Wolf of Arundale Hall by Jennifer Leeland Read Free Book Online Page B

marked me as his mate on that first night, our wedding night.
    My two boys show all the signs of the Arundale male and, I have no doubt, will inherit the curse as well. Arranged marriages are deadly in this instance. For example, William told me of a distant ancestor, a DeFalk, who married a woman not his true mate.
    The Beast tore her to pieces .
    *
    The date was a year before her death.
    Perry was trussed up and receiving the beating he desired. This place was had been Joshua’s safe haven once. The fact that his wife had been required to come here made his stomach roll.
    Lord Everret hadn’t changed either. Those cool gray eyes regarded him with an assessment similar to Elizabeth’s. The man wanted to observe Perry’s torment and Joshua hadn’t said no. The Beast enjoyed having an audience.
    “Your wife is quite lovely,” Everret commented.
    The Beast within Joshua howled and spat. But Joshua controlled it. Only now did he understand why he was able to. Mated to Elizabeth, he had the upper hand. He stared at Everret. The man was tall, wiry and dark. His black hair was slicked back and his dress was spotless. But something about him nagged at Joshua. “Your opinion was not asked for, nor is it welcome,” he said bluntly.
    The man’s smile was razor thin. “But I would like to give it nonetheless. She is lovely. Especially when she’s angry.”
    Beneath his skin the wolf roared and scratched, but Joshua knew he was being provoked. His human side wondered why Everret baited him.
    He was about to demand an answer when a snarl and the sound of ripping wood distracted him. Joshua turned to see his brother’s eyes change, his teeth glistening in the candlelight.
    Everret grinned. Joshua stared at both men and jerked his head at the man who held the whip. “Leave.” The hooded man nodded and ducked out of the door.
    Joshua contemplated Everret. Had he deliberately tried to reveal the Beast by taunting it?
    The restraints on Perry’s wrists snapped and his growl echoed around the room. Joshua stepped in front of him. “No, Perry. Stop.”
    “Then get him to stop talking about Elizabeth that way,” Perry demanded, his voice three octaves deeper than normal.
    What spurred his brother to defend Elizabeth? Did he love her? He pinned his brother with a glare. “If my wife is to be defended, I will do it.”
    “She is my sister. Shut him up,” Perry said, his spine stretching and his fingers lengthening.
    Joshua glanced back at Everret. It didn’t surprise him in the least to see the man’s gray eyes changed to a luminous blue and his wiry frame larger. Many questions were answered as Everret’s human form disintegrated into a sleek, hairy Beast.
    “Yes,” he hissed. “Shut me up, Lord Arundale.” He spat Joshua’s title as if it were poison.
    Perry glared at Everret and Joshua realized there was only one way to settle this. The wolf within howled in triumph as Joshua released the locks and allowed his body to change.
    It wasn’t the physical transition released, but the mental one. It was the mind that controlled the Beast within. Just as a man could control a pain response, Joshua could control the change of his body. To allow the Beast to be free was to fight the instinct within. To kill, to hunt, to mate—those were all instinctual and natural to the wolf form. To resist those urges was a challenge, but Joshua had spent years learning. It seemed Everret had as well.
    The hair on his back bristled and lengthened. His jaw cracked as it expanded into a large snout. Pain was a normal part of the transition and one of the reasons the Beast was satiated by beatings.
    Everret froze when he saw Joshua’s true form. Even for a Beast, Joshua was big. They circled each other. Everret’s fangs were long and thick. Joshua growled low, an expression of warning.
    The other man laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.”
    “Things have changed.”
    “That they have.” Everret huffed