Read Cherished: True Mates Book 5 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) for Free Online

But did he hold himself a little different, and was his hair was a touch longer? I’d only seen him two or three days ago…
    My eyes darted past him to the group of children that were huddled against the far wall. A sea of wide eyes looked back, all watching the scene playing out in front of them. Scanning the group I searched desperately for Josh.
    There! He was sat at the edge of the group, his little face drawn up in a fierce expression, glaring at the large black wolf that prowled back and forth in front of the line.
    He hadn’t seen me yet.
    Acting on instinct, I lurched forward. I had to reach him, make him see that everything was going to be all right now.
    A large arm blocked my path.
    “Remember your promise? The children are fine, it’ll all be over in a minute or so.”
    I swallowed hard, stomping down my impatience. He was right. Just another minute, if this guy hurried up and stopped messing around.
    “Quit playing with him, sweetheart,” a woman’s voice drawled from the corner of the room, as if reading my mind.
    Glancing over I was startled to see a tall, curvy blonde perched up on the windowsill, her legs swinging back and forth as she watched the fight.
    If you could call it that. It looked more like a game of cat and mouse to me.
    The woman snapped a piece of gum, cotton candy-pink like her nails, and jumped down off the ledge. Sauntering over to us she eyed me carefully. “Glad you could make it, Oliver,” she said, continuing to look at me, a question in her eyes.
    “What’s Jason doing?” Oliver was obviously ignoring the unasked question, so I stuck my hand out.
    “I’m Ana. I live here.” I rolled my eyes in Oliver’s direction and the woman laughed, shaking my hand.
    “Nice to meet you. I’m Macey, and that large hunk of a Scandinavian is my mate, Jason. The wolf is Cole.” She looked at Oliver, then at the arm he still held in front of me, her eyes widening a fraction. “You’re a human,” she eventually said, and it was definitely a statement, not a question.
    I blinked at her, confused for a second. “And you’re not?”
    She shook her head, her long blonde ponytail swishing from side to side. “No, wolf.” She was trying not to stare but I could feel her gaze on my neck. “Who—?”
    My hand flew to the mark, suddenly self-conscious. “Bert.”
    Macey winced, her hand brushing my arm. “Sorry.”
    I didn’t think I could take anymore small talk, every cell in my body was screaming at me to get to Josh. At least she had confirmed that the blond man was Jason, and not Jacob. “My son is over there. Is there any chance your mate could…” Do what? What was I asking? It was obvious what they were going to do, but did I really want that? Could I condone it?
    “Sweetheart!” the female-wolf called out, squeezing my arm. “Finish it. We’ve got things to do.”
    I opened my mouth to object. I hadn’t asked them to do this, but it was too late. In a matter of seconds Jason had the knife off the other man and had tossed it onto the floor where it skidded to a stop against the wall.
    But instead of scrambling for it, Bert’s guard slumped, his legs buckling beneath him as he slid to the floor. I soon saw why, as crimson red blood seeped out from between the fingers he had clasped around his throat, his mouth gaping in a strangled gargle for air.
    “You don’t need to watch that.”
    Oliver’s voice snapped me out of the trance I had fallen into, and I let him pull me around, away from the scene.
    I hadn’t seen him move! I screamed inside my head, unable to wrap my mind around what had just happened. You couldn’t defend against something you couldn’t see coming!
    I backed away from him, from all of them. They weren’t human—I had to remember that. I couldn’t forget. Mustn’t forget. My head whipped from side to side, my hands waving them away. Don’t come close! I pleaded silently. They were all watching me, the way a predator watches a frightened