”
    The girl gave a loud sigh. “I can order that stuff online, Dad.”
    “Christmas in London with your best friend,” he said. “Think about it.”
    She muttered a grudging, “I will.”
    “Good. I have to go now.”
    “Ass-kicking in L.A.? Dee’s been keeping me up on the op. I could help.”
    “I have to go now,” he repeated. “I love you. Go to bed.”
    Tobias put away the phone and sat thoughtfully considering his daughter for a moment. It had been easier when she was little . . . but how was a Prime supposed to deal with a mortal teenager? Dee did her best to help and was the closest thing the girl had to a mother, but the ultimate responsibility was his.
How the hell did I ever get myself into this?
    Oh, yeah, I walked away from a plane crash with an orphaned baby in my arms.
    And now he was being blackmailed into purposefully siring a vampire child. Imagine how surprised Lady Anjelica and Flare were going to be when he insisted on helping to raise
his
child, even if the baby was a sacred, shielded daughter.
    When he looked around he found Flare standing with her back to the kitchen, her tension palpable. He moved silently up behind her and found his hands massaging her knotted shoulders. She leaned into his touch and her head came back to rest on his shoulder. Tobias didn’t think she was aware of anything at the moment. Her reaction was as automatic as his had been. As she began to relax, Tobias found his concentration narrowing down to awareness of the pulse of her throat, so vulnerably exposed to his fangs.
    An offer? A tease, more likely. This was Flare after all.
    If he took her up on the temptation to taste herand she rejected him outright, it would get in the way of the seduction she surely knew he had planned for later. No way was he letting her play him.
    He made himself step away. She shivered and shook her head, as though coming awake, and spun to face him. “Where—? Oh, it’s you.”
    He barely stopped himself from a sarcastic comment when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes. “What’s the matter with you, woman?” he demanded instead.
    “None of your business, Strahan,” she shot back.
    Animosity crackled between them, hot as lightning. The scent of her blood permeated his being. For a moment he could taste it, heady and life giving.
    How could any Prime deny himself . . . ?
    Tobias stepped back, putting his hands up before him. His claws were fully extended. Fangs throbbed in his mouth. He’d never been so close to losing control, and his response to Flare was as much a need for combat as it was a need for sex. He’d never reacted so strongly to a female before.
    Her fangs and claws were as sharply evident as his. Fire glowed in her eyes.
    The thrill of the hunt coursed through him.
    And he didn’t like it.
    It must be a trait of his Tribe ancestry, he thought. Tribe Primes mastered their females.
Even if they have to tie them down to do it
, he added ironically.
    He wondered if there was anywhere he could get his hands on pure silver bondage equipment in Los Angeles.
    She felt his amusement and demanded, “What’s so funny?”
    “Me,” he answered.

Chapter Ten
    Francesca knew what was happening between her and Strahan, but she didn’t think he did. His simple answer to her angry question helped calm her down. He was embarrassed as he got himself under control. That was a good sign.
    She wrestled her body back into its mortal form as she struggled to remember how they’d come to be standing like a pair of horny gladiators ready to rip into each other. He’d been on the phone. She’d been trying to meditate. Then—he’d touched her. A simple touch.
    But nothing was simple about what was happening to them. Or maybe bonding was thesimplest thing in the world. Struggling against it was the complicated part, but battle it she would.
    Strahan couldn’t want it either, not with his obsessive need