Free How to Tame a Werewolf: Seven Brides for Seven Shifters, Book 3 by Thalia Eames Page B

healed me,” Magic Man said. He bounced her a little to encourage her.
    “Don’t…” she said. She didn’t want to think about those occasional bouts of healing ability she’d developed when she hit puberty. She gained the ability before she’d left her parents’ home at sixteen but too late to save her brother. The fact she’d saved Magic Man today didn’t make up for the fact he’d needed healing because she’d hurt him. “Don’t be kind. Yell at me instead. I deserve it,” she said.
    He stopped and turned to her as much as he could with her on his back. “I’m too fascinated by you to yell right now.” He started walking again. “Maybe later.”
    She buried her face in his thick dark chocolate hair and sniffled.
    He paused for a millisecond but continued on. After a few steps he bounced her again and said, “You win. Okay? I’ll start calling you Rue lla De Vil.”
    She snorted into his hair and felt him smile in the way his cheekbones lifted against her skin.
    “Which means I’ll have to hide all my Dalmatians,” he said, moving past a few shops that turned on their lights in time to the coming dusk.
    Magic Man howled.
    “What are you doing?” she gasped.
    He howled again before he answered. “I’m warning off the one hundred and one Dalmatians in my acquaintance.”
    Since Rue was tired, a little tipsy, and so very grateful to him, she joined his silliness.
    “No, don’t warn them away. Give me all the puppies,” she said, making grabby hands in the air. A jolt of mischief hit her and she grinned as she finished with, “So I can feed them to a cat!” Then she giggled maniacally and it was his turn to snort.
    It shouldn’t have surprised her with all the things this magic man could do, but it shocked her when he burst into a full medley of villainous theme songs from Disney movies, beginning with, “Ruella De Vil, Ruella De Vil. If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.” Rue loved every note from each of those tunes, so she joined in.
    At the end of “Friends on the Other Side” from The Princess and the Frog they quieted into a lovely silence as they bounced along.
    Piggyback rides were bliss. Or maybe that only pertained to the Magic Man and having his lean, muscular body gripped between your thighs. Rue wondered why anyone would hop on a horse when riding a magical man made you feel so good.
    If anyone asked why she did it, she’d blame the wine. Rue couldn’t resist stroking a fingertip over the rugged lines of his face. “You’re pretty cool, Magic Man. I bet you’re a better Ian than the real one is. I like you. I like you a lot.” She yawned. “That’s why you’ve got to go.”
    Magic Man snorted again. “Is that right?”
    “Yeah,” she said, yawning a second time.
    As a kid, Rue had made up all sorts of songs. Her mother said she’d find a topic that interested her and off she’d go. Rue didn’t know why that moment brought the songs back to her but she started singing one written for the Magic Man.
    “You’re magic
    You’re a wonder
    Just like the great Kazzam
    Get out now
    Go poof, dear
    Or my heart will go kablam
    Slammed, for this…mah-ha-gic maaahn”
    Ian smiled again. The expression caressed her cheek and Rue sighed, reveling in the warm smoothness of him and in the way his muscles bunched and rippled as he moved beneath her.
    “I’m loving your voice,” he said. “Sing it again.” But her eyes had already closed as she slipped into blessed black.
    The second time Rue woke up, grogginess in the form of hazy vision and a gurgling in her stomach greeted her. She lifted her head, peered at her apartment, and lay back down immediately. All the lights were on and the sun hadn’t come up yet. All in all she had no complaints. She’d made it home to the comfort of her couch. Plus, her pillow was firm and warm and kind of perfect. So she rested, listening to its heartbeat.
    If she hadn’t been a bit tipsy it wouldn’t have taken her as long