Reclaiming Angelica Read Free Page B

Not
Raul this time, but Dominic. “Yes?”
    “He’s home and headed your way. I hope like hell you know
what you’re doing,” he said with a low growl. Dominic and Raul were like
brothers. He’d only reluctantly agreed to help her once she’d convinced him and
the others that her goal wasn’t to leave Raul, but to force him to take their
relationship to the next level. Now that the moment was at hand, she wasn’t
quite so sure she’d chosen the right course of action.
    “I do.” Angelica endued her voice with confidence she didn’t
feel. She swiped the touch screen to end the call and tossed the phone on the
couch. Agitated, she gathered her long, curly hair and plaited it, then twisted
it into a knot at her nape. Raul would be here soon. It wouldn’t take him long
to find her since she’d made no effort to hide her whereabouts.
    Angelica walked to the window and stared out over the
backyard at the yellow-tinged moon. Not a full one, but a three-quarter. Raul’s
wolf would still be strong in him but not in complete control.
    “Oh God, what have I done?” She wiped sweaty palms on her
skirt as she continued pacing. When she began panting on the verge of
hyperventilating, Angelica stopped and closed her eyes, counted to ten, then
twenty, then thirty while taking deep, slow breaths.
    Please, God let this
work. I don’t want to live without him.
    It had to work. They were running out of time. If they
didn’t settle this now, there wouldn’t be a later. Her blood ran cold as she
considered the consequences if her plan failed.
    As she stood there, eyes closed, praying and bargaining with
her maker, Angelica felt a change in the atmosphere. Raul. He was here. A
sudden calm descended over her. Raul—her lover, her life, her very soul —was here. Now everything would be
okay. She would make it be okay. There was no other option.
    Her locked door slowly swung open with an ominous creak
worthy of any horror movie. Then Raul’s shadowed form stood framed in the
doorway. Her lover was tall—a few inches over six feet. A big man with broad
shoulders, a huge chest, meaty arms and legs. Right now his angular, ruggedly
handsome face wore a forbidding scowl.
    “You. Left. Me.” His voice was a deep, rumbling growl.
    His rage blasted across her senses, muddied with the
underlining tang of pain and…confusion? Angelica nodded her agreement and then
voiced it. “I left you.”
    “YOU. LEFT. ME.” His voice was louder, the tone sharper.
Raul stepped inside, tucked his lock-picking tools into his back pocket, then
slammed the door so hard it closed with a bang that had Angelica jumping.
    Watching him warily, she took a single step backward. One
should always be cautious with a wounded animal, especially one that was part
human.
    His golden-eyed gaze dropped to the offending foot before
returning to her face. “ Don’t. Run .”
    Of course she was going to run, silly man. If she didn’t
run, he wouldn’t chase her. Tonight was all about making Raul lose that
ironclad control of his. Angelica eased her left foot back behind the right and
shifted her weight onto it.
    Raul went predator still.
    She placed her right foot behind her.
    His eyes narrowed, and a small snarl filled the air.
“Don’t.” A plea. A command.
    Because she loved him, Angelica did the only thing she
could—turned and ran. Angelica was quick, but in her current form she was no
match for a shifter. Unfortunately Raul was still pretending to be human.
    She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Raul
vaulted smoothly over the couch and lunged out to grab her by the waist. He
missed her by inches. She’d already dropped into the skid of a professional
major league baseball player, bounced up before he realized she’d eluded him,
and sprinted toward the dining room.
    He was on her heels in moments, still using human speed,
human moves.
    Angelica opened her senses, all of them, and the game was
on. Except she was the only one who knew the