Read Online Built for Lust by Alice Gaines - Free Book Online Page B

brain as she continued, rocks scraping against her. Down and down, as if the descent would never end. Gray had been right. She should have stayed behind, and now, her child would suffer if she didn’t die herself.
    I’m sorry , she called to him, if only he could hear her. I love you .
    She did hit bottom finally, landing on soft redwood duff next to a stream that rustled softly as it went by. She lay perfectly still for a moment, listening to her heartbeat roar in her ears. And to something much softer -- the swell of the other life inside her. Her cub, her baby, her child, was alive and well.
    She shifted, clutching her belly, and weeping with relief and joy. “We made it, little one. You and I. We made it.”
    Tommy was nearby. She only had to get up and search for him. She rose. “Tommy? Where are you, honey?”
    The only answer came from above her as another body crashed down the side of the ravine and came to a stop in front of her. The huge, gray wolf, his eyes shooting silver fire. The fur on his shoulders stood straight up, and he bared his fangs and snarled at her.
    “Cut it out, you stupid male,” she said. “I have to find Tommy.”
    In an instant, he shifted and stalked up to her, finally grabbing her arm and pulling her against his chest. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
    She tried to pull her arm back, without success. “Finding my nephew. For once, I could do something none of the rest of them could.”
    “I swear to God, Cara, if you ever do anything like that again…” He glared down at her, undiluted fury in his eyes.
    She stared back up at him. “You’ll do what?”
    “Jesus God, woman, you could have killed yourself.”
    “I didn’t, and the baby’s fine, too,” she said. “Instead of talking, why don’t we…”
    A scream cut her off. A human, female voice. Ruth, although not like any other sound Cara had ever heard. She pushed by Gray and headed upstream.
    It didn’t take Cara long to discover who’d made that ungodly sound. Ruth sat beside the stream, human and naked, in the arms of her husband, who’d also shifted. The other wolves stood by, not moving. Ruth let out another bloodcurdling howl as she stared at something lying on a rock in the water. As Cara got closer, the thing revealed itself to be a small body with black fur like his father’s.
    “Tommy,” she cried as she scrambled toward the child. “Oh God, Tommy.”
    Her feet slipped as she went, rocks digging into her flesh, but the pain didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except getting to him. If she could hold him, she could make everything all right. He’d wake up from whatever trance he’d fallen into. He might be hurt. Of course, he’d be hurt. That fall was so sharp, and he was so little. But she’d fix him somehow. She hadn’t run so fast and risked so much only to lose him now.
    She dropped into the stream beside him, hitting her knee on a rock in the process, and scooped him up into her arms. He was limp, his head hanging backward as she lifted him, and he was cold. But then, he would be cold, wouldn’t he? He was wet, the poor baby.
    She held him against her naked chest to warm him and rocked. “There you are, sweetie. We found you. You’re safe now.”
    Ruth sobbed loudly and reached her arms out.
    “It’s okay, Ruth,” Cara said. “He’ll be all right. He has to be.”
    A hand came down on her shoulder. Gray had kneeled next to her in the stream. “Cara, you have to give him to his mother.”
    “I can’t.” She leaned toward him to whisper in his ear. “They think he’s dead.”
    “Honey, he is.”
    She clutched Tommy more tightly. “No.”
    “His mother’s a healer. Ilse can sense things,” Gray said. “Look at them. They know the truth.”
    “No, it’s not possible.” She scanned the others. Ilse, Sam, and Peter looked utterly defeated, their expressive eyes wide. Ruth’s face was a mask of grief as she continued crying. Joe’s features didn’t move, as if