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  Instead of closing the curtains, she challenged him with those eyes of hers. What had caught his attention about the woman, even during the investigation, were her classically attractive facial features—the high cheekbones and the perfect skin, framed by golden hair, and the large, striking blue eyes that could swallow a man whole. When she had spoken, full kissable lips had captured his attention more than once. She wasn’t movie-star gorgeous, having instead the wholesome, girl-next-door look, but that appealed to him even more.

  She frowned at him and then yanked the drapes closed. Good. She’d finally come to her senses.

  He couldn’t let go of the notion that the nurse thought she had the ability to make psychic predictions. It was the principle of the thing, he told himself. He intended to prove to himself, and to her, that she had come by her information about the murder through means other than some form of sixth sense. Either she had subconsciously learned the truth, or she had meddled in the investigation and was unwilling to tell about it.

  Yet something deeper plagued him about the woman. Some elusive feeling that she could be in trouble. She could be trouble—that was more like it. Any newly turned wolf certainly could be that.

  He tried to tell himself his being here wasn’t about anything other than resolving the doubts that plagued him; although… something else bothered him, and he just couldn’t put his finger on what.

  Ears perked, he sat on his haunches, unable to take his gaze off her window and thinking of her returning to bed and then buried under her blankets. The unsolicited wish that he could be with her, snuggling and heating her up, flashed through his brain. Hell, he didn’t need to be sidetracked anymore than he already was.

  Despite the case having been solved, and him having no real reason to come back to Silver Town, Ryan was attending the spring festival the next morning to learn more about Darien’s celebrations. Like he’d done before, Ryan would take the information back to his own people who wanted something of what Darien and his people had—a town run by the werewolf kind.

  But Darien had only reluctantly allowed Ryan to investigate as an outsider to discover the murderer in the pack. He was sure Darien wouldn’t favor seeing him again under the circumstances, not when Ryan intended to question Carol further about her visions.

  Darien sure wouldn’t approve of Ryan lurking about his woodland estate early in the evening. Especially when Ryan didn’t have one good reason for being near Darien’s house like this, no matter how much he tried to convince himself he did.

  A click on a backdoor lock got Ryan’s attention, and he quickly rose and backed into the woods to keep Darien or his people from seeing him. The door opened. Ryan’s jaw dropped.

  Little Miss Nightingale stepped out of the house onto the flagstone patio, peering in his direction. Not dressed warmly enough for the out-of-doors this evening, she wore a robin’s egg blue tam that was perched on top of her head, a matching fluffy sweater that caressed her perky round breasts, pale blue jeans that showcased her shapely legs, and a pair of fuzzy blue slippers that made her feet look twice their size.

  He raised his brows. Hell. She had no business coming out into the night looking the way she did—soft and cuddly and vulnerable—with no way to defend herself in the event someone dangerous was lurking about. What had she intended to do? Search for him? Ask him his business?

  At first, she stood stock-still, just staring into the woods. At the very place from which he watched her through a grove of Douglas firs. But he didn’t think she could see him.

  And then? She rubbed her hands together as if she were on a wolf-hunting mission and stalked toward the woods, headed straight for him! The notion that she’d hunt him down appealed on a strictly primal level. Her hell-bent determination wreaked havoc with his need to keep this on a purely professional basis. Willful is how he’d describe her actions. What if he’d been bad news?

  But he wasn’t, although right now he had the strongest urge to circle around her through the woods and stalk her right back. A game between wolves. A competition. And more. Which made him wonder if she’d understand their wolf ways, not having grown up learning them. He also was curious just how far she’d go to discover who he was.

  Instead of tracking her down, he moved deeper into the woods, as if luring her into his trap, and listened to her steady footsteps. They were more hurried now as she tried to reach the forest before he disappeared for good, he figured. Or maybe the fact he wasn’t in plain sight gave her more courage.

