“Sure.” She gave Hunter a scathing look. She didn’t lie, normally, and she didn’t appreciate being forced into one when she didn’t have a clue as to the reason.

“We got the…” Ashton said, walking into the room, but quit speaking and stopped dead when he saw his father. “Hey, Dad.”

“What did you see concerning this dog incident?”

“Nothing. When I arrived, the damage was already done. I just drove Hunter and the others here so he and Rourke could get medical treatment.”

“When are you coming home?”

“We’ve got a job to do. Rourke and I are replacing Tessa’s broken window and door locks. Then we’ll scout around for that thief.”

The sheriff grunted. But Tessa could see a hint of admiration in his face. He cast Hunter an ill-boding look, but again, it was more like it was to cover his true feelings. “You keep my son safe. He’s a good shot with a rifle, but he’s no ex–Navy SEAL.”

“We picked up enough provisions to last a week,” Rourke said. “When are we leaving? Some of the stuff needs refrigeration, although for now it’s in cold storage in the truck.”

“The doctor said a couple of days at least,” Tessa said with great satisfaction.

“Call me and let me know what’s going on with this intruder,” the sheriff said to Ashton. “With car accidents and cases of asphyxiation due to the misuse of generators during the power outage, my investigators are spread pretty thin. But if you need anything, call me.” He looked at Tessa. “And file the report on the gun as soon as you can.”

“How about now, Tessa?” Hunter asked. “We’re here, I’m stuck at the hospital for now. Ashton can run you in and bring you back. By then, we could share lunch.” He smiled. The look was totally faked.

“I will, only because I’m afraid the thief might use my gun to commit a crime, and I don’t want to be in trouble for it.”

“What about the food?” Ashton asked.

“You can pick up Rourke in a little while and take it to—”

“Drop by my place after Tessa files the complaint. We can store the food there. No sense in driving the two hours to her place and back here again.” Rourke looked at Hunter for approval.

He nodded.

“Good, let’s get this done.” Tessa figured when they were at Rourke’s place, she would question him about this new dog story. Hell, the animal had knocked him unconscious. How would he have known what it was?

When she started to leave with the sheriff and Ashton, Hunter smiled. “No good-bye kiss?”

She gave him an annoyed look. He grinned. Stalking across the floor, she meant to give him a peck on the cheek—show him. He grabbed her with his good arm, kissed her thoroughly—mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue—which melted her insides, and she wanted a hell of a lot more. Her face suffused with heat, she pulled away.

He gave her a sly smile. He knew what he did to her, damn it! “Don’t be gone too long.”

“I won’t be,” she whispered, “because I don’t trust you.”

He laughed. “Good. Best to be alert always.”

Ashton grinned, but Rourke looked annoyed. The sheriff had already left.

“Watch him,” she said to Rourke. “Don’t let him sneak out of the hospital.” Then she thought about the food incident and added, “And don’t you help him do that either.”

Then she left, but she had a very bad feeling about the situation.

For a human, Tessa had pretty good wolf instincts. As soon as she was a little way down the hall with Ashton, Rourke got Hunter’s clothes for him. Hunter pulled out the I.V. and then hurried to dress. “I take it you have a way to get us to your place until we rendezvous with Ashton and Tessa and head to her house.”

“Taxi.” Rourke got on the phone and called for one. He took the knife from one of the breakfast dishes and sawed through the hospital tag around Hunter’s wrist.

“Can you occupy the nurse while I go to the lobby and wait for the taxi?”

“Got it.” Rourke left the room.

Hunter waited until Rourke asked the nurse when the doctor was releasing Mr. Grey. Then Hunter stalked down the hall, found the stairs, and bolted down them. When he reached the lobby, he paced. Rourke soon joined him.

“It won’t take long for them to realize you’re gone.”

“They can’t hold patients against their will.” Hunter glanced out the window. “Taxi’s here.”

“That was sure quick.” Rourke raced after Hunter.

“Mr. Holloway?” the driver said.

“Yes.” Hunter climbed in and Rourke shut his door and then ran around to the other side.

“Five-twenty-two Sycamore, right?” the taxi driver asked.

Rourke smiled as he entered the cab. “Take us to 1032 Redwood.”

“You got it.”

“I hadn’t thought of giving an alias,” Hunter said to Rourke.

