The Best of Both Wolves Read online

  Also by Terry Spear

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  Joy to the Wolves

  Wolff Brothers

  You Had Me at Wolf

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  Billionaire Wolf

  Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing

  A Billionaire Wolf for Christmas

  Night of the Billionaire Wolf

  SEAL Wolf

  A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing

  A SEAL Wolf Christmas

  SEAL Wolf Hunting

  SEAL Wolf in Too Deep

  SEAL Wolf Undercover

  SEAL Wolf Surrender

  Heart of the Shifter

  You Had Me at Jaguar

  Highland Wolf

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  A Highland Werewolf Wedding

  Hero of a Highland Wolf

  A Highland Wolf for Christmas

  The Wolf Wore Plaid

  Silver Town Wolf

  Destiny of the Wolf

  Wolf Fever

  Dreaming of the Wolf

  Silence of the Wolf

  A Silver Wolf Christmas

  Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply

  Between a Wolf and a Hard Place

  All’s Fair in Love and Wolf

  Silver Town Wolf: Home for the Holidays

  Heart of the Jaguar

  Savage Hunter

  Jaguar Fever

  Jaguar Hunt

  Jaguar Pride

  A Very Jaguar Christmas

  White Wolf

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  Flight of the White Wolf

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  Heart of the Wolf

  To Tempt the Wolf

  Legend of the White Wolf

  Seduced by the Wolf

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  Books. Change. Lives.

  Copyright © 2022 by Terry Spear

  Cover and internal design © 2022 by Sourcebooks

  Cover design by Stephanie Gafron/Sourcebooks

  Cover illustration by Craig White/Lott Reps

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

  Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from While the Wolf’s Away

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  Thanks so much to Jean Forside for loving my books—thank you for your service in the army!—and sharing them with her mother, Darlene Zimmerman, who is in a nursing home. They couldn’t see each other because of COVID-19 for a long time. But she loves the sexy wolves just as much! Who would have thought Donna Fournier, my friend and beta reader, would discover that her cousin Jean and her aunt Darlene read my books too. So thanks to Jean for making this a wolf family affair.

  Chapter 1

  Everything had been looking up for Sierra Redding, a retired army finance officer, since she’d moved to the Portland, Oregon, area before Christmas. At least she thought that. After a day working in a mixed-media-collage intensive workshop for teachers, she was excited and looking forward to setting up “official” art assignments for wolf kids of all ages in the red wolf pack, starting on Monday. The job was just a part-time one, but she had her army retirement pay, and that was all she really needed.

  She wasn’t sure if she could do this since she’d never taught kids before, but she’d had so much fun at the workshops that she knew this was just what she wanted to do. Initially, she hadn’t really thought of what she wanted to do once she retired, but her pack leaders, Leidolf and Cassie Wildhaven, had hired her immediately to teach art classes to the pack-schooled kids. Cassie was eager to find someone trained in art already and who had a talent for it since a couple of the students showed real promise and needed someone who could teach them more skills.

  After the long day of art-teacher-training workshops, Sierra entered her Portland hotel room, ready to order some seafood from room service and chill while watching a movie on TV. As soon as she shut the door, she got a call from Cassie. She hurried to answer it while dumping her bag of notes and art supplies on the extra queen-size bed. “Hi, Cassie.”

  “Hey, how’s it going?” Cassie was a wolf biologist, the perfect occupation for a wolf who already knew all about wolf biology on a personal basis. She was often on tours educating people about wolves, when she wasn’t home helping her mate lead the pack.

  “It’s going great. I’m having a blast. I’ll be all set for starting classes on Monday, and I already have some adults lined up for art classes at night.” Sierra appreciated that Cassie had called to see how she was doing. She hadn’t expected to hear from anyone.

  “I’m so glad to hear it. I’m thrilled you’re all settled in. We couldn’t be more pleased that you’ve joined the pack.”

  Sierra knew part of the reason was that there were fewer females than males in the pack, and they were always on the lookout to entice new females to join them. It helped when the wolf had a skill the pack needed. They’d even paid for her workshops and her hotel, which was really nice of them.

