“No. Thank you for the news, if that’s all…? ”

“I’m Cara Woodson, by the way. Can I help you with that?” She pointed at the doorknob in Tessa’s hand.

“No, thanks. I can manage. Hunter won’t be back for a long while. Maybe you could return some other time.” How was she going to get rid of the pesky woman without just shoving her out the door?

“He won’t stay with you, you know.” Cara grabbed the Phillips-head screwdriver resting on the countertop. She began removing the old doorknob. “Why are we doing this?”

Barely hearing the question, Tessa was too wrapped up in the woman’s comment about Hunter. “Why do you think he won’t stay with me? Are you his former lover?”

Cara laughed. “Hardly. Although I’d like the chance to be his new lover.”

“He’s not interested.” Tessa had no doubt he wasn’t interested in her. But what if the woman plied her sexual charms on him? Any man would succumb eventually to a seductress.

“He’s not interested in me yet because of you. But you’re a temporary fling.”

“If you don’t know him, how could you think you know so much about him?”

“I just do. So, has someone been getting into your place without permission?”

“Yeah.” Why Tessa said so, she didn’t know. And afterward she wished she hadn’t.

“He has a key? Someone you’ve known? An old lover?”

“I don’t know who it might be.”

Tessa began installing the new lock while Cara examined the old one.

“What if he didn’t have a key to your place?”

Tessa glanced at her. “How could he not have?”

“What if he had a skeleton key? A lock-picking toolkit so he can get in anywhere he wants?”

Tessa felt sick to her stomach. If the guy could get in no matter the kind of lock they installed, she would never be safe until he was caught. Then what? He would get a slap on the hands? A restraining order? Then he would most likely be back to stalking her again.

“Is Hunter trying to locate the intruder?”

“Yes. But then he got bitten and…” Tessa shrugged.

They finished replacing the doorknob, and Tessa glanced back at the woods. A couple of inches of snow had already fallen. She turned around and found Cara watching her. “Since you came all the way out here, did you want some cocoa before you return to the city?”

“Sure. That would be grand.” Cara pulled off her jeans jacket and slipped an envelope out of her pocket. “Thought maybe you’d like these since your insurance was paying for Hunter’s accident on your property, and he left the hospital’s care early.”

Tessa glanced at them.

“The release forms. That way you weren’t charged for Hunter’s stay when he’d already left because he hadn’t officially signed out.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Truly she did, but Tessa was torn between being glad the woman was here so she wasn’t alone while the men were gallivanting in the woods, and not liking that Cara would undoubtedly try her womanly charms on Hunter again as soon as he returned.

“So what does your intruder look like?”

“I haven’t seen him, but Ashton says he’s tall, dark-haired like Hunter, and runs pretty fast.”

“Uh-huh. So what’s Hunter going to do about it?” Cara grabbed up a couple of napkins like she was used to playing hostess, and when the cocoa was ready she took the mugs to the table.

Tessa grabbed a package of chocolate wafers and joined her. “He’s going to turn him over to the sheriff when he catches him. He broke one of my windows and stole my gun.”

“Gun. Oh. So you couldn’t shoot him.”

“Or so he can commit a crime. Listen, I don’t want to keep you long in case the weather gets too bad. Aren’t you working tonight at the hospital?”

“I called in sick.” Cara smiled. “How did you know I was working tonight?”

“Ashton checked.”

Cara’s smiled broadened. “My, my. He’s the cute guy with the long, blond hair? Sharp blue eyes? Muscular build, but not quite as much as Hunter? So he wanted to know when I was coming back on duty?”

Tessa laughed inwardly. Wouldn’t the woman like to know the real reason Ashton wanted to know and what he really thought of her? On the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt for Tessa to spark the woman’s interest in Ashton if it meant she would leave Hunter alone. Ashton definitely deserved some payback after what he had pulled with her.

“Maybe you could take a look at his wound. Hunter and Rourke took care of it, but since you’re a nurse, I’d feel better if you made sure it was really all right.”

“I’d be happy to.” Cara frowned. “Why did they leave you alone? Are they in pursuit of this guy?”

“No. Not exactly. Ashton took off for whatever reason. Hunter told Rourke to stay with me, but the next thing I knew, he’d taken off after them. At least I presume he had.” Tessa pointed at the rifle. “They left that for me.”

“You know how to shoot?”

“Sure. Why would I own a gun if I didn’t? I got off a couple of rounds into the wolf that bit Ashton, I think.”

