Free Claimed (The Cull Book 1) by Renee George Page B

no trial, only
judgment. It didn’t matter that his father was a tribal elder or that he was a
first gen. They would not show leniency.
    He’d resisted the urge to run his thumbs over her bra—the
blue satin fabric barely concealed her tightly drawn nipples. He’d always loved
her sexy curves, the ample shape of her ass, her round hips, and full breasts.
More than her body, her indomitable will and inner fortitude had made him fall
hard. She’d always been the most spirited woman, human or lycan, he’d ever
encountered. He couldn’t give up on her. The disease had taken her will to
fight, and he’d taken this measure to help her find her strength again. The
strength to live.
    Her gorgeous brown eyes, deep set and large, were wide as
she kept them averted. She had a small nose with a slightly broad tip that
twitched when she became nervous. It twitched now. Conor wanted to soothe her
fears, but it was all he could do to keep his beast from completing its claim
to Anna.
    Finally, she turned to him—her pupils so dilated only a hint
of her chocolate irises remain. Her rounded lips parted in a soft pah as her warm hand pressed into his
chest, keeping inches between them. If he tilted his head forward their lips
would meet. They’d only kissed once when she’d worked as his assistant, and he
would give the world to taste her again.
    Anna’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as her unwavering
gaze held steady with his. She finally spoke, her voice tight and strained.
“Conor. Don’t.” Her fingertips caressed the hair on his chest in an act of
betrayal to her words.
    The musk of her arousal made his cock hard and made him ache
to touch her. He deeply inhaled her again. The sweet, pungent odor of cancer
had disappeared. Her scent—the one he’d memorized all those years ago, the
scent he still smelled in his dreams—had reverted to its healthy state.   When her fingers grazed his stomach he bared
his teeth.
    Fuck! He wanted to
sink his bite into her flesh—to mark her as his own. Without thinking, he
snapped his jaws.
    Anna gasped. She dropped her hands to the floor, clenching
fistfuls of the blankets beneath her. “You’re scaring me.”
    He could sense her fear mixed with anger and another
emotion, one that had very little to do with being afraid. Inside, he cried out
in rage and triumph. Rage, because he’d never force his claim on her, and
triumph, because he knew she would offer little resistance if he did. “I won’t
hurt you.”
    “You already have.”
    “Let me save you, Anna.”
    She blinked—a tear spilled down her cheek. “Oh Conor. How
little you’ve changed.”
    Conor wiped the tear with his thumb, placed it to his lips,
and drank her sorrow. He couldn’t keep the truth from her. Not anymore. “If you
want to leave, you can go.”
    “But I can’t now. You’ve taken away that choice.”
    He caressed her face. He loved Anna, and real love had a
price. He chose to let her go if she truly wished to be free of him and his
world. “You’re still human.”
    Shock and disbelief animated her expression. “How can that
be? I’m not sick. I feel stronger than I ever have in my life. My sense of
smell, my hearing, my sight… Hell, my body.” She cupped her large breasts.
“It’s like I’m thirty again. I don’t understand.”
    Explaining would have been complicated if Anna had been a
layperson, but she’d spent time at his side in the lab. “I’ve developed a serum
using the enzymes from lycanosapien saliva. Its effects are…temporary,” he said
ruefully. “You can go back to your life.”
    Her eyes widened, and she couldn’t keep the excited tremor
out of her voice. “Am I cured?”
    The question felt like a kick to his gut. “No.” He couldn’t
keep the anger from his tone. “The cancer will come back after the effects of
the serum wear off.” He gripped her by the shoulders. “Please. Let me change
you, Anna. I—”
    Conor froze as the energy in the room shifted. Anna