Safety Read Online Free Page A

shifter, who was by far the sneakiest of all the shifters she’d encountered.
    “An assassin?” Tulip repeated, her mouth hanging open.
    “Like I said, it’s a long story.”
    “Alder rescued Taylor from her people.” Lark squeezed herself between the two of them. “You should tell Tulip the story of how you met him. It’s so romantic.”
    Taylor thought back to the night she met Alder and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There had been very little romance, though she did remember lots of terror.
    Before Taylor could be pressured into recounting the awful night, her companions turned their heads towards the lake, where Hale was walking up the path. He was wearing a pair of his brother’s jeans, but Taylor recognized the predatory gleam in his eyes. Eyes that were focused solely on her.
    “Hello, Alder,” Tulip said in greeting.
    Hale didn’t correct her. He flashed her a smile that was so close to Alder’s that it gave Taylor pause. Was it Alder after all?
    He stopped in front of the porch, his gaze moving around the area. “Where’s Holly?”
    Taylor pointed to the ball of orange fur that was curled up near the quail coop.
    A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he turned back to regard Lark and Tulip without comment. “Why don’t the two of you take Holly and go back to the den? Taylor and I need to talk about a few things.”
    Taylor immediately tensed. It was Alder and he was probably angry. It had been cowardly of her to make Hale tell him that she didn’t want to go through with the mating thrall.
    The two females complied, Lark leaving with obvious reluctance. Taylor gave her an encouraging smile, one that faded as soon as her gaze fell on Alder. His face hardened with blatant displeasure as he stared at her. Once the others were gone, he offered her a stiff hand.
    Taylor let him help her up but kept her eyes down. Unsure what to say, she busied herself with brushing invisible dirt from her dress.
    “Let’s go inside,” Alder said, walking past her.
    Taylor took a deep breath and then followed him inside, bracing herself for the worst. She was going to be honest with him, like she should have been from the beginning.
    She shut the door behind her, leaving only the dim glow from the closed curtains to light the room. No sooner did she turn to face Alder, he was on her. His large body pinned her against the wall and she could feel his hard cock jutting against her stomach.
    He brought his mouth to ear and spoke, his voice thick. “You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now.”
    Hale . Definitely Hale.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    For Hale, there was no better position than having a female pinned against a wall. It excited him to know that she was caged between his flesh and at his mercy. It made him feel in control—something that he desperately needed to feel when it came to the human.
    Now, more than ever, she made him feel powerless—powerless to stop thinking about her, powerless to stop craving her, and almost powerless to stop himself from fucking her.
    She pressed her hands against his chest. “Hale, we—”
    “If you tell me to stop, I think I’m going to lose my mind.”
    To Hale’s amazement, she reached down between his legs and grasped his cock. The denim of his jeans separated her hand from his turgid organ, but he groaned all the same, sensing that relief was imminent.
    He needed to come.
    Her free hand stroked the back of his neck. It was an intimate gesture he would not typically accept from a female, but today, Hale found himself arching his head back into her touch.
    She whispered, “I was going to say that we can do other things.”
    “Other things?” he asked.
    Her pink tongue flicked over her lips. “Other things.”
    As realization dawned on Hale, Taylor stood on the tips of her toes to press her lips to the side of his neck. Slowly, she trailed her mouth down, sucking at his flesh as she went. His hands fisted as her tongue moved from the hollow of his neck and down