Claimed by the Mate, Volume 1 Read Online Free Page A

through it, looking for clean underwear and her favorite knit maxi dress.
    She wanted to look as good as possible, but she was too tired to stress over it.
    A strange noise had her spinning around. Something had clunked against the cabin door—not quite a knock, but someone was obviously out there. Cherry glanced at the little clock beside the bed. Brad had left a little over twenty minutes ago.
    He wouldn’t really send someone after her, would he?
    Heart thudding, she wrapped the towel tighter around herself and opened the door just a crack.
    An absolutely spectacular silver and gray wolf sat on the front step. He raised his head and whined, stood, and pushed at the crack in the door with his nose as if he had every right to come inside.
    Cherry didn’t think. She merely stepped aside and let the wolf into her cabin. He walked past her and straight to the bed, where he stopped, turned, and, if she didn’t know better, posed for her. He really was beautiful, and obviously friendly. She felt absolutely no fear of the animal—in fact, she wanted to pet him but wasn’t sure if she should.
    Holding her towel tightly between her breasts, she studied the beast. He appeared to be studying her right back.
    â€œDid Brad send you?”
    The wolf looked at her, tongue lolling, and yipped. Then he planted his butt on the little rug beside the bed and stared at her suitcase.
    Talk about Mr. Obvious, but if that wasn’t an answer—she couldn’t wait until she told Christa and Steph about her visitor. “Okay, already,” she said. “I’ll get dressed.” She almost dropped the towel, but then she took another look at the wolf, at the way he watched her out of those perceptive evergreen eyes, and she blushed. Again. He seemed much too intelligent for an animal, that direct stare, his obvious responses to her questions.
    She’d read that wolves were really smart.
    But not this smart.
    Still, did she want to strip down in front of him?
    Absolutely not. Instead, she tightened her towel around herself, tucked the end in between her breasts, and unpacked her cotton knit dress with a pattern and fit that disguised her extra weight. She laid it out on the bed and quickly pulled her underpants on under the towel.
    She took a quick glance at the wolf.
    He was staring toward the window, totally ignoring her, which made her feel really stupid. He was an animal. There was absolutely no reason at all for her to feel embarrassed being naked in front of an animal.
    With that thought in mind, she dropped the towel on the floor and reached for her bra.
    The wolf whined. She turned. He’d moved. He stood beside her, his green eyes focused on her breasts. Cherry yanked the dress up and covered herself. The wolf dropped to his belly and covered his eyes with both front paws.
    Stunned, Cherry watched him. Then she turned away and set the dress aside, quickly slipped into her bra, waited a couple of seconds, and spun back around. His head was up, eyes wide open.
    The moment she turned, his head went back to the floor and his paws covered his eyes.
    â€œNo one will ever believe this. A peeping wolf?” Definitely too bizarre for words. She pulled the dress over her head. “Go ahead,” she said. “You can look now.”
    The wolf sat up, mouth open in a big doggy grin while she slipped her feet into comfortable sandals and grabbed a soft shawl in case the weather turned cool. She wasn’t sure what got into her, but Cherry went to her knees in front of the wolf so that she could look at him eye to eye. “I’m not sure what your game is, big guy, but I like you. I didn’t want to come on this trip with my sister and her friend. I think they tricked me into coming because I’m not really comfortable in new places, but so far this has been the best time I’ve ever had. Though you, my friend, are a bit of an enigma.” She stood, and then shook her head.