Black Wolfe's Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

recrimination for his actions. I do suggest, however, that you not share this personalized service with the other guests.” Her eyes clouded briefly, but she nodded. He hadn’t given it another thought until the next day when a very annoyed Antoine cornered him in the kitchens.
    “What did you say to her?”
    “Who?”
    “An-gel-i-ca,” the chef had said, rolling her name off his tongue with an affection Derrick was unused to hearing. The Frenchman held all of the smug arrogance for which his countrymen were known, and was an expert at seduction; he simply did not “do” affection.  
    “She requested I no longer prepare a special lunch for her because she did not wish to...how did she put it? Get me in trouble .” He leveled an accusatory glare at Derrick.
    Derrick had frowned. “I clearly remember telling her there would be no recriminations for your unusual behavior, although I did request that she not flaunt such special treatment before the other guests.”
    Antoine had thrown up his hands and muttered a string of curses in Old French, all of which Derrick understood quite well. Some terms, like ‘idiot’, would have translated clearly, even if he hadn’t known the language.
    That was how Derrick had found himself out at the breakers again, toting a heavily laden, hand-woven basket. He sat down on the rocks and, without a word, pushed the basket toward her.
    She’d glanced at it briefly and shook her head before returning her gaze to the sea. Derrick had nudged it farther. He did so, several times in fact, until the basket lodged against her side. Then he’d given it one more nudge with his toe, just for good measure. He could be stubborn, too.
    He had seen her lips quirk and pushed it again.
    “Okay, I get the point,” she’d said finally, the quirk becoming a full-fledged grin. “Will you join me?”
    As if he had intended anything else.
    That’s how it had been for the next three days. They had shared a meal together, enjoying each other’s quiet company. Sometimes he would ask her a question or make some innocuous statement, just so he could hear her voice again.
    Until that fateful day when she kissed him and he turned tail and run.
    Now, she lay before him, her immortal spirit readying to flee her failing mortal body. Silas waited expectantly for him to give the command to mercifully end her suffering.
    It should have been an easy decision. Her injuries were mortal. She could not possibly survive. To allow her to suffer was cruel.
    “Derrick?” Silas prodded when her small body began to seize.
    Derrick looked helplessly at her. Her face, so beautiful only hours before, was no longer recognizable. Her light honeyed skin was pale beneath the great number of colorful bruises, adorned by jagged tears and swollen tissue. Her eyes were shut tightly, a purely physical response to the brutal pain she had to be feeling. Bones were broken, internal organs damaged. Her brief time on earth had come to an end.
    Too brief , he thought. He needed more time. More time to understand why this odd bond existed between them. And in that instant, he knew he could not lose her. Not yet. Not when he had yet to discover the secrets of the woman who had beguiled him so.
    “No,” he said firmly, his jaw clenching as he ripped the sheet from her body. “She is mine.”
    He shimmered into his wolf form long enough to bite a mark of claim upon the tender skin between her neck and shoulder. Then he returned to human form and used his still-protruding fangs to score his wrist. Placing it over her mouth, he let his blood drip into it, willing the flow to continue until she began to gag. Then he covered her nose and mouth, making it impossible for her to expel it.
    “ Derrick. ” Silas watched, horrified.
    Derrick ignored him. “My blood is strong, Silas. She will survive this, because I wish it. Now, grab her legs and hold her still.”
    “Derrick, you must not do this.”
    “If you refuse to help me, Silas, then