  She stopped only a few feet away, the gray-green leaves of a Douglas fir brushing her arm, her eyes searching the dark woods as he watched her. His heart beat harder—the urge to hunt in his blood. Then she lifted her nose in a wolf’s way, trying to catch his scent. Seeing her react the way his kind would—smelling for scents, tilting her head as she listened more carefully, attempting to track him down like a wolf on the hunt—he felt a new wave of respect for her wash over him. He hadn’t seen this side of her before. It suited her.

  Quickly, she turned her head, and when she saw him, her eyes widened. Luminescent. Huge. Bewitching.

  Unable to help himself when he should have been annoyed with her impulsivity at leaving the house without protection, he gave her a slight smile. The woman would be his undoing.

  What now? He wanted to force her to return to the house. On the other hand, he’d probably never get another chance to question her in private like this. He laughed at himself. Yeah, he’d shift, stand here naked in the cold as a human, and question her as if she was a suspect in one of his cases. He’d make such an impressive and frightening inquisitor that she’d quickly spill her story.

  He took a deep breath and inhaled her feminine scent. Sweet like peaches and jasmine mingled together in a tantalizing combination, it triggered the lingering memory of when he’d managed to get close to her before. But not too close. Darien and his people had made sure of that. It was as if she were a fairy-tale princess in a gilded cage, and only those in Darien and Lelandi’s close inner circle were allowed to draw near.

  A feeling of satisfaction swept through him that he finally had a private audience, although it didn’t do him much good while he was in his wolf form. He didn’t smell any indication that she was fearful, which could have gotten her in trouble if she’d come out here without worrying about his intentions.

  “Who are you?” she asked, her brow deeply furrowed as she wrapped her arms tightly around her waist, defensive but firm in her stance.

  He had half a mind to shift. She’d asked a question she knew he couldn’t answer any other way. What would she do then? Run screaming for the house to alert Darien and everyone inside? He’d shock the hell out of the woman, he was certain.

  He swung his head toward the house in his wolf’s way, ordering her to return.

  Determination etched in her brow, she shook her head. “Shift. Tell me what you want.”

  Without his express permission, his jaw dropped again. He couldn’t believe she’d order him about. Him, an alpha male and pack leader. She smiled a hint, her eyes narrowing. Devious. Appealing. She didn’t think he’d shift?

  She had asked for it. He stood taller, tail straight out, summoning the urge to change. Her brows lifted a little.

  Heat poured through every blood vessel, spilling through every vein and artery. His muscles stretched, reforming, and then in a flash, he was standing as a man before her. The cold breeze swept across his heated naked skin, and he expected Carol to vamoose or, at the very least, stare him in the eye to avoid looking at his nakedness.

  A whisper of an intake of breath caught his attention, but she quickly recovered and took her fill of him, her gaze drifting all the way down to his bare feet, appraising him in an unhurried manner. He’d never had a woman peruse him in such an arousing way.

  She snapped her gaze back to his face. “You look nice and healthy to me. I thought maybe you needed medical attention.”

  That’s when it dawned on him. Miss Nightingale wouldn
’t be bothered by his nudity. She was used to seeing naked men. Why did that thought irk him? Maybe not so much that she had seen a lot of nude men, just like their wolf kind would when shifting, but that she didn’t think his maleness was special in any way. Just… healthy. Yet he could have sworn she looked him over in much more than a clinical manner.

  “Well?” she prompted.

  “To the point, Ms. Wood—”

  “Call me Carol. If you’re going to talk to me in the dark forest without a stitch of clothes on, it seems silly to be so formal.”

  “I’m—”

  “Chester McKinley. I didn’t recognize your wolf form, but I remember you so gallantly wanting to help Lelandi find her sister’s killer, no matter how much Darien disapproved.”

  The tone Carol used didn’t sound as though she was impressed with Ryan’s gallantry. In fact, she seemed downright irritated to see him. Despite her tone, he couldn’t shake loose of the fascination she held for him.

  “I go by Ryan.”

