Read Online The Tiger's Mate: (Book 12, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas) by E A Price - Free Book Online Page B

it.
    Carrick’s lips twitched, almost as if he were about to smile.  “Thanks.”  He paused.  “I wouldn’t mind if you told Lauren that.”
    “I’ll see what I can do.”
    *
    “Hey!”
    “Britt,” said Acksel, tightly.  He was sitting on the porch, wearing nothing but his jeans.  He watched as his sister bounded towards him, oblivious to his fury.  He stilled his wolf, who was snarling and prowling, looking for any excuse to lash out.  He wanted to punch something.  No, he wanted to punch somebody.  He wanted to hurt whoever had taken Simone away.  He could smell the faint scent of male tiger.  His wolf wanted to tear the other male apart.  But he’d settle for anyone right now, and he didn’t want his sister getting in the way.  Where was his brother right now?  Hans knew how to take a punch.
    “Where’s Simone?”  Britt looked around expectantly.  “I baked her an apology pie.”
    “Apology pie?” he grunted and then groaned.  “No, don’t start crying,” he snapped, harshly.
    “I’m sorry!”
    He groaned.  He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to hear the word sorry ever again.  “She’s gone.”
    Britt blinked at him.  “Gone?  Is she coming…”
    “I doubt it.”  People who snuck out in the early morning generally didn’t plan on coming back.  And that ‘thank you’ note didn’t intimate that she was interested in anything more than a night with him.
    His sister sat down next to him.  In spite of his rolling anger, she did soothe him slightly.  As much as Hans complained about them, having three golden haired baby sisters growing up had tempered the moods of two teenage wolf shifters somewhat.  Yep, it was hard to believe, but Hans could have been worse.
    “I’m sorry, Acksel.”
    His wolf growled.  “We all know you’re sorry.”
    “No, not for that, I mean for you.”  He looked at her through hooded eyes and she frowned.  “Don’t give me that look.  I saw the way you looked at her.  It’s the way Hans looks at Melanie.  It’s the way Mal Tanner looks at his mate.  It’s the way…”
    “I get it!”
    Britt rested her head on his shoulder, and he exhaled deeply.  “Love’s hard,” she said, with the weight of someone who’d had their heart broken dozens of times.  She was actually a seventeen-year-old wolf shifter who, to Acksel’s knowledge, had never even kissed a boy, never mind had her heart broken.  His wolf was rather hoping it was a state she’d remain in until she was at least twenty-five, or possibly thirty.
    “You’re seventeen,” he grumbled, dismissively, although not cruelly.  “What do you know?”
    “Craig told me he loved me yesterday,” she said, shyly.
    Acksel slapped a hand over his face and groaned.  On the one hand, this was a distraction from Simone, but on the other, his wolf wanted to hunt the boy down and rip him to pieces.  Given his mood, Acksel needed to be careful he didn’t lose control, shift and do just that.  “He’s only fourteen.”
    “I know.  He said it because I was upset, but I’m just worried that he means it.”
    “Want me to beat him up?”  It was a serious offer.
    “No, but thank you for asking, instead of just yelling at me for allowing an idiot to tell me he loves me.”
    Yeah, that was the outlook Hans would have on it.  “Hans is going to be an interesting parent one day.”
    “Nah, if he does have a kid, I think he’ll worship him or her the way he does Melanie.”
    Acksel smiled at his sister.  “Huh, I thought I was the only one who understood Hans.”
    Britt snorted.  “There’s not much to understand.”
    “You should probably get going to the Beta for your punishment.”
    “I know,” she muttered.
    He remembered Simone’s fear for Britt’s safety.  His wolf rumbled, unhappily as he worried about just what Simone’s life was like.  “It won’t be that bad.”
    Britt gave him a pious, suffering look.  “Well, it’ll be less than I deserve I know