Heat Rising: A KinKaid Wolf Pack Story by Jessica Lee Read Free Book Online

stomach.
    “Got you!” Kaleb crawled over her prone form, pushed her ponytail aside, and hovered with his mouth inches above her flesh. “That was clever, but I…”
    That’s when Kaleb saw it. And his limbs froze. Paralyzed by the appearance of a thin brown line embedded like a tattoo in Rosa’s flesh, its direction pointed north above the neckline of her tank.
    “What are you doing?” Rosa squirmed. “Get off me!” she growled.
    “Is that…is that what I think it is?” A tremor rocked his body.
    “Kaleb, I swear…” Her voice cracked.
    “How long?” He sucked in a shaky breath. “I mean, when did it start?” Christ. That would explain the sudden, intense arousal she’d experienced minutes ago. Rosa was going into heat—not that he wouldn’t have wanted her despite the pheromones. His desire for her had been growing, deepening ever since his senior year in high school.
    “Four weeks,” she whispered, her forehead pressed against the thick grass. “Kaleb, you have to swear to me you’re not going to say anything about this to Evin or Landry.”
    Four weeks? And none of them had picked up on a damn thing. She’d been hiding it well. Granted, it had been a little easier to push her buttons lately, but with the Gregorson’s uprising, Kaleb hadn’t given it much thought.
    “You can’t ask me to keep this a secret, angel.”
    Rosa jerked, but Kaleb wasn’t about to let her go yet. Not until he had a handle on what they were going to do with this new information.
    “I can, and you have to!” she spat. “Landry—my brother—they’ll lock me up until this is over. And you know I’m not exaggerating.”
    She was probably right. Scooping Rosa up and hiding her away, making sure no other man could get near her would be his next move as well. Pretty soon, she would be vulnerable to any male who wanted to claim the alpha’s sister. Once her heat was in full swing, whichever shifter she slept with would become her bonded mate. And from what he understood about females in full heat, the need to mate overtook them—it couldn’t be denied.
    “They would only be protecting you from yourself,” he stated.
    “Dear God! I don’t need protection. I need time.” She shoved back. “Let me go!”
    “What the fuck is going on here!” It was Landry.
    Before Kaleb could glance over his shoulder toward his partner, a heavy blow slammed into his torso, knocking him over and off Rosa.
    “Kaleb, have you lost your mind?” Landry stood over Rosa, offering her his hand, but his glare was fixated on Kaleb.
    “It’s okay,” Rosa said, pulling herself up off the ground. She dusted the loose grass off her front side. “It’s not what you think.”
    “Yeah,” Kaleb added and rolled onto his feet. “And if you’d given me a second before blasting into me, you would have known that.”
    “All I know is that I walked around here, heard Rosa yelling at you to let her go, and then saw you on top of her.” Landry crossed his arms. “What was I to think?”
    “Man, you know me better than that.” Kaleb shook his head, his gaze falling to Rosa. Her eyes were wide—pleading—and the desperation on her face punched every soft spot around his heart. “Rosa asked me to teach her a few fighting skills. That’s all we were doing.” Kaleb didn’t miss her long exhale. He just wished he felt as relieved as her about aiding and abetting her attempt to hide her rising heat from the alpha and his partner.
    “Is that right, Rosa? The moves he was showing you had to do with fighting?”
    “Damn, Landry…” Kaleb swung his attention to the other male. “Are you serious with this? Do you really think I would try to hurt her?”
    “That’s all it was,” Rosa interjected. “Come on, you guys.” She stepped between them.
    Landry lowered his glare and shook his head. “No. You’re right. I know you would never hurt her.”
    “Damn, right,” Kaleb said.
    “I apologize. It’s just when I saw you on top of