Read Taming the Hunted for Free Online

“Whooft.”
    Gabriel watched her eating. “How are you feeling?”
    “Like I got attacked by a werewolf. Got any milk?” she asked
once she’d swallowed.
    He tapped the shoulder of the guy in front of him who was
staring at her, his mouth ajar. He seemed to come to himself after a second
tap, which was more of a slap across the back of his head, and jumped up to get
the milk. He poured her a glass, but with a second glance at her, poured
another before placing the carton back in the fridge. Marian drank down the
first glassful in just seconds. She was getting full now though, so when he
handed her the second glass with a crooked smile, she sipped it slower and
offered her hand to him.
    “We haven’t met. I’m Marian.” She shook his hand, admiring
how warm his calloused skin was to the touch.
    “Jake.”
    “Say, Jake,” Marian said, looking around the room. “Why is
everyone staring at me?”
    Several of the men looked away. Raphael, who she noticed was
sitting on the far side of the large wooden table, his blond hair glowing in
the sunlight like a halo, chuckled, until a sharp elbow in the ribs from Gabriel left him gasping instead.
    “You’re in your underwear,” Gabriel said bluntly.
    She looked down and, sure enough, she had not a scrap of
real clothing on. She sat shocked for a moment, noting that most of the men
were smirking, but also sporting very red faces. She turned on Jake, as he was closest, and all but ripped his shirt off as her heart beat faster in
embarrassment, a heavy, warm flush rising on her chest. She struggled for a
moment, trying to get the shirt over his head with one hand and trying to
maintain her modesty with the other.
    He attempted to help at first, but as she struggled with it,
her body brushed against his and he stopped with a quick, inhaled breath. When
she donned the shirt, she punched him as hard as she could in the gut for being
a jerk and, to her surprise, he doubled over in pain.
    “Serves you right,” she told him through gales of laughter
from the others.
    She praised her five-foot-six frame for being so short when
the shirt came to mid-thigh as she wriggled into it from her sitting position.
Jake was a big guy also. In fact, now that she wasn’t so distracted by hunger,
or being naked, she noticed that there were maybe eight guys in the kitchen
with her and not one under six-foot-four.
    Gathering her thoughts, she decided there were pressing
matters to handle, such as why she was semi-naked in the first place and how
the claw marks on her back had healed already. She remembered little and had no
idea of how much time had passed, but it could not have been more than a few
hours, a day at most.
    “You, you, and you,” she said, pointing to Gabriel, Raphael, and Jake, being the only three she had met before. “Stay. The rest of you
out,” she commanded, sliding off the bench to stand for good measure.
    Gabriel looked taken aback at first. She didn’t miss the
fact that the others all looked to him at her demand and only left after he
gave them the okay with a slight nod of his head.
    “Marian, I—” Gabriel started, but she cut him off.
    “I have some questions, and I’m not leaving until they’re
answered, and I have another sandwich,” she added as an afterthought.
    Jake, seeming to want to get out of the line of fire, moved
to do the latter.
    “Right, most important questions first. Where are my clothes?”
    “That’s the most important question?” Raphael commented,
looking to Gabriel.
    “I thought that would have been obvious,” Gabriel said. “But clearly not,” he added when she stared at him. “You were injured, and I
needed to tend to your wounds.”
    “Not to mention your clothes were covered in blood and mud,”
Raphael pitched in, looking a little excited by the idea.
    “You were there?” she asked, flinching as Gabriel wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her back on the bench. He moved his hands
lower to rest on her hips,