The Shadow Wolf by Bonnie Vanak Read Free Book Online

rising breeze, long hair wreathing her heart-shaped face. Her mouth was cherry-red and moist. A blue T-shirt molded to firm, round breasts.
    The unabashed laughter in her sea-blue eyes lured him like a sailor to a siren’s deadly song. Megan laughed, the sound pure enjoyment.
    All his senses focused on her, his hands shaking with longing. He wanted a piece of that honest happiness, if only for afleeting moment. Not the joking front he showed to disguise his real emotions. Gabriel yearned for something as simple as the joy of sharing a seashell’s whispers.
    He hadn’t experienced that since…when?
    Since Amelia died three years ago. When his niece died, a light of innocence in his life had winked out. His niece had adored him, and she’d known exactly what he was. And still, she wasn’t afraid of him.
    Jillian set down the hammer and screwdriver and scampered up the steps. A shrill of laughter echoed through the air as she held the seashell to her ear. He felt as if he’d invaded a special and private moment between Megan and her cousins. A lead weight settled on his chest as he went to stash his tools in the shed.
    The incoming storm sent a vibrating hum through his tensed body. Wolf howled to release the pent-up emotions. Gabriel glanced backward. Megan and the twins could not see him.
    Sand stung his cheeks. He relished the wind slapping his face.
    The hell with it. No longer able to hold back his internal storm, Gabriel shape-shifted.
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    Gabriel was running wild.
    Megan’s heart thundered in her chest as she watched a large gray wolf race back and forth on the beach. The wolf’s raw power and dark intensity sent a chill down her spine. Larger than most, muscles rippled under the lupine’s gray fur.
    He could break her spine with one lunge. She wrapped her arms around herself, sinking back into the cover of the mangroves.
    She’d come to the beach to tell him about the silver-haired man blowing up the bridge in hopes he’d mention where the inflatable boats were stashed.
    Megan peered around the mangroves, her palms growing cold and sweaty. What if Gabriel suddenly turned on them? She’dglimpsed his haunted look when he’d left to shutter the houses. But this wolf was not vulnerable. This wolf could tear and kill and destroy.
    Never had she seen such a display, as if the wolf released all the emotions the man could not. This wolf snapped at the surf. It tipped back its head and released a long, mournful howl that echoed the cadence of the crashing surf.
    The wolf was wild and dangerous.
    A delicious scent of pine, leather and sweet wine drifted on the wind. It overwhelmed her senses. Megan closed her eyes, overcome with the sensuality calling to her. No wolf she had ever known emitted such an enticing scent.
    The idea hit her like a resounding slap on the face. Shadows didn’t do that. From what little she knew, neither did Normals.
    Ferals did.
    Panic squeezed her throat. Ferals were wild and unpredictable. Their blood ran thick with the instinct to hunt, kill and mate. Male Ferals were dominating, highly sexual and aggressive. Their scents were strong and irresistible to females. When a male saw a female he wanted, the Feral Draicon pursued with ruthless determination until he had her naked and submissive beneath his powerful body. Their blood ran thick with passion and animalistic need.
    Yet as she watched Gabriel, doubt laced through the fear. He’d seemed gentle and protective of the twins. Even when he was furious over the rubber duck, he’d left instead of raging at Jillian.
    As wild as the wolf acted, the man acted restrained. How could Gabriel be a Feral since he was an Enforcer? The Council of Draicon executed vicious Ferals and sent others to demon prisons. As despised as Shadows were, Ferals were hated more. Their ability to blend in with the human populace was limited by their savage animal nature, often triggered by sexual arousal and