A Wolf's Mate by Vanessa Devereaux Read Free Book Online Page A

then she felt
him explode inside her.
    They
stayed together as one, their breathing almost in perfect harmony.
    “I
need to go for a run,” he whispered in her ear.
    “Great
idea, I’ll come with you.”
    “Nope,
this is a guy sort of thing. I have to do it alone.”
    “You
don’t strike me as a chauvinist.”
    “It’s
not that.” He pulled out of her and she turned around to face him. “Maybe when
I know you better I’ll be able to tell you.”
    She
looked into those big beautiful eyes of his. So it was true. There was no such
thing as the perfect man. The bubble had just burst. There was something he didn’t
want her to know.
    He had a secret.

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    The
wind swirled through his fur, ruffling it and allowing the cold air to bite
into his skin. He’d had his first taste of the problems arising when you dated
a human. He’d had sex so he needed to run as his wolf half. A shifter woman
could have run with him. After a good fuck like that, she’d have felt the need
too.
    His
paws met with the ground and he ran faster, feeling the snow hit his pelt. This
was wonderful and so good to be out in the woods on such a chilly night with
the moon sneaking out from some clouds. It was what he was born to do. He
stopped, raised his muzzle into the air, and howled.
    Two
wolves howled back, followed by what he guessed was a pack nearby responding to
his call. Not fellow shifters but real one hundred percent wolves. He’d seen
some up close near his cabin and they were often weary of him, obviously
sensing that he didn’t smell quite like them. He’d alerted this nearby pack and he wasn’t in the mood to be checked
out or possibly get into a battle with another alpha so he ran back toward the
spot where he’d parked his car.
    Howls
broke the silence again and he moved in top gear until he arrived back at his
car. He relaxed his shoulders and chest and stretched allowing the slow
transformation back into Nick the man. He got into the car and sat thinking for
a bit. The sensible thing to do would be
to drive home and forget about Ava, the human who he still had the nagging
feeling was his intended mate.
    Could
he forget about her?
    She
fascinated him, he found her attractive, loved being around her, and not just
because of the great sex they’d shared earlier that night. He could have sex
with anyone, but he’d felt a connection
to her like no other woman he’d been with which meant mate. The woman you have
to stick with through thick and thin, no matter what’s thrown your way. It was
the code, the law, and that’s the way it was.
    How
did the other guys who’d married humans work this out? He knew one problem they’d encountered was the deception.
They’d not come clean about what they were from the beginning of their relationships
and had almost lost their ladies. He wouldn’t make that mistake.
    However,
what if he lost her before she hadn’t been offered the chance to know the real
Nick— full-time regular guy, businessman , and yes, part-time wolf?
    What
if she hated wolves?
    What
if she thought he was crazy when he told her the truth?
    What
if she reported him to a doctor and they locked him up. He couldn’t let the
other shifters come to his rescue and put themselves in danger too.
    Nick
turned the key in the ignition allowing the warm blast of air billowing out of the vents to warm him. He’d
break into the topic of shifters gradually to gauge how she felt about certain
things. Like dating a man who sometimes had fur on his body and wasn’t from
Earth.
    That
all sounded worse than it actually was.
    It
would be fine. If they were supposed to life partners, then it would all be okay, right?
    Deep
in his heart he knew Ava was definitely worth taking a chance on.
    ****
    Ava
had decided to take a shower after Nick had left. She guessed that maybe saying
he was going for a run was his way of
getting out of the awkwardness that sometimes arose when you’d slept with
someone and realized it