Savage Seduction: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 3) by Ellis Leigh Page A

one with his father.”
    “So your love of reading comes from his dad?”
    Charmeine tucked her legs beneath her. “No, not necessarily. My parents read to me as well, though I’m not sure even their influence lasted. I simply needed to escape from the hell my life became after their murders, and books gave me that.”
    Mammon growled low and deep, an unhuman sound. One that evoked fear instead of arousal. Mating haze thrown off, her instincts came down to fight or flight. Something she was much more accustomed to.
    Charmeine was up and moving before she could think, trying to run. To escape his presence. God, he was an animal, more so than the other shifters she knew. More dangerous. To her, especially.
    “Charmeine, wait.”
    “You don’t need to growl at me,” she said, glaring as he rose to his feet. Still backing away.
    “I wasn’t growling at you . I was growling because of the situation you don’t deserve to be in.”
    But her doubt remained high, her need to run strong. Not enough to make her feet actually head for the hallway, but enough to inch backward as he came closer. “You don’t need to do that, either. I’d rather you controlled yourself in this house.”
    Mammon stopped, his eyes turning darker, his head cocking. More animal-looking than ever. More frightening. “You want to see me controlled?”
    A punch to the chest, those words. One that made her shake. Made her shiver at their tone. “No, I…I want you to behave as a person should.”
    “I’m not a person, Charmeine.” He stepped closer. Slowly. Looking more like a predator with every inch he gained. “I’m a wolf, and a damn strong one. A Dire. I can tell you deny your animal side, but I refuse to. My inner wolf is happy, is a true partner in my life. And we can tell that the poor beast inside you is locked up so tight, you barely feel her.”
    Charmeine’s wolf stayed silent, watching from within her. Not fighting back against the words she knew—or hoped—were untrue. “You know nothing.”
    “Then tell me.”
    But her heart had hardened, her mind closing him out. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because, I don’t—” She couldn’t say it. Wanted to, needed to let him know she didn’t trust him, but the words wouldn’t come.
    “You don’t what?” Mammon asked, pushing her. Refusing to let up. “Tell me.”
    An order. And there it was. The anger, the wall keeping her from letting him in. “No.”
    Mammon sighed, shaking his head before pinning her with his glare. “Are you always such a brat?”
    “Are you always such a cretin?”
    Mammon growled again, stalking toward her. Charmeine took an involuntary step back. He was pushing her, hunting her, and while this side of him brought back all those needing, wanting feelings of desire he’d caused earlier in the evening, she wasn’t going to let him rule her. Wasn’t going to give in to his…anything.
    “I know you feel what I feel, Charmeine.”
    Her back hit the bookshelf. Trapped. She swallowed hard and held her ground, refusing to surrender to him. “Hardly. Curious, maybe, as one might be when they come upon a strange insect or animal. A fuzzy squirrel, perhaps.”
    His growl made her knees quiver, but she locked them into place. “Did you just call me a squirrel?”
    “No.” Breathy, no fire behind that word. She tried harder. “I compared you to one, but technically, I didn’t call you one.”
    His hands, those huge, strong hands, landed on either side of her shoulders as he leaned in. She was trapped, boxed, caged by the sheer thickness of him. And God save her, she liked it more than she feared it.
    “You put up a good front, Char. But you forgot one key piece of information I have against you.”
    “What information did I forget?” How could she speak? How could she open her mouth and not just groan? She had no idea. The man overpowered her without a touch, dominated without intention. He inched closer, his body brushing hers. She could feel the