Leader of the Pack (23 page)
Read Leader of the Pack Online
Authors: Francesca Hawley
Per shifted to human and started to
shiver. Quinn walked over and threw a blanket around him.
“You mean sometimes the needs of the
many outweigh the needs of the one?”
“And sometimes the needs of the one
outweigh the needs of the many,” Quinn finished.
“Yeah.”
“Sometimes you’re the bug and
sometimes you’re the windshield?”
“That works too.” Quinn laughed.
They both scented
Yohana
at the same time and turned
to where she stood silhouetted white against the gathering dark.
She approached tentatively, as if
uncertain of her reception. Per knelt and she came in close.
“You’re as lovely a wolf as you are
a human,” he breathed. She butted her head against his shoulder affectionately.
He set his hand on her shoulder, stroking the soft fur.
Are you all right, my love?
She communicated telepathically to him rather than in wolf
speak.
He nodded.
I still feel…tainted.
She
glared at Quinn and
Per
smiled sadly.
It’s not his
fault,
älskling
. It’s mine.
She shifted to human and slid her
arms around him. He wrapped them both in the blanket and held her close.
“I’m sorry,
Per
.
I shouldn’t have asked you to compromise your ethics. It was wrong.”
“No, I needed to protect you. If I
hadn’t, it would have been worse.”
She leaned back. “I love you. I’ll
never ask you to do this again.”
He chuckled. “Don’t make promises
you can’t keep. If someone tries to hurt you or our pups, I’ll defend you.
Even unto death.”
“I don’t want you dead.”
“And I don’t want to
be
dead.
But you’re my world now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you had no
experience with fighting?”
“I thought I could take him easily.”
“Oh, good
grief.”
She laid her head on his shoulder
and hit his arm. When he winced she paused and moved the blanket. “You’re
bleeding.”
He shrugged. “Dan was pretty
thorough.” Per paused. Dan. He’d killed Dan.
She caught his hair in her hand and
shook it. “Don’t do it.”
“I killed him.”
“You had cause.”
“How?
I just ripped out his throat.
Howled with
conquest as I stood over his corpse.
What kind of person am I? What kind
of doctor?” He dropped his head.
“Per, you’re a good male. Dan had
conceded. If he had let it go, he’d still be alive. You did nothing more than
defend me from being murdered, because I promise you, if you hadn’t stopped him
he had every intention of ripping out my throat. You forget
,
I could see his eyes. Read his intent. His intent was murder.”
His gut clenched and he gasped. “You’re
sure?”
“I am.” She caressed his face.
“There was a time when he was a good male.
Loving and kind.
But something happened. The Dan who was my childhood friend disappeared to be
replaced by a mortal enemy. I knew it and so did he. You did what you had to
and now you feel regret. Don’t let him gain in death what he couldn’t claim in
life.”
“What?”
“Victory.”
“But I feel so sorry.”
“That’s okay. Grieve. I do. But feed
the right wolf.”
He smiled.
“The
wolf of joy.”
“The wolf of
joy.”
She nodded, kissing his cheek.
“For all the
days of our lives.”
“And more.”
Per drew her into his arms, cradling
her close. She clasped him tightly, pressing kisses of love and comfort to his
face. As the moon rose above the mountains and the stars appeared, he knew he
was home. He would never become a partner in Denver, but that was all right
because his life was in
Whitewolf
and so was his
love. He would never forget the pain he felt tonight, but he would heal. They
all would. And that was enough.
“
Jag
älskar
dig,
Per
.
”
“And I love you, my
Yohana
.”
The
End
Franseca
Hawley
Hi. I’m Francesca Hawley and I’m a
fat chick.
A woman with dangerous curves just like my
heroines.
Many people don’t like the word, “fat” but I do because it’s
the truth and I’ve learned to own it. I am a fat chick and I always will be.
When I began writing, I wanted to
create a fat heroine who loved herself—or at least learned to love herself—and
a hot alpha hero who liked her
jiggly
bits just the
way they were. Since I didn’t find many big girls to read about, I decided to
write about them myself. After all, I loved to write and had been writing
almost as long as I’d been reading, so Francesca Hawley – author of
"Romance with Dangerous Curves" was born.
In a Francesca Hawley romance, my
readers will find authentic, sensual, fat heroines who love and are loved by
their intense, passionate, and seductive Alpha heroes. I hope you enjoy their
dangerous curves just as much as their hunky heroes do.
Francesca welcomes comments from
readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
Tell
Us What You Think
We appreciate hearing reader
opinions about our books. You can email
the author
directly or
you can email us at
[email protected]
(when contacting Customer Service, be sure to state the book title and author).
Francesca Hawley
1-800-DOM-help: Controlling
Interest
Print books by Francesca Hawley
Dial B for Bondage
anthology
Red Stilettos
anthology
Ellora’s
Cave Publishing
Leader of the Pack
ISBN 9781419944239
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Leader of the Pack Copyright © 2012
Francesca Hawley
Edited by Shannon Combs
Photography and cover design by
Syneca
Model: Ryan
Electronic book publication December
2012
The terms
Romantica
®
and Quickies® are registered trademarks of
Ellora’s
Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in
reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any
means existing without written permission from the publisher,
Ellora’s
Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH
44310-3502.
Warning: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of
this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other
means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal
copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is
investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison
and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only
authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage
the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s
rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and
any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is
purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination
and used fictitiously.
The publisher and author(s)
acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks,
service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.
The publisher does not have any
control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party
Web sites or their content.
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the
multiple award-winning publisher
Ellora’s
Cave. Be
sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com to find erotic reading
experiences that will leave you breathless. You can also find our books at all
the major e-
tailers
(Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Kindle, Sony, Kobo, Google, Apple
iBookstore
, All
Romance eBooks, and others).
Call
Send SMS
Add to
Skype
