Protector Wolf

by Linda O. Johnston

  And he felt certain that she wouldn’t appreciate it.

  Their walk back to the hotel was at a nice, leisurely pace, partly because Maya asked to be the one to hold Rocky’s leash again. Ryan’s cover dog acted as he should, taking his time sniffing out everything and taking care of what he needed to this night before they went to bed.

  The air was comfortably cool, and the streets in this small retail area were fairly quiet. In all, it was a very pleasant time.

  “Have either of you ever been to Washington State before?” Maya asked as they neared their destination.

  “I have, briefly, when I was a kid,” Piers said. “My family took a sightseeing trip to the Seattle area. It was fun, but I never really thought about coming back again. Glad I’m here, though.”

  “This is my first time here,” Ryan responded, “but I like it, or at least what I’ve seen of it so far. I may stick around even longer than I’d first planned.”

  Like, until the next full moon, thanks to his belief now that there actually were shifters in Fritts Corner.

  Or maybe he would leave and come back.

  But at the moment, staying as long as Maya did felt best, at least until that next full moon.

  When they reached the hotel, Ryan opened the door to the otherwise empty lobby. “Is Rocky staying with you tonight?” he asked Piers—another way of telling his aide that Rocky was staying with him that night.

  “Sure thing. Good night, you two.” Piers took the end of the leash from Maya and tugged gently till Rocky followed him up the stairs—but not before Piers aimed a knowing smile toward Ryan.

  A very suggestive smile, but Ryan had no intention of doing anything but acting gentlemanly and seeing Maya to her room.

  To the door of her room, and that was all.

  They walked up the steps together, side by side. Ryan had an urge to reach over and take her hand—to steady her on the steps—but he knew it would be a bad idea to touch her at all.

  He managed to share glances with her now and then on their climb. Was there something in her gaze besides friendliness and appreciation of someone else who liked wolves?

  He thought so. And the heat, the interest, he thought he saw there turned him on…no matter how inappropriate that was.

  He tried to make his thoughts back off—tried being the operative word.

  “It’s only been a few days since I arrived here,” Maya said, her upward pace slow but deliberate, “but it feels as if I’ve been here much longer.” The smile she shot at him was sexy as well as sweet.

  “Is that a good or bad thing?” Ryan asked. They had reached the hallway to the third floor, where Maya’s room was. He again resisted the urge to take her hand. No reason at all to try to steady her.

  “Good, I think. And I hadn’t planned to stay long, but I may extend it depending on how things go at my new talk tomorrow. If people seem to take the position I do, that wildlife is wonderful but shouldn’t be approached for one’s own safety, that’s great. But I’d still like to know what really happened with Morton Fritts.”

  “Me, too,” Ryan said, really meaning it. Well, he would find out somehow, maybe tomorrow and maybe not, but one way or another he needed to know.

  At her doorway, Maya reached into the small purse she carried and extracted her room key—an actual key in this older place. She unlocked her door.

  Ryan was about to tell her good-night and suggest they meet for breakfast again tomorrow—when she grabbed his hand and yanked him inside.

  In moments, her arms were around him and he couldn’t help but reciprocate. Their kiss was hot and long and damn sexy, with her pushing hard against him and teasing him with her tongue.

  For a moment, he found himself eager to accompany her across the room to her bed.

  But then reality set in. He certainly hadn’t brought any protection along, and he wasn’t about to make love with this amazingly sexy woman without making sure no offspring resulted.

  Although the idea of surprising this wildlife lover with the kind of offspring they’d conceive…

  No way!

  Reluctantly but with determination he ended the kiss, even as his mouth, and the rest of his body, ached for more.

  “Wow,” he said, smiling down at her, appreciating the surprise on her sensual, clearly stimulated face. “Wow,” he repeated. “Now that’s a great way to say good-night. So, good night, Maya. Let’s grab breakfast together in the morning again, okay? Same time as today?”

  Before she could respond, he hurried out the door.

  And wondered if he would be able to sleep that night—or if his body would be aching for what had been more than hinted about here, but he’d unfortunately had to end.

