Mountain Moonlight Read Online Free PDF

matter the outcome.
    Suddenly, his weight on her eased, then disappeared.
    She sucked in a breath, oxygen filling her compressed lungs, then flipped over, stunned to see Conner snarling at Peter as he  held him in a chokehold. Peter dug his claws into Conner’s forearm in an effort to  pull him off. Despite the fact the men were about equal in size, Conner controlled him as if he was a small pup.
    Katya struggled to  stand, then dragged the cover off the bed and wrapped it around herself. Exhausted from that slight effort, she flopped onto  the edge of the bed, her limbs shaking too hard to stand.
    “Are you all right?” Conner asked, still maintaining his hold on Peter.
    Her throat was dry and she was near tears, hating her  body’s reaction to this event.  She nodded and croaked out, “Yes.”
    Conner turned his attention to Peter, squeezing Peter’s throat tighter. “When a woman says no, it means no,” Conner snarled. “Haven’t you ever learned that?”
    “She’s mine!” Peter choked, his face red with fury. “She’s always been mine.”
    Conner’s lethal smile was unnerving. As was his calm voice when he said, “Didn’t look to me like she was yours. In  fact, what happened in here looks suspiciously like attempted rape.”
    Peter stilled. “You have no authority here. Stay out of our business.”
    “I’m here, and I’m knee-deep in your business, dumbass. Pay real close attention because I’m only going to say this once. You touch her again—I’ll kill you.”
    “And I said—”
    Peter’s next  words were cut off because Conner growled, his  claws extending further until a line of red appeared at Peter’s  throat, precariously close to a vital artery.  “Are you listening now?”
    Katya couldn’t resist the upward curve of her lips as Peter finally stopped struggling. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head, his cheeks red and puffed out as he struggled to speak. “Yes. I hear you!”
    Noah tore through the  doorway, skidding to a halt. His gaze darted in all directions of the room, quickly assessing what move to  make first. “Got everything under control in here?”
    Conner nodded, his face and body returning  to human state. “Yeah. Take this scum and lock him up somewhere until I’ve  had a chance to talk to Katya.”
    Noah glanced over at Katya. Seeing the horror and anger on his face, she resisted the urge to  smooth her tangled  hair away from her face and wipe  the blood  from hercheek. She had to look a lot worse than she felt.
    Then again, she felt pretty bad right now. “Is  Elena with you?” she asked Noah.

    21

    Jaci Burton

    “She was earlier, but then she left, saying she was going in to town to meet some  friends and she’d be out the rest of the night.”
    Katya nodded. Elena knew many people in  the valley and often stopped off to visit  with them. She wouldn’t  be back until morning.
    “You need me to go find her?” Noah asked.
    Managing a smile despite the shooting pain  in her cheek, she shook her head. “No,  I’ll be fine. Just get   him   out of my room.”
    “Gladly. Come on, prick. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to  figure out what  happened in  here tonight. You’re lucky Conner  found you first. He’s much nicer than I  am. Otherwise you’d  be dead by  now.”
    Noah dragged Peter from the room. As soon as they were out of eyesight, her  shoulders slumped and she began to shake, hating to show weakness in front of Conner  but unable to prevent the physiological reaction to the attack. One of the drawbacks to  being partially human—dealing with human biological  functions.
    And now a stranger tended to her. He  sat  next to her on the  bed, looking as uncomfortable as she felt. Twice he lifted his hand as if he’d wrap his arm around her,  then settled it down at his side again. Tension tightened the  muscles of his thigh as it brushed against hers.
    “Let me go get