Seduced by the Wolf Read Free

himself.
    â€œAnd I’ll do anything to save mine.” He slid a palm over her cheek, feeling warmth beneath his fingertips. “They’re going to die out. Unless…”
    He took a new mate and fathered an heir.
    For the first time since Chloe had died, hope filled him. Ariel still turned him on. It wasn’t her body, lush and lovely as it was. It was her spirit and life burning bright as the hot sun in the sharp blue sky. He was the moon, sultry and filled with secrets. Ariel was light and warmth. He needed her heat to counter the coldness inside him.
    Balance, he thought. Life’s about balance, just as Cael had once said.
    Ariel never surrendered. No, she’d go down fighting, tooth and claw. A hint of the passion she’d display in bed.
    â€œI’ll help you on one condition. But you won’t like it.”
    â€œAnything,” she insisted. “Anything you want.”
    Jarrett fingered a strand of her silky hair. “Mate with me.”

Chapter Three
    Stunned disbelief shot through Ariel. Was she really listening to Jarrett telling her he needed to father a child? How he would instruct his pack to assist her only if… She closed her eyes as naughty fantasies she’d abandoned resurfaced. She was naked, lying beneath him in that big bed. Sweat glistened on his brow, his chocolate-brown eyes darkened in fierce concentration as he pushed into her body, his flesh slapping against hers as they made love to conceive his longed-for heir.
    It was sex. Just sex.
    And dangerous. If his men were around…
    â€œYou want me as a mate to give you a child. But nothing more.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDo you still have feelings for me, Jarrett?” She had to know. “Or is it just the sex?”
    His mouth thinned to a tight slash. “I have no more feelings left to give, Ariel.”
    The Fae inside her cried out to draw him closer and offer comfort. She had to leave. Now, before she capitulated. Because with Jarrett, it wouldn’t be comfort. It would be mind-bending, wild sex that could send them both spiraling out of control.
    She pushed to her feet, and a violent trembling seized her muscles. Ariel grabbed onto a nearby bedpost, missed and began to fall.
    Jarrett stood and caught her, hefted her into his arms. A lock of blond hair spilled into his face. So handsome, the face of an angel with devilish dark eyes. A beast looked out of those eyes, the wolf held at bay.
    â€œYou’re freezing. Let’s get you warmed up.”
    For a wild moment she thought he would toss her onto the big bed. Instead, with the toe of one boot, Jarrett pushed open the bathroom door. He elbowed aside the glass doors and stepped inside a shower the size of a walk-in closet. Very gently, he set her down on the seat. Closing her eyes, Ariel sagged against the wall. She felt so damned exposed and vulnerable. She wanted to collapse in a shivering heap on the floor and curl up in the fetal position.
    Sheer will prevented her from doing so.
    The slow rasp of a zipper caught her attention. Jarrett shrugged out of his jeans, tugged his mulberry sweater over his head. His chest was broad, dusted with dark blond hair. A scar slashed across the thick muscles of his right shoulder. It looked like a claw mark.
    Black boxers fit snug against his lean hips. He was leanly muscled, six feet of lethal wolf in a man’s strong body. Ariel’s breath hitched as she remembered the passion between them that had once threatened to consume them.
    And then she’d slipped out of his bed before things got too dicey. Went too far.
    Jarrett stepped into the shower, helped her to stand. One arm locked around her middle as he stood behind her and twisted the knobs. Warm water cascaded over her battered body. Ariel flinched, sagging against him as he murmured assurances. He pushed a hand through her hair, his touch oddly soothing. Her life was literally in this wolf’s hands.
    He could snap her