“You’re… kidding,” Thompson said. He knew his friend wouldn’t be, but he just couldn’t believe it. Last time he had to deal with wolves, he’d had an ordeal with a man named Leidolf. Were they the same wolves? Leidolf and his wife had sworn they were taking the wolves to a red-wolf reserve back east.

“There are three adults,” Joe said. “Two male, one female.”

“Red, right?”

“No, that’s the odd part. One male and female are gray. The other is a male red.”

Leaving the half-finished mug of java on the coffee table, Thompson crossed the living room to his den, grabbed his coat, and retrieved his hunting rifle from the locked gun cabinet.

“I’ll meet you at the park,” Joe said.

Tranquilizer darts at the ready, Thompson was headed out, determined to save the wolves, when he saw Chrissie returning. “Hold on a sec,” he said to Joe.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, as she joined him, her brow furrowed.

“Got to go. Wolves sighted in Forest Park.” He pulled Chrissie into a hot hug. “Keep the bed warm. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She shook her head and tugged on his coat button. “You’ll be running around the woods for hours looking for them.” Then she turned her face up and kissed him. “But I know you mean to protect them. I couldn’t love you more for it.”

He kissed her back, vowing that he’d return before the kids got home from school, then headed for his pickup. “Where exactly were they sighted, Joe?” he asked over the phone.

“They’re headed toward one of the exclusive residential areas.”

“Great.” He shook his head. “Whoever spotted them had to be wrong. Wolves no longer wander through Forest Park. Haven’t for years.”

Joe gave a short laugh of disbelief. “Yeah, that’s what we said the last time. And you know what happened then.”

Thompson paused, hand on his door handle, his eyes on the wolves painted on the side of his truck. Could they be werewolves?

Nah…

***

Anna, Bjornolf, and Carver returned to his house when they were unable to track his daughter’s scent. That meant the teens must have shifted, dressed, and left the area.

As Carver headed for his bedroom, his mate, Aimée, directed Bjornolf and Anna to the guest bedroom and said to Anna, “We have several changes of clothes in the closet and dressers for wolves who need them on occasion. Feel free to borrow anything you’d like. Sarah must have given Nathan a change of clothes. I checked out front and her car is gone.” She shut the door for them.

Anna shifted into her human form and was completely naked. She was in too much of a hurry to worry about Bjornolf being in the same room as her. If he was as much of a professional as he was supposed to be, he would be shifting and putting on the same clothes that he’d thrown on earlier to have the talk with Carver.

He wouldn’t be eyeing her naked body.

She frowned as she pulled the first drawer open and discovered only men’s boxers. She went to the next drawer and found bras and panties.

Rifling through them, she looked for anything in black when Bjornolf leaned over to peer into the drawer, naked as they come, and pointed at one of the bras. “Get the red one and the matching panties.”

She turned slightly and saw him taking his fill—of her, not the underwear in the drawer, and the internal meter that measured her embarrassment went through the ceiling.

Chapter 12

Anna couldn’t have been more surprised that Bjornolf had been watching her search for the right undergarments. She jerked out black panties and a bra, feeling her body heat so much she was certain it was already red enough for him.

Anna pulled on the black panties—she couldn’t find anything but sexy lace—wishing they were much more utilitarian.

“Then again, those look great,” Bjornolf said, his voice rough and his gaze heated as he slipped on a pair of ivory boxers, not hiding a full-blown erection fast enough before she glanced at him.

“You’re supposed to be a professional,” she chided, fastening the bra over her breasts.

What kind of wolves wore these things? Not only was it low cut, but it squeezed her breasts together and pushed them up, making her feel as though she could be on display in one of those girly calendars.

“Nice,” he said, his voice even more gravelly with lust as he considered her breasts.

She snorted, but before she could pass by him to get to the closet, he seized her arm and pulled her gently to him. His action was both possessive and guarded. Possessive in that she could tell he desired her from his darkened expression, his scent changing from keen interest to rabid arousal. Guarded in that she assumed he wanted to ensure she craved him in the same way, and so he hesitated to take this further.

She didn’t pull away from him like she should have. They had a job to do, and fulfilling some crazy sexual fantasy wasn’t going to get it done. They were standing in a guest room of a red wolf pack’s house in borrowed underwear while a teen under their care was running loose with a teen from this household. They certainly didn’t have time for this.

