The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6 by Bonnie Vanak Read Free Book Online Page A

a mate and a lover. Try a Lupine dating service. I’ve heard they work wonders, even for sour wizards.”
    She stood and walked off.
    Tristan suddenly materialized at her side. “I am not a sour wizard, my sweet. I am a man who is worried about protecting my mate. And I did not abduct you.”
    Nikita gave him a pointed look. “You carried me off and I had no say in the matter.”
    “You were ill! Dying! I saved you!” He dragged in a deep breath, clearly frustrated.
    “Then, thank you. If I’m not your prisoner, then let me return back to my home. Nia and Aiden can care for me.”
    “Nia and Aiden are not at your home. They are at the Mitchell Ranch, and they are quite preoccupied…with each other.” Tristan softened his voice. “All of your pack now lives with Aiden’s people. The ranch has been closed. Nikita, nothing is the same as when you left.”
    Nothing. She was naïve. You can’t go home again. You don’t belong there and the home you had is no longer there. She envisioned the ranch, wind rustling through the dead grasses, the ghosts of her past swirling around like dead leaves…
    “There’s no place like home,” she whispered.
    Tristan looked distant. “ The Wizard of Oz . A very good movie.”
    A lump clogged her throat, but she would not surrender to tears. There was no yellow brick road or a way back for her. She would not cry in front of him. “If I no longer have a home there, then I can make a home elsewhere.”
    “You can, my sweet. I had hoped…you would make one with me.”
    The vulnerability in his voice caught her attention. Niki turned to see a shadow enter his gaze. And then she felt a cold rush of power, so frosty that her stomach squeezed tight. Tristan’s expression hardened. He swore quietly.
    A blonde woman of ethereal beauty approached them. Wearing a red bikini that was more dental floss than cloth, she was tall and model-slim, with eyes green as moss and a full, sensual mouth. But she radiated no warmth, and her beauty seemed otherworldly and chilling.
    I know her. Nikita shivered.
    The blonde stopped before the sand castle they had abandoned.
    “How quaint.” The blonde woman looked amused. “Trying to recreate the past, Tristan?”
    “Mara,” he said, his deep voice growing distant.
    Niki’s blood went cold. Faint recognition filled her. She knew this woman, perhaps from that long-ago life, and felt the coldness radiating from her like the blast of an air conditioner upon her damp skin. A shiver skated down her spine. Power pulsed from the woman in small, sharp blasts. Tristan had the same power, but his power felt like a warm, comforting blanket on a winter’s night.
    This woman was frost personified; the bite of ice when one lay shivering in the snow…
    “What do you want, Mara? Whatever it is, I will not grant it.” Tristan stepped in front of Niki, as if shielding her from the woman’s view.
    But Mara peered around Tristan. “Darling, don’t be such a stuffed shirt wizard. I heard through the Fae grapevine that you found your Nikita and I wanted to say hello.”
    Niki did not smile. “You’ve seen me. Good-bye.”
    She wanted to be far, far away from this woman. Gooseflesh broke out on her bare arms. Sensing the threat, her wolf growled, fearful of Mara’s intentions.
    “My mate is correct. You have seen her. Now leave, lest you face my wrath.” Tristan flung out his arms and stepped forwards.
    Power sizzled in the air, and his dark eyes turned a glowing, ethereal blue. Tristan seemed to grow in height, his mouth curled in a vicious snarl, his fangs descending. The raw fury of his magick undulated through the air in invisible ribbons, crackling and snapping.
    Nikita shrank back. Please…stop.
    And then he turned, saw her and his expression grew stricken.
    Tristan’s eyes turned brown once more and he resumed his normal appearance. Whatever normal was.
    “I’m sorry, my sweet. When you are threatened, I tend to overreact,” he murmured, cupping