Savage Sanctuary 2: Panther Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

him.
    It couldn’t be!
    Her scent should have been the first clue but he’d been too busy rushing her off to
    safety to think about it. For every male panther, there was only one female. One true mate. The clean, seductive scent of her had sent his pulse rocketing into overdrive from the moment he’d pressed his body to hers on the forest floor.
    The sudden knowledge that this female was his mate both thrilled and alarmed
    him. Terrified him, too. For a man who’d known little softness, the idea of taking a
    woman into his life was more frightening than facing down the most hardened killer.
    Yet, for him, it was also a miracle.
    He looked at her. Her hands were spread over her face as if she wanted to hide her
    tears and his heart turned over, thumping hard. Barefoot, she wore only shorts and a
    faded tee shirt that was several sizes too big for her slender body. Her long, blonde 24
    Panther Moon
    curls were tangled, he suspected, from tonight’s dash through the woods. Jagged
    scratches stretched along her legs, crisscrossing like a spider’s web on her fair skin.
    He’d deal with the shallow wounds later. They were nothing when compared to
    her broken heart. Hudson swallowed. His mouth went dry. Ignoring the way his cock
    rose high and hard against his belly, he came up beside her on the couch and drew her into his lap. He went still the moment her hip pressed his aching erection and he closed his eyes to gain control of his animal impulses.
    Oh hell yeah, he wanted her like he needed his next breath.
    A decent man would at least pull on some jeans.
    Fuck decency.
    She needed him now.
    Wrapping her in his arms, he lowered her face to his chest and ran his hands slowly
    over her back. It was long and shapely. He settled his hand in the delicate dip at the base of her spine and felt his senses sizzle at the feel of her warm breath soughing over his chest. Whispering nonsense words into her soft, blonde curls, he let her cry it out.
    Knowing she belonged to him in some way made the ache of helplessness burn
    deeper, harder.
    “Shh,” he whispered. “You’re breakin’ my heart, woman.”
    “Hurts.” Her wide, mobile mouth moved over his flesh. The warmth of her breath
    sent seductive fingers over limbs and down his torso. Lust curled low in his belly but he fought it back.
    “I know, honey.”
    Finally she lifted her face and Hudson was lost in a pair of tear-drenched mossy
    green eyes. They were swollen but he thought they were the prettiest he’d ever seen. A man could get lost in something so sweet and deep. Her parted lips were full and
    utterly irresistible to a man who wore loneliness like a battered winter coat. Unable to 25
    Regina Carlysle
    stop himself, he cupped her face with one hand and traced the line of her high
    cheekbone with his thumb. “Don’t cry. Can’t bear it.”
    His gaze focused on her lips. He heard her quick in-drawn breath and felt the
    awareness that zipped through her system as if it were his own. “I’m hurting you,” she whispered.
    “Your grief hurts me. Yes.”
    “Oh my gods! Hudson?” She shook her head as wonder filled her eyes. “You—”
    Giving her no time to speculate further, Hudson did what he’d wanted to do from
    the moment he’d pinned her to the forest floor. A low, coughing sound burst from his
    throat as he took her lips and drank the tiny sound she made. He scraped his teeth over her bottom lip, then slid his tongue across the surface before sending it deep into her warm mouth. She went still for a split second before sinking into him. Her despair was like a living thing, yet there was something more, something needy that drew him.
    Hauling her closer, he felt the soft flesh of her breasts. The puckered tips of her nipples pressed against his chest with a heat that burned like a brand. When she opened to him fully, he stroked her tongue, the walls of her cheeks and felt her response burst over him like a softly whispered prayer.
    Offering comfort in