Read Online Hunter's Heart: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 5) by Kimber White - Free Book Online Page B

perfection,
from the curve of his thigh to the tapered V of his hip where his jeans hung
low. And his chest. A fine dusting of soft, brown curls covered his pecs then
led a trail down. Heat pumped through me, settling low in my core as I followed
that trail with my eyes then blushed to the roots of my hair. I brought my eyes
slowly back up. His neck. Corded, strong. A muscle jumped as he swallowed hard.
Stubble covered his jaw, and his lips had a natural curve as though he
perpetually smirked. I wanted to run my fingers through the thick, soft curls
at the crown of his head and smooth it down and back.
    “Derek,” I finally said, gripping the cold steel
bars so tightly I wondered if maybe I could break them.
    “You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he said, his
expression soft, barely more than a whisper. “Not ever.”
    “My grandmother.” My words were choked. Hollow. I
didn’t know what to say.
    Derek looked down. When he met my eyes again, pain
flashed through his. Regret?
    “What happened to your grandmother is not how
we do things. That’s the first thing . . . the only thing you need to
understand.”
    “How do you know what happened to her? How
could you possibly?”
    “I recognized her. I knew she was marked. Since
she’s not living with wolves now, I put two and two together. She’s one of the
Odawa, isn’t she? One of the lost girls.”
    “Taken by wolves,” I spat. “People like you.”
    He shook his head. “No. Not people like me.”
    “What do you mean?” Rage bubbled up inside me. For
her. It came unbidden as if pent up in my DNA. Wolves had hurt Grammy. Broken
her. She would never tell me all of it. She didn’t have to.
    “We don’t force ourselves on women, Jessa. That’s
not our way. Not in Wild Lake. A wolf protects his mate with his life. So does
his pack.”
    I believed him. I didn’t want to admit it. I knew
what my heart told me, but my brain still had so many questions. “I know
exactly what wolves are capable of. This isn’t Wild Lake. Werewolves
kill. They hunt. And they kill. There has never been a werewolf in
Banchory that wasn’t here to do murder. To people, Derek.”
    He flinched. The muscles in his shoulders clenched
and he dropped his head. He took a step forward but still kept his distance
from the bars. He put his hands up in surrender. “Something’s happened down
here. The Kentucky wolves are in trouble. We’ve heard rumors for years. The way
they live, it’s not natural. That many weres controlled by a single Alpha? It’s
driving them mad, I think. A few of them have broken off and tried to make
trouble for us up in Michigan. Drive us off. That’s why I’m here. I was sent to
try and find out what’s going on.”
    “Where’s your pack, then? Grammy said it’s not
natural for you to be without them if you’re their Alpha.”
    Derek nodded. “She’s right. But I know the rules.
Even stepping foot across the border puts me in violation of our peace treaty
with the Kentucky pack. I didn’t want to put my pack in danger until I had a
better idea of what was going on down here. That’s one reason. The other is for
my own protection. The other wolves can sense me alone. But, if I were
traveling with the other four members of my pack, it would put us all in that
much more danger. They’d notice. If I’m by myself, there’s less chance it’s
going to be viewed as an act of open warfare. One wolf could be a mistake. Five
of them is a statement.”
    “So what do you want?”
    He dropped his shoulders. “I want to know who hired
you to kill me, for starters. Somebody knew I was coming. That means we might
have another traitor in Wild Lake.”
    “For starters?”
    Derek smiled. “Well, yes, Jessa. But now . . . things
have changed a bit.”
    “Because of me.”
    “Because of us.”
    “What if I don’t want it?”
    He took another step forward. I stayed rooted to the
spot with my hands gripping the cage bars as though they kept me from