  Chapter 11

  The hallway on her floor was empty when Maya finally left her room the next morning to head downstairs and meet her breakfast companions.

  She had taken her time getting ready so she was running a little late. She’d even considered calling Ryan to tell him she was going to skip the meal.

  Mostly, she wanted to skip seeing him, thanks to her confusion over his reaction to their kiss the previous night. Only…well, the problem was that she did want to see him. Maybe look him straight in those deep brown eyes and attempt to figure out if her attraction to him was wholly one-sided.

  She hadn’t thought so, but…

  Well, it wasn’t like her to be so forward, either. Maybe he’d done her a favor.

  She walked more briskly down the steps until she reached the lobby and looked around. Sure enough, the men and dog were waiting for her near the door.

  Should she apologize for being late?

  No. In a way, it was Ryan’s fault—although she couldn’t exactly explain it even to him, let alone to Piers.

  She made her way through the small lobby crowd till she reached them—and neither man looked at her immediately. They were apparently engaged in conversation, something about what they should be looking for around here.

  Here? In the lobby? In town?

  Maybe they didn’t even realize she wasn’t on time. Of course, it was only five minutes past when they’d agreed to meet, which wasn’t particularly bad, but still—

  “Hi,” she said, not looking at either of them but kneeling to give Rocky a big hug. She appreciated the fuzzy, warm feel of the dog, and the way he nuzzled her face. Too bad she couldn’t just opt to spend time with him this morning and not the others.

  When she stood again and saw both men looking at her, she tried to read the expression on Ryan’s face. Maybe she was seeing what she hoped to, but she thought she saw a hint of regret, maybe sadness.

  Yeah, and maybe she saw an expression like a scolded dog on his face, too.

  “So, you guys ready to eat?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Piers responded. “Same place as yesterday?”

  “Fine with me.” Maya pivoted to head out the door. She assumed Ryan would follow.

  Instead, he rushed slightly ahead and pushed open the door in front of her. Outside, he positioned himself beside her on the sidewalk as they headed in the direction of the restaurant.

  “Good morning,” he finally said. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Very well, thanks,” she responded, inserting a happy lilt into her voice as if their final contact last night had meant nothing to her. “How about you?”

  “Well enough,” was all he said.

  *

  Which was a big, fat lie, Ryan thought as he slowed his pace to stay right beside Maya on the narrow but fortunately nearly empty sidewalk. So what else was new? He was used to lying for all sorts of reasons, especially to regular humans. Why should things be different now?

  The thing was, his body told him for a long time into the night that he should have done more with Maya, since she seemed to be interested in him, too.

  Yeah, your human body, he kept reminding himself—and also how she was likely to react if she ever learned who and what he really was.

  They soon reach
ed the restaurant. Once again there was a bit of a wait, and this morning eavesdropping was not likely to be especially productive. No strangers around here were likely to be discussing howls and wolves. Even so, they were soon seated.

  They all ordered food similar to the prior morning’s. And once they’d told their server what they wanted, Ryan made a few additional suggestions about how Maya should address her talk that afternoon. Strong suggestions. Dictated it a bit more, whether or not she liked that. Heck, it was for her own benefit.

  Not to mention his—and the other wolves around town, natural or shifters.

  Once they had coffee and their server had left, Ryan was amused when Maya looked him straight in the eye and said, “I know why you wanted to spend some time with me this morning.”

  Of course she would after that kiss last night…but that’s not what she meant. Her expression was neutral—at least if he ignored what looked like a minor combo of heat and irritation in her lovely hazel eyes. Or was he just reading into them what he expected to see?

  “Tell me why.” He donned a mask of what he hoped looked like humor without much emotion—despite the inappropriate warmth he felt just being in her presence, especially here, at breakfast, with his aide and cover dog and a whole room full of diners around them.

  “You want to try to figure out whether I intend to give the talk you want me to this afternoon. Well, it’s my decision—and here’s what I’m going to say.”

  Maya began expounding again on the thrill of having wolves in the area, and speculations about what might have happened the other night—not mentioning her own meet-up with canines, he noticed—and the reports on a person having been injured by a wolf after possibly trying to find the source of the howls.

