Author: Lora Leigh
Category: Paranormal
Go to read content：https://readnovelfree.com/p/24065_19
She burned inside.
Rule swore he could see the flame burning there in the center of her eyes. Not the same flame easily glimpsed in a Breed’s or animal’s eyes in a certain light. This was a flame barely contained, burning from the center of the soul, trapped, aching to be released.
A woman aching to be touched.
“See what I see?” Dane Vanderale, the legitimate hybrid son to the first Leo and Rule’s biggest headache, drawled through the comm link, the South African accent mocking. “She’s avoiding you, Breaker.”
“I see her,” Rule stated into the mic that curled from the communications link set in his ear. “Find out where she’s been yet?”
Whispers: Interactive StoriesMake your own choices and decide what happens next!
“She says the spa, but your sources say she wasn’t there,” Dane reminded him.
“Dammit, Dane, that’s not what I want to hear,” Rule growled.
Dane chuckled, the low, knowing sound grating on Rule’s nerves.
“Best watch the hormones, old friend. What’s that first rule? Run, don’t walk, stumble or hesitate. Run hell for leather at first sign of Mating Heat? What else would you call such infatuation for one woman? If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was your drug.”
The accented drawl of amusement had Rule’s teeth gritting in irritation.
“I think I’d know by now,” he grunted.
He’d been close enough to her in the past years that her scent was as familiar to him as his own. And it had never changed since it had shifted from girl to woman the year she turned eighteen.
“So that’s why you just keep watching the hell out of each other, huh?” Dane chuckled. “Tell me there, fraidy cat, when are you going to get up the nerve to tell the pretty girl hello tonight instead of stalking her like some perv as you have the past weeks?”
He’d told her hello several times in the past weeks. She’d pretended to ignore him as often as possible, though he was well aware she knew exactly where he was every second that he was in her vicinity.
She was damned wary ar
ound him, watching him carefully, almost suspiciously, and making his dick harder for the very fact that she was keeping herself so damned aloof.
Letting Dane rile him would be foolish at this point, though. The other man lived to piss off other Breeds.
Rule often thought he might even have a death wish.
“Let’s not be a smart-ass tonight, Junior,” Rule growled, using the insulting nickname Dane’s father, the Leo, used whenever he became pissed with his son. “Now, answer the fucking question before I have to send your pelt to Daddy with my apologies for finally growing sick of your ignorance.”
Dane growled, the sound far too close to the sound of the animal rather than the hybrid Rule knew him to be.
“Ah, and what a day that would be,” Dane quipped. “The Leo would likely pat your back and adopt you should you be so brave as to attempt such a thing. Or give you the burial you’re obviously searching for. Once I’ve finished with you, that is.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Rule directed a glare in the hybrid’s direction. “Just answer the question, asshole.”
“Where’s she been?” Dane repeated sarcastically. “You neglected to mention that she was part escape artist and part invisible woman when you gave me the job of tracking her down. It’s damned hard telling where she’s been, from what I’ve managed to find out. Even her lovely little sister has no idea where she goes, according to Loki. Though she has mentioned a concern that you’re going to show up at her sister’s apartment looking for her soon. I bet the lovely Gypsy’s expecting the big bad wolf. Think she’ll be surprised when she gets the fraidy cat instead?”
“I’m gonna kick your ass, prick,” Rule warned him.
“Yeah, yeah, take a number, nutcase.” Dane actually laughed at the threat. “Be nice or I’ll sic the big bad witch on your ass. Any woman living in an apartment next to a house with gumdrops painted on it has to be a real badass.”
“She’s no wicked witch, Junior,” Rule drawled. “And she can feed me sweets anytime, right?”
There was one sweet he fantasized about on a regular basis, actually.
“Careful there, fraidy cat, she might be too much woman for a little kitty like you. You should let a real feline do this little job.” The pure amused indulgence in the hybrid’s voice had Rule shooting a thoughtful glance through the crowd to where Dane stood by the bar.
“Dane, are you drunk?” Rule questioned him.
The hybrid Breed lifted his glass with a mocking grin, dark sunglasses lying low on his nose so he could glance over the rims.