Saving Serena: The Alpha Wants Curves Bk2 Read Online Free Page B

muster, I leaped at Athena. I slammed into her, and as she rolled backwards, I landed on top of her, snapping my jaws at her neck, seeking a target for my teeth. As she yelped and squirmed beneath me, trying desperately to escape, my jaw finally found a hold.
    My teeth closed on the soft underside of her neck, and finally Athena stopped struggling. I could feel her pulse hammering beneath my incisors as I slowly began to clamp down. The blood-lust of the wolf rose up inside me, and I longed to puncture her flesh, longed to tear her throat ...
    But a gentle hand stayed me. I smelled Heath beside me, sweaty and bloodied, and felt his palm on the back of my shaggy neck.
    “Serena,” he said gently. “Don't kill her. I don't want you to have to live with that.”
    I desperately wanted to crush Athena's throat, and feel her life drain away. But through the haze of my animalistic blood-lust, I knew that Heath was right. As much as I wanted this scum to be eradicated, I couldn't live with that on my conscience.
    I wasn't like her.
    I slowly released Athena's throat, careful not to give her a clear shot at me. But I needn't have worried. She just lay there limp, her eyes wide with terror. I climbed from her, and she remained still.
    “I think she and Aaron have learned their lesson,” Heath said, directing his words to Athena. “And if they ever return, they will be killed.” Though his voice was still strong, it was tinged with an obvious pain. I looked up at him, worried.
    He was fully human now – the puzzling transformation of his head had reverted. His shoulder and arm were bleeding still, though they had already begun to heal, thanks to the rapid regeneration our kind are gifted with.
    “Are you all right?” Heath asked. I nodded my wolf head, and he smiled at the strange gesture, before transforming quickly to wolf. He led me past the three unconscious men that lay strewn across the room, and through the doorway that he had shattered.
    The place turned out to be an abandoned warehouse behind the main street. The night was still as we left the dank building and ran together through the cool, soothing air. The moon hung high over us, still tinged with red.
    Soon, we were home again.
    The second we were transformed back to human and inside the house, Heath was on the phone, brisk and commanding. He called his advisers, alerting them to Aaron's betrayal, and ordered an increased guard for our territory. He also requested a guard be placed outside our house.
    But as soon as he hung up the phone, his military briskness fell away, and he turned to me with a stricken look on his face, before taking me into his arms.
    He squeezed me tight, his fingers clutching at me as if to convince himself of my realness. He inhaled my scent and held me against him, and I felt as if I was melting in his body heat.
    “I'm so sorry,” he murmured into my ear. “I put you in harm's way. I don't – I don't know what I would have done if ...”
    “Shhh,” I said, retracting my face to look into his eyes. “You didn't put me in danger. You saved me. First you saved me from Athena and Aaron, and then you saved me from doing something terrible.” I kissed him softly on the lips, and he squeezed me even tighter. “Thank you,” I said.
    I saw the exhaustion and pain in his face, and I suddenly realized the toll the night must have taken on him. He had been betrayed by his best friend, and nearly lost his lover. His body was coated in a mixture of sweat and dried blood.
    I wanted to help him; I wanted to nurse him back to health.
    I took his hand and led him to the bathroom. I turned on the shower, and we were soon both wreathed in steam. It reminded me of the first time Heath and I had sex, amidst the forest mist.
    I led him into the shower.
    The hot soothing water flowed over us, washing the dirt and blood from our skin. The pain began to subside from Heath's face, and I was glad. He smiled at me, and brushed my cheek with his hand before