Hunger Untamed by Pamela Palmer Read Free Book Online Page B

look of disgust passed over his features as he put the phone away.
    "Verbose, the man is not. So who are you, Sugar?" the Feral drawled. "Why are you so important that I'm babysitting you instead of making love to my new mate?"
    She didn't answer, her mind furiously searching for a way out. Within the throbbing, erratic mating bond, she felt Kougar beginning to move toward her. Hells bells.
    The shifter studied her. "You're not Mage. Number one, you don't have the copper rims around your irises. Number two, Captain Death didn't warn me not to let you touch me, and he would have if you'd been Mage." He gave a brief scowl. "Probably."
    She cocked her head at him. "Captain Death ?"
    His mouth kicked up on one side. "The man's cold as, and delivers it mercilessly. Always has." His expression turned serious, his gaze flicking down over her scrubs. "I don't know what he wants with you, Florence Nightingale, but for your sake, I hope it's nothing more than a quick roll in the hay."
    "Who are you?"
    "I'm Jag. You've got to be Therian. You're stronger than a human, though not by much."
    Smart-ass. "Kougar's making a mistake, Jag. A grave mistake. You need to let me go."
    "Nice try, sweetheart. Do I have idiot engraved across my forehead?"
    If only she still had the ability to turn to mist. With her hands cuffed, she was all but helpless. There was nothing more she could do but wait for Kougar, then hope she could manage one more escape.
    Kougar strode up the front walk of the small bungalow, certain he had the right house. He could feel Ariana inside as strongly as any beacon, small bursts of anger pulsing through the mating bond. His plan to capture her had worked like a charm. Now came the hard part--forcing her to free his friends from the spirit trap.
    Opening the door without knocking, he strode into the living room to find Jag on the sofa, his feet propped up on the coffee table, a baseball game on the television. Ariana stood with her back to the wall, her wrists caught in manacles Jag had attached to the wall.
    He had to hand it to Jag. He'd carried out Kougar's directions precisely, though attaching her to the wall was a small bit of brilliance that was all Jag's. The drill he must have used sat on the coffee table.
    Ariana's eyes speared him with fury. She was dressed again in medical scrubs, a black sweater over them this time. The clothing might be drab, but there was nothing plain about the woman wearing them. Her dark hair was up in a casual knot, her slender neck exposed and beckoning. Goddess how he'd loved to kiss her neck, to trail his mouth and tongue over the silken length from her shoulder to her ear, feeling her shiver, hearing the soft moan of pleasure in her throat.
    Would this woman without a soul react to his touch the way his beloved had? Goddess, did he really want to know? No, he didn't. He wanted only one thing from her, and that was the rescue of his friends.
    But as she watched him with hard, wary eyes, her mouth and chin stony, he knew it was going to be a battle all the way. He could hardly appeal to her compassion, not when the woman possessed none. Not anymore.
    The cougar inside him leaped like an overeager pup, as if he longed to be free to race to her and lick her face. As if she were truly Kougar's mate and not some soulless look-alike.
    She's not ours, Cat. She hasn't been for centuries.
    "Release me, Kougar." Her eyes snared him, piercing in their intensity, even behind the brown contacts. He felt them stabbing, probing. Stroking the places deep inside him that had yearned for her for too long.
    "Leave, Jag."
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jag rise lazily to his feet. "Just when things were getting interesting." But the shifter turned off the television, picked up his drill, and sauntered to the front door, closing it behind him.
    Pulled by forces beyond his control, Kougar moved slowly toward Ariana, drawn against his will. His body throbbed with alternate bursts of cold and heat, his