Wolf in his Heart (Salvation Pack) Read Online Free PDF Page B

sec.” He untied his sleeping bag and spread it over the ground. He sat on one end and indicated she should sit on the other. Sage was no fool. He’d taken the space closest to the entrance. If she decided to run off, she had to go over or through him.
    Rina eased down onto the sleeping bag but didn’t remove her knapsack. He’d have to work on that. No way could she rest properly with that bag on her back. He dug through his own pack and brought out the remains of his food. “Help yourself.” He motioned to the jerky and trail mix. All the protein bars were gone as he’d dug out the last two about an hour ago and they’d both eaten one.
    “Are you sure?”
    He could practically feel her hunger and nodded. She reached for a baggie filled with trail mix, opened it, and dug in.
    “Where you from?” He wanted to know all there was to know about her. There had to be a reason that a full-blooded female werewolf was running around on her own without a pack. Hunted by humans instead of being protected.
    Rina stiffened and stuffed another handful of trail mix in her mouth. Sage sighed and offered up a condensed version of his past. “I was born in Michigan. My father was a full-blood, my mom a half-breed.”
    She stopped chewing and swallowed. He knew he had her attention. “I have a twin brother too.”
    “I have a brother,” she offered. “Mikhail.”
    He nodded and kept talking, hoping if he did she’d offer up more of her story. “My parents were killed when we were still teenagers. An explosion in a multi-vehicle pileup on the highway.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Yeah, me too.” Even after a decade, Sage found it hard to talk about. “We had Uncle Elias though.”
    “What about your pack?” She’d inched closer. Sage was sure she didn’t even realize it.
    “We never had a pack. Oh, we called ourselves the Gallagher Pack, just the five of us. It was me, Reece, Mom and Dad, and Uncle Elias. Dad left his pack when he found my mom. He knew his pack would never accept a half-breed.” Rina glanced away but not before he caught a glimpse of pain and shame in her eyes.
    “Anyway, after they died, Uncle Elias sold everything and we came here. He’d heard about a pack in North Carolina that was different. One that might accept a couple of half-breed teenagers. It’s a long story, but the pack took us in, and now we’re part of the Salvation Pack. My uncle mated, so I have an aunt. Sue is full human, and so is her son.”
    “Full human.” Sheer disbelief colored her voice. “That’s unheard of. And the pack accepts her?”
    Sage knew she was just spouting the beliefs she’d been raised with, but he was protective of his family. “Yes, they accept her.” His voice was hard. “And her son. Billy is my cousin. Doesn’t matter that he’s fully human.”
    Rina really felt as though she’d entered an alternate reality—half-breed twins, humans living in a pack with half-breeds and full-bloods, and human hunters on her trail. She’d have thought it nothing but a strange dream except for the fact she was wide awake and totally exhausted.
    Sage was loyal to his pack and family. She envied him that. She’d felt that way once. Then they’d banished her for what she considered no good reason. A woman should have the right to pick her own mate, not have one chosen for her. Too bad for her that neither her alpha nor her parents had felt the same way.
    “Your pack is unusual.” That was one way of putting it. She’d never heard of any pack accepting outsiders, let alone half-breeds and humans. Maybe they were weak and needed all the members they could get for protection. After being on her own for more than a year, she understood safety in numbers.
    “They’re the best.” The affection in his voice was all too real. He loved his pack. She only hoped they returned his feelings.
    Sage leaned against the wall and stretched his long legs out in front of him. The night had cooled off from the intense heat of