Rescued & Ravished: An Alpha's Conquest (A Paranormal Ménage Romance) Read Online Free Page B

restless and leave, or to find mates from far away at a packmeet and go off with them. That was what had happened with Gentian’s children, Maple Blossom and Finn. Their parents only saw them at the Gathering every few years.
    “The pleasure’s all mine. Let’s go in before the rain starts, huh?”
    He closed up the shed since it’d been stripped of everything usable for violence, put an arm around Gentian’s shoulder, and guided her back inside. There was a monumental crack of lightning far away; he knew the storm would be here soon enough. It was a good thing all the clan’s cabins were built in the thick of the pines, so the trees could be lightning rods instead of the roofs.
    He had to worry about Hudson and Dove, though. He hoped they would get back to the clan soon, and out of the weather.

***
    Gentian and Egan were kind people and just a little bit lonely, so Chance spent much longer with them than he’d planned to, from lunch on to supper. At least they kept him away from Briar, or Briar away from him, whichever.
    Gentian was serving up dinner—pine nut bread and rabbit stew—while Egan was retelling old stories about hunts and packmeets from his youth. He’d encouraged Chance to smoke with him, and shared out a pipe and a lobelia-bearberry smoking blend.
    “There were more wild bears in those days—I don’t mean us, I mean animal bears—and they made good neighbors. You were forever coming across ‘em in the forest. They understood us and we understood them. I don’t know what’s happened to make ‘em so much scarcer. It has something to do with cities an’ humans, I expect—”
    Rain rattled the windows. Gentian set the stew bowl on a wood underliner on the table. Chance took a drag, half listening to Egan and half worrying about the range runners.
    Hudson could take care of himself, and so could Dove, he knew that, but still. If they weren’t back by the time he left to go home, he’d go looking. Just in case.
    “Love, what do you think?” Egan asked his mate. “It’s the cities, isn’t it? It’s humankind? That’s what’s done away with all the animal bears, wouldn’t you say?”
    “I don’t know. I suppose that must be it. I do know that dinner’s ready, though.” She patted Chance’s broad shoulder. “Don’t you hold back now, eat as much as you want. I know what young men’s appetites are like! Especially this close to the Season!”
    “Lord, is the Season tomorrow already?” Egan asked, puffing. “Time just flies away.”
    “It does,” Chance agreed. “And thank you both for having me all day. This food looks better than I know how to tell you, Gentian.”
    “You’re a good boy. Now—”
    The cabin’s front door slammed open, cracking against the inside wall. Chance and Egan leapt to their feet, ready to fight, but it was only Dove, white-faced and soaked.
    “Dove!”
    “Is that Dove?”
    “Oh, Dove, darling! You’re all wet—”
    “Chance!” she cried, ignoring the others. “Come out! Now!”
    “What’s happened?”
    “Now! He said now !”
    Chance squeezed Gentian’s hand—she looked afraid—and then moved around the table to the door. Dove gripped the front of his shirt and tried to drag him out onto the creaky porch faster, forgetting he was at least five times stronger; he pulled the door closed behind them.
    The weather was bad. A cut of lightning lit up the valley, arcing wickedly across the sky. Rain drummed down, cold and thick.
    “You cleared the shed? You changed the lock?” Hudson was there. He was standing on the porch, naked and muddy and—
    Chance did a double-take.
    Hudson was carrying a girl .
    She was slung over his shoulder like a sandbag. He couldn’t get a good look at her, but the shape of her, the curve of her thighs. He swallowed.
    Now he looked around, there was a hiker’s pack slung to the side of the cabin door which Egan was opening, holding a lantern. That must be the girl’s. Had Dove carried that while Hudson