Taken by the Wolf: Collection by Jessica Ryan Read Free Book Online

house. She jumped out and rushed for the backdoor.
    “Eva. wait,” he said, but she ignored him, slamming his back screen door with such force that one of the screws popped out, leaving it hanging lopsided. “Great, she hates me and she’s giving me chores.”
    Rowan stomped into the house, unable to play the nice, comforting guy anymore. He looked back and forth as he entered the house, trying to find the angry girl. A slamming door in the back of the home clued him into her location and he stomped down the hallway, fed up with her ungratefulness.
    He pounded on the guestroom door, rattling the house’s old walls in the process. “Open this door right now!”
    “No!” she called back. “Go to hell!”
    “Do you know who you’re talking to like that?” he demanded.
    “Yeah, an asshole that thinks he can keep me captive like my father!” she screamed.
    Rowan stood still for a second, shocked by her words. It was obvious she had other, deeper, emotional issues, but that wasn’t his concern right now. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but here’s the deal, girl. You found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time and I happened to be there to rescue you. Thus far you haven’t even thanked me for saving your life. Instead you’ve made fun of the town I live in, showed me extreme disrespect and complained about my protecting you. I’m keeping you here for your own damn good. If you try to go back to work or go home, then they will find you and they will kill you. When they come here we can end this without bloodshed. We’ve done it before.”
    There was silence on the other end. She’d either tuned him out or was contemplating his words. He stood there for a few seconds longer, expecting the door to open and her to dive into his burly arms ready to be saved. Instead, the silence continued.
    “I have to go to work,” he said. “I will be sending someone over later to show you around town. Goodbye.”
    Rowan grumbled all the way to his truck.
    No good deed goes unpunished.
    * * *
    Eva stared at the ceiling for a long time, trying to block Rowan’s words out of her head. Everything he had said made sense, and that pissed her off even more. He had rescued her from certain doom and she hadn’t even thanked the man. On top of that, he was looking out for her best interests. It probably wasn’t easy for a werewolf, especially one who didn’t live around humans, to take a human female into his home.
    Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was trapped in another prison like she had been with her father and then Jason. She wasn’t free to leave, she wasn’t free to do whatever she wanted and she damn sure couldn’t earn a living. She was completely and utterly at Rowan’s mercy and that bothered her more than anything else. Eva Thompson had been in no man’s debt, until now.
    “Shit,” she muttered, looking out the window. She would have to apologize to Rowan when he got back. He meant well and he had her best interests in mind, even if he had a funny way of going about it. It was obvious nobody questioned him and his decisions: even the council went along with what he said for the most part.
    Morning light bathed the room through two windows, one facing the side of the house and one facing the front. She walked to the side window, getting a full view of the driveway. Rowan was throwing a duffel bag into the back of his truck along with a couple of shotguns, no doubt for work. Eva studied him as he moved, his face as always a stern mask of determination. He had a duty to perform, and he was going to do it. She felt the familiar heat of arousal between her legs as she watched the boulders he called biceps stretch and strain as he lifted the heavy bag into the truck bed.
    He looks really good in that sheriff’s uniform, she thought. Damn good.
    Eva had never had a thing for men in uniform, but seeing a man with as much raw animal magnetism as Rowan in one began to change her mind. Everything