Predator's Claim Read Online Free Page B

should do my job.” She glared at him but then took a deep breath, clearly to manage her ridiculous temper. “Anyway, do you mind if I bring someone to the party? I’ve got…a friend staying with me.”
    Oh, of course. The smarmy, don’t-get-dirt-on-my-designer-pants city dude. He’d been able to smell his attitude from miles away. “Who is he? How did you meet him? Because you know Ryland has rules about who comes to this resort.”
    “Oh, my God. Would you lay off the damn rules for five seconds?” Her black brows met in the middle of her forehead, making an adorable furrow. “For your information, Dylan is a colleague and a shifter and won’t upset the delicate balance here on the island. Look, we can just skip the party if it makes you happy.”
    His pulse sped up again and not in a good way. “That’s not what I…ah, forget it. You’ll just twist my words anyway, like you always do. Come to the party. Bring your friend . Drink a liter of Long Island Iced Teas. Get plastered. Whatever gives Charles the jollies.” He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but his voice had risen with each word.
    “The jollies?” she yelled back. “Wolf man, you wouldn’t know the fucking jollies if they bit you on your furry ass. You’re such a goddamn Alpha, only happy when you’re bossing others around!”
    Now that hit below the belt. “I’m no one’s Alpha,” he said, almost growling. He tried to grin to rein in the conversation, but was pretty sure he bared his teeth instead. “But if I were an Alpha, I would put you over my knee and…”
    “And what, big man?” She cocked a brow at him. “Teach me some discipline?” Her curled lip, so redolent of sweet gloss, said, Go ahead. I dare you .
    Bart stepped forward, his fingers positively itching to claim her soft skin. But as soon as he moved forward, he took a step back again. What was he thinking, indulging in this ludicrous conversation with a ludicrous woman? He did his best to offer Charlotte some valuable advice, trying to look out for a fellow wolf, and she insisted on throwing it back in his face. There was no denying it. She drove him nuts and always would. He could never be with a woman like her. She’d spend her days edging him toward the cliff of insanity. Let her pester her friend Dylan instead. May they be very happy together.
    “Well?” she taunted, hand on curvy hip.
    He clenched his jaw so hard he was sure he’d broken off some tooth enamel. “Just…just come to the party. And Charlotte…”
    “What?”
    He stepped into the hallway and stared at her from there. “Be good. Okay?”
    He didn’t give her a chance to respond, even though she surely had a retort from the paleness of her face. Bart turned and marched away, and inside him, his wolf stomped and howled like a child having a tantrum in the supermarket candy aisle.
    * * * *
    He caught Ryland’s scent as it rushed up behind him. The bear man followed him as he trudged away from the lodge. Man, he loved how the folks at the Ursa basically operated as one big family unit, but some days he felt like the older brother who could never escape his pawing siblings. And after his altercation with Charlotte, he really just wanted to be alone with a tall bottle of something bad for his liver.
    “Bart, hold up!”
    He turned to see his boss headed toward him, making big footprints in the snow, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. “Ry, if this can wait…”
    “No, it can’t.” He reached him, took a deep breath, and began. “I just got a call from the mainland police. They were looking for you.”
    “Do they want to lock me up? Because frankly, I could get off on some solitary confinement right now.”
    Ryland frowned. “Jason Burns has escaped.”
    For a good, long moment, Bart just stared at his friend. Processing this particular tidbit of information was like swallowing a large chunk of gristle; it remained lodged in his throat, making him want to hack and spew. “ The Jason