Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
His skin prickled with heat, his vision turned sharp, and his canines began to lengthen.
Jesus Christ. He was about to mark her right there in the parking lot.
But damn, if he lost control, it could be dangerous for her. Hell, he could even kill her. When a wolf had sex with a female, his canines lengthened and he sank his teeth into her neck or shoulder. Biting caused instant submission so the female relaxed and allowed his domination. In the case of mating, he left his permanent mark on her—breaking skin to permanently embed his scent in her epidermis.
With a human, he shuddered to think what might happen—he could hit her jugular, and the pain he would cause her would be unforgivable. Especially because humans didn’t heal overnight like wolves did.
Get off her.
His body would not obey his mind. He pulled her head back and licked a line up her throat, nipping her neck. The act triggered the true instinct, and suddenly his teeth were out, fully extended.
He jerked back, twisting to the side to get her neck out of the line of his jaws as they snapped closed. He turned his back on her and started walking swiftly away, needing to put distance between their bodies. He drew in deep breaths of the cool September air, gazing up at the moon as if it might somehow help him find his way back to sanity.
“Ben?” she called out. Despite her tough guy act, he caught a note of vulnerability in her voice.
“I’m coming,” he said, his voice deeper than normal. He walked a wide arc around the car, as his vision returned to human norm and his teeth receded. He hoped the tightness in his pants would soon ease, too. After a couple of circles around his bewildered employee and the car, he came back to the driver’s seat, climbed in, and slammed the door without looking at Ashley.
She climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.
“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “That won’t happen again.”
She turned her head and stared at him, her expression a blank mask. What the hell did she think about all this?
Her phone rang. She dived for her purse, batting the phone out so it came flying up toward her face. She caught it with shaking hands and turned it over, looking at the screen. “It’s them,” she whispered as if they might hear.
“Answer it.”
“H-hello?”
“What happened?” the electronically altered male voice asked.
“Where’s my sister?”
“Your sister’s going to die if you don’t bring that laptop to us. What was that animal at the meeting place?”
“I don’t know—it came after me, too. It chased me into my car and I drove off without seeing where it went.”
A silence followed. Then, “Who have you talked to?”
“No one! Not a soul. I still have the laptop and I want my sister.”
“Be prepared to meet. We’ll call you with the location.”
“Wait—when? What time?”
“Tomorrow night.”
The line clicked off.
She looked up at him and exhaled. “Well, it sounds like she’s still alive.”
Maybe. He wasn’t too sure. The fact that they hadn’t brought her sister out of the car made him think they had no intention of letting either woman walk away.
She plugged her phone into the car charger. He was grateful she had one that worked on both their phones. “Do you think I should call my parents? I mean… they should know they might never see their daughter again.”
“No,” he said, lacing his voice with authority. “That would only endanger your sister.”
He half-expected resistance, but she just nodded. “Ben?”
He liked that she used his first name, even though it was impertinent. “Yeah?” He braced himself for another heavy question.
“I’m hungry.”
His initial relief at this easy-to-solve problem was overshadowed by guilt. He should have known she was starving. What kind of provider was he that he let his mate go hungry?
But no, she wasn’t his mate, nor could she be. He needed to stop thinking of her that way.
“Are you okay with fast food?”
“I’d be okay with dog food at this point,” she muttered.
He saw a sign for a cluster of fast-food restaurants and he took the exit and went into the drive-thru. With her blouse ripped and covered in blood, he couldn’t very well bring her in anywhere.
He ordered their food and paid for it, handing her the bag and getting back on the highway.
She unwrapped her sandwich and took a huge bite. “Do you want me to open something for you?” she asked with her mouth full.
Despite all the tension between them, he couldn’t help but find her cute. He experienced a flash of longing. This is what it would be like if Ashley was his girlfriend. Talking with their mouths full, laughing, comfortable with each other. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed with anyone. Definitely not since Leon and his father’s death. Not since he’d betrayed his family and left them to die.