Gerard Read Free Page A

is she?” Emma said she was still trying to work that out, but she did ask him to talk to her. “Talk to her about what? I’m assuming that you’ve arrested her or had her arrested?”
    “No. She did nothing wrong as far as I’m concerned. She’s free to go, but she just sits there staring at her lap like it’s got all the answers. The most I’ve gotten out of her is that the man that Aunt George knocked out is her father, and that didn’t come from her but from him. And let me tell you, he’s not shut up since he woke up. I have never met two people that are more ill-suited to be related in my life. She just calmly sits there while he spouts off about suing us and having your aunt arrested for poor treatment of him. Bastard. But I can feel her fear, Mason. She’s terrified of something or someone.” He asked her if she thought it was her. “I didn’t do anything to her. And if that were the case, why save me?”
    “I’ll talk to her, but I don’t know if I’ll have any more luck than you did. If she throws off the compulsion, she might belong to another alpha. Or has pledged to one. Whatever the reason, she should have let us know she was here and how long she was staying. It’s the law of our kind and she should have known that.” He was shown to the room she was in and turned to Emma when she started to go in with him. “This might be better if you let me handle her. I’m not sure what might happen, and if she shifts again she’s going to pull both our cats, and that won’t be good.”
    “Don’t hurt her.” Mason turned to look at her before he opened the door. “Just…trust me on this when I tell you that she’ll drive you to want to hurt her, but don’t. There is something profoundly sad about her that I don’t think she’s handling as well as she’d like to think she is.”
    “Even though you don’t know her, you can feel this from her.” Emma nodded. “Are you thinking that this man, her father, should be brought in as well? I mean for me to talk to?”
    “Oh yeah, that’s a given. But for now, I think you should just go easy on her. And you should know that your aunt is looking into some things. She said that she could smell Calendar on her, the guy at the restaurant that you had words with the other night. I think she might have had a run-in with him too.” He grinned. The man had been making passes at his staff and then taking away some of their checks for no good reason other than they’d not have sex with him. Mason had fun showing him the error of his ways. Zach had even helped him. “This is no time to tell me how proud you are of yourself. You could have hurt that man.”
    “But I didn’t, and I’m pretty sure that when he finds out who my aunt is related to, he’s going to be falling all over himself to help her.” Emma only sighed heavily. “What is it, Emma? This girl, what is it that has you so worked up?”
    “I have no idea. For all I know she could be this terrible person who runs over small dogs in her free time. But there is something about her that makes me want to protect her.” He moved away from the door and took her into his arms. “Just don’t let her get hurt, Mason. By you or anyone else. For all her stubbornness, I think I like her. And she saved me from having to explain to you why I got hurt.”
    Kissing her again, he went to the door and let out a long breath. He was sort of nervous if he was honest with himself, but he opened the door and moved into the room.
    A man was standing behind her, another cop…a wolf that he knew from the local pack. She didn’t look up when he came into the room, but he could see by the stiffness of her body that she knew just who he was. Either that or she was bracing herself for pain. Either way, he had to take charge right now.
    “Do you know what I am?” She nodded but didn’t lift her head. “Look at me when I talk to you.”
    As her head lifted, he could see the blood on her face. He didn’t see a