Cara’s eyes widened. “Oh, well, good shooting.”

Tessa raised the mug to her lips to take another sip when the doorbell rang. Her heart skipped a beat, and she nearly dropped her mug.

“Shall we see who it is? Maybe it’s the sheriff.” Cara sounded perfectly fearless.

Tessa wished she felt as sure of herself. But the wolf attack that had followed the ringing of the doorbell earlier still had her spooked.

Tessa set her mug down and grabbed the rifle, just in case it wasn’t the sheriff. Or maybe it was Hunter or one of the others. She had locked them out of the house.

But when she looked through the peephole, she saw a striking brunette, her amber eyes peering back at her. Uncle Basil’s niece?

Figuring as irritated as the woman looked, she’d give Tessa some more guff, she opened the door. “Yes?”

Her eyes narrowing, the woman growled, “Where the hell is Hunter?”

Chapter 10

HUNTER FOUND ASHTON’S CLOTHES DITCHED ABOUT a mile north of Tessa’s house and swore under his breath. He removed his clothes, shuddered in the frigid air, ripped off his bandages, and changed into the wolf. But it wasn’t painless this time. Sharp streaks stabbed through his injured shoulder, hurting more than he thought it would. All he wanted was to return to Tessa, nap, snuggle, and a hell of a lot more if she was receptive. He would kill Ashton.

For three miles he trotted after him, stopping to sniff at the scents in the air, checking the direction Ashton went. Ashton had marked “his” territory four times already. Idiot. If he came across the brothers Grimm, he would never be able to handle a wolf-to-wolf fight. Not as a newly turned lupus garou, Hunter didn’t think.

Although if Tessa did manage to shoot one of them twice, he probably wouldn’t be messing with anyone for a while. The one with the broken leg would be pretty incapacitated still. Hunter relaxed a little.

Until he heard a wolf howl somewhere in the distance farther north. Ashton. Maybe.

Hunter headed in the wolf’s direction. The snow was falling heavier, the air colder, the flakes burying the evergreens, making them droop like white-bearded old men. The place was already looking like a winter wonderland again.

The pain in Hunter’s shoulder seemed to grow incrementally every step he took. Going for a run with Rourke later was now out of the question. He hoped Rourke could hold off a while longer.

Something moved to the west, catching his eye. He whipped around. A cougar stood still, holding a rabbit between his teeth, his eyes wary as he watched Hunter.

His heart thundering, Hunter waited, twitching his ears back and forth, listening to the rapid beat of the cougar’s heart. With any luck, the cougar would take his meal and go, but he stared Hunter down like any feral predator would. Messing with a wild cat when they were protecting their meal could be a dangerous proposition. One of his lupus garou pack had perished when fighting a cougar this big, and Hunter had no intention of tangling with him when he needed to protect that idiot Ashton.

A twig snapped west of them. The cougar bolted through the woods and the reason came into view. Ashton—his fur more of a beige, his snout a little darker, a dead duck in his mouth. If Hunter could laugh in his wolf form at the ridiculousness of it, he would.

Movement in the woods behind Hunter made him twist around. Pain sliced through his shoulder. Fury slid through his veins, setting his blood on fire as he found Rourke facing him. His fur a dark brown, he bowed his head slightly to Hunter.

Holy crap! He would kill the two of them. Hunter raced in the direction where he’d left his clothes, but even so it would take valuable time to get there, dress, and run home. If anything happened to Tessa, he would never forgive himself.

Even though he kept telling himself he should have left Ashton and Rourke to fend for themselves after what they’d pulled, he couldn’t. Not by lupus garou laws. Once they were turned, they had to be somebody’s responsibility and no one else was stepping up for the job.

Technically, Tessa wasn’t his responsibility. So why was his human side casting away all his inborn rules? Damn it to hell. If anything happened to her… there would be hell to pay.

When he finally reached his clothes, he shoved them on, no longer feeling the pain in his shoulder because of the adrenaline spiking through his system. Ashton ran up beside him, the stupid dead mallard still in his mouth. Rourke ran ahead toward the house. No sign of his clothes, so he must have changed sooner after he left the house. Hell, hopefully, not in front of Tessa.

His heart hammering, Hunter sprinted for the house. A couple of hours had already passed since he had left Tessa, and he still had another damn mile left to go in the snowdrifts.

The brunette’s amber eyes speared Tessa, then she turned her attention to Cara. “Where the hell is Hunter?” she repeated.