Right Wolf, Right Time by Marie Harte Read Free Book Online Page B

her front door. Nosey neighbors would be able to see them from across the street, but the few trees and tall bushes around her house gave her a sense of privacy many in town lacked. “This isn’t how I envisioned ending tonight.” He stroked her cheek.
    She turned in to the touch, her wolf needing comfort.
    “You’re so beautiful. So soft.” Rafe moved closer. The light above them gave his face sinister shadows, but the desire in his eyes didn’t scare her. Not now. Her wolf forced her to angle up for his kiss, curious and hungry.
    His lips met hers. Pleasant, warm, but not tingly. He didn’t make her breathless, the way just watching Monty move did. And he didn’t turn her wolf into a quivering mess of desire. She had no urge to submit. Only to please her alpha, so she kissed him back. The bulge between his legs intrigued her. Holy hell, but she’d made a man hard and hungry. Sophie Tanner finally had a chance to feel like a real woman.
    He groaned and drew her closer to deepen the intimacy when his pocket vibrated.
    He broke the kiss and swore under his breath. In a raspy voice, he apologized. “Shoot. Sorry, honey. I have to take this.” He stepped away and barked, “Yeah?”
    After a few moments, during which Sophie caught the words fucking cats , jail and Axel , Rafe turned to her with murder in his eyes.
    She instinctively shrank back.
    He reached for her, then let his hand fall to his side. “I’m sorry. Apparently a few of my pack met with the pride and all hell broke loose downtown. Now I have to go bail Axel out of jail.” His eyes flashed. “Do me a favor. If you see Monty GrayClaw, tell him I want to talk to him.”
    “M-Monty?” She forced herself not to flinch when he drew a finger down her cheek again. It took her wolf a few moments to settle down, but her animal spirit finally relaxed.
    “Never mind. I had a good time tonight. Before all those cats interfered.” He snorted. “He’s a smart one, I’ll give him that.”
    “Rafe?”
    He had the sense to kiss her on the lips—not the forehead—and wished her a goodnight.
    To her surprising relief, he made no mention of a second date.

Chapter Four
    Sophie unlocked her door, stepped through, and closed and locked it behind her. Baffled by what should have been a night to end all nights, she touched her lips, bemused that her wolf felt nothing more than calm about that kiss.
    “He liked me, though. I felt it.” His erection proved she held some sort of attraction for the opposite sex. Or had he sensed what Gabby had called her heat? Sophie didn’t feel aroused. She had liked the kiss, though. Touching his lips, feeling Rafe’s body pressed to hers, had made her feel not so alone, a part of something more.
    As she hung up her jacket in the closet and toed off her shoes, she wondered.
    Being a member of the Gray Wolf Order hadn’t given her the same sense of belonging. But in Rafe’s arms, she’d felt cared for, if only for a little bit. Still, she’d expected to get carried away with lust. The adult movies that so intrigued her always showed the woman crying out for more. Sophie had been fine with Rafe leaving.
    Acting, she thought, wishing she knew what to expect from real life. She was too embarrassed to ask Julia or Gabby what their sex lives were like. She knew they loved their mates, but the physical aspect of mating captivated her. She wanted so badly to experience the same relief from her hungers that other women did. Hungers that grew stronger with each passing month. She almost wished she could go back to seeing men as nothing more than problems, oppressive jerks out to keep her from truly living.
    Stomping up the stairs and into her bedroom, she muttered a few insults against Monty, Rafe and men in general.
    The scent of rage and male and wolf hit her too late.
    Before she could turn and run, something huge and furious picked her up and tossed her onto her bed.
    She tried to shriek, but a large, familiar hand covered her