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  “I don’t ever want to force you to do anything for me,” she said. “Whatever happens with us, it’s always got to be your choice. I don’t want it if it’s not good for you, too. I mean any of it, Phoenix, not just the stuff in bed.”

  “What happens if you ask me for something I don’t want to give you?” he demanded in a low voice. When she tried to pull away, his hands on her hips kept her close.

  “Then we talk about it like normal people,” she said.

  Phoenix laughed, low. “I’m not normal people, Willa. I’m so far from normal...”

  “Shh,” she said against his mouth. “For now, all we should both ask of the other is to listen. To try. Maybe to not walk away when something goes wrong. Beyond that, who knows? It could be nothing. It could be everything. We don’t know unless we try.”

  “I’ve never had to try at anything. If I didn’t get what I wanted, I made someone give it to me.”

  She smiled, undaunted. “So walk away.”

  “Damn it,” Phoenix said. “I don’t want to walk away from you!”

  “So stay.” She laughed a little bit through a haze of tears at the way he was fighting this. “Phoenix. Baby.”

  At the endearment, he looked at her in surprise. When she pulled him close and took his chin in her hands, holding him still in a grip tight enough to hurt, should he try to get away, she forced him to look into her eyes. She said nothing, waiting to feel at least some of the tension in him ease.

  “You never know when you start something new if you’re going to end up getting hurt,” she said. “But I promise you, I’m going to hurt you as much as you want. As often as you want. For as long as we both want me to do it.”

  With a growl, he kissed her hard and lifted her, carrying her to the bed, where they both fell down in a tangle of sheets and pillows. There he leaned over her to stroke the hair out of her face. His expression was serious.

  “Please,” Phoenix said.

  Willa smiled and kissed him again.

  * * * * *

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  Protector Wolf

  by Linda O. Johnston

  Chapter 1

  Lieutenant Ryan Blaiddinger strode quickly down the sidewalk.

  Beside him were his dog, Rocky, and his aide, Staff Sergeant Piers Janus. The two soldiers were dressed in civilian clothing—nice slacks and button-down shirts. They were here in Fritts Corner, Washington, undercover.

  According to the map on Piers’s phone, the park they sought was only a block away. Ryan scoped out the whole street—fairly narrow, considering it was the quaint town’s main avenue. Some of the buildings appeared to have been constructed more than a century ago, with spires, decorative windows and wide porches that led into restaurants and other retail establishments.

  “We’re almost there,” Piers said, staring at the phone in his hand. Piers was short and a bit stocky, and despite his being in his early twenties his blondish hair had begun to thin. But he was a damned good helper—in many respects.

  Piers held Rocky’s leash, and the dog bounded along with him.

  The dog with thick brown-and-black fur who resembled a wolf.

  A wolf who looked a lot like Ryan...when he was in shifted form.

  The air was brisk but dry on this Thursday afternoon in September. Cars drove by in both directions, with no hint of any traffic jam in this small town. People passed by as well, and a few headed in the same direction they did.

  Interesting that on the day of their arrival a public meeting was scheduled about the very topic they’d come to check out.

  But maybe it wasn’t too surprising. After all, though there had been sightings of wild wolves for years in various areas of Washington State, even identification of some small packs, the latest new sightings had been right around here, in this area southeast of Tacoma.

  And when Ryan, sounding as offhand as he could, mentioned wolf sightings to their hotel’s receptionist a short while ago when they checked in, she had immediately perked up and told him that a naturalist had just come to town and was going to talk on that very topic in less than an hour.

  That was really interesting since wolves previously hadn’t been spotted around here much for a long time, the receptionist had acknowledged. Lots of people in town were fascinated by the situation...though some weren’t too happy about it.

  There. The open-air park, mostly green, rolling lawn with a few trees, was finally off to their right. A large crowd stood on the grass facing a raised podium that appeared old and worn, perhaps even constructed around the same time as the rest of the town.

  On it stood a tall and slender woman. A screen behind her contained a photo of a wolf, projected there by some modern equipment that clearly wasn’t as antique as the town.

  “The pictures I’ve shown you are from other areas in Washington,” she was saying into a microphone so her deep, energetic voice projected around the area. “It’s so exciting that wild wolves have been returning to this state. Of course WHaM has been keeping up with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s postings online, as well as US Fish and Wildlife, which has jurisdiction for their protection around here. We’re thrilled—and tracking them, too, taking a census including the official estimate of nineteen packs in the state. Plus, we encourage the media to let the public know. Any media people here?” A few hands were raised. “Great!”

  WHaM. That was Wildlife Habitat Monitoring, Ryan knew. He needed to talk to this woman after her presentation, and using his cover of being with the US Fish and Wildlife Service—not the state’s—should make it easy for him to find out everything WHaM knew about the latest wolf sightings.

  Of course their agenda was far different from his. Wolf sightings to them would be just that—evidence of the continuing but slow return of wild wolves to increasing locations in this state, fewer here than in the eastern part. And some had already been destroyed after attacking livestock, though not in this area.

  Ryan was here on his first lead assignment representing Alpha Force. Rocky and Piers had come along as his backups. He was the only commissioned officer present—and the only member here of that covert military unit of shapeshifters who was actually a shifter himself.

  For the moment, he eased his way through the large group of onlookers, men, women and children of all ages, knowing that Piers would follow with Rocky. Rocky might garner some attention since he looked