Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

anything from her unless it was Xio’s ancestral tongue.
    She’d lost her parents as an infant, never had the chance to learn to speak Chinese, and even if she had wanted to, the pack didn’t know how to speak it. She realized then there was so much she didn’t know about herself, or the place from where she’d come. Sure, she knew about the wolf, but what about her history, her roots?
    The only thing Chinese the pack recognized about her and her brother was that as pups, they’d snuggled together and looked like yin and yang . She had a thick, black coat in her wolf form, and her brother had white. It had been a running joke with the pack for years, and rarely had she been called Xio, instead of Yin. Some Chinese heritage .
    She would change that. This was a new beginning. Starting today, she planned to learn new things, reach out and take control of her life, and number one on her list was learning Chinese. “Stop. At the bookstore.”
    Marcus pulled to the curb. “We really don’t have time for this. The Alpha of the Black Hills pack is expecting us at eleven tomorrow morning and I wanted to at least get to Nebraska tonight, rent a room, and sit down to talk about our meeting before we go to see him. He wants to know if you’re ready to follow the rules.”
    “Magnum can wait. I need to buy something.” That something being one of those learn-to-speak-a-foreign-language-in-a-few-weeks programs. Where they were going, they didn’t have bookstores and she wanted to be able to start right away, once she’d settled into her new home. Buying anything online would create a trail she couldn’t afford. Cash was her new best friend.
    “Need I remind you? You don’t have any money.” He lifted a brow. “And don’t you know Magnum isn’t the Alpha anymore?”
    “Um, yeah. No money.” Not exactly , but she wasn’t ready to elaborate on her financial situation.
    Why not?
    Don’t you say anything to him about that.
    Or what? You’ll exorcise me? Good luck with that, her she-wolf snickered. Aren’t you going to ask him about the new Alpha? Hello…wolfie, you home?
    Xio screwed up her face. Right. Her alter ego had a point. “Excuse me? Did you say Magnum isn’t the Alpha?
    “I did.”
    “Hmm. I guess things change.” She picked up a strand of her hair and examined the ends. Her nervousness about going home catapulted. Who was he and would he give her a chance? Would he like her, or despise the burden she was, as his predecessor had?
    Perhaps going home wouldn’t be so bad now. A new Alpha. A fresh start. She had already begun to change with each mile that passed. Starting with learning Chinese. How much had they said the program cost on television? Small change, considering what she was used to spending. She turned to him and smiled. “Can I please have four hundred dollars?”
    Marcus choked. “That’s an expensive book.”
    “It’s not a book. Please. I need this to make a new start.”
    He reached over and grabbed his wallet out of the glove box and thumbed through several bills before extracting and handing them over. “Here.”
    She eyed him skeptically. “You aren’t going to ask what it’s for?”
    “If you wanted me to know, you’d have told me. It must be important, so go on. Go get it. I’ll wait for you in the Mustang.”
    She eyed the bills in his hand. That was some trust. How did he know she wouldn’t take off now that she had money in her pocket? Maybe because he knew as well as she did, there was more to the attraction than mating pheromones. There was a pull, something neither could resist, and she could run, but eventually, she’d turn and head back to him, unable to resist. Well, that and she could get herself killed if she didn’t stick to the plan, which was to go home and hide.
    “I know what you’re thinking, and you can pay me back when you get a job. Go on, and stay out of trouble in there. I won’t be able to bail you out again. Not a government man