Elizabeth's Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

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    A grin tugged at the stranger’s lips, as though he could sense her thoughts. It wasn’t a gun he pulled out, though, but a wrinkled piece of paper. She watched, her heart in her chest, fear burning in her belly even as a strange, displaced desire warmed her thighs.
    He stopped at the booth, staring down at her, then at Cassie. Elizabeth looked over at her daughter, seeing the rounded eyes, her pale cheeks.
    “Cassie,” he murmured as he handed her the paper. “I got your letter.”
    Elizabeth felt the world tilt as Cassie whispered his name. “Dash?”
    It wasn’t possible, she told herself. This couldn’t be Dash Sinclair. He couldn’t have really found them. Couldn’t have even known they needed help. Yet, who else could he be?
    He glanced at Elizabeth. “Have you eaten?”
    She could only shake her head. Dear God. It couldn’t be. It was a trick. She picked up the letter from the table and unfolded it.
     
    I know you have lots of other little girls to love. Momma says you must be married with children and don’t need us. But I need you Dash. Please help me and my Momma before the bad guys get us again.
     
    How had Cassie managed to post this letter without her knowing it? She stared at her daughter, barely able to process the fact that she was speaking to the stranger. A dangerous, cold-eyed stranger who claimed to be Cassie’s military penpal.
    Cassie’s cheeks were flushed now. Hope radiated from her big blue eyes as shock was slowly displaced by happiness.
    “You came, Dash.” Cassie threw herself into his big arms, her tiny body looking frail and helpless against the man’s chest, though his expression tightened with some undefined emotion as his arms contracted around her.
    Dash Sinclair. She had loved that name herself, but had pushed it from her mind except for the few times Cassie had written the letters to the wounded soldier. That and when he had invaded her dreams. She hadn’t shared Cassie’s belief that one day Dash would come riding to their rescue, though. That one day he would protect them both. She was an adult. She didn’t believe in fairy tales, though she had fought to keep her daughter’s belief alive as long as possible.
    “Eat, Cassie.” He sat Cassie back in her seat, pointing commandingly at the food.
    Surprisingly enough, a french fry disappeared into her mouth immediately. Then another. Despite Elizabeth’s thankfulness that her daughter was eating, she couldn’t halt a small streak of jealously. Cassie had refused to eat for her mother. Yet she was eating for a stranger.
    “Mac,” he called out the name of the aging, rotund man behind the diner’s bar. “I need two cheeseburger platters, two milks.”
    Elizabeth shook her head. “No…” She knew one of those platters was for her.
    “Thank you, Dash.” Cassie laid her head against his arm as she chewed tiredly at the hamburger. “Momma was hungry. She didn’t eat yesterday, either. But I knew not to worry. I knew you would be here. I knew you would, Dash.”

Chapter Two
    Dash barely stilled his rumbled growl as Cassie leaned against him. He lifted his arm, curving it around the frail shoulders, and stared back at her mother with a determination he prayed she was taking in.
    His possessiveness toward these two had grown only stronger, only deeper over the months he had been searching for them. With each miss, each added awareness of the danger they faced, his resolve had only hardened. As though the extra DNA he possessed inside his body was howling out for a claiming in a way that threw him off guard. He didn’t like being thrown off guard. But he found himself accepting the responsibility of these two so naturally, that he often didn’t think to question it.
    He could sense Elizabeth’s strength. It was there in her squared shoulders, the glint of battle in her weary blue eyes. She didn’t trust him and she sure as hell didn’t believe he was who he said he was. But he had expected that.