Carnal Knowledge by Celeste Anwar Read Free Book Online Page B

flow abruptly. Fire flashed beneath his palm, her skin going
    feverish hot, and he felt the movement of bone, heard the sharp crack as it shifted, collapsing upon itself.
    She screamed again and again, arching her back, releasing him as her
    body seized. Bile rose in his throat, and he choked it back, his gut
    clenching with her pain. He wanted to halt her torment, but he was as
    powerless to kill her as he was to let her die. She rolled onto her side, convulsing, curling into a ball. Her limbs drew up, shortening with
    agonizing slowness as she became wolf.
    Fragile hope spread through him as he watched, unable to look away.
    She was going to make it. Never had he met a human woman who’d
    survived so much.
    She gasped, hassling as fur sprang from her skin, growing like some
    bizarre plant in time release video.
    He blinked, unable to believe his eyes. The wolf lay on the ground,
    panting, then slowly stood and shook its fur as if wet, throwing off the
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    Celeste Anwar
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    remnants of her gown. Glowing, golden eyes met his as the wolf regarded
    him. He reached for her, slowly, and ran his fingers through her silky hair.
    She tilted her head, watching him as he petted her, marveling that the
    change had completed. He smiled wryly, allowing his racing heart to slow
    to normal. He should have known better than to misjudge her strength and
    tenacity to survive. No woman had ever fought so hard. No woman had
    ever captured him so completely.
    “Are you ready to change back?” he asked softly, rubbing her fur in
    soothing circles.
    He sensed her acceptance, her eagerness to return to human form with
    the slight tensing of her body. “All you have to do is wish it. The first change always comes with the moon. Once you survive it, you can change
    back and forth at will. It gets easier with time.” Until then, each shift would be painful, but never like the first time. The body acclimated with the cellular change, able to heal and recover faster as it took hold, until shifting could come as easily as a thought.
    And with experience, the rising full moon would not shift her
    immediately to wolf, though it was hard for even an old hand as himself to resist the seductive lunar call.
    “Concentrate,” he whispered. “See your human self and it will
    come.”
    Long moments passed and nothing happened. She whined, and he
    knew what was wrong. The moon was as yet too strong, still in the sky.
    Once it set, she could shift back. He’d forgotten something so elementary.
    “Soon,” he promised. He scooped up his jeans and led her to his car
    for a night that promised to be long.
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    Celeste Anwar
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    She hopped into the passenger side and curled in the seat, watching
    him as he settled inside and cranked the car, heading back to his apartment.
    One step more and she would be his ... if she didn’t kill him first.
    And he rather hoped she wouldn’t since she hadn’t yet ripped his throat out.

    * * * *
Kaeli awoke with a startled gasp, clutching her neck. She’d dreamt of
    being savaged, having her blood drained, her body crushed. Had it been
    real? Or was it just a nightmare? Her questing fingers brushed down her
    throat, felt tender ridges that had not been there before.
    Slowly, she opened her eyes and discovered she was in his apartment,
    in his bed. Silk sheets clung to her naked curves, rasping across her skin as she sat up and clutched the top edge to her breasts. Her skin tingled,
    responding to the caress of silk.
    She shivered, looking around the dark room. The door was closed,
    only the barest sliver of light escaping beneath its lowest edge. And yet every shape in the room appeared clearly to her. She could see her hand
    touching the bed, the edges of a night stand at one side. Further, her gown lay crumpled on the floor, and she could see the tears in it, smell the blood that stained it.
    Her heart quickened with fear ... and excitement. She swung her legs
    out from the bed, wrapping