  “I am too.” Though Sierra wasn’t really settled in—yet. She wouldn’t be until she began working and felt she had a mission and purpose in life. She’d loved creating sketches and paintings when she was a kid, and through the years while she was in the army, she’d won a few contests with her wolf portraits. She loved that she’d had such cooperative wolf models. She was always learning new things, and her next great adventure was creating digital paintings from photographs and sharing how to do that with the kids.

  “I’m so glad that you haven’t changed your mind.”

  Sierra laughed. She was sure Cassie and Leidolf worried she might still return to Texas to be with her boyfriend. “Yeah, we’re good.” For now. She had to see how teaching went, how she got along with the pack members, and decide about Lieutenant Colonel Richard Wentworth, the army officer she was still dating back at Fort Hood, Texas.

  “Okay, well, I’ll let you go now. Leidolf is fixing dinner, and I need to help him with the kids.”

  “Thanks for calling. I’ll talk to you later.” Afterward, Sierra called in an order for shrimp scampi at the hotel restaurant and was watching an espionage thriller on TV when her twin brother called. She paused her movie.

  “Hey, how are you doing at your workshop?” Brad asked.

  Loving her brother, she smiled. He had retired as a Navy SEAL and had mated one of the Portland pack members, which was one of the big reasons she had come here. When they had kids—and often wolves had more than one at a time—she wanted to be here to help out. While she and her brother had both been in the military, they hadn’t had a lot of time to see each other, though they’d always been close, so it was time to bond again.

  “Great. I love it. Why aren’t you busy making little Redding wolves?”

  He chuckled.

  She teased him about that all the time, though she knew he wasn’t
waiting to have kids with Janice. She also knew he had called because he wanted her to love what she was doing and stay in the area. Her parents were waiting for her to say if she was going to remain in Portland before they made any move from Texas to join them.

  “Okay, well, I just wanted to check on you, and I’m glad you’re enjoying it. See you soon.”

  “Thanks, Brad. Sounds good.” They ended the call.

  She started the movie and then her phone jingled again. Now who was calling?

  She paused the movie and grabbed her phone. Her boyfriend. She sighed and answered the phone.

  “Hey, Sierra. I hope you’re getting tired of the rain there.”

  Not “Hey, honey, I missed you”? Something was seriously wrong with their relationship.

  She was starting to get used to the rain as she listened to it softly hitting the window. “I’m glad to be here.” She’d met so many wolves in the pack who were friendly and welcoming, something she had certainly been hoping for.

  “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too. I’ll be seeing you.” She’d told herself she had to give herself time to learn how much she liked it here before she made any decision to return to Texas. Sure, she felt somewhat conflicted about leaving him, but he was doing what he wanted to do, and this was what she wanted to do. Not only that, but she hadn’t missed him as much as she’d thought she would.

  “All right. I hope that means you’re coming back for good.”

  “We’ll see.” She was beginning to think that for him, absence made the heart grow fonder. Though she also suspected he was afraid she might find a new wolf to interest her and Richard would be history. He was doing a lot more checking up on her than when she lived in Killeen, Texas. She was really trying to be objective about this and not let any bachelor wolves sway her from her mission: settle in, work with the kids, and see if this was what she really wanted to do.

  But she had to admit there were some real bachelor male hotties in the Portland-area wolf pack that she was interested in seeing more of if things were going to work out for her here. Police Detective Adam Holmes with the Portland Police Bureau was on top of the list. He had been all smiles, welcoming her to the pack as if she were staying for good, and had made her feel really great about being here. She supposed another reason he was on her good list was he’d been the first one to sign up for her adult art class for Monday night, though—according to him—he couldn’t even draw a stick figure.

  Someone knocked at the door, and she figured her shrimp scampi dinner had arrived. “I have to go. My meal is here.”

  “Home delivery?”

  “I’m in Portland at the art workshops this weekend, staying at a hotel. I’ve got to go. ’Night, Richard.” She’d told him last week and reminded him again a few days ago where she was going to be for the weekend. He especially worried about where she was and what she was doing during the weekends, but he never remembered after she told him.

  “Later,” he said.

  He could be controlling, used to being in charge in his position as a commander. And she was tired of him never having time for her when she was actually living in Killeen. Now, he continued to call, email, and text her, hoping she would get her “visit” to Oregon out of her system and would move back to Texas.

