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

animal, dispassionately assessing what its next move was going to be. Bert had watched me like that, a cruel smile playing on his lips. Tutting at me when I tried to run, when I tried to fight. Then reminding me just why I shouldn’t bother, why I could never win…
    I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at him . His eyes were the worst. They tugged at me, lulling me into trusting him and making me forget he wasn’t human. That he was an animal.
    He took a step forward and it was like a force I couldn’t resist. Our eyes locked.
    Unspoken pleas, confusion, denial—it was all there, swimming in the piercing blue, pulling at me. Overwhelming me.
    I couldn’t...I had to...
    A small shape darted toward me, weaving between the adults with single-minded determination. “Mom!”
    The smothering weight lifted as my son threw himself into my arms, his small, chunky frame shaking as I smothered him in kisses. Smoothing back his dark hair, I drank in the sight of him, his image blurred and watery.
    He wriggled in my arms, turning to face the adults. “Stay away from my mom,” he snarled, baring his teeth and placing himself squarely in front of me.
    Shielding me.
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Oliver
    The kid was crouched in front of his mother, his fists up held high, his lips curled back in a snarl as his eyes flashed from dark brown to gold, then back again.
    So, this was Josh then. It was the kid I had spied through the window, the one comforting the younger girl. For six years old he was tall, his frame solid with the kind of muscle I wouldn’t normally expect to see on a child his age. Unless they were training every day, following the kind of routine found in a gym—or a military camp.
    I could see his wolf raging beneath the surface, barely restrained, volatile and liable to erupt at any moment. I had to give it to the kid, he was hanging in there, barely.
    I shifted my weight, drawing the kid’s gaze. “I’m not going to hurt your mom,” I said, keeping my voice low and even, maintaining eye contact.
    “Then why is she so upset? What did you do to her?”
    He had a point. Before he had dashed over, Ana had looked like she was losing it, her face drained of all color, her hands trembling as she waved them erratically. She had looked scared stiff—of me.
    Something was obviously going on in that gorgeous head of hers, and I wasn’t about to let her put up a wall between us, not when we’d only just found each other.
    But now was not the time or the place to try and figure everything out. Shit, I hadn’t worked everything out yet.
    “I didn’t do anything, kid. Listen, your mom has had a hard time,” I said. And that was putting it mildly . I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, a prisoner in that house, forcibly mated and bred like an animal. Visuals tried to force their way into my head, images of Bert hurting her, abusing her—
    “Oliver?” A hand gripped my shoulder.
    I shook my head, realizing with a start that the low, feral growl echoing around the room was coming from my own lips.
    I shook off Macey’s hand, furious with myself. Focus! Why was it so hard? Like running through mud, flailing for steady footing while my feet slid out from under me.
    It was time to take back control.
    I pulled myself up, stretching up to my full height and leveled my gaze on the kid, pouring power and strength into my eyes. “Josh, your mom isn’t in any danger—not from us. We need to get you and the other kids out to the forest, and safely away from this place. Round them all up for me, I’ve got your six.” I threw the military-style command in, wanting to see his reaction.
    It was like a light had been switched on, the boy straightening up and looking around the room, assessing the situation. “Steve, Cory, you two bring the babies. Everyone else line up!” His high-pitched voice carried across the room, ringing with authority.
    Fuck, it was worse than I had thought. Bert had