Darkest Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page A

you.”
    He reached around and pulled the guy’s wallet from his pocket, scanning the name and address. “Listen well, Curtis. You’ve got one chance to live.” Luc jerked his head toward his house. “It’s simple. Find that girl’s alpha and you live. Got it?”
    Curtis’s eyes drifted toward the gated house. “But I thought it was you . How am I supposed to find—”
    “Now that you know you’re wrong, do what you do. You’re a hunter with NODEAL, right? You hunt lycans. So hunt .”
    Curtis gave a single nod of his head.
    Luc continued, anger churning in him as he thought of the woman chained to his basement wall. “Use your fucking resources. Put together a team. I don’t care how you do it, just find the bastard or I’m coming after you and your whole damn branch. Understand?”
    Curtis nodded fiercely.
    “One month.” Luc flung him away. “Go.”
    Luc watched as the hunter scrambled into his car and sped away. Turning, Luc made his way back to his own car, knowing he needed to take care of one more thing before returning to his house.
    The full moon followed him as he drove toward the lights of the city, to the beckoning throng of humanity, where he could find release from the urgent needs that moonrise had ignited in him. He was no fool. If he didn’t find relief, he would return and follow her scent to the room below. He would take her. The beast would demand it.
    A month with her in his house would be bad enough. But tonight, with the moon at its zenith,the pull a deep burn in his blood… she was not safe from his appetites.
    He would find some dissolute soul hungry for the coarseness of a sordid tryst and leave Lily alone until he found the courage to destroy her.
    *   *   *
    Lily struggled against the manacles, fighting the steel that cut her tender flesh. Her mind raced. She thought of Mom. Maureen. The rat-faced hunter who expected her to kill Luc. Luc. A hybrid .
    “What the hell is that, anyway?” She was still trying to wrap her head around lycans… around what they were… and the fact that she was now one of them.
    Lily fell back on the mattress with a curse. Until a few hours ago, she had never known werewolves existed. Now she did. Now she was turning into one of them. She might not know all of what that entailed, but clearly an out-of-control libido was part of the deal. Great. Probably why her play at seduction had not gone as planned. She wasn’t supposed to enjoy it. That enjoyment had distracted her.
    Maureen had teased her about hooking up with a guy tonight. A one-night stand will be good for you. A little pick-me-up . Somehow making out withsome hot half-breed werewolf had escaped Lily as a possibility. Maureen would laugh if—
    The thought ended abruptly, before completion. Maureen would never do anything again.
    Hot tears burned at the backs of her eyes. She slid to her back, the chains rattling as her arms fell limply to her sides, dead weights. Her skin tingled, crawled. Her gaze drifted. A thin ribbon of moonlight floated from a single narrow window set high on the wall, finding her, stroking her with a tender hand.
    A great tiredness swept over her. A sudden lethargy she couldn’t fight. Her achy eyes closed, the lids too heavy. She tried to stay awake, to think, to plan a way out of this mess. What is happening to me? She managed one weak blink. No use. Her body could no longer move, her eyes no longer stay open. Darkness rolled in.
    *   *   *
    Luc cut through the crowd, his arm hard around the woman’s waist. She tripped on a step and he pulled her up.
    “Hey, you’re in a hurry,” she gasped, her breath a giggly rasp over the club’s heavy pounding thrum.
    He stepped outside, senses alive, alert on the night. Striding across the street, he kept a firm hand on her as the beast in him coiled tighter and tighter, ready to spring unleashed.
    She gasped in approval at the sight of his car. “This is yours?”
    Unlocking the door, he pulled the front