Wolf Mate Read Online Free Page A

restaurant entrance, he saw Melynda push back from the
table. Her date got up as well, and offered her his arm. They were
leaving.
    The door opened with a
cheerful chime and Melynda stepped out with a stocky young man with
unruly golden hair. Dax caught his scent. The man was a lion
shifter, and he was young, close to Melynda's age. Dax growled.
That feline would be wise to step away from Melynda. Just get his
paws away from Melynda and run along.
    Dax let out a low growl. He
would have the young lion cub for breakfast.
    He saw Melynda gasp, then
narrow her eyes at him.
    “ What are you doing,
Melynda?” he said quietly as he approached her.
    “ I...”
    The young man stepped between
them. “Who are you? Are you stalking her? I saw you at the
window, peeping in and leering at her. Go away, before I call the
cops.”
    Dax raised a brow. The
youngster could talk and act tough.
    “ Leave us,” Dax
told him, keeping his eyes on Melynda. “I don't want to hurt
you, feline.”
    The young man bristled. “And
I won't hurt you if you leave now, werewolf.”
    Dax almost smiled.
    Youth was wasted on the
young.
    “ Melynda,” Dax
growled her name.
    She shook her head slowly.
“You should leave, Dax. Just...go.”
    The young man's eyes darted
between Dax and Melynda. “Wait. You two know each other.
What's going on here? Who is he, Melynda? Do you want to go with
him?”
    “ No. No, I don't.”
    “ Okay. You heard her.
The lady said no. And no means no.” The foolish young man
stabbed a finger into Dax's chest, trying to shove him back.
    Dax didn't move an inch. His
expression was stony and his eyes never left Melynda. The young man
took Dax's lack of reaction as a sign of weakness and tried to sucker
punch him. In a flash, Dax caught the man's fist in his palm and his
eyes blazed silver.
    The man whimpered in pain but
Dax refused to let go. His grip tightened on the man's fist,
crushing it slowly.
    The young man roared in pain
and shifted into his lion form. Dax was forced to release the
massive paw as the lion pounced and tried to knock him to the ground.
Dax moved out of the way at the last instant and watched the lion
roll on the ground and twist round to face him. Dax let his claws
slide out silently, his stance relaxed.
    There were some muffled
screams and shouts from passersby and onlookers. Pedestrians hurried
into the shops and restaurants, thinking they would be safer indoors.
They didn't want to get caught between a lion and a wolf. Dax
didn't care about them. Neither did he care about the snarling,
scrabbling lion in front of him. All he cared about was Melynda.
    But she wasn't looking at him.
She was staring at the lion and crying out, “Steven! No!”
    Dax raised his hand just as
Steven, the lion, leaped through the air and smashed face first into
his claws. The lion fell to the ground and howled in pain. There
were deep scratches at the side of his face. The lion cub had come
very close to losing an eye.
    Dax lowered his hand but
didn't retract his claws. Steven could leave now, with just a few
scratches and a bruised ego. Or he could continue slamming himself
against an alpha Silver Wolf, and end up maimed—or killed.
    Fortunately, the werelion's
ego wasn't bigger than his brain. He growled at Dax and Melynda, and
slowly backed away. Melynda clearly wasn't worth the fight for him.
Shaking out his golden mane, the young lion turned and slunk off into
the crowd.
    The fight was over even before
it had really begun. A handful of onlookers expressed their
disappointment by booing after the retreating lion. The curbside
entertainment was over. The crowd dispersed and the tension
dissipated. People went about their business and the city rolled on.
    But for Dax, it was as if he
was trapped in a soundless, timeless bubble with Melynda. Or perhaps
he just wished that he was alone with her.
    People and traffic flowed and
ebbed around them, but Dax was only aware of Melynda and the distance
between them. They