Bayou Wolf Read Online Free Page A

once a week if Owen said she’d behaved. So far, so good. If she could get it together, Mason was fair. He’d let her come back home.
    “Good to know,” Linc said when Mason didn’t seem in a hurry to add anything more.
    Finally, Mason paused and eyed a tree. Alongside of it, just barely out of sight, Linc spotted a string tying back a branch. Stupid kids. Without commenting, Mason triggered the trap, caught the branch and then freed the spring. “I need to ask you to do me a favor, one that will put you in a very uncomfortable position.”
    A favor, not an order.
    “Name it.” He didn’t hesitate. “Provided you’re not asking me to go against A.J. or Tyler.”
    The caveat gained him a grin. “No, I wouldn’t ask you to get into the middle of anything with the two of them. The three of you beat each other up enough for any ten families.”
    “All right, then.” Relaxed, he nodded. “What can I do for you?”
    Thrusting his fingers through his hair, Mason faced him. For the first time in longer than Linc could remember, he saw the man and not the Alpha. “You’re going to be Sera’s liaison. I need you to protect her at all times. She won’t want it and, frankly, in a physical fight, you don’t want to face her. She is a vicious combatant, and she doesn’t hold back…but she will get some flack from the other Alphas. They’ll all want to coddle her and test their dominance against hers. Unfair perhaps, but not unexpected. I’ll deal with the other Alphas, if she doesn’t slap them down first. What I need you to protect her from is Alexis.”
    Shock struck Linc mute. Was Mason seriously worried his mate would attack the Delta Crescent Alpha?
    Clearing his throat, Mason said, “Sera and I were lovers once upon a time and Alexis doesn’t know that…yet. She will before Sera gets here. I won’t have it used as a way to undermine her or this effort.”
    Linc’s jaw locked.
    “That said, Alexis has a temper.” Understatement of the year . “I do not want Alexis and Serafina left alone together. Ever . If Lexi shows up, call me immediately. I will answer your calls, period, no matter what I’m doing.”
    “Mason…” He tried to cobble his concerns together to form a coherent sentence.
    “I know, and I need you to promise me you’ll do this. I won’t order you. It’s a hell of a thing, but I need you to promise me you’ll never let them be alone. I don’t care what Serafina orders or Alexis, for that matter. In this, you have my permission to override Alexis.”
    A pit yawned out in front of Linc, and it looked suspiciously like his own grave. “If Lexi goes for Serafina…who the hell am I supposed to protect?” Instinct would always put his Alpha’s mate before the Alpha of another pack.
    “Both of them.”
    Oh. Yeah. No problem.

Chapter 2
    Brett

    “ A re we there yet ?” The plaintive note in Trent’s youthful voice dragged out the last syllable. They’d been on the road since before sun up. Parked in the passenger seat with his feet on the dashboard, the kid alternated between blasting his eardrums with music on his iPod and working his way through a rather hefty bag of junk food he procured at every stop. Gillian told him to stop plying the child with pop—they’d stopped nearly a dozen times for restroom breaks, which led to more pop and junk food—but Brett didn’t want to tell him no.
    Odd as it sounded, he enjoyed the boy’s simple delight. No artifice marred his reactions, and his blatant agenda to acquire all the crap his parents wouldn’t let him eat soothed the jagged places in Brett’s soul.
    “Well?” Trent bounced in the seat, a precursor to announcing… “I gotta pee. Are we there yet?”
    Rusty as he was, Brett chuckled and took the next exit toward a rest stop. The GPS declared they’d arrived at the agreed upon spot. “We are.” Though only a couple of cars were present, he spotted Gillian Chase’s golden hair at the other end of the lot. Perched