Wolf Protector by Milly Taiden Read Free Book Online

hand toward the sheet, stopped mid-way, and cursed.
    “Get a hold of yourself, Erica. Hazlo . You can do this.” She said, softly.
    Instinct told him to go to her. He tugged the leash on his animal and kept control. The wolf wanted near her. He waited, wondering what she planned to do next. He observed while she took deep breaths, her fear diminishing slowly. Finally, she straightened her spine and pulled the sheet back. Her arm shook before the sheet was fully off the body. He took a step, stopped, and waited to see what her next move would be. Her hand shook so badly he had a hard time not rushing to her, holding her, and easing her stress. She quickly reached out and grabbed the dead girl’s arms. She froze in place.
    A soft, pain-filled scream filled the room. It took him a second to realize it came from Erica. Propelled into action, he was next to her in the blink of an eye. In the time it took him to reach her, she had started to shake like a leaf and tears began to rush down her face. Unsure of what to do, he did the only thing he could think of and pulled her away from the body.
    Once she let go of the Gina’s arm, her body slumped toward the ground. Had he not been holding her already, she would have knocked her head on the floor. He picked her up and headed toward a wooden chair tucked in a corner. Shoving papers off the chair, he sat down and held her tightly in his arms. Her features took on a sickly color, and her already-pale complexion had a waxy grey tone. She really did look like shit. What he didn’t know was why.
    He rocked her in his arms and called her name softly, but she didn’t respond. After a few minutes she blinked her eyes open.
    “What are you doing, Trent?”
    “Darlin’, if you want to get into my arms, you don’t need to keep fainting to do it. You can ask me to hold you whenever the mood strikes without going to these lengths.”
    He joked to lighten the mood, but it was starting to stress him out that she kept passing out at the sight of a dead body.
    She sat up and got off his lap, without saying a word or looking back at the body, and marched to the front of the building. They passed Ramirez, who she ignored. Trent shook his head at Ramirez’s questioning frown. Outside she opened the Jeep, grabbed her phone, and dialed.
    “Yes, it’s Villa. Gina Torres was murdered in the woods. Not far from here, but I can’t say where for sure. It was nighttime, so it was hard to make things out, but I got the distinct impression he wore a hoodie so she couldn’t see his face. He’s big, strong, and tall. He beat, overpowered, and strangled her. And he enjoyed every minute of it. I caught the outline of his smile under the hood. She’s got more wounds then Lisa. His cockiness grew since we haven’t found him.” Her voice shook with each word. Almost as if she’d been there.
    How did she know all that? Usually Brock disseminated only the helpful information to the case, never giving them the full report on what Erica’s profiling was all about. He listened intently as she continued to describe the scene for Brock. Brock only asked case-related questions, but for the most part let Erica speak.
    “He really enjoyed cutting her. I wouldn’t be surprised if he added some post-mortem wounds to this one. It was so weird to hear him break out in laughter spontaneously. He seems to get a kick out of hearing them scream when he hurts them... I don’t know how, but I get the feeling he knew both women. We have to find the link.”
    Trent listened while she spoke. She was back to the other side of her personality, her no-nonsense persona that everyone in the team had gotten to know and rely on. Gone was her cheeky wit, replaced by the profiler who got the job done and gave their team the edge when they needed extra help to solve a case. But he knew that the other, more vulnerable, Erica was one step away from full-blown panic. His mate needed him, and he didn’t know how to help.
    She handed