Prime Selection Read Online Free PDF Page B

or…”
    Hell, she didn’t know what she would do. The very air in the room heated from the energy pouring off every Prime male. Mel had never experienced batel rabia en masse before. No wonder the Prime defeated the Antareans time and time again. It was the scariest thing she’d ever encountered—and as an Alliance officer she’d faced down some fairly frightening things.
    Mel stroked a shaking hand down Wulf’s tensely muscled arm. “Wulf … please?”
    “Sorry.” Wulf rubbed her waist and throttled back his rage. Then he glared at his brothers who managed to do the same.
    The women in the room seemed to sigh all at once as the other men in the room took their cues from the Caradoc brothers and calmed down.
    “That was potent.” She shuddered as the adrenaline-cortisol boost she’d gotten through the communal hormone surge pulsed in her bloodstream. She was pretty sure she could kick ass and take names against any two or three of the Prime males in the room.
    And since no Prime male was less than six feet in height and most tended to be solid muscle that was saying a lot.
    “You okay, lubha ?” Wulf’s harsh whisper carried no farther than the four of them.
    He stroked her chilled naked back.
    “Other than needing to kill something right now, I’m fine.” The three males chuckled. She sensed the control they exercised for her—and for the safety of the people around them. But a small spark could easily set them off once more. “Let’s hurry and make our excuses to your parents before you boys let loose with the Caradoc battle cry and start a civil war in the Caradoc ballroom.”
    “A very good idea, my gemate .” Wulf placed her arm on his and began walking. His brothers headed in the opposite direction toward the exit.
    *
    Wulf guided Melina toward the table where his parents sat with two other members of the extended Caradoc family. His mother and father glowered at him. Well, why not?
    They had to have been affected by his and his brothers’ reaction, just as everyone else had. It was amazing his father hadn’t tracked them down and kicked their asses for ruining his mother’s party.
    Then he caught sight of who sat with his parents. His rage threatened to escape the box in which he’d shoved it. Darga Caradoc! His father’s cousin. The man had serious balls to show up at this celebration of Wulf’s mating.
    Melina rubbed her cheek against his arm. “What’s wrong? You blocked me again.
    Stop it. Who’s that man sitting with your parents? I haven’t been introduced.”
    “Darga Caradoc.”
    “That’s … awkward. Is he the reason your mother is distressed? Your father, furious?”
    “Partially. But their anger is more because me and my brothers almost started a war in the ballroom. Father feels he has Darga under control by setting spies on him.”
    “I didn’t know that.”
    “I can’t believe the apayebo had the nerve to come here after his sons attempted to kill you.”
    “Wulf, I read him as embarrassed, but not sorry.”
    “He isn’t sorry. He is a viper in our family, just as my aunt and her husband were.”
    “Do you really think he’s behind the rebellion?”
    Wulf pulled Melina closer to his side. He wanted her anywhere but here.
    “Nothing surprises me any longer. I never would’ve guessed the animosity Father’s relatives had toward him—and all for a matter of birth order. Darga’s father, Lemi, was the middle son, three years younger than my grandfather. Lemi died a hero during the last major Antarean attack on the planet. Lemi’s wife also died. She’d refused to leave with the other women and children. They would be shamed by their heir’s behavior.”
    Melina hugged his arm closer. “Who’s the other man? He looks like your father.”
    “That’s my Father’s youngest brother, Tenar. He never found a gemate and devotes himself to documenting and writing about Prime history. Your Terran parents would’ve had much in common with him.”
    “Father.