Leader of the Pack Read Online Free Page B

woman sent a stinging stare at both men. “Shawn you know better than to tease about a mate. And Jared, you should know your own strength by now.” She took Emily by the hand and led her to the couch.
    “ I hope we haven’t scared you. The men can be a little rough around the edges at times. Jared has failed to introduce us. My name is Maria Hamilton. And that is Shawn Thompson. What’s yours?”
    “ Uh, Emily Smith.” Emily stole a glace at Jared, who stood in the middle of the room, his body stiff and on guard. The man named Shawn grinned foolishly. For some reason, jealousy ate at her over the woman named Maria.
    As if sensing her discomfort, Jared joined them. He placed an arm around her and hugged her to his side. “That’s enough. Why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll finish breakfast. You need to eat.”
    “ Alright,” she smiled shyly at the man who held her close. This had to have been the weirdest night and morning of her life. She’d looked for a vampire in an old, abandoned house. Then had sex in the woods. The start of probably her second hottest sexual encounter on a kitchen island. And she had just been introduced to two werewolves who were apparently part of her dark-haired lover’s pack. And they had said something about a mate. Her mind seemed to disconnect from her body at the very absurdity of her thoughts.
    She shook her head and moved from Jared’s embrace.
    Before she could take a step, he tilted her chin up and asked, “Are you alright?”
    Seeing his anxious and concerned expression made her smile. Yes, it had been a bizarre twenty-four hours, but she wouldn’t have traded one hour of it. Because she had met this man. She placed a hand on his bare chest loving the coarse texture of the dark hair that covered him. “I’m fine. But I really need to be going. It seems you have a lot to talk about.”
    His fingers tightened on her chin. “I don’t think so, baby. You need to eat. These two can stay for breakfast and we’ll all talk then.” He bent to give her another hard kiss then pushed her gently toward the stairs with a firm tap to her buttocks. “Go.”

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    As soon as she was out of hearing – human hearing that was – Jared turned to his two visitors with a cold, hard glare. “You’ve scared her to death.”
    Maria apologized with a smile. “We’re sorry, Jared, we had no idea she meant so much to you.”
    “ Yeah, if we’d known you’d found your permanent lay, we’d have brought the whole gang by to watch the show.” This time Shawn had the good sense to step well away from Jared before he spoke. Still, the heat from his leader’s eyes would have downed a lesser wolf. He threw up his hands in disgust. “Okay, okay. I get it. She’s the one. The love of your life. Your mate. Geese, does being in love have to suck all the humor out of you?”
    Maria and Jared shared an amused look, proving it did not. They both knew Shawn had never felt the emotions Jared experienced now. Considered the playboy of the pack, the blonde pup bedded a new female almost every day. Werewolf or human, it didn’t matter to him. But they also knew he’d never been tempted to copulate during a full moon cycle, an act which signaled a wolf’s commitment to his partner.
    Over the centuries, the wolf had learned to control the change. The full moon no longer held the devastating power it once had by forcing the wolf to endure the change whether they wanted to or not. Now, a wolf could choose when to take on its animal form. They could remain human during the moon cycle. Scientists of the pack believed this now happened because of the dilution of the bloodline as more and more wolves took humans as mates and children were born of those unions.
    But a full moon still made a werewolf extremely dangerous, especially the male of the species. It was a time filled with lust and power. Every sense was sharper and physical strength increased tenfold. In the throes of passion,