Read Online Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) by Wendy Sparrow - Free Book Online Page A

very least, you didn’t think they could happen to you. Except a house cat took her down—poachers would have found her easy prey.
    Still…poachers…here?
    No way. There had to be a different explanation.
    “We don’t know it was poachers,” Jordan said slowly, staring them all down. “We’ll take precautions, but we don’t know it was poachers.”
    “Cheri said they might be coming. She told me,” Carrie said, shaking her head. “And she didn’t get out in time.”
    Cheri had mentioned poachers a time or two when they’d gathered. Vanessa’s patrol route had been increased due to Cheri’s insistence they be prepared. She hadn’t minded for the most part. Running twice as many miles a night had helped curb her wanderlust during the day.
    Frowning, Vanessa made pointed eye contact with Jordan. He raised his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes. Finally, he nodded in her direction.
    “Why would Cheri think that?” Vanessa asked. “Glacier pack is huge. We’re a strong pack. Poachers have only gone after smaller packs.” And Cheri wasn’t an alarmist. Why would she bring up poachers if she didn’t have reason?
    Everyone went still again. There was no group in the world who could hold as preternaturally still as a pack of Lycans.
    “It was possibly paranoia. Just because poachers have used bleach in the past doesn’t mean this was them, or that she was right.”
    She knew she was pushing her allotted acknowledgment but she said, “There are at least five packs between us and their last supposed Lycan kill—she had to have some reason to think that.”
    The others glanced at her, trying to get a sense of what deference was to be paid to her—whether she’d been chosen or not. Some things were instinctual, but there was still drama that was too human to “feel” out.
    Jordan held her gaze for far longer than she felt comfortable with, and she looked down. The patterns of submission and dominance were in their genetic makeup. It was said that parents could tell Lycan offspring from human offspring well ahead of their first change at puberty by the ingrained signs of deference paid to those above them. Finally, he addressed the group. “Disperse. Keep to groups. Jeff, grab five to go with you to check on the pack members not here and see if you can catch a trail of anything else out there hunting. The rest of you, go find out what you can. We’ll meet back here in two hours. Nessa, you stay.”
    The large meeting room that was almost never used for the contracting business Jordan owned emptied quickly. The males arced a wide path around her, assuming, for the wrong reason, that Jordan had singularly marked her with his attention. He had. He was probably going to tell her to stop being a brat because he wasn’t indulging a female mated to a human. Not this soon after it had happened anyway.
    She really, really hadn’t intended to pick Dane over Jordan—a human over an Alpha—but some in the pack might see it that way. It was going to be a strange week.
    Jordan waited until the door closed behind them. She kept her head bowed, even though she fidgeted. She fought deference and submission normally—her chin a little higher than the others, or sometimes her head was more tilted sideways than bowed. When it was just Jordan and her—well, she hadn’t ever punched him, so that showed respect. Of course, less than two hours ago, she’d gone for his throat when he’d threatened her mate. She and Jordan were on fragile footing now. She’d never felt nervous over her own welfare…it was this responsibility for Dane too now—it was intense.
    She’d never had to worry about anyone else before. She’d been a free agent—able to go wherever she wanted to. If she didn’t like a pack or the Alpha leading it, she could leave. She could run if she felt like running. There was power in having no ties, and being able to run away from a situation she didn’t want to deal with. She’d been a lone wolf—and now