Elijah: Calhoun Men _ Erotic Paranormal Wolf Shifter Romance Read Online Free Page B

you, I’d leave that house now before Mr. Stark finds out what sort of person he has there. A homeless bitch that no one cares for.”
    When the line was disconnected, she’d stood there. It wasn’t until Noah had touched her that she’d screamed. The belt marks on her back were still raw from the day before when Howard had beaten her because of Ron’s grade card. Not that she was sure how that had been her fault, but it never seemed to matter to him if she’d been involved or not. But she hurt when he touched his hand to her back. Lashing out, something that she’d never done before, she hit Noah in the face and bloodied his nose.
    “I ran after that. I don’t know where I thought I was going to go, but I knew that he was a powerful vampire and that I’d just hurt him.” She looked at Elijah, who had said nothing while she told him what had happened.
    “Noah fired him after that.” She said that she wasn’t sure how long after, but Howard had blamed it on her. “I would have killed him had it been me.”
    “Noah?” He said no, her stepfather. “You don’t even know if I’m telling you the truth. No one else believed me when I told them that he was hurting me. The police even told me I was lying.”
    “I believe you. And I’ll take care of him. And the police for that matter. I have a few friends on the force, and I’ll get to the bottom of that as well.” She asked him why he’d even want to bother. “Because he hurt you.”
    “That’s no reason.” When he stood up, she stiffened. “Don’t hurt me. Please? I’ll leave, but please don’t hurt me.”
    “I will never harm you.” His fingers moved down her cheek to her throat, and she shivered from the gentleness of it. “You’re so beautiful. I know that you understand what I am, what we are, but do you know what you are to me? That you’re my mate?”
    “I don’t have to be. I can just...I’ve been alone for a very long time, and I can be again.” She watched his face when he smiled. “You look beautiful when you do that. It makes me think that you’re used to getting your own way when you smile like that.”
    “Usually. But I don’t think my considerable charm will work on you, will it?” She shook her head and was surprised when he laughed. “Are you going to be like this our entire lives, Noelle? Not letting me win any arguments when I try to charm you?”
    “You are very handsome and a flirt. But I’m not as easy as some of the women you know. I do think you get away with things you do because of that.” He asked her why she thought that. “I don’t know. But I bet you have women falling all over you to do whatever you want, no matter the bullshit you sling around.”
    “You wound me.” She felt herself warming to him, relaxing enough that when he touched his hand to her shoulder, she didn’t immediately try to run. “Where did he hurt you, love? When I touch you, I don’t want to hurt you too.”
    “He beat me with his belt, so mostly my back. You’d think as a grown woman that I’d be able to get away, but he...my stepbrothers help him.” She looked up at him, wondering why she’d just told him that. “You’re making me tell you, aren’t you?”
    “No. I can’t do that to you. Not that I’d even try, but since you’re my mate, I can’t force you to comply with my questions or compulsions. You wanted to tell me. And I want to know.” He asked her to turn for him. “I want to see how badly I’m going to make him suffer when I find him.”
    She turned, again not sure why she was doing this. And when he lifted her blouse up over her back, she felt the pain of the wounds when she tried to move away from his touch. He told her not to move, but she wanted to. So to cover her embarrassment, Noelle started talking.
    “I was coming out of my work when he caught me. Daniel, one of his sons, hit me with something and I was down before I could think I should run. The ropes were on my wrists, and Daniel held me