“They’ll be all right, Anna. I promise you.”

If they were running around as humans, they’d be safe enough together for now. She assumed.

That was all the time Bjornolf gave her to think about Nathan and the girl. He cupped her breasts, his thumbs skimming over the flesh mounded together in the sexy bra, his eyes focused on them. Then he dipped his head to kiss her.

She gave in to the madness and kissed him back, his hands shifting to her ass and pulling her against his rigid arousal, the boxers doing nothing to hide the fact he was hot for her.

All Anna’s frustration and worry melted away in that one passionate, prolonged, soul-startling kiss, as Bjornolf’s hands slipped down her panties and cupped her flesh. She moaned into his mouth as he kissed and licked and nipped and growled.

They needed a room. They had a room. Not here. What was she thinking? They needed to find Nathan. Jeez, what was she doing?

Bjornolf’s mouth moved in compelling kisses over her jaw, down her throat, to the swell of her breasts. She wanted his mouth on her nipples, licking and suckling. She wanted him between her spread legs, and God, she was already wet for him.

Again.

“We… can’t,” she said with the greatest regret.

He let her slip away then, yet there was no regret in his expression. Only hunger—feral and predatory. She knew to the marrow of her bones there was no stopping what he felt for her: pure lust. He had it bad.

She also had it bad for him, but at least she had her priorities straight. Well, she was trying to keep them straight.

He was staring at her, his eyes dark as midnight, his whole body tense as if he might just follow her into the closet and start kissing her all over again.

The sound of someone’s hurried footsteps headed in their direction in the carpeted hallway didn’t break their eye contact.

“This isn’t over, Anna,” he said softly, the hardness and tension in his posture so at odds with his spoken words. His comment was a promise, not a threat.

She knew then that she didn’t want this hot, passionate swirl of emotions that existed between them to be over.

Aimée called through the door, “They’re okay. The kids are at the mall. Carver told Leidolf they’re fine, so he and his men are returning to their ranch. He wishes you both good luck with your mission.”

Anna let out the breath she had been holding, relieved beyond measure that both teens were fine.

“Sarah texted me,” Aimée continued. “They’re shopping for Christmas ornaments for your tree—but I imagine there’s something more to it than that with Nathan coming all the way here to see her in his wolf coat. Nathan wanted to surprise you. They said they were still looking for the perfect angel for the treetop for Anna.”

Anna couldn’t help it. All of a sudden, tears just sprang forth and were dribbling down her cheeks as fast as she could furiously wipe them away. Between the angel comment and knowing he was all right, that both kids were okay, the worry, the stress… she just… lost it.

Bjornolf’s heated expression quickly changed to surprise, then worry. He said to Aimée, “Thanks for the good news. We’ll be out in a minute.”

“Carver’s pacing out in the backyard. He said he needed to cool his heels a bit. He’s thinking of letting them come home in their own good time. That’s going to be a first.”

“Good. I think it’s for the best,” Bjornolf said, pulling Anna into his arms.

Aimée said, “Take your time. I’m cooking lunch, and we all want you to stay.”

“Thanks,” Bjornolf said. “We’d like that.”

Anna never cried. Well, occasionally over a sad movie, but generally speaking, she did not cry. Twice in front of Bjornolf now? What was her problem? He had to think she was some kind of basket case.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, hating that she was soaking his chest with her tears.

He stroked her back with one hand while keeping his arm planted around her waist, holding her tight. He had no intention of letting her go until he was sure she felt better.

He kissed the top of her head as she snuffled, finally getting her emotions under control.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not normally like this.”

“At least I wasn’t kissing you this time.”

She saw he was smiling down at her with the warmest, most tender expression. She chuckled and he kissed her wet cheek.

***

With her auburn hair in a braid hanging down her back, Sarah walked beside Nathan in the crowded mall, hand in hand. He hadn’t seen her in three months and had been avoiding her, thinking that it would be better to stay away because of her father. And… for other reasons. The human girl, Jessica Everton, daughter of the owner of the Christmas tree farm, topped the list.

Sarah had been thrilled to see him when they had first met at her house, but she’d also been scared. Afraid that her father would kill him if he learned that she’d already met Nathan and hadn’t told her father about him.