  Yet she just couldn’t give up their relationship. As much as she hated to admit it, she loathed the idea of getting to know someone new as a potential mate.

  They ended the call and she answered the door to get her meal delivery. “Thanks,” she told the delivery guy, then shut her door.

  She knew Richard was miffed at her for not staying in Killeen. No matter how much she had told him she wanted to be with a pack, he just didn’t get it. He was more career-minded, wanted to make more rank, and joining a pack was definitely low on his list of priorities.

  She settled down to eat a meal that was the best shrimp scampi she’d ever had while finally finishing the movie. Then it was time to shower. She pulled off her clothes and laid them on the bed, then went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth.

  The problem was that Richard lived for promotions, which was fine and good—for him. But she was done with the military and wanted more. Once she’d retired, she knew she needed to do something important with her life again. Sure, she enjoyed being with him, when he made the time. But there wasn’t a wolf pack in Killeen, and now that she didn’t have to transfer to a new location all the time, she wanted and needed the socialization that went along with a pack. Once she had children of her own, she would really need that. Plus, she wanted her kids to live close to Brad’s so they could get to know their cousins.

  Richard wasn’t about to change his mind about moving anywhere else, and certainly he wouldn’t leave the military.

  She’d had to make so many changes in her life while in the army, and he had been her one constant. One boyfriend for three years. Of course there had been no other wolves available for either of them to date at Fort Hood either. So naturally, from the first time they’d met, the attraction was there between them. But now that she didn’t have a full-time job to keep her busy, she wanted more. She wanted…something different. Her parents were happy with each other, and though her dad had made general in the army, he had always had time for her mother, who had been in the air force, both retired now. Richard wasn’t like that with Sierra.

  She removed her makeup, then started the water for her shower. Soon she was in the bathtub soaping her hair when she thought she heard her hotel-room door shut. She listened. She didn’t hear any sounds other than the shower water pelting her and running down the drain. She must have heard a door close for another room close by. That was the trouble with her enhanced wolf hearing. Everything could sound much closer than it was.

  She was in the middle of washing her hair and face, soap all over her body, the hot water sluicing down her back, and she was feeling dreamy when she heard a drawer in the chest of drawers squeak open. Her heart began to race and her skin chilled despite the hot water. The bathroom door was wide open because she wasn’t sharing a room with anyone else, or she would have at least closed it and could have jumped out of the shower and locked it.

  No one should have been in her room, and now she suspected the key-card noise she’d heard just minutes earlier had been the real deal. Who the hell had a key to her room? Whoever it was didn’t say a word. The scary part was that even though he had to hear her showering, he ignored it, like he knew he was safe, that she couldn’t harm him. And that made her angry. And even more worried.

  Another drawer opened in the bureau, and then another. She hadn’t unpacked her bags, except for hanging her rain jacket, a shirt, and a pair of pants in the closet. The rest of her things were still in her bags. Her purse and her laptop were also in the closet, where she always put them when she wasn’t using them. She knew she should be careful, not worry about her personal possessions and only think about living through this, if it came to that, but she was instinctively a territorial wolf. Allowing him to steal from her without a fight wasn’t in her blood.

  She quickly washed the soap out of her hair and off her face and body and left the water running. Her phone was sitting on the bedside table, so she couldn’t reach it to call the police. She didn’t have a weapon… Well, maybe not a gun or knife, but she did have a different kind of weapon. One she was born with. It would have to do.

  She called on her wolf, heat rushing through every bone and through every muscle. Confronting a human like this wasn’t something wolves would normally do when they were taught to hide their identity at all costs from humans. But the intruder couldn’t see her shift and she was afraid—since he was bold enough to remain there when she was taking a shower—she could be in a world of hurt if she didn’t do something to protect herself.

  As soon as she had turned into a big red wolf with big ears, big teeth, and big wolf paws, she pushed the shower curtain aside with her nose, leaped out of the tub, slid on the bath mat, and tore out of the bathroom and into the room. As soon as the man saw movement, turned, and noticed her coming at him, the would-be thief jumped straight into the air. He cried out with a strangled sound and made a dash for the door.

  That was what she liked to see. Him scared to pieces and running for his life. Though her own heart was beating triple time, the adrenaline surging through her blood preparing her to flee or fight. Fighting was more what she had in mind.