Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) by Wendy Sparrow Read Free Book Online

caffeine and meds to make her thoughts a stilted montage of randomness.
    And she still smelled like Dane.
    Her want for him was this background noise like a toothache.
    Mine. Mine. Mine.
    Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
    Okay, she really wasn’t ready to talk about this. She slid her gaze to the door. Escape. If she ran out of here screaming, would he consider dropping it?
    “Who is it?” Jordan asked. “Tom? It’s Tom, isn’t it?”
    She held her breath and tried to keep her face blank. There was no way she could tell him. She’d just declined being his mate and alpha female for a human she’d known hours. A human who owned a cat. A human who’d recorded her snoring.
    Wait, that totally hadn’t been her snoring. No way.
    “It’s not Tom?” Jordan’s brow wrinkled as he looked down at her. Even if he wasn’t pouring on the dominance and aggression, he was still looming above her. “Kurt?”
    She shook her head. Kurt was sooo not her type. In reality, if it was going to be anyone, it would have been Jordan, and there had been one awkward moment last season she’d been in heat and on something her doctor had warned her might have…unwanted side effects when she’d attacked Jordan in wolf form. They’d been out bringing a bear down that was encroaching on their territory. Taking down a bear together had been a rush—and then the medication—and then being in heat, and, okay, for a moment, he’d responded to her amorous wrestling before he tossed her away and loped off. So, he should know—if it was going to be anyone…
    But it wasn’t anyone, it was a human.
    Hell, this sucked.
    “So, what was Cheri’s ultimatum?” she asked, hoping to distract him. There was no way he’d answer the question, but maybe her prying would insult him enough that he’d kill her…or leave. Either would work at this point.
    “Eli?”
    “Oh, for the love of— No, it’s not Eli! Are you kidding me? I think Eli would like to be your Alpha more than my mate…and that’d be awkward.”
    Jordan laughed and crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Well, who is it?”
    “You think Cheri is leaving then?”
    He frowned. “We weren’t matched. She didn’t conceive this last cycle.” He shrugged. So basically, if she left, she left, and he was ready to move on to someone new…
    A sick realization settled in her gut. “You sent me out last night to see if I’d follow orders? If I’d respect your orders and hunt for you?” Even when his orders were lame, vague, and ill-timed and…why, oh why?
    He nodded and shrugged.
    It was reasonable. To him.
    It was a test, and it was a reasonable test of deference and submission for an Alpha to ask of a pack female he wanted to be more to him—especially when said pack female only showed deference when forced.
    And she’d done it. She’d obeyed her Alpha. And look where it’d gotten her.
    She sighed and slumped in her seat. He’d sent her out to her doom.
    Matched.
    To a human.
    A hot human. Gah. His scent on her skin. She wanted to go back and crawl all over him—twice.
    Mine. So mine. Forever mine.
    She was so screwed.
    “Who?” he asked again.
    She sighed again.
    “You scent-matched last night?”
    She didn’t bother denying it.
    “But who? I can account for most of the pack last night. They reported in.”
    She cleared her throat.
    “In fact, I can’t think of a single Lycan who…”
    Exactly. Thanks, Jordan.
    “No way. You didn’t match with that…that human…with the cat?”
    She winced.
    Jordan moved fast when he’d made a decision. One second, he was there. The next, he’d left behind a pair of sweats as he shi fted mid-leap down the stairs and out. For a moment, she sat there dumbly staring after him. Then, it occurred to her: the scent-match only existed while both mates lived. Lycans were forbidden from killing humans unless they threatened the pack’s existence.
    Dane. Dane threatened her potential place as the new and fertile alpha female—in a pack