A Rebel's Heart Read Online Free

sweet smells, and her stomach growled. After drying off and dressing, she made her way to the kitchen but froze when she entered the living room.
    The lights were out, and candles illuminated the room. Two glasses of red wine sat on the coffee table, and a small fire flickered in the fireplace.
    She bit her lip and forced her cat to calm. Damian wasn’t hers. This whole setup was to smooth over her anger, and he most likely wanted to try to talk her into moving. She’d thought about it many times after Blaine and Graham offered, which was every time they called to check on her. Even Nevan and his mate, Dani, mentioned in not-so-subtle ways how wonderful Ashwood Falls was.
    She sighed. Really, what was she holding on to? A ghost? Keeping the house wasn’t going to bring Walt back. Besides, she’d started the aging process. The least she could do was spend her last years with her family.
    Yet living in a den meant her new packmates wouldn’t allow her to give up on life. No, they’d love her until she began to live again. The problem was she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
    Damian entered the living room, carrying a couple of plates. She met his gaze, and her knees almost gave out when he smiled at her. His lips upturned at the corner, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Still, it was just as seductive.
    Yep, the male was definitely up to something.
    He set the plates on the coffee table, side by side. Nice and cozy , she thought dryly. “Trying to wine and dine me?”
    This time his smile did reach his eyes as he held out a hand to her, palm up. “Whatever works.”
    She snorted and ignored his hand as she sat on the floor closest to the fireplace. “You know it’s summer and a little warm for a fire.”
    His puma flashed in his eyes as he eased down beside her with all the grace of the cat he was and leaned into her. “It’s for visual effects. Just go with it and enjoy yourself.”
    She pressed her lips together to hide the smile from him, but the way he chuckled as he sat back told her he knew she was already enjoying the play. Probably a little more than she should. It’d been too long since she’d played with another cat. Five long years since she’d desired another male like she did Damian in this setting.
    Sarah wasn’t sure what had changed. Was it his admission that he believed she was his mate? Or had all the time she’d spent alone finally driven her insane?
    Whichever it was, she’d play along. For now.
    Damian was the type of male females found hard to deny. He was funny, compassionate, a loyal friend, and able to charm the socks off a pissed-off tiger. If her family wanted to persuade her to move, then Damian was the puma to do it.
    She looked at him, studying him for a long moment before asking, “Which one of my sons called you?”
    He peered at her with a blank stare then raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Whatever,” she teased and turned to her food. A perfectly cooked steak covered in a mushroom sauce sat beautifully in front of her. She inhaled the savory aromas and nearly moaned. It’d been way too long since someone had cooked for her.
    She fell silent, not sure what to say to him. There were so many questions and so much she wanted to lash out him for. Yet, her heart couldn’t stay angry with him. She knew it wasn’t his fault, any more than it was hers, but the piece of her that still clung to memories of Walt wanted someone to pay for taking her mate away.
    “Sarah?”
    She raised her gaze to his. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”
    He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, making her close her eyes at the too-brief brush of his fingertips. “Why are you willing yourself to age?”
    She opened her mouth to reply then closed it. She was over two hundred and fifty years old. Sure, that wasn’t considered old among shifters, but neither was it young. Even though shifters lived to be thousands of years old, there were the rare cases in