A Jaguar's Kiss Read Online Free Page B

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    those two words.
    He drew his eyebrows together. “Your kind?”
    Rol ing her eyes, she ducked out from under him,
    refusing to have this conversation. There was no point.
    She’d heard him tel ing his friends what he thought about
    her al those years ago. Owen would never settle down with
    a feline. No, a wolf was the only kind of shifter he’d ever
    mate with. It didn’t matter that they were best friends—that
    she had fal en completely in love with him—he hadn’t
    viewed her as good enough.
    But he wouldn’t let her off that easily. Grasping her upper
    arm, he tugged her close. “What the hel are you talking
    about?”
    She jerked her arm, to no avail. “Save it! I heard
    everything you had to say about me when we were
    teenagers.” She shoved at his muscular chest but he didn’t
    budge.
    Stil , his grip lessened. “What?”
    “You told me to meet you at our special place on my
    birthday.” God, she could feel heat pricking her eyes but
    she angrily blinked away the traitorous tears. “I was a little
    early but I heard everything you said to your pack mates.
    About how I wasn’t that important to you. How you’d never
    settle down with a feline, as if the very thought of mating
    with me was disgusting .”
    Owen completely dropped his hand. “Is that why you
    stopped talking to me?”
    She’d never wanted to have this conversation with him. It
    was too painful and it didn’t matter now, anyway. “What do
    you think?”
    He scrubbed both hands over his face and took a step
    back from her. When he final y looked at her again, shame
    burned bright in his blue eyes. “I was a seventeen-year-old
    kid. My pack mates found the quilt, cake and candles I’d set
    up for your birthday and…” He cursed low under his breath.
    “I was embarrassed they caught me doing that for a girl. I
    just wanted to get them off my back. I didn’t mean any of
    it…I was a stupid kid. I’m sorry, Gabriela. So damn sorry.”
    He might have been younger, but he’d been her best
    friend. His words had sliced her deeper than anything
    before or since. They’d made her feel like she wasn’t good
    enough, like what they’d shared had al been some dirty
    secret because of her bloodline. “You might have been a
    stupid kid, but you were also my best friend. You should
    have had my back.” She opened the front door and
    stepped outside, already pul ing away from him in more
    ways than one. She needed physical space to get
    emotional distance. It was the only way she could keep her
    head on straight. “If you think you can restrain your pack
    from kidnapping or kil ing me, I’d like to go back and get my
    rental truck and head home. I’m going to talk to my family
    about what’s going on. I know no one in my family would kil
    innocent humans but I’l see if they know more about this
    than they’ve let on to you.”
    “Gabriela—”
    She shifted to her jaguar form. The shirt she’d been
    wearing shredded, but she didn’t care. Owen could try to
    talk to her al he wanted, but it wouldn’t do him much good
    while she was an animal.
    He stared down at her for a long moment, annoyance on
    his handsome face. Growling under his breath, he stripped
    off his jeans and underwent the change. Once he was a
    wolf—a gorgeous al -white wolf she hadn’t seen in years—
    he yipped at her and tilted his head in the direction of his
    pack’s land, tel ing her to fol ow.
    As long as they didn’t have to talk, that was fine with her.
    The sooner she got her truck and got off his land, the better.

Chapter 3
    Owen hated the overwhelming disappointment he
    experienced as he and Gabriela neared his cabin. Not
    surprising, al of his pack mates who’d been out patrol ing
    had given them a lot of space. At least his brother had
    followed those orders. Ethan was young and more than
    impetuous and Owen planned to punish him, but right now
    al he could focus on was Gabriela’s tantalizing scent.
    After he’d kissed her, tasted