Read Online NocC 013 - Katie Reus - Protector's Mate - Harlequin 2012-04 by Nocturne - Free Book Online Page B

feel grateful for scraps. Overseas she’d made a difference, had friends, and she’d even resigned herself to living as a lone wolf once she’d come home. But with Alaric, she’d thought things were finally going to be different. That Alaric was different and that maybe she’d found a place to fit in. She needed time to think and she couldn’t do that here. Not in Alaric’s room, where his scent completely surrounded her.

Chapter Six
    Alaric raced up the stairs to the second floor of the mansion, his heart pounding wildly after the conversations he’d just had. First his brother had called him and told him about Felicia’s phone call. Then he’d run into Chris on the way in and the young pup had asked him about his impending mating to Amanda. Apparently the rumor mill was out of control. And when Chris had let it slip he’d mentioned the same thing to Felicia —Alaric growled as his fists clenched into tight balls.
    It had taken every bit of his self-control not to pummel the young wolf. If his intentions had been malicious in telling Felicia, Alaric would have done worse than that. Now he was focused on finding the woman who owned his heart. The intoxicating smell she exuded of raspberries and champagne was strong as he headed up the stairs to his room, but he feared it was an old trail.
    The second he stepped inside his room, he froze. She wasn’t there. If she had run, he would find her. Of that he had no doubt.
    Turning on his heel, he froze again.
    Felicia stood in his doorway, her blue eyes darkened with smoldering, undeniable anger. But at least she was there.
    “You’re here,” he said, needing it to be true.
    Unfortunately, it seemed to piss her off. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Would you rather I ran away with my tail tucked between my legs?”
    “No, I—”
    “I get to talk right now. Not you. You…you…” Her face flushed crimson as she faced off with him.
    “I what?” he murmured, wary.
    After the walk she’d taken to clear her head, Felicia thought she would be able to talk to him in a civil tone, but the emotion she’d kept bottled up for years suddenly exploded. “You’re a lying bastard! I can’t believe you’re going to mate with Amanda. You make me feel all these things and acted all possessive and caring. It’s bad enough that it’s her, of all she-wolves, but I wouldn’t care who it was. What kind of wolf are you that you could be so intimate with me knowing you planned to take another mate?” Pain laced her words and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t bother trying to keep up an emotional shield. She didn’t care if he knew how much he’d hurt her.
    “I’m not mating with her.” His expression and his voice softened a fraction.
    She paused. The statement took some of the steam out of her but… “What? Chris told me—”
    “I’ve already spoken to him and he was misinformed.”
    “But I called your brother and he said you were at her house.”
    “I was.” She narrowed her gaze at his admission, but he continued. “I had some things to clear up with her.”
    Felicia’s temper sparked as she thought about what “things” he might mean. “Have you ever slept with her?”
    He snorted softly. “Never. Not that she didn’t try.”
    A low growl filled the room and it took a moment for Felicia to realize it came from her. Surprised at the raw animal possessiveness that surged through her, she clamped her jaw shut for a moment, then frowned at him. “Why were you at her place?”
    “She sent those wolves after you.” His voice had a deadly razor’s edge to it.
    Felicia’s eyes widened at the sharp burst of uncontained rage that sparked off Alaric. “Did you…kill her?”
    “Do you want me to?”
    She paused for a moment and started to ask him why the she-wolf had sent anyone after her, but changed her mind. Some things could wait. “No, but what did you do to her?”
    “She’s been kicked out of our pack and sent