Wolf's Ascension by Lauren Dane Read Free Book Online Page B

him.
    “Your teeth are chattering, Kari. I’m worried about you. Please, come inside. Eat something. Warm up. Let us talk to you about our history, our culture. Your history and culture.”
    Kari blinked rapidly. This couldn’t be happening, but it was. If they were werewolves, then they were probably telling her the truth about her being one now too. At that admission, her fear melted back into rage.
    “How could you do this to me? You didn’t even ask me!” She tried to open the back door to get out but it was locked. “Unlock this door!” she bellowed at Ryan, who threw the lock instantly.
    Hopping out, she stomped over to Andreas. “Well?” she demanded, hands on her hips.
    “Please, come inside. It’s cold out here. You’re shivering.”
    She ground her teeth and stalked toward the front door, everyone giving her a wide berth. Thankfully, she sighted a roaring fire in the great room and headed over to it to warm up. The shock and the adrenaline were wearing off. She knew a system crash was imminent.
    “Henry, can you please bring some coffee and pastries?” Andreas asked as he walked toward her. Grabbing a throw from the back of a couch, he reached out to hand it to her, staying back.
    Wrapping the blanket around herself, she nodded her thanks and sat on the raised hearth.
    Laurent gave her an admiring look. “Nice job with the lock.”
    “My brother and I used to have to steal food from locked cabinets when we lived with my aunt and uncle after my parents died. We learned to pick locks then,” she said, chin up.
    Laurent nodded. “Perhaps you’ll teach me sometime. It’s not a skill I’ve learned.”
    She just looked at him, exasperated. “Look, I’m not trying to be hateful or anything but I’m so not down with this. While I’m willing to admit I believe you’re all werewolves and maybe even that I am now too, it doesn’t mean I’m moving in like happy freaking families or anything.”
    Andreas sat down on the couch, very near her. So near his scent—that damnable cologne of his—enveloped her senses and she had to resist the urge to lean back and sigh happily.
    Turning her body toward him, she took the mug of coffee that Anna held out to her and wrapped her fingers around it. “I’ve come inside. Tell me.”
    “Kari, belle loup , I can’t apologize for making you into one of us. I can apologize for how it was done. It’s not our way. At least not in this country, in this century. We didn’t mean to have to kidnap you and hold you against your will. We didn’t want to scare you.”
    “ Belle loup ?”
    “Beautiful wolf. You will be, you know. Your fur will be golden. I can tell that now.”
    “Yeah, yeah, okay, smooth talker. You’re still in deep shit. Keep talking.”
    Skye laughed as he approached the fireplace, clothed and human again. Grabbing a cup of coffee from the tray, he sat on the floor as near to her as he could without scaring her.
    “We need females— loup de mère .”
    “What is it with all of the French? English please.”
    “He means we need females who can carry on the lines. Mother wolves,” Phillip explained from the chair across from her.
    “I speak French because I am French. My family is. This Clan is. Werewolves originated in France and China at around the same time.” Andreas’s deeply sensuous baritone stroked over her like a caress.
    She exhaled sharply. The panic was back but what the hell? In for a penny, in for a pound. “Okaay. So why me?”
    “Your ancestors have bred before. Have been changed and borne offspring. You have an Alpha in your family tree.”
    “What?”
    “Not every female can bear children successfully. We don’t know why that is. Our Clan is led by natural werewolves—those of us who were born as werewolves. This Clan could be thrown into upheaval if I don’t have sons. I’ve been looking for a Mate for twenty years, failing to find her. That is, until I was in Seattle at a conference and I saw you. Or rather,