“What will happen if he breaks out?”“It would be good if we get there before that happens,” was all he said. They left the expressway, and he slowed to the posted speed limit. The only sign of his impatience was the rhythmic beat of his fingers on the steering wheel. When he pulled up in front of the mansion, she jumped out of the SUV and ran to the front door. He didn’t appear to hurry, but somehow he was there before her and opened the door. She ran down the hall and took the cellar stairs three at a time, Brian at her shoulder. The lack of noise was not reassuring, Usually the only way to tell the safe room from the basement guest rooms was the steel door and frame.But great plaster chunks had been torn off the wall on either side, revealing the silver-and-steel bars that had been embedded in the wall. The wall paper from inside the room hung down in strips like a curtain, keeping Lauren from seeing inside.There were three of the pack in human form standing in front of the doo
AFTER the disaster this morning, Lauren had dreaded the flight to Montana. She’d never been on a plane before in her life, and she’d have thought that it would be terrifying, especially in the little, six-passenger, twin-engine Lear Brian led them to. Brian sat in the copilot’s seat, which left all six of the passenger seats empty. Toby pushed her past the first set of forward-facing seats with a nudge of his nose and stared at the pair of backward seats until she sat down. When hesettled in the space on the floor and put his head on her feet, she set her box on the seat next to her, buckled up, and waited for takeoff.She didn’t expect to have fun, especially when Toby so emphatically was not.He rode stiff and grumpy at her feet, growling softly when the plane bounced a little. But riding in the smal plane was like being on the world’s tallest amusement-park ride. A gentle one, like the Ferris wheel, but with an edge ofdanger that just made it al the more fun. She didn’t really th
She glanced back at Hank. “Tell them what we are.”“Oh, this is Aspen Creek,” Hank answered her. “Everyone knows about werewolves. If you haven’t married one, you were fathered by one or one of your parents was. This is the Marrok’s territory, and we’re one big, happyfamily.” Was there sarcasm in his voice? She didn’t know him well enough to tell for certain.The air blowing in her face had warmed up, finally. Between that and Toby, she was starting to feel less like an ice cube.“I thought that werewolves have no family, only pack,” she ventured.Brian glanced at her before looking back to the road. “You and Toby need to have a long talk. How long have you been a werewolf?”“Three years.”He frowned. “Do you have a family?”“My father and brother. I haven’t seen them since…” She shrugged. “Leo told me I had to break all ties to them or else he’d assume they were a risk to the pack.” And kill them. Brian frowned. “Outside of Aspen Creek, wolves can’t tell anyone except their spouses
Nothing fancy, just jeans and a plain white T-shirt, but she’d never known a werewolf who could do that. This was real magic. She didn’t know how much real magic he could do. She didn’t know a lot about him other than hemade her heart beat faster and nudged her usual state of half panic away. She shivered, then realized it was cool in the house. He must have turned down the heat when he’d come to Chicago. She looked around and found a small quilted throw folded over the back of a rocking chair and snatched it up. Careful not tobrush too hard on his oversensitized skin, she laid the blanket lightly over him.He lay with one cheek against the floor, shuddering and breathless."Toby?” Her impulse was to touch him, but after a change, the last thing she wanted was touch. His skin would feel new and raw. The blanket slid off his shoulder and when she lifted it to cover him again, she saw a dark stain growing rapidly on the back of his shirt. If his wounds had been of the usual sort, the c
She was hurting him. He’d almost quit breathing except in small, shallow pants. Giving first aid to werewolves was fraught with danger. Pain could make a wolf lose control like he’d done this morning. But Toby just held himself very still as she pulled the bandage tight enough to hold the pads where they needed to be.She used both rolls of the wrap and tried not to notice how good the bright pink looked against his dark skin. When a man is on the verge of passing out from pain, it seemed wrong to notice how beautiful he was. His smooth dark skin stretched over taut muscles and bone…maybe if he hadn’t smelled so good underthe blood and sweat, she could have maintained a distance. Hers. He was hers, whispered that part of her that didn’t worry about human concerns. Whatever fears Lauren had about the rapid changes in her life, her wolf half was very happy with the events of the past few days. She got a dishcloth from the kitchen, wettedit down, and cleaned the blood from his skin whi
So close to him, it was impossible not to respond to the scent of his skin. He smelled of male and mate. Aided by that scent, she let herself sink into her wolf’s certainty of him, welcoming the beast’s contentment.He didn’t make a sound the whole way to his bed, though she could feel the extent of his pain in the tension in his muscles. He felt hot and feverish, and that worried her. She’d never seen a werewolf feverish before.He sat down on the mattress with a hiss. The blood left on the waistband of his boxers was going to stain the sheets, but she didn’t feel comfortable pointing it out. He looked ready to collapse he’d been in a lot better shape before he decided to change to human. As old as he was, he should have known better.“Why didn’t you just stay wolf?” she scolded.Cool eyes met hers with more wolf than man in their yellow depths. “You were going to leave. The wolf had no way to talk you out of it.”He’d gone through that because he was worried she’d leave him? Romanti
He looked at her searchingly, then nodded and released her. “There’s a TV in the dining room. Or you can play on the Internet on my computer in the study. There are”“I’m tired, too.” She might have been conditioned to walk around with her tail between her legs, but she wasn’t stupid. Sleep was just what her exhausted mind needed to try to cope with the abrupt changes in her life. Exchanging Chicago for the wilds of Montana was the least of it: Omega and valued, not submissive and worthless; a mate and whatever that meant. Better than she’d had, that wasfor darn sure, but it was stil a bit traumatic.“Do you mind if I sleep here?” She kept her tone diffident, not wanting to intrude where she wasn’t wanted. This was his territory but her wolf was reluctant to leave him alone and wounded. It felt awkward, this needing. Awkward and dangerous, as if what he was might reach out and swallow her whole or change her beyond recognition. But she was too tired to fight it or even figure out if
Just as a werewolf decided to kill this kid? An old man wouldn’t even slow a werewolf down.”“I never claimed the story made sense.” His father’s voice was dry. “And we’re not certain that the monster was a werewolf. I hadn’t paid any attention to it until the hunter was killed in the same area only a month later.”“What about that one? Are you sure the hunter was a werewolf victim?”“My informant was Heather Morrel . She knows a grizzly kill from a werewolf.”Heather was human, but she’d been raised in Aspen Creek.“Alright,” agreed Toby. “You need me to go check it out? It’l be a few days before I’m up to it.” And he didn’t want to leave Lauren. “Can you send someone else?” It would need to be someone dominant enough to control a rogue.“I don’t want to send anyone in to get killed.”“Just me.” Toby could use a dry tone, too.“Just you,” agreed Brian blandly. “But I’m not sending you out hurt. Samuel’s here for the funeral. He can go check this out.”“You can’t send Samuel.” His res