  She hesitated to speak and then asked, to the point, “So, Ryan? Why are you here? Does Darien know?”

  “No. I wanted to speak to you about—”

  Lights suddenly flooded the back porch and Jake yelled, “Here! She’s taken off into the woods this way!”

  Chapter 2

  “OH, NO. GO,” CAROL WHISPERED TO RYAN IN THE dark woods, at once sounding vulnerable and desperate. Darien and his brothers were sure to be on the warpath as they searched for her. “If Darien finds me with you and you’re…” She motioned to his nudity, her gaze lingering lower. “There’ll be hell to pay.”

  “He’ll smell me anyway and see my wolf tracks.” Ryan couldn’t pinpoint why he delayed leaving. Maybe he was worried he might have gotten her into trouble because of their actions. Yet, the inexplicable feeling kept gnawing at him that when he had wanted to question her during the investigation and after she’d been injured, Darien hadn’t allowed it. Ryan didn’t like to be thwarted in any fact-finding mission he set out to accomplish. And he wouldn’t be this time, either.

  “Go,” she pleaded.

  “Tomorrow, I’ll speak with you at the celebration.”

  “Darien won’t allow it. You know he won’t.”

  At that, Ryan felt a stab of guilt. The only reason he came here was to see Carol and prove she didn’t have any special abilities. For an instant, he thought she sounded hopeful that he wanted to see her about some other matter, something more intimate. Which struck another chord deep inside.

  He had to remind himself that his own wolf pack hadn’t had a newly turned wolf in a couple of decades. So he wasn’t used to the notion that someone like Carol might have difficulty adjusting to pack life where a leader had to ensure the newbie didn’t stray far and cause colossal problems that couldn’t easily be resolved.

  “Carol…”

  She shook her head. “Go, now. I’ll try to see you tomorrow.”

  He ground his teeth and listened to the hurried footfalls headed in their direction. Then he shape-shifted and, at a wolf’s loping run, took off for the river to hide his tracks again. Eventually, he’d return to the bed and breakfast and settle in his room for the night. Although he might not be able to keep the room if Darien learned about it.

  He had wanted to face Darien and his people and explain why he had been there tonight, knowing they’d question Carol mercilessly about what she had seen in the woods. Although as a naked man, he’d have had no chance to explain himself, especially when he couldn’t come up with a half-logical reason to explain it to himself.

  “Carol!” Darien said, his tone sharp but worried.

  A pack leader carried the burden of keeping all of his people safe, Ryan knew only too well. He headed toward the river and thought he saw a flash of red fur. Coyote? Another red wolf? He glanced back in the direction he had come. Couldn’t have been Carol, and he doubted it would have been Lelandi.

  Unless it was that sneaky cousin of Lelandi’s, Ural. Or some other member of her family. Why slip around in the dark out here in the woods like he was doing? Ryan’s spine stiffened as he considered what might have happened to Carol if she had encountered whoever this was alone in the dark.

  He had never liked coincidences and rarely believed in them. His P.I. instincts pressed him to investigate the red in the event he could be trouble for Darien’s people.

  With a quick twist in the wolf’s direction, Ryan dashed in hot pursuit after the red.

  * * *

  The image of Ryan in the nude was still foremost in Carol’s thoughts as he raced off in his wolf form. Although his eyes, pools of darkened amber, were entrancing enough to nearly make her forget anything else. Dark coffee- colored hair curling around his ears had somewhat softened the hard, angular planes of his face, a shadowy stubble adding to the sexy ruggedness. She hadn’t seen him in five months, but that amount of time didn’t diminish the way she had remembered him—the way he had studied her months ago when she explained to Darien what she’d envisioned and helped him bring the murderer to justice.

  Ryan had observed her the same way just now. He seemed to be intrigued with her. Most likely because he’d never met anyone quite like her. At least that’s what she thought.

