True Alpha Read Online Free PDF Page B

her, slipping his fingers beneath her panties.
    “Uh, Jack…” She tensed against the mattress as he teased her entrance, his fingertips sliding against the slickness of her skin.
    “Yeah, sweetheart?” They were so close, still practically kissing, that his lips brushed hers when he spoke.
    “Something really weird is happening.” A tightening feeling had begun in the small of her back and wrapped around her torso, making her belly feel tense and crampy.
    He withdrew his hand from between her legs, letting the cotton of her panties snap back lightly against her skin. “What is it?” He rested his hand on her thigh, and his touch quelled her rising alarm just a little.
    “I – I don’t know. It’s my belly. It feels all tight and it kind of hurts.”
    Jack’s golden eyes flashed. “Do you think you could be having a contraction?”
    She clutched a fistful of the quilt. “I hope not.” She was only six and a half months along. Nothing like this was supposed to happen for another couple of months. She tried to keep a handle on her emotions, but panic welled up inside her as horrible possibilities whirled through her mind – premature labor, one of her biggest fears and something she’d tried not to think about. Sometimes, carrying her and Jack’s baby around in her belly felt somehow completely natural and totally terrifying all at once. “What if something’s wrong with the baby?”
    Jack pressed a warm hand against the round swell of her belly. “Is it kicking?”
    “Not right now. At least, if it is, I can’t tell. Everything just feels so uncomfortable.”
    “Just lie back and keep still. I’ll be right back.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “To get Clarissa. Daniel told me she was apprenticed to a shifter midwife back in Alaska.”
    “I know,” Mandy said, unsure of whether she should feel relieved that Clarissa was nearby or scared by the concern that was painted all over Jack’s face.
    Jack pressed a quick kiss against her temple. “Right back.” In an instant, he stood on four legs, a huge, dark brown wolf with streaks of true black and creamy white in his coat, and golden eyes that were almost impossible to look away from. With a clatter of long toenails against the floorboards and a swish of his tail, he was gone, the screen door banging shut behind him.
    Mandy reclined carefully against the mattress, hardly daring to move. Her belly still felt tight, though it seemed like the feeling might be easing a little. She rested her hands lightly on her sides, waiting for any sign of movement. There was none.
    Staring up at the ceiling, she bit her lip. This couldn’t be happening. Couldn’t be. What on Earth would she do if she did go into premature labor? Her baby would need special care if it was to have any chance of surviving being born so early, and if she went to the hospital while she was still in labor, they wouldn’t know what to make of her wolf’s body temperature, and might try to treat her for problems she didn’t have, possibly affecting the baby. It wasn’t like she could say, “oh, yeah, that’s normal – I’m a werewolf”. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly as she tried not to dwell on the scariest possibilities.
    The noise of the screen door banging open and toenails against the floorboards was the most welcome sound in the world. In no time at all the bedroom door swung open, nosed inward by a dark wolf. Midnight black, sleek and positively petite compared to Jack, Clarissa was beautiful in her lupine form. Jack’s golden eyes flashed from the doorway as he poked his head inside, his ears pricked anxiously forward. Mandy nodded at him to let him know that she was all right, and he disappeared.
    Even though she was in her lupine form, Clarissa’s bright brown eyes looked concerned. She hurried into the room, carrying a fabric bundle in her mouth. When she dropped it, it unfurled on the floor into a puddle of cotton – the tank top and shorts Mandy had let