Free Taming the Hunted by Larisa Anderson Page A

looked at the boxes piled around her and shook her
head. There was no reason she should be sentimental about leaving. Gabriel offered to let her stay with him…well, commanded was a better way to put it. She didn’t
mind, not one bit, she thought with a smirk. This apartment acted as a place to
sleep and wash only. It was actually nice to be controlled for once, rather
than having to think about her own safety every second of the day. If she could
work out what the hell she was going to do about her job, everything would be
perfect. It was clear she couldn’t keep slaying wolves, not when they now
looked to her as an alpha female.
    “Alpha fucking female,” she muttered to herself. It still
sounded stupid. But now that the shock had worn off, being a wolf was awesome.
She was faster, stronger, and more lethal than she was as a human.
    “What was that?” Jake panted as he carried three boxes out
through her open door.
    “Great, she’s a hunter and crazy too,” one of the men
grumbled as he moved outside.
    There was a cry of pain as she threw a vase at his
retreating head and hit square with a shattering of porcelain. The other men
laughed. There were still those who didn’t respect her position. Hell, she
didn’t respect it.
    She encountered men who didn’t think she was up to the job
as a hunter. If she didn’t assert herself from the start, they would never
accept her. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
    “Stop frowning, you’re too sexy to be angry.”
    Gabriel wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her so
she could circle her legs around his hips. He looked at her leg, the vibration
of her phone pressing against him now.
    “Are you going to answer that?” he asked, not meeting her
eyes.
    They hadn’t addressed the issue of her hunting. It was a
dark topic which would put them both in a dark mood.
    Her phone buzzed to let her know she had a message. Gabriel put her down and went to help carry her lounge.
    She knew the message was from a fellow hunter. She’d dropped
off the radar in the last month and she couldn’t bring herself to tell them
why. They’d left a stream of messages since she’d disappeared, all asking for
her help killing this or tracking that.
    “Shall I tell you a story to make you feel better?” Kennard
asked.
    He wasn’t helping her move and Marian was still unsure why
he’d made the trip with them.
    “Getting sentimental in your old age?” she taunted him.
    “Hardly, I just thought you might like to know why I joined
the pack.”
    Now Marian was actually listening. Kennard had spoken few
words to her since they’d met. Most were Gabriel wants you or I
wouldn’t do that if I were you . She was learning the rules, but the going
was slow, and more than once she’d endangered the pack by her actions. She was
used to being the strong one, the leader. Now she felt like a newborn, a strong
newborn that could kill people.
    Kennard stared at her, his eyes unblinking. His skin had the
rosy flush that meant he’d fed today. She shuddered inwardly at the thought.
Her fingers moved under the edge of her shirt and traced the tip of the scar
that marked her back and side. She found that it helped her think.
    “Go ahead,” she told him.
    “Gabriel killed me.”
    “Excuse me!”
    Several of the men turned to look at her. She smiled to
reassure them and made a mental note to speak softer, not that it would matter
because they’d still be able to hear her—stupid wolf hearing.
    “Yes, he staked me when I ventured onto his land. I was
starving, my own kind drove me from the city and the scent of the pack was too
strong to pass. It was Nole who spoke for me and convinced him to remove the
stake and not behead me. She told him that she trusted me and that if I were to
live, she would vouch for my ability to control my thirst.”
    “And he believed her?”
    “You have met Nole, have you not?” he asked dryly.
    She understood what he meant. It was hard to ignore anything
the girl