When a Beta Roars Read Online Free Page B

Hayder wasn’t done. “I mean it. No starting trouble, but you can taunt. Taunt loud. Taunt mercilessly. Drive them to the brink and make them hit first. Then you can bring it. Just be sure to save a piece of those curs for me. I’ve got a few words my knuckles would like to say.” He shook a fist as his utterly male announcement was met with cheers and fist pumps.
    They’re nuts. All of them. Or high on catnip.
    Something was obviously whacky about their enthusiasm. Even her old pack never planned for mayhem with such glee.
    It was to an excited hum—and talk of nail-filing methods—that Hayder once again dragged her, this time toward the glass doors at the front of the building.
    She tried one last-ditch protest. “We shouldn’t go out. We’ll order in.”
    He halted. “You mean go back up to your condo where we’ll be alone, just you, and me, and”—he purred—“chow down on takeout Chinese food while we watch Indiana Jones?”
    She couldn’t help but gape at him.
    “Were you expecting me to say something else?”
    “No. Of course not.” She stammered the words and blushed hot because she had, indeed, imagined a different ending to his sentence.
    “Never fear, baby. We will make good use of that king-sized bed I spotted in the bedroom, after we come back from dinner. First, though, I need to see your face when you eat that brownie and then compare that expression to the one you’ll wear when I make you come the first time.”
    Only cats were always graceful. She stumbled, right into his arms.
    Achoo !

Chapter Five
    The speed at which his need to seduce Arabella came proved almost as fast as her sneezes every time she got near him.
    A less vain man might have wanted something to soothe his bruised ego. Hayder merely took her allergy as a challenge.
    We’ll look into getting those shots. The kind the doctor gives for severe allergies. Or I’ll invest in a tissue company. Hey, I bet Aunt Berna would make me some hankies.
    What about fighting her allure instead?
    Say what?
    The oddball thought hit him out of nowhere as he walked on the sidewalk, Arabella tucked into his side. Exactly why was he looking for solutions? What happened to living his life as he was currently? Where did this insane urge to give in to fate come from?
    Look at the facts. He barely knew Arabella, and yet he was ready to jump, with his whole body, into the whole mating ring. What the hell?
    This lack of control had to stop. Hayder was his own man. He’d make his own choices when it came to whom he settled down with. Feeling attracted and sorry for the she-wolf at his side wasn’t a good enough excuse to give up his lifestyle.
    Especially since he’d probably quickly tire of her once the novelty of seduction was gone.
    Yet this is the first time I’ve ever wanted to seduce a woman so badly.
    This was also the first time a woman made him want to protect. Who did that pack think they were, terrorizing the girl and trying to force her into an unwanted claiming?
    No one claims what is ours.
    Would you stop that? Hayder snapped back. It was certainties like the one his lion kept pushing that had Hayder all messed up. Even worse, by his actions and words, he was leading the girl on.
    He couldn’t in fairness seduce her knowing he had no intention of settling down any time soon.
    That’s what you think.
    Lions perhaps couldn’t chuckle, but his certainly tried. It made a guy want to go pet a mouse just to antagonize his feline side.
    The walk to the restaurant didn’t take long, but Hayder kept a close watch the entire way, from the circular driveway that led from the condo to the sidewalk on the street, to the shadowy alleys between buildings that could house any source of menace.
    Alas, they made it to the restaurant unmolested. A shame. He did so enjoy a bit of sport before dinner.
    Holding open the door to the restaurant, he finally let go of her hand, only so he could sweep his arm, gesturing for Arabella to enter.
    It might