Free Lone Wolf (The Westervelt Wolves, Book 8) by Rebecca Royce Page B

the only group with the tools to disguise smells? If you’ll recall, I used it way before you did.”
    Gabriel nodded. “That’s right. Just one of those things you seem to be able to do.”
    Kendrick shrugged. “I have a witch for a wife.”
    “You have what?” Gabriel sucked in his breath. “When the fuck did that happen?”
    “Not been around for a while, I see.” He waved his hand as if Gabe’s question held no merit.
    Anger started at the bottom of his feet making its way up the back of his spine. In a moment he’d boil. His father had used the same gesture to dismiss him as a child. When he’d turned twelve, his wolf had helped him control his response to Kendrick. Now, left alone, he might do just what he’d done at eight and go right for the man’s throat.
    In fact, that seemed like a good idea. A great one.
    Gabriel started to call on his shift. He’d be more effective wearing his fur.
    “Now, now, now, simmer down there, boy.” Kendrick stepped away from the wall. “Remember I have something that you want.”
    Like he’d become some kind of witch himself, Kendrick snapped his fingers and Carrie appeared out of thin air. One second no one stood between Gabriel and his target, the next the one person in the universe he could not hurt stared up at him, her brown eyes wide and alarmed.
    Carrie blinked rapidly. “What the…?”
    She’d always had a husky voice. The intonation had made him hard as hell when they’d been younger. It had brought images of nighttime rolls in warm blankets filled with sultry laughter to pass the quiet hours. Now he couldn’t fathom the idea of sex, but seeing her would have brought him to his knees had Kendrick not been standing behind her.
    “Gabriel.” She paled, which made her practically disappear considering that with her red hair, she had porcelain skin already almost too pale to take any real sunlight. “You shouldn’t be here. I can’t keep you safe if you’re here.”
    He shook his head. Leave it to Carrie to think she had to take care of him. She’d always insisted he needed her help as much as she needed his.
    She rushed forward and launched herself at him, her lips meeting his. They were soft and just as he remembered them. If only he could still be the shifter who had once been able to give her everything. He pushed her back a step, separating his lips from hers. Her eyes flared with hurt.
    “I can’t have you here anymore. This has to stop.” He swallowed. The first words they’d said to each other in forty years and they held no romance, no discussion of the time or the agony they’d lived through. He couldn’t even give her the kiss she deserved beyond all things.
    Her eyes widened and he saw her wolf dance inside them. The change would come quickly if she called it upon herself.
    “There’s something wrong with you.” She reached out and rubbed her fingers against his shirt. “I can smell it.”
    “Well, isn’t this sweet?” Kendrick yanked her back against him. “Good nose, daughter-in-law. There is something wrong with Gabriel. There has been for forty years. Frankly, and I don’t admit this easily, I’m impressed he’s still alive. There aren’t many who could live this long without their wolves. It’s the purity of your Kane blood.”
    “How do you know that?” He couldn’t possibly have that information. No one had been told. His wolf wouldn’t have come and reported to Kendrick…
    “Because I have him.”
    “What?” His mind couldn’t process what his father said. It didn’t make any sense.
    Carrie wrenched herself free from Kendrick. She grabbed his arms and shook him. “Run.” A second later, she shook him again. “Whatever he’s going to say is a lie. You know it. I know it. He’s evil. It’s not possible. He couldn’t have your wolf. Run.”
    His father recaptured Carrie. She cried out when he grabbed her arm, squeezing it hard.
    Gabriel couldn’t take his eyes off Kendrick. Normally he’d believe