Blood Mate: The Project Rebellion, Book 2 by Mina Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

approval at the contents of her bag. She’d snagged a shed-load of meal replacement bars and protein shakes. All lightweight, the small packets provided the best bang for the buck, or in this case, the most nutritional value per packet for their weight. And they needed it—all the wolves burned through calories like wildfire, their metabolisms wicked fast since they’d all been turned.
    “Cool beans. Did’ya get strawberry…I call dibs,” he declared, rooting around in the bag. Unlike some of the others, he didn’t mind the protein shakes, but he couldn’t stand the banana ones. They made him want to hurl. Strawberry though…that was an entirely different matter. He rifled through the packets, looking for any with a pink stripe.
    Nic chuckled. “Of course I got you strawberry. You think I’d forget something like that?”
    He flicked her a grin before pulling his hand out of the bag. The packets slithered over each other and something else caught the corner of his eye. Frowning, he looked back. It looked almost like…lace?
    “What’s this?”
    “Nothing. Leave it.”
    Nic squeaked, trying to pull the holdall away and clamp her hand over the opening but he was too quick for her. He drove through the shake packets, searching for the scrap of pink fabric he’d caught a glimpse of. His fingertips grazed something soft. With a crow of triumph he grabbed and pulled. Nic swore, shake packets spilling from the bag as Sanders held up his prize.
    And realized he was holding a bra. In hot pink.
    “Fuck.”
    Heat hit his cheeks and Nic snickered. He avoided her gaze and stuffed the bra back in the bag like it had burned him. He wasn’t interested in women…mostly. He’d seen Nic naked more times than he could recall and nothing, despite the fact she was a damn sexy woman. So why did the sight of female underwear have him coloring up like a kid on his first date?
    “Honey, if you were interested, I’d already be doing you.”
    He dropped his head to try and hide his blush and looked up at her through his bangs. He needed them cut, but they grew so quickly there wasn’t much point—not when there were more important things to do. “Thanks, I appreciate the vote of confidence. If only others…”
    He trailed off, zipping the bag up to avoid the subject, but she knew what he meant. He’d had the hots for their unit sergeant since he and Nic had been transferred in, way back when they were all human. But Leon was as straight as they came—a real ladies man who wouldn’t look twice at Sanders. No matter how much his heart and body ached to tell the bigger man how he felt.
    Understanding and sympathy flowed over Nic’s features in place of her usual pissed off expression and she reached out to pat his shoulder. Anger and frustration rolled through him. Why couldn’t he find Nic attractive instead of Leon? She had more screws loose in the head than he did, wouldn’t let a guy near her other than him. They could have been each other’s salvation.
    “I know, sweets. I know.”
    Letting go of him, she resettled the bag and looked around them. Dawn had started to break with a vengeance now so they couldn’t stick around. Not without getting spotted by the locals and having to answer some interesting questions about why they were wandering around in the ass-end of beyond without any shoes on.
    “Let’s split, shall we? Long run ahead.”
    He didn’t need telling twice. He motioned for her to precede him, then they slipped out of cover behind the store. They ran low and fast along what passed for the main street before they turned and ducked into cover behind a fence which ran parallel to the local diner. The trees of the surrounding forest loomed large behind the small building.
    Letting Nic take point, he turned and cast a glance over his shoulder. An automatic reaction from his soldiering days, to ensure that no one had followed them. The little alley was empty. At this time of day he hadn’t expected anything