Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3 by J.K. Harper Read Free Book Online

Her entire presence radiated soothing calm. Even so, it didn't stop him from seeing the smooth line of her cheek or the faint beat of her pulse in her neck, inviting him to nibble at it.
    Dammit. Rielle was gorgeous and super enticing. Maybe this date thing wasn't that good of an idea. Controlling himself around her was not as easy as it should be.
    “Go on,” she said. Her soft voice held a strange note of command in it as well. Not an order like he might get from his Alpha, but a command born of real interest in what he was saying. Caleb realized with an internal jolt that usually, no one was particularly interested in his thoughts about anything. They mostly just wanted him to shut himself down.
    “They don't understand pack life,” he said. “Being in a pack means being part of something, and being able to live with rules because you know it's for the good of everyone in it. Rogues don't want that.” He paused to take a long, fortifying swallow of his drink. Rielle's lips on the cutesy straw in hers distracted him for a long, near-choking moment. He managed to wrench his gaze back up again. This time, though, she'd noticed. A very faint blush of color touched her cheeks again. Damn, damn, damn. She was too darn pretty. He kind of wanted to lick her. Everywhere.
     
    ~
     
    So focused was she on the big wolf across the table from her, Rielle almost forgot where they were. The noise around them had faded as his voice deepened from his passion about the subject. She was slightly alarmed at the depth of his antipathy toward the rogues. Even more, though, she was taken with his deep blue eyes, the slight crinkles in his forehead as he glowered, the formidable strength and sheer—maleness—in him. Every nerve ending she had seemed to be buzzing in his presence.
    She could feel her wolf's interest and appreciation rising in her, threatening to overwhelm her good reason. The inner twitchiness she'd been feeling lately, the need to somehow let loose, kept her discreetly tapping a foot on the floor to banish some of the energy.
    Her head still spun at the wildly fast parade of events that had led to this very moment. How on earth had she ended up at some place called Once in a Blue Moon on a date with Caleb Bardou? Of course, it wasn't a real date. He'd been pretty clear on the phone that this was just an apology for the other night. It seemed Alpha wanted to keep closer tabs on Rielle, judging by the subtext she'd picked up from Caleb's halting request to meet him for drinks. Even so, she had to admit it felt pretty good to be out on the town with an appealing guy.
    Okay, a really hot guy. Because he was, with that tousled dark blond hair and those eyes looking at her with an interest she knew came from the subject he was discussing, but which still felt flattering. Caleb might be rough and tumble, but he was also downright sexy. Her body told her that clearly enough. She'd just caught him looking at her lips, too. For some reason, that made color flood her cheeks. Before she could think more about what that might mean, she hurriedly jumped into the conversation. Thankfully, it was truly interesting to her historian-oriented mind.
    “Actually, rogue wolves do want pack life,” she said. “They just want it on their own terms, even if that means going about it in ways that aren't acceptable to traditional packs.” She caught a faint whiff of edgy, dangerous wolf, prowling and interested, as she spoke. She stiffened for a millisecond before she realized it was Caleb. She'd provoked him again with her words, talking about rogues, and—
    Oh. Oh. Her dormant wolf sat up in her mind, startling her even more its sudden, strong presence. Caleb was broadcasting interest. As in, male wolf interest. In her.
    For a long, weightless second, Rielle locked eyes with Caleb's smoky blue ones. A spark in his intense gaze leapt over to her. The sounds around them dropped into a roaring silence, and a light shiver skittered up and down