Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

Sure, he was strong and capable, but pitting a human, even a strong and capable human, against a wolf shifter—especially an alpha who wouldn’t fight fair—was as good as killing the human herself.
    She’d never do that to Gabriel Light.
    But then she had no one. Spirits plummeting, she forced herself to prowl the room, looking for a weakness. For nearly two hours she pulled at bars, tapped floors, walls, ceiling, looking for any weak spot—but there was nothing. No trap panels in the concrete floor, and the walls clonked like cinder block.
    Her eyes stung as she fought back tears. She wished she’d never come here. She wished she’d stayed with her mother.
    She wanted to go home.
    Home. Her heart clenched with soul-deep longing.
    Her phone rang, startling her. She fumbled it out.
    “H-hello?”
    “Emma.” Dr. Light’s voice was tight with concern. “What’s wrong?”
*       *       *
    Gabriel took his responsibilities as owner of the Choice Buy seriously. Each employee, when hired, was offered a comprehensive benefits package including a free emergency bracelet engraved with allergies and medical conditions, plus a toll-free number to call if they were in any kind of trouble. Many wore the bracelet twenty-four-seven.
    The bracelet had an added benefit—a touch of magic. If the employee felt him- or herself in immediate danger, Gabriel’s phone would chirp an alert. Thanks to basic human nature, he got an alarm from one employee or another a couple times a month.
    So he wasn’t surprised when, while waiting in line with a hundred other cars to board the ferry, his phone signaled.
    Not simply a chirp, but a whooping red alert.
    Gabriel’s battle-mage training ensured he didn’t fluster easily. Instead he went the opposite, cool and focused. He drew the phone smoothly from his pocket, knowing he’d linked the alert spell to an app that dialed the employee directly. All he had to do was press Talk.
    Cool burst into hot shock when he saw the caller ID of the employee in trouble.
    Emma.
    He punched the green call button, his finger trembling slightly. When she answered, he barked, “What’s wrong?”
    “N-nothing?”
    “Don’t lie to me, Emma. Don’t ever lie to me.” He clamped down on his impatience to save her now, throttling back his gut-clenching fear to keep his tone calm and reassuring, for her. “Tell me what’s wrong. I can help.”
    “I’m sorry, but…” Her high, tight voice said how scared she was. “I c-can’t get you involved.”
    “It’s Bruiser, isn’t it? I mean Bruce.”
    Sucked-in air. “How did you…?”
    “Routine follow-up with your employment application.” He cursed himself, damned the rampant emotions roiling in him that had let the alpha’s real name slip out, a slight sign to a smart woman that he knew about the magical community, very slight, but Emma was very smart.
    “Bruiser…it’s a nickname.”
    “I know. What did he do?”
    She hiccupped a laugh that didn’t sound amused at all, but rather on the edge of hysterical. “He locked me in his room.”
    “He what? ” Wolves were high-handed, and alphas dictatorial, but few crossed the line into downright felony. “Why?”
    “H-he thinks he’s going to m-marry me.”
    Wolves didn’t lock up their wives, their mates. They’d never violate a wolf’s sacred pair bonding that way. Bruiser must be submitting her to a cheaper, degrading version of mating the worst of the alphas sometimes indulged in—concubine stable.
    Pretty, feisty, smart little Emma, locked away and reduced to a sex slave? She’d quickly wither and die.
    He knew enough about wolf culture and ritual that this wouldn’t be something she could deprogram. If Bruiser completed the ritual, Emma’s life would be over.
    Gabriel snarled. She needed his help, and she needed it now. He started his engine.
    The ferry gate opened. The first car crept onto the auto deck. A glance at his phone showed it to be eight