Beast (Norseton Wolves #1) Read Free

into his house and paused just inside the threshold. She made a little “Huh” sound before moving in any farther.
    What’s that about? Maybe she’d expected more.
    He set her bags near the entry and left the storm door open so some of the late afternoon sun could stream into the living room. And also so she could see that she had an easy way out, if she wanted it.
    He nestled her purse onto a shelf of the bookcase cluttered with various gun accessories, then turned slowly to him. Her lush lips flattened into a tight line and her small hands fluttered up to her shirt buttons. She deftly unfastened them all, and he simply stood there, mesmerized by her efficiency…and was desperately aroused by the beaded pink nipples and high, round breasts she exposed when pulling apart her shirt’s plackets.
    She managed to stay still as she twisted her shirt in front of her belly and stared at him.
    The fact that it took him so long to work out her motives frightened him. Already, he wanted her too much, and she clearly wasn’t horny. She was simply waiting on her bite.
    He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was the wolf way. Females were bitten by their new mates right after they were matched. Not only did the bite imbue her mate and protector’s essence into hers, broadcasting to whoever was sniffing that she was off the market, but also the enzymes shuffled her DNA around a bit. Female wolves didn’t shift until they’d been bitten—until they were prepared to breed and protect their young.
    He closed the distance between them, took her shirt, and pinned it up against her naked breasts. Out of sight, out of mind. “You don’t have to do that,” he barked.
    A lovely red flush spread up her neck to her cheeks. “I-I don’t understand.”
    Groaning, he raked a hand through his hair and turned from her. The more he looked, the harder it would be to let her go. “I don’t know what kind of information Adam put out there or what you were expecting to find here.”
    “There’s never much information,” she said quietly. “Only how many females are needed and how far away the men are.”
    Anton sighed and fixed his gaze on the stun gun that needed repair. Anything but her. Women really drew the short straws when it came to being matched. That was the way it’d been done for as long as anyone could remember, but it didn’t seem fair to him. It wasn’t enough for a woman to just smell right to the alpha. Chemistry still counted for something. And attraction. It shouldn’t be so one-sided.
    “Please don’t send me back,” she whispered. “I can’t— won’t —go back there.”
    He closed his eyes and clenched his hands to fists. Knew it—she’s desperate. A few deep breaths didn’t ease the roiling in his gut any, so he turned and walked to the door. “We’ll find you somewhere else. I promise, it’ll be somewhere where you won’t get beat up.”
    She flinched, and her mouth opened, but he was out the door before she could get any words out.
    He didn’t want to hear her tell him that it was okay and that she’d get used to him. He didn’t want that kind of pity.
    ___
    My man is so fine . But he sure was confusing.
    Christina stood in the doorway of her mate’s house, holding her shirt over her chest, and looked the big werewolf from head to toe as he conferred with his alpha. Their alpha.
    “That one’s mine,” she whispered to herself. She could hardly believe it was true. He was tall and broad, like all the wolves in their little enclave seemed to be, with dark hair that skimmed his jaw and didn’t quite completely hide the black patch over his left eye. He looked a bit like a rakish pirate, but was outfitted in blue jeans and motorcycle boots.
    She giggled.
    He was so confused. She could sense his hesitation. Female wolves didn’t have many courtship advantages when compared to the males, but they had good noses. Good guts . His hormones had spiked the moment she walked into his house.