An Everlasting Bite Read Online Free Page A

to run his finger lightly along her thigh. “But I did not want to claim the position.”
    Her gaze fell to his finger. His touch was so feather-light, it tickled. Such a simple move, but one she could feel linger within her whole body. She pushed away the effects and tried to focus completely on the topic at hand. “Why wouldn’t you want that?”
    “Simply put, to overtake an Alpha, a fight between the two occurs. Whoever is left standing will remain Alpha, until another challenge arises.”
    A pretty flat answer, considering the subject. Something else though, made her curious. “You didn’t want that kind of power?”
    His eyes darkened and his finger stopped moving along her skin, only to press into her leg. “When I was born, my father led the Wyoming Pack. Close to my twentieth birthday, he was killed by another Alpha who had challenged him, and who is still the Alpha. As a rule within the Alphas, if the current mate will not submit to the new Alpha then she is destroyed as well. My mother was deathly loyal to my father.” He hesitated a moment to clear his throat. “You can imagine the outcome.”
    Rynn gasped, raised her hand to her mouth. He couldn’t really be saying that he saw his parents had been killed in front of him? “You witnessed this?”
    No sadness showed on his face. “I did.” His voice was flat as before, as if it had no effect on him whatsoever.
    “That’s horrible.” Rynn didn’t have the ability to hide her emotions like him. She could hear the despair in her own voice.
    He shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s the way of the wolves—done thousands of times.
    I’m not special in seeing this.”
    That explained the coldness—it was normal to them. But far from ordinary to her and something she had trouble wrapping her mind around. “Still, it must have been hard.”
    His smile was reassuring as he raised his hand to smooth out the worry etched around in her brows. “It was a sad day, this is true. That’s when I decided I would never want for that life no matter what power came with it. The thought of my future mate suffering so.”
    He shook his head, his disparity now showed through and his eyes became darker in color. “Not until now have I realized just what a monumental moment that was. It’s not a situation I would want you in.”
    Her heart melted. Repeatedly, he proved how much his thoughts revolved around her. This conversation should be all about him, yet somehow, he flipped it to be about her. As much as it touched her, the desire to know more about him overwhelmed her.
    “So, that’s why Valor asked you to be his Beta, right?”
    He nodded and resumed the light dance of his fingers along her thigh. “It was an ideal situation for him. A wolf with the Alpha qualities, but one that did not seek the power, he knew I would stay neutral.”
    She grabbed his hand, hoped her words came out as heartfelt as she felt inside. He might shower her with compliments and she might have trouble taking them, but she could say the same about him. “He is right to trust in you.”
    He smiled softly. “A sweet thing for you to say, darlin’.”
    “Is the Alpha who did this…is he still…” she started.
    “Three years ago he was overtaken.”
    His tone was emotionless, which didn’t surprise her. She actually didn’t mind the idea of hearing that the Alpha had received what was coming to him. She opened her mouth to ask another of the thousand questions racing through her mind, but could only yawn.
    Briggs reacted instantly and stood, then pulled her along with him. “You’re tired, love. We can talk more tomorrow.” He released her hand, headed toward the kitchen and reached for the wooden chair that rested beside the table, presumably to drag it over to the bed.
    Rynn rushed forward, grabbed his hand midstride and forced him still. “No. You don’t need that.” Her heart raced in her chest, nerves made her stomach turn and sweat beaded along her skin.
    This was a