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

she was this .
    “You are lousy at submission,” he said, walking toward her.
    She let out a relieved sigh at his amused tone and lifted her head. “I’d apologize, but…”
    “It’d come off sounding a bit like your earlier explanation about your allergies?”
    “I can give you three reasons why it might.”
    He shook his head. “You’re lucky you’re off-limits as a mate now because I think I’d enjoy making you submissive—a little too much.”
    Since she’d laid claim so emphatically to Dane, they were both off-limits. In fact, by pack rules, regardless of how he felt about her, he wouldn’t be able to date anyone other than her, human or Lycan. It was forbidden. The scent-match was considered sacred. Luckily, among Lycans, it always seemed to be mutual—a pheromone they both secreted making the other theirs. She had no idea if it worked with Dane. She might have a fight on her hands to keep him as hers and hers alone. And to keep the pack from killing any other human females who might show a reciprocated interest in him. She might want to warn him about that too. Eventually.
    Her pride couldn’t take that now. Not after the snoring thing. Hey, guess what, Dane? I’m yours. I was willing to die for you. What? You think I’m hot but you can’t put up with my snoring? Huh. Oh, by the way, don’t date anyone else or my pack will kill her. You’re stuck with me.
    She fought a shudder. She might never be able to tell him that. He’d seen her naked, but this was a whole different version of naked, and she wasn’t about to be that emotionally vulnerable. No way.
    “So?” Vanessa gestured at the doors to the downstairs den exit. “Should I go on the hunt too?”
    “No. You and I are following your instincts. Something hasn’t been adding up for a while, and I can’t nail it down. Cheri’s behavior leads me to think she is guilty of something, but the rest of this…doesn’t make sense.”
    “What was her ultimatum?” He hadn’t answered her before, but it might actually be important.
    He glanced over at her. “Your head seems clear. Your allergy meds must be working…and, apparently, being in heat isn’t affecting your sense of reason anymore.”
    It didn’t seem to be. That was nice. Maybe she’d stop hugging all males under a hundred years old for the remainder of her cycle. She wasn’t usually a hugger. Indulging her hormones within the pack hadn’t appealed to her this cycle or any previous cycles either, actually—a trip to Tijuana to mingle with some humans had seemed equally ill-conceived a week ago.
    And now Jordan’s attempting to capitalize on her fertile period had led her to Dane.
    Life was funny sometimes.
    Not funny ha ha…more like the sort of funny you wanted to drop-kick and punch in the face—that sort of funny.
    “She wanted me to get rid of you,” he said. “That was her ultimatum. She wanted you out before you went into heat.”
    She nodded. It figured. Whether it was personal or not personal, apparently she was a threat to Cheri feeling like Alpha. “If you’d asked me to leave, I would have left.” And she wouldn’t have scent-matched to Dane.
    He clenched his jaw. “I don’t give in to ultimatums…nor will I be dictated to.”
    Jordan held the door open for her as they went downstairs. He’d always been a strange mixture of polite human traditions and Lycan dominance. He’d once told her it was a remnant of a family with mostly human offspring. He was the only Lycan born to two Lycan parents. The genetics from the prior generations had turned cruel.
    She was the only child, Lycan or human, born to her parents—and they’d been older and had passed on.
    “Why did you tell me to watch for anything unusual on my patrol?” It was an odd thing to tell her.
    “Cheri’s behavior. When I last saw her, she told me I’d be sorry that I hadn’t listened to her. I wanted you on your guard just in case she was coming after you. Part of me wonders if she