Read Online Caged Wolf (Wolves of Willow Bend Book 2) by Heather Long - Free Book Online Page A

they’d broken her in any way, well, fuck their laws. He’d definitely take back a pound of flesh for every bruise they’d left on hers.
    With great hesitancy, she turned away from him and then backed up until her spine pressed against his chest. Taking the hand she held, she drew his arm around her shoulders and then loosened his fingers so that he covered her mouth with his palm and two fingers bracketed her nose.
    Suffocation.
    I will fucking kill the bitch that did that. Releasing her so she could turn, he studied her face. No smudge of injury marred the perfect alabaster around her lips. In fact the only injury he saw was the broken skin she’d created with her gnawing.
    “Gillian healed you.” A point to the sweet young wolf. He owed her a great favor.
    “I guess so?” Vivian didn’t seem as certain.
    Well, fuck, she already knew they were wolves. She deserved the rest. “Gillian is a healer, so is Emma. They have gifts. If Gillian can heal you, a human, she’s definitely grown in her ability since I left.”
    “So you’re taking me there?”
    He nodded. “I want to talk to them about your fugues.”
    “All right,” she said, surprising him with her compliance. “They can look at you, too.”
    “I’m fine,” he argued, but she took his hand and started them once more in the direction he’d been leading her.
    “Then it won’t matter if they check.”
    “Vivian…”
    “You want them to look at me?” Her eyebrows raised and for the barest of instances a window opened. A window to the fierce woman he’d rushed to aid, one who’d fought even when she’d been bleeding from so many injuries and could barely stand.
    “Yes.”
    “Then you have to let them look at you.” No, she wasn’t asking.
    The corner of his mouth curved upward, the feeling so alien he couldn’t help but notice it. Her answering smile set fire to another cobweb in his soul, battering at the dark chains holding him prisoner. If it put that expression on her face, he’d let them check whatever they wanted.  

Chapter Five
     
     
    Hand-in-hand, Vivian followed A.J. through the woods toward a path she would never have noticed on her own. Only a few hours before— it was hours, right?— she’d been planning to box up her life in St. Louis and move to Flagstaff. While she hadn’t had much life since that pain-filled night, she thought relocating to where she was a stranger would make it better.
    And now I’m walking through the woods with the wolf, man, person I didn’t think I’d ever see again to go see a healer. The surrealistic nature of it all struck her and she began to laugh. Clapping her free hand over her mouth, she couldn’t suppress the sound. Her shoulders shook, tears gathered in her eyes, and breathing grew more difficult.
    A.J. paused and swung around to face her. His scowling frown, combined with the question in his eyes, only set her off into another fit of inappropriate giggles. Insane. Everything about the situation was utterly, and completely insane.
    As she continued to struggle to stifle her laughter, his frown eased and the corners of his mouth kicked upward. Moments later, he shook his head and the rustiest, most awkward laugh she’d ever heard escaped him. It came out almost a honk of a noise and totally undid her efforts to stop the manic amusement rushing out of her like a water crashing through a dam. Soon they were leaning against each other, wheezing. 
    When she stumbled, he slid an arm around her. Hilarity still raking her insides, she tried to catch her breath. It proved a futile effort, because every time their gazes met, fresh waves of glee erupted. Out of breath and barely able to stand, she leaned heavily on A.J.. Together they sank down to sit in the grass. Panting, she focused on the trees, the bushes, the bark—anything to avoid looking at him and losing it all over again.
    Bit-by-bit, his ragged breathing eased. When he brushed his lips to her temple, she closed her eyes. Could