  But then she was back to thinking about his naked body. Healthy. Right. Sleek hard muscles toned to perfection, darkly pebbled nipples and an indented navel meant for licking, skin glistening, his sex stirring even as she had admired it, jutting out from a bush of dark brown hair, muscular legs, and large feet, all very well proportioned, caught her imagination. She’d definitely not seen him in that way before.

  She had believed that once she had turned into one of their kind, seeing a naked man built like Ryan wouldn’t affect her. She guessed that was a naïve thought. Especially when she had to take a look at his package— twice. Would it make any difference if she had been a werewolf for eons and had seen others strip and shape-shift whenever in a pack?

  Maybe. Like living at a nudist colony and being used to seeing everyone nude all the time. No big deal. Even though the pack members didn’t shift all the time. So they weren’t often naked in front of other pack members. And they changed so fast that, to the naked eye, the shift was mostly a wondrous blurring of forms.

  She had thought she wouldn’t be affected, being a nurse and trying to look at him in a clinical way while maintaining an air of aloofness. Right. She hadn’t succeeded. Now she couldn’t shake loose the image of his powerful build, thinking how it would be with someone like him in the throes of passionate lovemaking. Her face flushed at the thought.

  “Carol!” Darien snapped again. She recognized the fear in his expression, although he often schooled his face to hide such emotions.

  He stalked toward her, dark hair, dark eyes, a warrior ready to do battle. His brothers flanked him, all eyes on her, tensions running high, their postures ready to pounce if she attempted to run. Where was she supposed to run to? She was clueless about so many aspects of being a lupus garou.

  Lelandi had warned her how vulnerable she would be on her own as a newly turned lupus garou. But she didn’t want to live alone, either. Despite the pack’s restrictions on her, she still loved the whole lot of them. She loved their protectiveness, their caring, and the way they seemed clueless sometimes as to how to deal with her uniqueness.

  Even so, she thanked God that she hadn’t yet changed into a wolf. But the urge to shift would make it impossible for her to fight it forever. She had no plans to go anywhere. This was home, such as it was, and at least she worked in the hospital, now that she was one of them—kind of. Working as a nurse had been the job she’d dreamed of since she was a girl and had broken her leg. She wanted to help others in need, just like the medical staff had helped her. So this was it for her.

  “I’m coming,” she said in a grumpy way, as Darien and his brothers drew closer. She really wished they wouldn’t watch her so much. She was fine and didn’t need them hovering over her like a bunch of old motherly
hens. “I thought the three of you were at work.”

  Jake and Tom looked her over as if to ensure she was okay and then quickly searched the surrounding area, trying to locate Ryan’s tracks.

  “Is that why you left the house? Because you thought I wouldn’t learn of it? ” Darien took her arm and escorted her back to the house. He turned to peer over his shoulder at his brothers, took a sniff of the air, and grunted. Towering over her, Darien gave her a hard look.

  “What the hell were you doing out here alone with McKinley? Just because my brothers and I weren’t home and Lelandi was sleeping, that doesn’t mean it’s safe for you to be running around in the woods by yourself at night.” Then he considered her, his eyes narrowing. He shook his head. “He’d better not want you for a mate.”

  Her lips parted in surprise. She should have known Darien would recognize who Ryan was, but why would a gray pack leader be interested in a newly turned red wolf? Then again, why in the world would he want to see her so badly, potentially incurring Darien’s wrath?

  She sighed. Ryan was virile, rugged, and sexy with a body that wouldn’t quit. Hell, he was a feast for impoverished eyes to be sure. She hoped she’d acted less like a schoolgirl who hadn’t seen goods like that on a man in a long time and more like a nurse concerned with his medical needs. But more than his physical good looks, Ryan was protective and caring and dedicated. Was he really interested in getting to know her better?

  She smiled, each step becoming springier as she headed for the house. She’d always had a thing for alpha males. Not that she had any intention of being bossed around, even if one had her best interests at heart. Her fascination with alphas was that they were a challenge. Betas didn’t hold much of an appeal.