Read Online Wolf Line by Vivian Arend - Free Book Online Page B

gazed back with a happy expression.
    He tried it again, the speaking-into-her-mind thing that only mates could do. “Hi, love.”
    Her face lit up like a moonrise over the mountain. “Hi. Are you…happy?”
    Jared laughed. “I’m ecstatic. I’m sorry I didn’t know sooner. You must have thought I was being an ass.”
    Her fingers tangled in his hair. She shook her head. “I didn’t understand why you weren’t following me around. I figured maybe it had something to do with Chad.”
    Ick . “You’re not…you weren’t…”
    Her answer rushed out. “No. He’s just a friend of the family. I’m yours.”
    Damn right. “And I’m yours.”
    Keri lowered her lashes for a moment. “Typical wolf situation though—we have tons of stuff to share, like family backgrounds and everything. Not that I’m worried, because, I mean, we are wolves. I assume we can make things work since that side seems pretty pleased right now.”
    “More than pleased.” Jared lay beside her, his body touching hers at as many points as possible. His wolf was gloating, bloody beast, but he couldn’t muster the energy to be offended. “And we’ll have a nice long talk. About everything.”
    Including the bits about him not being Mark but someone else. Only he didn’t think, mates or not, that conversation should happen when he was naked. Female wolves had too good a sense of justice, and he kinda liked the idea of getting to use his balls for a bit longer, now that he’d found her and all.
    “How about after a shower? Then I’ll buy you lunch and we can talk about anything you like.” Jared traced a finger down her body. He adjusted position and bumped the side table hard enough his tool belt fell to the floor. He cursed and went to roll over, but she beat him to it, crawling over top of him and reaching toward the floor. Hmm, nice. Maybe they shouldn’t leave quite yet…
    “Sounds marvelous. We can go to the—oh, hell.” Kari jerked to a stop in mid-sentence.
    He curled up beside her to see what was wrong. “What’s the matter?”
    She had his tool belt in one hand, suspended just off the floor, her eyes wide in near panic.
    “You okay? What happened?” He pulled the belt from her fingers and dropped it to the side, up against the mattress. He quickly turned her hands over. “Did you cut yourself or something?”
    She swallowed hard before a smile spread over her face. A sickly smile, forced and unnatural. “I’m fine. Just fine. Everything is fine.”
    “Keri?” In the last thirty seconds, something had gone terribly wrong.
    “Shower. Shower is fine.” She scrambled off the bed and toward the teeny enclosure.
    The disappointment he felt as she walked away didn’t stop him from noticing the incredible tattoo on her lower back. He’d love to check it out more thoroughly—heck, he’d planned on doing a little more playing before actually taking her to the shower, but with her sudden change of mood, he wasn’t sure what to do.
    He followed her to the doorway of the tiny room. She’d turned on the water and already stood under the spray. There was barely space in the doorless enclosure for her, let alone him beside her, so he leaned on the doorframe and stared to his heart’s content, even as he puzzled over her rapid mood change.
    She turned her face fully under the water, and he watched the rivulets stream over her skin, down the curve of her neck and over the spot where he’d bit her. He couldn’t resist touching the place, his fingers lightly tracing the mark. Keri turned to him and his heart swelled with…love?
    This mate thing was a built-in part of them as shifters. She was a piece of him now, and having her tense and upset over some unvoiced matter hurt. He wanted, no, needed to have her happy.
    And while this probably wasn’t the best time to share that his presence on the ship was unauthorized—there was another issue he could clear up rather quickly. “Keri? I’m glad I found you. And I’m sorry