Black Wolfe's Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Avelyn McCrae Read Free Book Online Page A

your name?”
    “No.”
    “Then you’re not supposed to be on my boat.”
    She shifted her weight back and forth, biting at her lower lip, as if she were uncomfortable. “Um, sir?” He turned back to find her looking at the passenger list. “This is me.”
    “I felt like shit,” he confessed. “I never miss a guest. I apologized, of course, and she just looked at me with those big doe eyes and told me not to worry about it, that it happens to her all the time. I kept an eye on her throughout the entire ride. Everyone else was enjoying the free drinks and snacks, but she just stayed in the back, far away from the other passengers. I swear, I didn’t even see her disembark.”
    Derrick turned to Christophe, who looked uncharacteristically guilty. “She sought me out on her first day,” he admitted.
    “For what purpose?”
    Christophe averted his eyes. “She said she needed to speak with the person in charge of on-site medical care.”
    “And?”
    Christophe shifted uncomfortably. “She said...if anything should happen to her during her stay, no measures were to be taken to save her life. She said she had a standing, legal, Do Not Resuscitate order locked in the resort safe, should it be needed.”
    Derrick gaped at him. “You are just telling me this now? Did you not find this worthy of mention?”
    “It was unusual, I admit,” Christophe said slowly. “Guests usually do not come to me with such things. Certainly not one so young and outwardly healthy. I asked her, pointedly, if there was something I should be aware of. She said no, that sometimes things just happened because they were meant to be.” He sighed. “I thought she might just be a bit eccentric — some of our guests are. She did not visit me again, but I cannot help but feel as if I have missed something.”
    Thus far, Dieter had remained silent. Derrick turned to him now. “And what of you, Dieter? Is there something you wish to tell me?”
    The large man’s face remained expressionless. “No.”
    “Let me rephrase that,” Derrick said carefully. “Have you had any direct personal contact with Angelica?”
    “Yes, but I do not wish to discuss it.”
    Derrick narrowed his eyes. “Dieter.”
    Dieter exhaled heavily, looking as if he’d rather be anywhere else at that moment. “We...talked.”
    “Excuse me?” Next to Dieter, Silas was a chatty Kathy. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was more a series of grunts and growls than actual words.
    Just a hint of color rose in Dieter’s classic Nordic features as he remembered the events of a few nights ago.
    He was making his rounds just before midnight, ensuring all of the guests were accounted for within the sanctioned perimeter. He rounded the corner when he felt a soft thud around the vicinity of his lower chest. Thinking someone had tossed something at him, he glanced down just in time to see a young woman landing solidly on her backside upon the flagstones below.
    “Oh, excuse me,” she said with effort, since much of her breath had been forced from her lungs at the point of impact. Her eyes started somewhere around his ankles, then lifted as she tilted her head upwards. By the time she got to his face, they were as wide as saucers and her lips parted in shock. They stared at each other for what seemed like several minutes.
    Angelica was the first to break the gaze. She began to get her feet beneath her when Dieter reached down and plucked her up as if she weighed nothing.
    Standing at her full height, her eyes fell somewhere around his solar plexus. She looked up at him and he found himself at a complete loss, not knowing what to do.
    “Has anyone ever told you that you look just like Chris Hemsworth?” she asked, smiling.
    He might have grunted; he couldn’t remember. “You know,” she continued, “the Australian actor who played Thor in the movie?”
    “You have seen Thor?” he asked, rather stupidly. Girls didn’t like action adventure movies, did they? Especially