Wolf’s Glory Read Free Page A

and make coherent conversation. “Is that a title? Like The President?”
    He ignored that, leaning close. “I"m a good hunter.” His voice was still low, forceful. “I can provide for a mate. I didn"t think my hunt today would be so successful. I wasn"t expecting to find you. You"re so beautiful. To whom do I pay your bride price?”
    Glory eyed him sideways. “You"re acting, right?” she suggested doubtfully. “This is part of your script.”
    “Acting? Pretending ?” He snarled at one of the dogs who trotted around them. It looked to Glory like the dog was laughing, its tongue hanging out. “I"m not acting. You"re my mate, Gloria Peterson. Can"t you feel it?”
    “Quit kidding around. It"s not funny.” It hadn"t been funny in tenth grade when she"d believed Rob Jorgenson liked her. He"d flirted with her for a month before he announced loudly and publicly that he had only done it to see what it would be like to sleep with a big fat cow. Glory had walked up to him and punched him in the face so hard that she"d sprained her wrist and broken one of his teeth. Being suspended from school had been a small price to pay to see the look of shock on his face when she punched him. She stared coolly at Wolf"s Shadow. “And quit calling me Gloria Peterson. That"s my mom. Call me Glory.”
    He stopped his horse, and hers stopped too, with a jolt that made her slip sideways. He reached out one brawny arm and pulled her back up effortlessly. “I"m not kidding. This isn"t a joke.” He frowned a little bit, and pulled a windblown lock of shiny black hair away from his face. She found her eyes tracing the hair to the straight edge of his jaw to his full lips. “I"ll court you if you want,” he said. “You"re worth it. I can"t believe that my mate is such a beautiful woman.”
    “Beautiful?” she snorted. “If you want to get in my pants, you don"t need to…”
    Then she paused. If she wanted to spend a little time in bed with him while waiting for transportation back to civilization it might not be such a good idea to offend him.
    “Beautiful?” she said again. She spread her hands to indicate her anything-but-slender figure. “Yeah, sure. Look at me. Not exactly what you"d see on America’s Next Top Model .”
    He did look at her, black eyes hot. “I don"t know what you mean by that. I suppose you have plenty of suitors. Maybe there"s one you already favor.” That deep voice went deeper, almost flat. “But he can"t have you. You"re mine . I won"t give you up.”
    Something twisted painfully in Glory"s chest. “Hello? We just met. Maybe I"m not a teeny little stick. But that doesn"t mean I don"t have feelings. So just cut it out, okay?”
    “I"m not a little stick either,” he growled back. He snatched her hand and held it to the front of his breechcloth. “See? That is what you do to me!”
    “Holy shi—!” Wolf"s Shadow should be named Anaconda! She snatched her hand away
    so violently she almost fell off the horse again. Her pink hair was pale compared to her embarrassed blush. “What the hell do you think you"re doing?”
    “Sorry. I got carried away,” he muttered. “I"ll court you.”
    “Just knock it off, okay?”
    “Why are you angry, Glory? I know you want me. I can smell your desire. It"s the same for me. Every time I scent you I get harder.”
    Glory snorted in disgust. What a typical egotistical jerk. She wasn"t pretty or slender, so he thought he could make fun of her. She could remember her mother"s plaintive voice telling her she"d be pretty if only she"d lose some weight. Even now, a decade later, that memory hurt as much as the memory of Rob laughing at her. She kicked her horse to get it moving again, and it bounded off at a dead run. She shrieked and fell off like a kid doing a belly flop.
    She was gasping desperately for breath when Shadow"s moccasins pounded into her line of sight. He fell to his knees beside her, his long hair falling on the ground next to her face when he bent