Octavia's Time [The Klawinken] (Siren Publishing Allure) Read Free Page B

locked the door, where she sobbed her heart out. She cried for her sister, her parents, and herself. Upsetting her parents wouldn’t bring the letter or Evenela back. When she emerged from her room the next morning, she was once again the dutiful daughter her parents expected. Secretly, she hoped she might receive her own letter from her Evenela, but the letter never came.
    Not since then, until now, had she felt so alone. There was no one to help her understand the dreams and lustful cravings that were all but consuming her. She had taken a few psychology classes, and in one class in particular they had studied transference. She had used a few of the techniques to help control her unwanted behavior. However, more times than not, she succumbed far too easily to the agonizing thoughts and images that inflamed her primitive urges and caused her to do things she normally would have been far too inhibited to even think about, let alone try.
    She did find that working with the kids at the homeless shelter in town, where she volunteered for a few hours once a week, provided a slight reprieve when it came to thinking about someone other than herself. They were so eager to be accepted and to learn. The parents were down on their luck, but for the most part, loved their children. However, there were a few that seemed to care less about their children’s welfare, and they were the ones she had a hard time being civil to, even though she knew her job was to simply be helpful, comforting and nonjudgmental.
    Her mother, although supportive of her desire to help others, found the time she spent at the shelter a concern. “You know those people are unstable. Just be careful one of them doesn’t turn on you or worse.”
    She had tried to calm her mother’s fears. There was no way she was going to stop volunteering. She loved reading to the children and helping them with their studies. They needed her, and she felt it was one of the more worthwhile things she did with her time. Luckily, her mother backed down, and Octavia didn’t have to take a stand. She hated conflict and tried to avoid it at all costs, especially when it came to her parents.
    Forcing herself to think about her family and the kids at the homeless shelter provided a much-needed diversion. However, she still had some time before her appointment, so she pulled out her literature book from her book bag and turned to Monday’s assignment. Reading would help her to remain calm and focused while she waited for the man named Mathieu to arrive.
    She had just finished answering the questions at the end of the chapter when she heard a knock at the front door. Perfect timing, she thought to herself, grabbing her cell phone from the bed and running down the stairs. She stopped and took a deep breath at the front door, feeling her breasts swell and her nipples come to attention. Dear God, all he did was knock on the door, and this is how I react. What will he think of me when he begins the piercings?
    She was going to expose her breasts to a stranger, an act that would normally have kept her from even considering having her nipples pierced. She put her hands to her cheeks. They were warm. However, it wasn’t embarrassment that generated the unwanted heat throughout her body. Whatever was happening to her libido was intensifying by the minute, and not for better.

Chapter 2
     
    Mathieu Lacroix stood very still with a black leather bag in his hand and waited for the woman who was destined to be his mate open the door. He had only seen her from a distance these past few years, biding his time until she turned twenty-one and would be ready to take her place as a Klawinken.
    The front door creaked open slowly until she was standing in front of him in just jeans and a T-shirt, her beautiful, long auburn hair framing the face he dreamed about every night. Pretty light-blue eyes looked into his, making his knees weak. She appeared startled by his appearance. He could see her body