Free Barbie & The Beast by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Page A

character flaws which unfortunately include claws, fangs,
     and a furry hide, I’m a pretty great guy.” He bent down and flicked a piece of glass from his bare baby toe—a hazard of running
     barefoot, though his wolf genes wound heal the tiny wound in about five seconds. “Some of the women I’vedated were very fine,” he continued, straightening. “Some of them I even dated more than once!”
    But never for more than a month, his conscience nagged. And never seriously. His cyclical disappearance always freaked them
     out. His secrets drove them crazy. Plus, none had been “the one.” He knew that.
    “Why should I fake interest merely for the sake of sex?” he asked the lamppost he leaned against. Then he laughed aloud. Talking
     to inanimate objects. What next?
    The sound echoed faintly between the tall narrow buildings as he laughed again. “That last bit didn’t sound very manly, did
     it? I mean, what man doesn’t like sex any way he can get it?”
    The lamppost didn’t have a reply, so Darin explained: “The truth, though you must promise to never tell anyone, is that I
     prefer not wasting time. What’s the point of the typical date ritual when I’m not a typical date? Where’s the fun, when I
     would scare those women to death with a popping button here, a bit of fur there, or canines that get in the way of French-kissing?”
    Shaking his head, he strolled around a corner. Beneath a floodlight designed to keep a typical city’s predators at bay, he
     stopped again, suddenly, and dropped to a feral crouch. His skin crawled, the initial warning system every predator possessed
     that warned of prey—in this case, Barbie Bradley. She lived in one of these buildings. On this block. In one of these little
     apartments, behind dark windows in the rows of stucco and pale brick. What were the odds of that, and of finding her so easily
     without really looking? It had to be a sign.
    “Where are you, Barbie?” he called softly as his skin danced pleasurably over his bones.
    He glanced up past the rooflines at the sky. His senses weresharpening, yes, but not entirely due to the moon. This skin ballet was more on account of being near to a chosen female,
     a mate recognized by both man and wolf.
    A chill wafted up his neck, followed closely by a rush of heat. The other female in his life—the round, silver one gleaming
     ominously behind the clouds—had to wait her turn. The beast might be yipping at the door, but it hadn’t yet come through.
     Though his humanness was slipping, there remained a ray of hope. He still had a few hours to find the woman he sensed so strongly.
    Wanting a woman this badly was a totally new sensation. He had tracked her here, to this block, without realizing how he’d
     managed it. He’d never even come close to feeling like this before, and had to act, had to speak to her before the opportunity
     passed. Barbie Bradley was special. Even a beast had a right to happiness, right? Surely there was room in the everyday world
     for a man such as himself to find love?
    “Barbie.”
    The slow slip of her name through his teeth was like mink on bare skin. The fine hair on his arms bristled. Fine hair? For
     now. Time was not on his side. Soon enough, when the moon performed her unusual trick, his body would alter. Light brown fur
     would spring from follicles. His face would morph. Speech would be impossible. He wouldn’t be able to talk tomorrow night,
     if Barbie waited that long to pick up her damned phone. He wouldn’t be able to see her for the next three nights. Even if
     he could trust her to maintain interest in him for that time, he was like a kid in a candy store who couldn’t reach the jars
     on the counter. Now that he’d found his mate, he didn’t want to wait or be restrained. He wanted satisfaction
now
.
    “Have to reach her,” he whispered with another glance at the sky.
    Real connections in this day and age were transient. Yes,he had to reach Barbie while he