Releasing the Wolf Read Online Free Page A

haven’t met them – any of them,” she told him, pointedly. Not that it would be any of your business if I had , she added silently.
    Brendan shoved the door open again. “It’s getting late.” His tone was flat.
    A quick glance at the clock told her he was right.
    “Best make tracks, love,” said Barry, nodding his goodbye.
    “’Bye, Barry – see you next week.”
    As soon as they were outside, she whirled around. “What the hell was that?”
    “What?”
    “The whole caveman gig. You know, the beauty of one night stands is that no one needs to put up with any jealousy crap.”
    “I’m not jealous.”
    “Then what was that?”
    “Look, Ryan’s bad news, okay? If he ever comes back here—”
    “I don’t know Ryan, all right? The Ryan whose name I called out in my sleep – he doesn’t live around here.”
    Well, it wasn’t a total lie, was it? He didn’t live here – just in her head. Nevertheless, she couldn’t ignore the curiosity that had peaked within her. “Why’s he bad news?”
    “Him, and the guys he hangs out with – they keep themselves to themselves; don’t mingle with the other bikers. I can’t figure out who runs that show. Ryan’s the talkative one, the one who always takes the lead, but the blond guy – Lawrence I think his name was – he always gave me the creeps. Always silent, but he never missed a thing. Taylor’s okay – the most normal out the lot of them.”
    “Why does any of that make them bad news?”
    “Nobody knows them, Lydia – at all. The other bikers all meet up with each other every now and again outside their own groups; everyone mingles, but not Ryan’s group.”
    “So they’re private – that doesn’t mean anything.”
    “Why are you defending someone you say you don’t even know?”
    The accusation in his voice caught her off-guard. “Are you saying I’m lying?” she shot back.
    He let out a low curse, then sighed. “No. Look … speculation is that they all live in some mansion somewhere in or around Pewley Downs – no one knows exactly where – which in itself is weird. And a bunch of guys living together? What, are we on the set of The Rocky Horror Picture Show? But it’s more than that…” He shifted uncomfortably. “People have started going missing. It’s random and infrequent, and over the past three years or so – you’d have read it in the papers and probably not taken much notice, but—” he lowered his voice “—it always happens when they show up.”
    “Oh, come on! You think they’re abducting people just because they’re secretive and live together? I get that it’s a bit weird, but talk about jumping to conclusions. Besides – Barry said Ryan was the one that went missing. Are they abducting their own?”
    “Since they won’t let anyone know anything about them, I don’t have a fucking clue, but I don’t trust them with shit. Here, stick your helmet on.”
    She took the helmet and did as instructed, not sure she wanted to carry on the conversation anyway. What a bloody odd morning. Good thing she was seeing a shrink tomorrow.
    She straddled the motorcycle, Brendan took it off the stand and kicked it to life. She knew next to nothing about motorcycles, but she had been on Brendan’s a couple of times before. She couldn’t deny the total feeling of freedom when speeding through wherever on one of these things … or the way it sort of got her horny, but then she’d always had a high libido – her dreams proved that. She wondered if she should ask her therapist for some kind of pill. Could she do that? Take a pill to make her sex drive less and her dream man go ‘poof’ into the thin air he’d come from?
    The ache that had eased throughout the morning suddenly pounded in her chest. You’ll die without him , it affirmed with every painful throb.
    Dying of a broken heart. For a man who doesn’t even exist.
    You’re screwed, Lydia. Utterly screwed.
     
    ~*~
     
    Taylor resisted the urge to kick the