Read Online Wolf Claim (Wolves of Willow Bend Book 3) by Heather Long - Free Book Online
Authors: Heather Long
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curved and she watched him as she took a bite of her burger. He couldn’t help but zero in on the way her mouth pressed against the sandwich or the way her eyes dropped to half-closed as she chewed. Need ratcheted his spine tighter.
Clearing his throat, he drained a bottle of water before saying. “I’m serious. I don’t care who they want you to examine or what the patient wants, if you’re in a room, so am I. When you go to sleep at night, I’ll be there. And when you wake up in the morning…”
“Yours will be the first face I see.” She punctuated the sentence with a wide grin. He’d expected more resistance, and the lack of her objection made him frown.
“This isn’t a game.” He plucked some of the fries from his container and added them to hers.
“Oh, Owen.” Gillian sighed and shook her head. “I won’t go anywhere without you, but I do want to make one thing very clear.”
Ah, there it is . He nodded. “And that is?”
“I will take care of the sick and the injured, and you are not allowed to scare them.” She finished her burger. He could live with those conditions. “I won’t try to sneak away, but you have to agree to make sure I can see those who need to be seen.”
“Within reason.”
Her mouth compressed into a thin line and rebellion gleamed in her eyes. “We’re going to fight about this, aren’t we?”
“No,” he said. “We’re not.” Picking up another container of food, he set it in front of her. “You want to save them, to cure whatever it is that ails them, to isolate and defeat an enemy we know nothing about. I understand all of that.” When she reached for the third burger, he caught her hand. “I have one goal and one task, and that is to take you home safe, whole and healthy. No one will prevent me from that task. If you don’t agree, I’ll put you in that truck and we’ll go home right now.” Mason had given him the right to make the call, but if she refused to cooperate…no, it simply wasn’t an option.
“It’s all right,” she said, squeezing his hand and giving him a small smile. “I was only teasing you.”
“Oh.” Her sudden acquiescence left his anger with nowhere to go, so he nodded.
“Of course, if we’re going to be so intimate on this trip, I really hope you’re planning to share my bed as well.”
His synapses short-circuited. Before he could summon up a reply, a sound that didn’t belong scratched over his senses and he caught the hint of wolf—of several wolves—on the air. Rising, he swept the area with a glance. Theirs was the only car in the rest stop lot. The other vehicles and their human occupants had left. Across the green belt, a wolf appeared on the edge of the forest, revealing itself like a ghost before disappearing back into the foliage. A second appeared a few feet farther along, and a third.
Circling the bench, Owen took a spot between Gillian and the wolves. To her credit, she stayed where she was, but swung her legs out from under the table. She could move if she needed to. Finally, a man exited the trees and began striding toward them.
Easily Owen’s height, he was tall, dark haired and light-skinned. He wore jeans and a grey t-shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Everything in his manner said predator.
Gillian rose and moved closer to him. The weight of her hand against his back centered him. He tracked the other wolf’s progress. Even without a photo reference, he’d have recognized the energy practically crackling the air around him and the strength in his steady gaze and posture.
“That’s Brett Dalton,” he said, for Gillian’s benefit. “The Hudson River Alpha.”
“Oh.”
And he was early, meeting them not at his house as planned, but at a rest stop. Nothing about this followed protocol, which meant…
Anything could happen.
What was left of her sleepiness vanished at the arrival of the Hudson River Alpha. He was a powerful man, and the confidence in his stride
Clearing his throat, he drained a bottle of water before saying. “I’m serious. I don’t care who they want you to examine or what the patient wants, if you’re in a room, so am I. When you go to sleep at night, I’ll be there. And when you wake up in the morning…”
“Yours will be the first face I see.” She punctuated the sentence with a wide grin. He’d expected more resistance, and the lack of her objection made him frown.
“This isn’t a game.” He plucked some of the fries from his container and added them to hers.
“Oh, Owen.” Gillian sighed and shook her head. “I won’t go anywhere without you, but I do want to make one thing very clear.”
Ah, there it is . He nodded. “And that is?”
“I will take care of the sick and the injured, and you are not allowed to scare them.” She finished her burger. He could live with those conditions. “I won’t try to sneak away, but you have to agree to make sure I can see those who need to be seen.”
“Within reason.”
Her mouth compressed into a thin line and rebellion gleamed in her eyes. “We’re going to fight about this, aren’t we?”
“No,” he said. “We’re not.” Picking up another container of food, he set it in front of her. “You want to save them, to cure whatever it is that ails them, to isolate and defeat an enemy we know nothing about. I understand all of that.” When she reached for the third burger, he caught her hand. “I have one goal and one task, and that is to take you home safe, whole and healthy. No one will prevent me from that task. If you don’t agree, I’ll put you in that truck and we’ll go home right now.” Mason had given him the right to make the call, but if she refused to cooperate…no, it simply wasn’t an option.
“It’s all right,” she said, squeezing his hand and giving him a small smile. “I was only teasing you.”
“Oh.” Her sudden acquiescence left his anger with nowhere to go, so he nodded.
“Of course, if we’re going to be so intimate on this trip, I really hope you’re planning to share my bed as well.”
His synapses short-circuited. Before he could summon up a reply, a sound that didn’t belong scratched over his senses and he caught the hint of wolf—of several wolves—on the air. Rising, he swept the area with a glance. Theirs was the only car in the rest stop lot. The other vehicles and their human occupants had left. Across the green belt, a wolf appeared on the edge of the forest, revealing itself like a ghost before disappearing back into the foliage. A second appeared a few feet farther along, and a third.
Circling the bench, Owen took a spot between Gillian and the wolves. To her credit, she stayed where she was, but swung her legs out from under the table. She could move if she needed to. Finally, a man exited the trees and began striding toward them.
Easily Owen’s height, he was tall, dark haired and light-skinned. He wore jeans and a grey t-shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Everything in his manner said predator.
Gillian rose and moved closer to him. The weight of her hand against his back centered him. He tracked the other wolf’s progress. Even without a photo reference, he’d have recognized the energy practically crackling the air around him and the strength in his steady gaze and posture.
“That’s Brett Dalton,” he said, for Gillian’s benefit. “The Hudson River Alpha.”
“Oh.”
And he was early, meeting them not at his house as planned, but at a rest stop. Nothing about this followed protocol, which meant…
Anything could happen.
What was left of her sleepiness vanished at the arrival of the Hudson River Alpha. He was a powerful man, and the confidence in his stride
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