Forever With The Wolf: An Erotic Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf's Harem Series Book 5) Read Free

cutting off his own self-destructive line of thought. “Why are we out here?”
    Kiley sighed and shifted in her seat, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around herself.
    “I thought… I mean, I owe you an explanation, don’t I?” she said at last, scanning the darkened back yard.
    “I’m pretty sure that your little announcement last night means that you and I don’t owe each other a thing,” Garrett replied, fighting to keep his temper in check.
    “Garrett,” Kiley said, reaching out and taking his hand. Her small fingers wrapped around his big ones and he swallowed hard, unable to pull away. His wolf preened, delighted at the touch of its chosen mate. Garrett growled low in his chest, though he wasn’t sure if the sound was a warning or a note of grief.
    After a long moment he took his hand back, folding his arms across his chest.
    “I don’t know what you want from me,” he rumbled, staring out into the darkness without really seeing a thing. “I never expected anything from you, never asked for anything. And you shouldn’t be looking for it, either. You have a mate now.”
    Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett saw her flinch at the word mate . She bit her lip, looking uncertain of her response, and he growled again.
    “Damn it, Kiley!” Garrett spat, banging his fist on the flimsy plastic armrest. “You’ve made it more than clear to everyone but Brad that you don’t want this. Why in the hell are you doing it? You’ve got other options, good ones.”
    He licked his lips, tasting bile. Garrett was the best option, a male who could go above and beyond providing and protecting her, and she knew it well enough.
    “You don’t understand,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t have a choice at all.”
    “Bullshit,” he snapped. “I can’t believe that you would pick that walking fucking Ken doll over—”
    Garrett stopped calming himself. Kiley’s eyes were big, and he thought she was close to tears now.
    “Just tell me what he has that I don’t. I have just as much money and charm as he does. If it’s social connections you need, I know he’s from an old Wolf family, but we can make those connections together.”
    Kiley shook her head, cutting him off.
    “No, nothing like that.”
    “So you truly love him, then? Is that it?”
    “No! No, of course not. He’s very nice on the outside, but on the inside… he’s empty. I think the only reason he courts me is because I know how to distract people, to keep them from seeing how fake he is. I’m just a social asset to him, nothing more.”
    “So I repeat myself. Why the hell are we out here?” Garrett asked, giving her a sharp glance.
    “Brad is a lupus sanguineus ,” Kiley said.
    Garrett went silent and still, trying to take in her words.
    “He—” Garrett started, then shook his head, unable to process it.
    “He can make new wolves, yes. Human to werewolf. The ability runs in his family.”
    “And what’s that got to do with you, exactly?”
    “My half-sister is human, and she has late-stage breast cancer. Without intervention, she’ll die in a few months.”
    Garrett’s jaw dropped. She’d managed to shock the hell of him twice in as many minutes.
    “I— Wh— Brad has agreed to change your sister if you’ll be his mate?” Garrett asked, baffled.
    “That’s the gist of it, yes. My sister Amerie is the only family I’ve got left, and I won’t let her die.”
    “Brad isn’t the only lupus sanguineus in the world, Kiley.”
    She looked over at him with a smirk, her bright blue eyes snapping with a sick sort of humor.
    “Do you really think that Brad is the first Blood Wolf I found? I tracked down half a dozen of them, breaking all kinds of laws and traveling the world. Brad is the only one that agreed to do it. He’s my last recourse.”
    “We can keep looking,” Garrett said, shaking his head in refusal.
    “No. The clock has run down. Amerie has very little time left, and Brad insists on doing a