Bound to the Alpha: Part One Read Online Free Page B

clean.”
     
    Sarah huffed, raising her chin. “I’m not skinning an animal. I’d rather starve.”
     
    That was probably a bluff. After all, just yesterday she’d been planning on eating raw fish. It must not have been a very convincing bluff either, because Cain quickly called her on it.
     
    “ I am not under any obligation to feed you.”
     
    He didn’t say it with menace. It wasn’t a threat, simply a fact. She could tell that he was serious, and knew that whether or not she ate for the night hinged on how she responded.
     
    “I don’t know how,” she said, averting her eyes from his face.
     
    He placed a hand on her back. “Come. I will show you this time, and you will do it the next.”
     
    Sarah could hear the approval in his voice, and it pleased her more than giving in had annoyed her. She let him guide her to the stream, and tried to pretend that she didn’t care that they were walking so close together, and that his hand was touching her.
     
    The fl uttering in her stomach was soon forgotten as Cain set to skinning the rabbit. Seeing the rabbit’s insides reminded her why she could have never been a surgeon, and probably shouldn’t even be in nursing school. Blood, she could handle, but insides becoming outsides was a whole different story.
     
    Despite her revulsion, she listened intently as he explained each step, from how to hold the knife, to which places to cut, and which parts to dispose of. She hadn’t e xpected him to be so patient.
     
    Once they were done, Cain showed her how to light a small fire and stake the meat so that it roasted thoroughly. They sat next to each other as it cooked, staring into the flames.
     
    “I never would have thought that werewolves bothered with this sort of thing,” she told him, and then quickly added, “I’m sure there are a lot of things I don’t know about werewolves. I really don’t mean to offend.”
     
    Cain didn’t seem bothered. “We do not always prepare our meat. Most adults do not mind raw prey, but it is not suitable for pups, or our mates.”
     
    “ Your mates are human?” she asked, pretty sure that she already knew the answer.
     
    There were stories that went back hundreds of years of werewolf brides , human women who joined packs to bear the children of alphas. There were also stories of women on the fringes giving birth to the children of various shifters, but such news had the tendency to get swept under the rug. No one ever spoke of what happened to the mothers, or their children.
     
    “Yes. Our females cannot bear children,” he confirmed.
     
    “How come?”
     
    Cain gave a slight shrug . “Why is anything the way it is?”
     
    “Do you have a mate?”
     
    The question would have burned her if she kept it in any longer. It was none of her business, and no matter how he answered, it wouldn’t change anything. But she still wanted to know.
     
    Cain cocked his head to the side. The corners of his sensuous lips twitched with suppressed amusement. “Does it bother you to think that I might?”
     
    Her face heated. “Why would that bother me?”
     
    Cain didn’t reply immediately. He reached out to turn the hare, which had already browned on one side. Even the mouthwatering scent of roasted meat couldn’t distract Sarah from the way her body reacted as he leaned in, the side of his bicep brushing against her arm. The heat from her face seemed to spread, until her whole body was tingling with a warm awareness of the male beside her.
     
    In a low voice, he said, “I do not have a mate. I did, but no longer.”
     
    “Oh…” She hadn’t expected that. Her brow furrowed in concern. “Did she pass away?”
     
    “Three years ago,” he said. She tried to read him, but as usual, Cain’s expression was inscrutable.
     
    “I’m so sorry,” she said, hanging her head. “I didn’t mean to dredge that up.”
     
    “There is nothing to be sorry about,” he said. “I do not mourn her.”
     
    She turned