Midnight Mistletoe (A Paranormal Romance) (Golden Pack Alphas) by Laurel Cremant Read Free Book Online Page A

words without a single waver or pause. He’d noted it as possibly the sexiest thing he’d ever heard.
    At first he’d believed his reaction stemmed from her heat cycle. He could smell it on her—the thick musk of her arousal swirling through his senses, almost drowning him in the need to slant her stubborn chin up and sink his teeth into the succulent flesh of her neck.
    Despite her obvious initial dislike of him, her eyes had flared with an answering blaze of attraction.
    Meeting her tilted his whole world off its axis and he knew things would never be the same.
    Whether she chose to admit it, they’d both chosen at that moment to withdraw to their respective corners. He’d come to the valley on official orders from the Council and had no time for small dalliances or otherwise. Whatever reasons she had for retreating remained her own.
    He’d been sent to help deal with a rogue pack. Gigi’s father, not wanting to endanger his own people, had called upon the Council to help deal with the matter. Rogue wolves were dangerous on several levels. Not only did they refuse to obey the rules set in place to protect weres from discovery, they had no respect for life, human or otherwise.
    Under normal circumstances, the Council would not have stepped in. Most rogue packs, died a natural death. The absence of no true alpha in the group always led to them killing each other off in a useless quest to dominate. But this pack had been different. Not only were they deliberately breaking the rules, they’d begun kidnapping humans and turning them. That, the Council could not ignore.
    Dealing with them hadn’t taken much time. But there had been some casualties, one of them being Darius’ Beta. In the end the group had been defeated and dispatched. Justice was met and his job was done—seven new feathers added to his collection. However during his stay, he’d developed an attachment to the Golden Pack that was…unexpected.
    After delivering his report to the Council, Marcus had returned to Golden Valley—and to Gigi.
    As an enforcer he had the right to set up base where ever he chose, and for the time being, he’d settled on the biting cold mountains of Golden Valley. He’d even agreed to play temporary beta to Darius.
    He liked the pushy alpha. His twinkling eyes, booming voice and ready smile were too easily misconstrued as trusting and easy-going, but Marcus had seen him in battle. Darius was one of the shrewdest wolves he’d ever encountered—and deadliest. Traits he had no doubt passed down to his only daughter.
    The dynamic between Darius and the other wolves intrigued him.
    None in the group resented their alpha’s choice in mate, Genevieve, Gigi’s mother. Her being a witch didn’t seem to bother the other wolves. Yet for some he’d seen that an obvious weariness of Gigi herself existed.
    Her hybrid status, put them on edge. A part of them questioned her right to belong. In that he could sympathize with her. He understood the difficulties of being different in a world that expected sameness.
    It was strange to him—being surrounded by a collective. The feeling wasn’t entirely bad, just different.
    He’d never given any consideration to becoming part of any one pack. Both his history and need for privacy didn’t lend themselves to community living.
    Yet he’d stayed. He set up house in a small bungalow close to Darius’s large home. He’d chosen the location in small part to be available to Darius and in larger part to be near Gigi—her cottage only a few yards on the other side of the main house. Each day he grew more attached to the land and each day wanted Gigi with a need that bordered on obsession.
    She avoided him—evaded his presence with a skill he had to admire. He reveled in their power struggle.
    Just before her recent disappearing act, he’d found her leaving her father’s office, back straight and eyes flashing.
    “Bad day?”
    “Fuck off.”
    “Such a lady.”
    “And you’re such a