Read Online Heart Of The Wolf by Dianna Hardy - Free Book Online

sinister power flashed in the very depth of her
eyes. It prickled his skin with unfamiliar fear, and … fuck, he did
get a little hard.
    She stood,
abruptly, but confidently, and leaning heavily on her cane.
“Tonight, the moon will be full and your beasts will be thirsting
for flesh. Lydia will be unmated before the moon reaches its peak,
you have my word. And then, she's all yours as long as you keep
your end of the bargain and destroy Lawrence Gunvald.”
    Christ, his
erection was now painful, blooming under every evil-coated word she
spoke. “That's a lot of faith you're putting in your 'insider'. And
I'm putting a lot of faith in you. Wolves and Tridents, unless gone
rogue, do not leave the safety of their pack during a full moon –
we're all vulnerable this time of the month. I'm risking my pack by
going in there tonight. I'm assuming your insider is a wolf? I
wouldn't trust a wolf to turn on their own kind.”
    Was that a
smile on the woman? Looked odd. “ She , Gabriel. My insider is
a she-wolf, and she reminds me very much of myself when I was her
age, too long ago to matter now. She will go through with her task,
don't you worry about that.”
    “How can you
be so sure?”
    Her stare
became glazed and distant. “Because when you don't want to die, and
you're faced with only one way to live, you take it.”
     
    ~*~
     
    Lawrence swung
open the door to his study, then stilled when he caught sight of
Lydia asleep in his chair. Wearing his shirt.
    He brought the
door shut silently, then hesitated, not sure whether to stay in one
spot, head towards her, or leave the room.
    Instead, he
ended up just gazing at her and trying to ignore the way his chest
felt like it might cave in any second now.
    He was kidding
himself. What the fuck did he think he was trying to do? Protect
her? There were only fourteen members of their pack left and Selena
had caught the brunt of that this morning – he couldn't protect
anyone and had no business trying.
    Shadows lay
heavy under Lydia's eyes.
    He
frowned.
    Had she not
been sleeping?
    Maybe Ryan's
keeping her awake all night … every night…
    He
successfully quashed a growl at that thought, and tentatively made
his way to her, careful not to stand in her light in case his
shadow stirred her awake.
    Her breathing
was even and the rise and fall of her breasts through his shirt did
things to him he thought he'd never feel again, and in all honesty,
had never really had the chance to feel before. He'd spent time
with a couple of females in his youth, but they had not been
serious arrangements, his passion for theatre and dance a much
greater commitment than any he could give another. Back then, he
had been secretly glad he hadn't found his mate young.
    Elana, his
sister, had found her mate young, even before her adolescence.
Mating, itself, was impossible before puberty kicked in, but once
it had, well, biology took care of the rest. She had been in a
happy union when The Trident had murdered her. They had barged in
one full moon, the numbers in their pack dwindling, looking for the
storm-wielder rumoured to be housed here. Elana's storm-wielding
abilities had not fully started to flourish yet, and in a bid to
protect her daughter, his mother had stepped forward, her fear and
desperation coating the scent of the lie, and stated she was the
wielder.
    They'd come
for the wielder and nothing would stop them from taking her. They
killed his father in front of her when he attempted to attack, and
his grandfather, and then they'd targeted her children, killing
Elana's mate first, before dragging both his sister and himself
away from their family's dead bodies, to torture them some more
while they forced his mother to listen. By the time the Tridents
had finally caught on to his mother's lie, Elena was already dead.
They thought he was too. He wished he had been – he had had to
endure hearing what they did to his mother before they finally
ended her life. Even death had its pros.
    He