The Alpha's Willing Captive (Historical Paranormal Werebear Steamy Romance) Read Online Free PDF

now," I said.  "Thank you."
    I tried to hurry along, but the silver flash seemed always just out of my range of sight.  We plunged deep into the thick forest and it was not very long before I was completely turned around.  Trees, roots, bramble and branches all clutched and clawed at my arms and legs.  The cloak tangled in a tree limb and I screamed in frustration.  "Where are we going?" I demanded.
    The first wolf trotted back into view.  He came right up to me and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when he ducked his head and took my arm into his jaws. 
    But instead of clamping down, he only tugged gently.  I allowed myself to be led a few steps.  The trees fell away and I walked into a clearing bathed in silvery moonlight.
    Before me rose the dark hulk of a lonely mountain.  And there in the rock face was the deep black of an opening.  A cave, dark and forbidding.  The wolf tugged my arm gently and we stepped inside.
    I put my hand to my throat.  The silver pin was still fastened there.  I felt the pull of wickedness, and I took my hand away without removing it.  Let the wolves see the silver.  Let them be as afraid of me as I was of them.
    As we stepped into the cave, I felt a vibration in the air.  Suddenly, I was not walking with two wolves. Rather, I was flanked by two tall, deeply muscled men.
    I barely had time to register my shock before one of them grabbed a torch from the wall and turned to me.  "Tarla.  We have been waiting for you."
    I wanted to ask how he knew my name, but before I could form the words, we stepped into a great chamber.  The ceiling rose high above us, nearly invisible.  All around us were pools of torchlight and before us a great bonfire roared.  And around the bonfire stood wolves and men.
    Behind the men was a raised platform upon which a wolf sat.  When he looked down and spied me, the air vibrated around us.  The wolf shimmered and dissipated, simultaneously stretching and shrinking until he stepped forward in the form of a gray-haired man.
    "Tarla," he boomed heartily, his voice echoing off of the stone walls of the cavern.  He spoke my name as if it was an answered prayer. "You are welcome."
    I looked at the assembly.  Hungry eyes stared back at me.  "Are you mocking me?" I demanded.  "Why would you give me welcome?"
    The gray haired man laughed.  "Why wouldn't we welcome you? This is a celebration!"
    My mother's pious posturing flashed in my head and my resentment flared anew.  "I am so thrilled that my death is so easy for everyone to celebrate."
    The gray haired man rose from his makeshift throne and nimbly hopped down from his platform.  "Death?"
    I was getting angry.  "Do what it is I am here for.  If I am to die, just get it over with."
    "What do you think you are here for?" The gray haired man demanded.
    "I am the sacrifice.  I am here for you to devour me so that my village stays safe."
    The laughter of the men mixed with the howls of the wolves until all of their voices were an echoing cacophony around me.  I stood in the midst of their mirth with anger rising like fire through me.  I felt hot color bloom on my cheeks and my stomach twisted.  "Enough!" I cried, my voice louder that the din that surrounded it.  "Silence!"
    The laughter ceased immediately.  Only the faint echo remained.
    The gray haired man nodded as if I had spoken a great truth.  "You were born for this," he nodded.  "The blood of the wolf runs in your veins."
    My hot rage was clouding my judgment.  "I was born to be my village's sacrifice, yes I know this.  Now will you please just get it over with?"
    "We are not going to eat you, Tarla!" a voice shouted from the crowd.
    "Well, only a little." Loud shouts of laughter greeted this speaker's jest. 
    I turned angrily to the gray haired man.  "What aren't you telling me?"
    "The women in your village are the last of a dying breed," the gray-haired man explained.  "You are the only ones with whom our kind