Free A Hunger So Wild by Sylvia Day Page B

graceful dignity, but the look she shot Vashti was poisonous, a rare display of hatred from an Omega.
    “I’ll work something out,” Elijah answered, his decision taking into account her innate Omega gift for soothing and comforting others. She’d be best utilized in a support position, rather than on a hunt.
    “Thank you, Alpha.” She left the room in a calm, graceful glide.
    Pushing to his feet, he rolled his shoulders back, feeling better already. He felt Vash’s gaze slide over him and he glanced at her with an arched brow.
    “Will you put some damn clothes on?” she snapped.
    “Why don’t you take yours off?”
    She bared her fangs. “In your wet dreams, lycan.”
    He shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

C HAPTER 5
     
    T hey were on the road before dawn and across the Utah/Nevada border before midmorning.
    Vash gripped the steering wheel and tried not to think about the restless night behind her. Elijah, damn him, had slept like a log, which said more clearly than anything that he didn’t consider her a threat at all.
    She’d tried to work. There was so much to be done. But she’d been distracted by the way he had stretched out next to her with one arm tossed carelessly over his head, showing off beautifully defined biceps. And the way the sheet had clung tantalizingly low on his hips…A tiny tug would have revealed all of his impressive assets.
    Vash loved a healthy man’s body as much as the next woman, but Elijah’s was a work of art, his powerful frame covered in mouthwatering ridges of muscle she wanted to trace with her tongue and hands and—
    “These are all warehouses,” Elijah muttered, looking over the property listings she’d printed out.
    “Warehouses with plenty of parking, room for a helipad, top-of-the-line electrical systems, and air-conditioning.” She glanced at him. “I know how touchy you lycans get when you’re overheated.”
    “It’s not easy being furry.”
    It took a moment for the levity of his dry statement to sink in. Looking out the windshield, she felt her lips curve. He was feeling more himself, it seemed, and she was relieved. His pain yesterday had moved her, made her see him in a far more personal way than she would’ve wished. His sincere grief proved his strength of character in many ways—he’d taken an action he knew would cost him personally to benefit the many. She respected both that toughness and his willingness to shed tears without shame.
    “These properties are expensive,” he said bluntly. “Syre’s making a hell of an investment in an alliance that hasn’t been tested.”
    “I’ll kill you if you double-cross me. Stake your head on a pike for other lycans to see.”
    “You’re expecting me to screw you over.”
    “Your breed’s track record isn’t so hot. Your ancestors ditched us for Adrian to save their hides and you just ditched Adrian, once again to save your ass.”
    His gaze seared her profile. “You’re skipping over millennia and multiple generations. With the average lycan lifespan being two hundred and thirty years, there’s not a single lycan in existence who’s been touched by what happened to the Watchers. Most of them couldn’t even tell you which angel they’re descended from.”
    Yet the memory of her fall was as fresh to her as if it had occurred mere weeks ago instead of lifetimes. “So if you forget an obligation, it doesn’t count?”
    “Not what I meant. It’s just a tough sell enforcing promises made on behalf of someone who’s centuries away from being born.”
    “Your great-great-grandwolfies made that decision for you. A shame you can’t ask them about it.” Familiar bitterness coated her tongue. “I expected fidelity from the angels who served beside me. We made our beds—it’s not a tough sell thinking they’d be honorable for lying in them.”
    “I was told the Fallen who became lycans hadn’t broken the laws the rest of you did,” Elijah said.
    Vash shot him a scathing glance and became