Free Guardian (Wolf Shifter Romance): Reckless Desires (Alpha Protectors Book 1) by Olivia Arran Page B

were coming up!”
    “I didn’t either!” She grinned back at me, her dark blue eyes flashing with pleasure. “But when Mom and Papa said you were back in the States I couldn’t resist!”
    “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” Linking arms, we turned to a still shell-shocked Cole.
    “Does he speak?” Scar mock-whispered.
    “Sometimes. Other times he grunts or growls.”
    “That’s a male wolf for you.”
    “Exactly what I’ve been thinking.”
    Nudging me, she continued, all joking disappeared. “Why have you got a male wolf as a bodyguard?”
    I didn’t want to tell her. I didn’t want her to worry. Hell, I didn’t want any of my family to worry. But she was here now, and there was no way around it. “I’ve been getting threats, Scar.”
    “You always get threats…is it different this time?” Her wolf flashed into her eyes, lightening them to molten silver.
    I squeezed her tight, already regretting not having told her. I’d been wrong, keeping it to myself.
    “Someone actually tried to kill Natasha. Nearly succeeded too.” Cole’s deep voice shocked me. He was staring at me like I’d grown another head, his eyes flicking back and forth between me and my sister.
    “Kill you? How?” Her voice was hoarse and coated with shock. Her fingers tightened on my arm, as though she expected me to be ripped away any minute.
    I winced, poking her fingers. “Human, Scar, remember?”
    “Sorry!” she muttered, removing her hand.
    “Poison,” I muttered, rubbing at the mark and waiting for the inevitable.
    “You have to come home. We can protect you!” she exclaimed.
    Cole was fast behind her with his demands. “It was actually an explosion. And we need to talk.”
    Scar turned on Cole, her hands planted on her hips. “She doesn’t need to talk, she needs to be protected!”
    “Just what do you think I’ve been doing?”
    “Not much, from the looks of it! Someone managed to send her a bomb!”
    “It wasn’t a bomb, not really. And she’s alive. Not a scratch on her—”
    “She could have been killed!”
    “No one is going to kill her, not while I’m—”
    “Stop!” I screamed over the growls and snarls. “Scar, I am fine where I am. Cole isn’t working on his own; there’s a whole team of guys looking after me.” I turned to face Cole, determined to wipe the smirk off his face. “And you —” I poked him in the chest, “—you don’t get to demand anything. Not after lying to me all this time—”
    “Seems like you’ve been lying too—”
    “About what? I’m human. I didn’t lie there!”
    “You have a sister who’s a shifter—”
    “And how is that anything to do with you? It’s not like we’ve been exchanging life stories or anything. You’re either snarling at me or jumping on me!”
    I could feel Scar’s eyebrows shoot up at the last comment, a strangled cough coming from her direction.
    Cole opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.
    Good, maybe the man could learn.
    Swiping a hand through his hair—and flexing his impressive biceps in the process, dammit —he nodded once. He tapped his ear, then seemed to remember he’d flung the earpiece earlier. Scanning the ground, he eventually gave up. “Let’s go back to the house. We can all talk there.” It sounded like a threat, and from the look in his eyes he wasn’t going to let this one go.
    “Sounds good to me.” Turning to Scar, I added, “Just wait until you meet the rest of the guys…”
    Her eyes lit up, mischief sparking.
    Giving her arm a squeeze, I tugged her toward Cole’s monstrosity of a truck. Maybe today could be rescued after all.

Chapter Fifteen
    Cole
    I could hear the women whispering upstairs, their voices high and excited and accompanied by peals of tinkling laughter.
    “What do you think they’re talking about?” Vin’s voice was nervous as he picked up his sandwich, pausing with it halfway to his mouth as another high-pitched squeal rang out.
    “Us, of course.” Angel