by Terry Spear
“Take Sarandon with you,” Darien said, breaking into Eric’s thoughts. “You said you both were giving talks to Boy Scout troops in the area. Take him with you when you investigate this visiting wolf pack.”
Darien was giving a pack leader order, and Eric didn’t like it. He knew Darien was concerned for him, but that’s what irked Eric the most. “Eric? I know you’re perfectly capable of handling this on your own, but for my peace of mind, will you take him along?”
Eric was surprised Darien would change his tune. He normally wouldn’t have altered his command to a request with any other pack member—except when it came to his pack leader mate, Lelandi, and no way did he order her about.
“They packed up and left already.”
“Okay, but I still want you to take Sarandon.”
“Yeah, all right.” What else could Eric do? He had gone against Darien’s rule on occasion, but not when it might involve another wolf pack and get his own into trouble.
“Let me know what you learn.”
“Will do.” Eric hadn’t wanted the whole pack in on this. Sarandon would keep Eric’s injury secret from their younger brothers, Brett and CJ. But Eric was afraid news would somehow get out that he was bitten by a wolf from a neighboring wolf pack and was trying to track down the pack.
Others in the Silver pack would want to help him. Including his brothers. He really didn’t want anyone’s help in this. The more who got involved, the more the she-wolf would feel he was being too pushy. He’d been accused of it before; well, of being too bossy when he wanted to help the three new she-wolves in the pack to renovate the Silver Town Hotel. He wasn’t one to stand by and not offer advice when he came up with some brilliant ideas of his own.
Eric was also worried that if the wolves were involved in the drug business, they could get spooked and run off to another park that he didn’t have jurisdiction over.
When Eric arrived at the clinic, Doc Weber let him in, glanced at the blood soaking his shirt, and shook his head.
“Did you call Darien about this?” Doc asked as Eric stripped off his shirt in the exam room. He then removed the bandages Eric had applied.
“I did.”
“So how did it happen?”
Eric had to explain all over again.
Doc stopped stitching him up for a moment to consider him, his white brows deeply furrowed. “I’ll have to give Darien a medical report.”
“Over a couple of lousy stitches?” Eric snorted, wishing he could have pretended nothing was wrong, but because of the location of the second bite, he couldn’t have stitched the wound closed himself. Plus the antibiotics could help keep the bite from becoming infected. Suturing it would help it heal faster than if he’d just let his enhanced wolf healing abilities take care of it.
“Twelve on one shoulder, ten on the other. And they’re fine stitches, if I do say so myself. I’d tell you to take it easy for a couple of days, no running as a wolf, and by the end of the week you should be mostly healed. But I know you won’t listen to me.”
Eric grabbed up his shirt, but didn’t put it on. With the suturing and the new bandages, he wouldn’t bleed on the driver’s seat and he didn’t want to put on the bloody shirt.
“Take it easy, and if you need anything for pain…”
“Nothing. Thanks.” Eric left the clinic and when he arrived home, he called Sarandon one last time for the night. He really didn’t want to take Sarandon with him tomorrow, but pack leader orders. He began washing the blood out of his shirt when Sarandon answered.
“Hey, what did Doc say? You must have already seen him by now.”
“Couple of stitches. Why don’t you come with me to try and locate the pack tomorrow? I want to check on the woman and see how she’s faring.”
Sarandon was so quiet, Eric thought he’d lost the connection. “Okay?”
“I know you didn’t threaten the women or this wolf, or you would have taken a chunk out of him. You didn’t, did you?”
“No. I just left the area.”
“If he’s a lupus garou, it seems he wouldn’t react so aggressively unless he were provoked.”
“I didn’t provoke him.”
“I know. I’m just saying, it seems odd. It seems he has more at stake here.”
“Alpha male pack leader, I suspect. Anyway, no big deal.”
“And the woman you’re interested in?”
“Yes, she’s alpha. At least around the women she was with at the creek, and then later when she met up with me at the cabin.”
“You were alone, together?”
“No. Give me a break.”
“Then the guy was most likely her mate.”
“One of the women said a guy wanted to court her but she wasn’t interested.”
“How many are following that wolf then?”
“The one who attacked me was probably with her pack. She might be a sub-leader or just another alpha in the pack. He might be the pack leader, or a sub-leader or just another alpha in their pack. We have several alphas in ours. She might have several in hers. And if he’s not with her pack, he could be a lone wolf.”
“All right. I’m just saying don’t get your hopes up. Wait, you’ve been trying to catch up to the wolves growing pot in the remoter areas of the park. Don’t tell me you think this pack has anything to do with it.”
“Do you want to come with me or not?” Eric couldn’t help being annoyed. He wasn’t declaring his interest in courting the she-wolf. Yeah, he found her attractive, and just the fact she was an alpha intrigued him. But she hadn’t trusted him enough to help take her pack member to Dr. Weber. Then again, maybe that was some of his problem. The need to prove he was trustworthy and not in the least bit bossy. As to the other matter, he wasn’t going to say they might be the wolves who planted the weed if they were innocent.
“Did Doc say you should rest up a bit?” Sarandon asked, abruptly changing the subject, as if he knew Eric was about to leave him out of this.
“Yeah, he did. But you know him. He always thinks anyone who has been injured should be abed for days afterward.”
“Of course he does, because he doesn’t want to have to redo his work if the wolf doesn’t mind him and pulls out the stitches. And, hell yeah, I want to go with you. Did you want to ask CJ to come with us? As a deputy sheriff, he would lend a little extra weight.”
“No. I don’t want to escalate this into something more than a case of reaching out to show friendship.”
“All right. I’ll make sure the group I’m working with gets an early start counting butterflies so I can make it in time to give my lecture, and then we can see to this other matter at lunchtime.”
Order Terry Spear's sixth book
in the Silver Town Wolf series
Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply
On sale May 2016
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my beta readers, Donna Fournier and Loretta Melvin, who were the only two I had time to send the manuscript to this go-around! Thanks to Deb Werksman, my editor, and to the whole production staff. The covers are phenomenal!
About the Author
Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and several medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing her new series about shape-shifting jaguars and cougar shifters, and having fun with her young adult novels, when she’s not playing with her two Havanese puppies, Max and Tanner. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on
her blog, Terry Spear’s Shifters: www.terryspear.wordpress.com.
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