Rourke motioned to an old guy standing in front of the hospital, leaning on a cane. “I told you I thought it was awfully quick for the cab’s arrival. I think we took his.”

Another cab pulled up.

Hunter watched out the back window. “Good. He took ours then.”

“Hope he tells him a different address than my place.”

When they arrived at the brick apartment complex, Rourke paid the driver and Hunter headed toward the front door.

“You’ve got a hell of a lot of explaining to do.” Rourke fumbled for his keys as he joined Hunter. “Like why I can see in the damned dark? And why I can see things in the distance when I used to have to wear glasses. And hell, why that nurse smelled like a gray wolf—you, too. But also why I knew what a wolf smells like in the first place.”

“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have stuck your finger down my throat.”

“You tried to spit the pills out. I was trying to push them down farther so you’d swallow them. Wish I hadn’t. Well in a way. I mean, I like some of these abilities, but I want to know what I’ve gotten myself into.” Rourke shut the door behind them and turned on the heat. “Here, I’ll make the couch into a bed, and you can lie down before Ashton and Tessa show up.”

“The couch is fine. I’m feeling better already.”

Rourke removed the bandage from his finger. No sign of a bite. “Okay, start talking.”

Hunter meant to sit on the couch, but he was wearier than he thought. He reclined instead.

Rourke frowned. “Hell, I thought you were nearly healed.”

“Not for a few more days. But I’m healing too fast to stay at a hospital any longer.”

Rourke got him a pillow and blanket. “Need any pain medication?”

“Yeah, but this time, keep your fingers to yourself.”

“Deed’s already done, but believe me, I’ll be careful when I’m around you from now on.” He left and then returned with a glass of water and two white pills. “Start talking.”

“We’re lupus garou. Werewolves.”

Rourke collapsed on the leather chair in front of the coffee table. “Holy crap. You can’t be serious. But damn, you can’t be making it up either.”

“It’s true. When we shapeshift we’re like real wolves, except we still have our human reasoning. When we’re humans—”

“We have the increased senses of the wolf. I already got that part since I smelled women’s scents, pine needles, the shift in the weather from snow to drier conditions.” Rourke rubbed the newly sprouted whiskers on his chin. “The antiseptics in the hospital were nearly killing me, they were so strong. And I heard people talking way down the hall—not just talking, but heard what they were saying when I shouldn’t have been able to discern a thing. Then my finger began tingling like crazy, and it felt like it was healing at the speed of light. But I couldn’t figure out what had happened to me—only that it had to do with you. You really don’t remember who you are?”

“No. Only that I have a sister. I’m sure I lead a pack. And three grays pushed me off a cliff north of Tessa’s place.”

“Because?”

Hunter shrugged. “I might have deserved it. I don’t know.”

“So,” Rourke said, easing back in the chair, “if we bite someone, we turn them?”

“Not always. And we can’t when we’re human. It would put a damper on our sexual relations with human women if we had to worry about changing them by accident.”

“But you bit me! And gave me your condition.”

“I bit you, yes. But I’d tangled with the stalker before that. Our mouths clashed a couple of times and I tore his ear. I bit the other two wolves also. Either it was their blood or the stalker’s blood or saliva that transferred the genes. We’ll never know.”

“So you’re saying, technically, one of them changed me.”

“Technically yes. Because as a human, I couldn’t bite you and transfer the condition, but since my teeth opened your skin, it helped the transmission.”

Rourke relaxed. “Good, because I thought… well, I worried about Tessa.”

“I won’t turn her.”

“But the stalker—he’s a gray and he plans to, don’t you think?”

“That’s what Yoloff plans. I’m not giving him the chance.”

“Yoloff?”

“Yeah, and he has two brothers. The one paid me a visit in the middle of the night, figuring he could slip Tessa out from under my nose. I broke the one’s leg. He’ll probably heal in about the same amount of time it takes me to get back to normal.”

“Shit. They’re not going to give up.” Rourke combed his fingers through his hair. “So what are the negative aspects of being a lupus garou?”

“Having the uncontrollable urge to become a wolf when the moon is out, particularly strongest when it’s the full moon, although it’s not a constant craving. Once we fulfill the urge to hunt, we can manage several weeks without changing again. On the other hand, I’ve never personally known anyone who was changed by a bite, so it might be a little different for you.”