Mate Marked: Shifters of Silver Peak by Georgette St. Clair Read Free Book Online Page A

the chilly nights giving way to mild, warm days. He let out a huge yawn and arched his back, stretching luxuriously.
    “Stop that, you bastard!” Chelsea hissed at him. He responded with laughter.
    “You doin’ all right there, darling? You’re starting to sound kinda winded,” he said, which earned him a sharp kick in the ribs.
    “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to abuse your prisoners, Miss Officer of the Law,” Roman drawled. “Or is that Mrs.? I didn’t see any wedding ring. Anyway, if you look in your Sheriffing 101 handbook, there’s a whole section about not kicking your prisoners when they’re restrained.”
    “For you, I’ll make a special exception,” she growled. She tugged harder.
    Sheriff Chelsea Wintergreen clearly hadn’t thought this through. Sure, she was a larger girl, but he had her beat. He weighed two-fifty, all muscle, and he was six foot five. As soon as she’d incapacitated him, she’d grabbed him by the arm and started trying to drag him through the woods. He hadn’t resisted; he was just lying there, enjoying the show. She was puffing and gasping, frantically trying to pull him.
    Roman was hugely entertained and unreasonably turned on. He could feel the thick swell of his erection rubbing against his boxer shorts.
    “You need some help there?” a voice called, and Chelsea jerked and looked up. They were now surrounded by his entire pack, who were standing there watching him with expressions of amusement on their faces.
    “Who are you offering to help? Her, or me?” Roman called.
    Avery laughed. “Her, you jackass. Why would I help you? You’re not a hot chick with a great rack.”
    Roman felt a surprising flash of anger crackle through him like lightning, but he quickly swallowed it. So Avery was flirting with Chelsea. Big deal. Roman wasn’t dating Chelsea. He never dated anyone. Dating wasn’t his thing.
    Roman moved quickly and tossed the handcuffs aside, then leapt to his feet. Chelsea stared at him.
    “How in the hell did you do that?” she demanded, looking thoroughly miffed. Her hair was disheveled, her forehead was damp from sweat and she was breathing hard. God, she was hot.
    He grinned at her. It was his own little trick and he wasn’t ever going to reveal his secrets. It involved breaking his thumb and all, but shifters heal quickly and have a high pain tolerance.
    Leland sat up, still handcuffed. “Yeah, how?” he asked Roman. “And could someone for God’s sake un-handcuff me?”
    Chelsea scowled, knelt down and undid his handcuffs. Leland grabbed the handcuff key and started to walk off with the cuffs and the key.
    “Hey! Those are mine!” she yelled after him.
    Leland tossed her an amused glance. “We’re outlaws.” He smirked. “You probably shoulda thought of that before you tried to arrest our Alpha.”
    “Hi, I’m Avery and you’re gorgeous,” Avery said quickly, bustling forward and thrusting out his hand, which Chelsea refused to shake. Avery grinned, shrugged and didn’t move. He was obviously enjoying being close to Chelsea. Roman felt that murderous rage again but he swallowed it down.
    Marcus was standing slightly apart from all the others, watching, with a mixture of annoyance and faint amusement on his face.
    “You didn’t really put a lot of planning into this, did you?” he asked Chelsea, with a ghost of a smile.
    Man. She almost had Marcus smiling? What the hell was up with that?
    “I put plenty of planning into it,” she said indignantly.
    “And it didn’t occur to you to bring some means of transporting him through the woods? He weighs a good two-fifty. Can you hoist that amount of weight normally? You should have brought an ATV with you. Or a posse.”
    “Hey!” Roman said irritably. “Can you not help out the crazy sheriff lady who’s trying to arrest me?”
    Marcus let out a rumbling growl. “Why, you scared?”
    Roman gave an answering growl and glared at him. Marcus had taken it a step too far. Nobody