Chosen Mate (Catamount Lion Shifters #2) Read Online Free Page A

won’t change.”
    He shook his head slowly. “That’s not what I meant about not freaking out.”
    Her belly flip-flopped. “What…what did you mean?”
    “I meant let’s not freak out about what happened because it’s absolutely okay. We kissed because we wanted to. I plan to kiss you again…”
    Her breath whooshed out of her lungs, and her pulse ricocheted wildly. For a second, her heart flew with joy and longing streaked through her. On the heels of that, she tried to talk her feelings down. She couldn’t let herself think this could be real. It hurt enough to pretend her feelings didn’t exist, it would be far, far worse to water them with false hopes. “Jake, we can’t…”
    His thumb stilled its soft strokes. His eyes narrowed, pinned to hers. “Who says we can’t?”
    When she opened her mouth to reply, Jake released one of her hands and put his finger to her lips. “Tell me you didn’t want that kiss,” he said, his voice gruff.
    Phoebe tried to form the words to tell him she hadn’t wanted that kiss, but she couldn’t because it was an out and out lie. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, Jake’s finger traced the contours of her mouth before his hand fell away. Her lips tingled at his soft touch.
    “Okay. So now that we got that out of the way, what brings you here?” he asked with a small smile.
    She couldn’t help the smile that bloomed in her heart, her lips following suit. Just when she thought he was going to push too far, he backed off easily and gave her the emotional space she needed.
    “Oh yeah, I came by to tell you we think we have a shifter who checked himself into the hospital.”
    Jake arched a brow. “And that would be a problem, why? Half the people in town are mountain lion shifters.”
    “He’s from out of town and damn vague. Says he came for a visit and had chest pains yesterday. Rosie saw him first before I got to work and then I checked on him. He’s laying low, but I have a bad feeling. I can’t think of anything other than bad reasons for him to want to be in the hospital. Shana and Dane both work there, not to mention that plenty of other staff are shifters. We need to talk to Hank and Dane.”
    Jake swore and dropped her hands. He leaned backwards on his desk and snatched his phone up, making two calls in quick succession. He left messages for Hank and Dane to call right away and set his phone down. He turned back to her.
    “Okay, here’s the deal, none of you are to be alone with him. We don’t know who he’s working with, or who he’s after. Once I talk to Hank, I’ll see if he can set up a security rotation. How long will he be at the hospital?”
    “That’s the thing, there’s no good reason to keep him, but he keeps reporting vague symptoms that we have to run tests on. I think it’s better if he’s there because we can keep an eye on him.”
    Jake nodded. “Definitely. Dammit! I was hoping whoever was connected to Seth and Randall would want to stay away after what happened with Chloe. I mean, Seth and Randall are in jail and won’t be going anywhere else soon.” He pushed away from the desk and began pacing. “You’re going to have to keep a close eye on who goes in and out of that room. That might help us sift through who’s working with them here in Catamount.” He paused and looked at her for a long moment. “Promise me you won’t go in his room alone again. For all we know, they’re targeting anyone close to those they’re after. You’re close to Dane, Shana and almost everyone important in the shifter families here. Promise me.”
    Phoebe nodded. “I promise. Rosie and I already talked about it after I saw him today.” Cold fear chased up her spine, and she shivered, hugging her arms around her waist. She caught Jake’s eyes. “I wish we knew more.”
    He stopped pacing in front of her and leaned against the desk, tugging her into him. Before she could think, he’d wrapped her in his