Free Black Wolfe's Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Avelyn McCrae

“Reserved for one and one alone.” She was his mate. To feed her was one of the highest forms of honor. A male, especially an Alpha, served no one except his mate.
    The delighted — and, he swore, possessive — smile she gave him in response filled him with a heady mix of purpose and desire. He had chosen his mate well.
    “Now that your rapacious appetite has been properly sated,” he said with a gleam in his eye, “let me attempt to satisfy another hunger.”
    His blue eyes darkened and his voice dropped very low as he sensed her growing arousal. “I was referring to your thirst for knowledge,” he told her, “but keep looking at me like that, my sweet, and you will have to wait much longer for the answers you seek.”
    He gently pushed a stray lock of hair from where it hung over her face, tucking it behind her ear. If they had been in wolf form, he would already be inside her. But, as a man, he could control his baser impulses.
    For a short while, anyway. Enough to begin introducing her to this new world.
    “Let us start with your previous questions,” he said, standing. By putting a small distance between them, he hoped to keep from ripping the sheet away from that delectable body and breaking his fast with her .
    “I believe your first question was whether I can tell you what happened. To some extent, yes. I can tell you what occurred after the storm surge took you, but I’m afraid you will have to fill in some blanks as well. I, too, seek answers.” His eyes burned into hers. Herein lied the heart of the mystery. The unknown was what made his decision so risky. It not just defined her future, but his as well.
    “I saw you out there on that breaker, Angelica, on the night of the storm. You had been waiting for it, hoping for it since the day you arrived, hadn’t you?”
    * * *
    “Y es.” Her eyes clouded and filled with tears. She dropped her gaze as sorrow once again tried to find purchase in her heart. She had hoped she would never have to share that part of her life with anyone. It was one of the primary reasons she had left everything behind and came to this isolated island with the expectation of never returning. Of facing her demons alone. Of knowing — desiring — the only possible outcome.
    Yet, it hadn’t turned out the way she’d planned. She was still here. Living. Breathing. Feeling better than she had in a very long time. And, with a man. A beautiful, powerful man, who looked into her eyes and saw all the way down to her very soul, where she had no hopes of hiding anything. How would he react to what he found there? Would it change the way he was looking at her now, with such a potent mix of hunger, desire, and possession?
    “Why?” he asked. His voice was soft, but intensity radiated all around him, as if he were barely containing himself. “What could make such a beautiful, intelligent, passionate woman do such a thing?”
    “I am a coward,” she said as the tears began to flow. Before she could wipe them away, he crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. She leaned into him, craving his touch.
    “Tell me, my sweet,” he coaxed. Angelica felt the gentle tug of command in the request. She would have to tell him. Tell him everything and hope it did not make him want to let her go. It felt too good, too right, to be in the arms of this man.
    “A year ago, I started getting headaches. Bad ones that were so painful, I could not function. The doctor said they were migraines.”
    “But they weren’t,” he guessed, his hand stroking the upper part of her arm. That slight contact soothed her, gave her the strength she needed to continue.
    “No. I researched them, and the more I learned, the more I realized it was something else. I went to three more doctors before I found one who ordered a CAT scan. It showed a tumor. Metastatic carcinoma. Terminal.”
    Derrick’s hand paused, but only briefly.
    “They told me I had six months to live. With surgery, aggressive chemo, and