Read The Secret for Free Online Page A

don’t you go with him?”
    She cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”
    He growled a warning. “I don’t want you here alone and Declan is out patrolling.”
    “We’re gonna have to talk about that protective streak.”
    Smiling, he grabbed her hand and pulled her close. Pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips. “No we aren’t, kitten. I’m going to protect you, and you’re going to let me.”
    Before she could protest, he stepped back and shifted. He was just as tawny and golden as a cat, his mane a luxurious fall she couldn’t resist touching. When her fingers brushed through it, a rumble erupted from his chest. She laughed. He was such a cat, susceptible to any stroking or petting. She scratched the spot between his eyes before stepping away.
    “Go. I’ll stay near Asa.”
    He turned and walked away, giving her one last commanding look over his shoulder before he disappeared into the trees. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms until she felt a spike of pain. She held herself very still, struggling against the urge to shift. To follow him, run with him in her feline form. It was a battle she almost lost, and when she turned, she found Asa watching from the doorway with a curious expression on his face.
    “What?”
    “So much longing in your eyes, sweetheart, watching him shift.”
    She blinked, shocked into smoothing her expression blank, repressing the longing he’d so clearly witnessed. His observation was unexpected. And unwelcome. It skirted dangerously close to the truth. What would it be like to not have to hide what she was? She’d never know. She shrugged; trying desperately to hide the painful longing, she stepped around him and into the house.
    “I thought we were going after breakfast,” she called over her shoulder, hoping he’d get the hint and drop the subject of shifting.
    She groaned when she reached the living room, then turned to glare at him while jerking her thumb to indicate the tree set up in the middle of the room.
    “Do we have to do that?”
    He grinned. “You need some Christmas cheer.”
    She rolled her eyes. Like hell she did.
    “Come on. Let’s grab some breakfast, and we’ll decorate it later.”
    She stomped after him. They could decorate all they liked. She had better things to do.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Anyone watching would think Carlos was wandering the woods with no particular purpose. They’d be wrong. He’d seen which direction Declan took when he’d left and knew they’d meet somewhere in the middle soon.
    The coming confrontation was one he both looked forward to, and dreaded. He hadn’t missed the considering look in the wolf’s eyes, or the commanding tone in his voice when he’d suggested Asa and Sunny go find food while they ran a patrol. Declan had decided it was time to assert his own dominance.
    Carlos knew it was coming sooner or later. Declan wasn’t a man used to submitting or following another’s command. As long as he followed Carlos’s lead in public, Carlos would be the submissive in private every now and then. They’d get to that soon enough. He wasn’t concerned about it; that was just the way things were done among lions.
    He was more worried about Declan’s former mate. It was obvious he’d never claimed her. He wouldn’t be exactly sane after her death if he had. So why hadn’t he? Had it been because of age or circumstance? Would he be able to give Sunny and Carlos the kind of commitment, devotion, his lion side demanded? He’d dreamed while he slept and woken to the realization he wanted Declan with them for more than scratching an itch, more than to simply heighten Sunny’s pleasure. More than lust. Carlos wanted Declan for himself.
    He moved into a clearing blanketed by the wolf’s smell and knew this was the place Declan had chosen to confront him. He shifted back to his human form and leaned against a tree to wait, churning up inside. Wanting to demand a commitment, almost afraid to push it.
    Sunny was