HuntressUnleashed by Clare Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

stood still, respecting her need for space. Tried
not to scent Delaney all over her skin. She was bleeding from cuts on her hands
and knees. He clenched his hands in an effort not to approach her to tend to
them.
    Keeping the sword between them, she paced a few steps to the
side, staring intently at his face. Then back, her eyes flickering up and down
his body. He frowned. Had she been caught by a wizard spell after all?
    “What are ye doing, lass?”
    For a moment he thought she wouldn’t reply. Then she bit her
lip and the sharp smell of fear became tempered with her bewilderment. “You…you
aren’t old and disgusting underneath.”
    “Nay, Caitrin. I am Alpha, as I told ye.”
    “I drank a potion. A kind of Sight potion. Iris said it
would help me see the truth. I—I saw him after he kissed me—”
    “Caitrin, lass.” He interrupted her half-hysterical
babbling. Gently averting the sword, he went to her, took her in his arms.
    She stood stiffly at first, quivering with residual terror.
To calm her, he chanted poetry in her ear, speaking in the Gaelic he’d learned
long ago. Gradually his warmth began to restore her and she rested her head
against his chest, breathing more regularly. By the end of the third poem, she
seemed to be soothed.
    “Eagan, why haven’t they tried to follow us?”
    “The fourth witchward,” he said succinctly.
    She gasped. “You mean to say it will hold against them?
Wait. Would it have held against you?”
    “Aye.” He kept his face deadpan.
    “You’re a canny one, MacCulloch.” She nipped his arm only
half playfully.
    He chuckled. “Ye could have hid from me, Caitrin, but ye
would have missed out on this .”
    Setting the sword aside, he sat down on the couch, pulling
her onto his lap. He intended to kiss her just once. But her lips were so
sweet, so yielding that he could hardly come up for air. She was intoxicating
and he was rock hard again, wanting nothing more than to thrust inside her. Her
warmth pressed so tantalizingly against his cock that he had to use every ounce
of self-control not to take things further.
    “Lass, ye need to make a decision soon.” His voice was
harsh, grating.
    “About us, you mean.” Blue eyes, half closed from his kiss,
fixed upon him.
    Eagan nodded sharply. “It seems strange to have to explain.
My kind often instinctively know when they are ready to mate and settle down.”
    “What if things work differently with me? What if I find I
am unhappy?”
    “Never heard of that happening. Even half-bloods mate for
life.”
    Caitrin looked away, mirroring his unease. She was less than
half-blood, possessed Hunter attributes. He’d been looking for a pure werewolf
female all this time, staking out different Packs only to find nobody truly
meant for him. No one else had called to his body—and mind—with such relentless
fierceness. No one but Caitrin.
    When she shifted position atop him, he realized her arm was
bleeding. There were grazes on her knees and hands as well, yet more hurt that
Delaney had wrought. Immediately he deposited her on the couch.
    “Where is your bathtub?” he demanded.
    She gestured to a large copper pot hung on a nail in the
kitchen. “You will have to draw water from the well.”
    “I’m no’ afraid of going out there. Stay here,” he ordered
as an afterthought.
     
    Caitrin wanted to scream after him to come back. He strode
outdoors, wielding buckets in each hand like weapons, as if daring his enemies
to attack. White-lipped and nervous, Cait took up the sword.
    Craning her neck, she peered out the window. If either the
wizard or Delaney returned she would rush to his aid, no matter how that idea
terrified her. With bated breath she watched as he drew several large
bucketsful of water, his muscles flexing as he carried them back to the
cottage.
    She breathed again as he came past the witchward, unable to
quite admit—even to herself—that she’d felt bereft without the werewolf’s
presence.
    “I will heat