Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

searched them for a sign...
    I narrowed in on one behind the others, drawn by shiny black hair draped over thick shoulders, and felt the heat rise. This one wasn’t wearing a complete cloak of fear, though he was shaking lightly.
    He met my searching study with a slight lift of his chin that immediately drew my attention harder. Wide chest, thick arms, big hands resting against lean hips… The thought of being touched with those big fingers lit my insides up like a torch.
    He dropped his head and I felt the spell break, my heat receding. Interesting. Would the rest of them make me feel that with just a look?
    The males were pretty. With pleasing faces, and dressed in flowing, black Network cloaks, they reminded me of the sexless dolls I'd played with as a child. If not for their stiff stances and terrified expressions, they might well have been. They in no way resembled the lusty men from last night. Was there no real spark in these men? No hidden desires to be freed?
    “May they sit?”
    “Have them remove their clothes.” I observed reactions closely.
    More fear, touches of panic, and then finally, a bit of reluctance, the mother of rebellion. It came from the one I’d already noticed.
    “What?”
    “Their cloaks.”
    The males complied without argument, revealing shirts with ties tucked neatly inside soft trousers that I judged to be new by the way the men fidgeted as they undressed for me.
    Bam!
    Lightning struck outside the covered windows and most of the males flinched. Candy had told me about her mate’s fear of the weather - it came from not wanting to burn to death like other bachelors here had - and I was glad of a Den Mother’s low words from the dark doorway nearby.
    “ Tis just a storm. We’re monitoring.”
    Her words had an instant, calming effect and I vowed to remember to do it for my male when the weather was bad. I didn’t have many fears, but for those that existed, I wanted comfort while dealing with them. I planned to extend the same help to my prize.
    “Leave us.”
    Not a request, all but the blue-haired Den Mother disappeared. When I glanced at her, I could see she thought she wanted to take a stand on it and I sighed. I hadn't planned on the third match today, but I would be alone with these men or thrown out - one of the two.
    I padded her way and was satisfied to see her take an immediate, startled step back.
    I jerked a hand. “Go. While you can.”
    She fled and I concentrated, trying to reign in my rage. I didn't want the bachelors to be terrified of me and I couldn't be barred from them. I needed to be welcome.
    I turned to see all of the men as far from me as they could get, their faces lined up in panicked rows. I locked down on my disappointment and gestured toward the long table. “Let’s eat.”
    The last one to sit, I lingered, letting my hunting instincts send me in the right direction. It was the same killer line I used to judge runs and I employed it now to single out a few of the more promising from the herd. With all the tension, my need was rising at a fast pace. What would it be like to touch one of them? To hold them during the cold, painful nights?
    I concentrated, letting the Pruett come forward and I sniffed the air like an animal, tasting them…Sweet flowers…heavy cologne… Mmm … One of them had a thick, coppery scent that pulled me like blood. Another was throwing off odors of sugar and sulfur. Both of those last two would please my senses. What about attitude?
    Most of them were slouched, clothes mussed slightly, but two had unfastened the top buttons of their shirts, leaving crooked ties and a slightly off-center impression. I liked that, too. Heads were down, eyes submissive… except a few of them were stealing subtle glances of confused fear and hope. Interesting. And tempting. All those ways to relieve this fire, now sitting docilely at my fingertips. If only one of them would show a spark!
    The males only seemed to relax slightly when the Den