Haunted Sanctuary by Moira Rogers Read Free Book Online Page A

shoulders, dragging him closer.
    Arousal, intense and instantaneous. Jay took the invitation of her open mouth, sliding his tongue over hers before nipping at her lower lip. She whimpered and tilted her head, chasing his tongue with hers. Her fingernails dug into his back as she pressed against his chest.
    Her nipples were hard. Without thinking, he cupped her breast through her shirt and rubbed his thumb over the taut peak.
    She moaned and arched her back, pushing her breast closer to his hand. Her mouth tore free of his, and she dropped her head back, offering her throat in a moment of unrestrained hunger.
    Jay leaned in and shuddered to a stop a heartbeat before closing his teeth on her skin. “Eden.”
    Her breath whistled out through her teeth. “Oh my God.”
    Too far. Too much. Belatedly, he snatched his hand away. “Sorry.”
    “I should be.” Shivering, Eden dropped her forehead to his shoulder. “But that was a very efficient distraction.”
    He’d meant it to be, before the taste of her had overwhelmed his better sense. “Good,” he muttered. “That’s good.”
    Her shoulders shook with her restrained laugh. “Do you, uh, want to come in? This is a little Romeo and Juliet right now, and that doesn’t tend to end well.”
    “Got it.” Her hair was soft, and he couldn’t resist stroking his fingers through it. “Want to get out of here?”
    “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “God, yes. I can’t concentrate, I’m exhausted…”
    “If I’d explained all this better, you might have called in sick.”
    Eden eased back and gave him an amused look. “How long have you known me?”
    Long enough to know she took about as many days off work as he did. “Fair enough.”
    “I’m stubborn to a fault, I know that.” She turned, slipped on her jacket and dumped her cracked cell phone into her purse. “But I try to learn from my mistakes.”
    “Still, maybe you and Zack should talk to your father tomorrow instead of this afternoon.”
    “Maybe.” She eyed the office door, then him. “Are you spiriting me out the window?”
    Her barely concealed glee drew his first real smile since finding out what had happened in Memphis. “What, you want to sneak down the fire escape like a teenager?”
    She actually blushed as she swung her purse over her shoulder. “It would be the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done in my life. And probably the most romantic too.”
    “Then come on.” He grasped her hand. “We can head to the farm, or even go hide somewhere. Lady’s choice.”
    The sparkle in her eyes faded a little. “Going to the farm would be the right thing. They need help more than I do.”
    That dimming light made his chest ache. “That’s crap, Eden. What do you need?”
    “I need to help them.” She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed one hand against her chest. “Yesterday, when I was in the attic with Lorelei… God, the shit that’s happened to them. I could feel her pain like it was my own—worse, even. I don’t want to feel it again, but…” She opened her eyes and gave him a helpless look. “I need to fix it for her.”
    “It’s what being alpha is about,” he whispered. “But you can’t fix things for her any more than I can. Any more than we can fix Zack.”
    “Alpha?” She rubbed at her breastbone with her fingertips, as if the ache lingered. “Is that what I am? Like you and Zack and Kaley?”
    There were a hundred shades of it, a thousand ways to feel the power and responsibility of the relative position. “You need to take care of your pack.”
    “I do.” She took his hand again and rested her knee on the windowsill. “I can’t hide. I have to meet Zack and my dad. Zack needs it.”
    And the longer they waited to tell Austin the news, the worse he was bound to take it. “Your dad does too.”
    “Yeah.” She slipped out the window to stand next to him on the narrow fire escape, so close she only had to sway forward to lean against his chest. “Will you