  “After that, I’ll get into what WHaM is about again—keeping track of wildlife and appreciating it, and hopefully getting other people to appreciate it, too. Plus, maintaining as good a census as possible.”

  She paused as their server reappeared with food and more coffee. Beside Ryan, Rocky stood up and all but put his nose on the table, so both he and Piers gave the beggar a little of their own breakfasts.

  As he did so, Ryan said to Maya, “Sounds exactly like what I’d suggest so far, but I assume there’s more.”

  *

  “Of course there’s more,” Maya asserted. A lot more, she thought—but she’d get into only part of it here. “That’s when I’ll again stress how wonderful our country is,” she continued, “with its wildlife free in a lot of areas to exist and thrive and be there for us, sometimes, to see. But the threatened and endangered animals need to be kept safe. And for that to happen, people who are interested in them have to use their supposedly more intelligent human brains and remember not to get too close. After all, we call them wildlife for a reason.” She gave a sharp nod as she stressed that first syllable. And then she opened her mouth to continue with her approach, what she wanted to say, how she wanted to convince people—

  But Ryan interrupted. “I like it all. I know you’ll do a great job.” His eyes met hers, and despite her mouth still being open and her slight irritation at having been stopped, she felt warm inside. Appreciated.

  “Thank you,” she said softly, swallowing the rest of her ideas. “And—”

  “And we’ll be there, of course, to cheer you on,” Piers added. Maya dragged her gaze away from Ryan to look at him.

  “Thanks,” she said again.

  “Plus, we may contribute to what you say,” Ryan added. “And help keep the audience under control as they cheer you.”

  Which made Maya feel even warmer. She hoped all would go well that afternoon.

  Maybe with Ryan and Piers there, and Rocky, too, it would.

  *

  Breakfast was over soon, though the guys hadn’t seemed to be in a particular hurry. Even so, after Maya had taken the time to let everyone in the restaurant know about her next upcoming talk, they all soon left. At least this time she didn’t have to fight very hard to ensure she could pay her own bill, although they didn’t allow her to treat them.

  Well, maybe next time.

  She felt rather sad when they said goodbye to her outside the door. “We’ll see you at your talk this afternoon,” Ryan said, and then the men and Rocky started down the sidewalk without asking where she was heading or inviting her to join them.

  Oh, well. She had a goal of sorts in mind, although she wasn’t sure how to fulfill it.

  It wasn’t enough just to let this morning’s restaurant patrons know about her talk. She had to at least go visit the people in town who’d seemed interested in what she’d said before. Interested in wildlife protection.

  Too bad she didn’t know where that Trev was staying. She’d like to let him know, too. He’d at least stood up for her and WHaM before.

  For the next half hour, she walked the streets of Fritts Corner, stopping in the Corner Grocery Store and other establishments, letting the owners know and inviting them to come to her talk.

  When she figured it was almost time to head for the park, she saw Trev across the street, alone this time and not with the girl she’d seen him with the other day.

  She waited till the street was empty of moving cars, then crossed.

  “Hey, Trev,” she called but didn’t really have to since he had apparently seen her, too, and was waiting for her. Today his button-down shirt was blue, his light, short hair was messy, and he grinned geekily at her once more. “I hope you have some time this afternoon,” she told him, and quickly explained why.

  *

  “Keeping the audience under control will be the big thing,” Ryan said to Piers later as they stood beside the aging podium. Maya was already at it, getting her presentation together and preparing to show slides again on the screen behind her.

  Right now, that part of the park was filling up with a lot of people, and Ryan recognized quite a few.

  Any media folks? He wasn’t sure but didn’t think he saw any who’d admitted to it at Maya’s last presentation, and no one appeared to be preparing to take notes and pictures.

  Some of those present had been in the restaurant that morning, though. He’d been somewhat amused when, after they’d finished eating, Maya had insisted on circling the tables and inviting the patrons to come hear a talk this afternoon all about the wonders of wildlife—and how to protect oneself, too.

  In fact, Piers and he had joined in, and Rocky’s presence had garnered a lot of attention that indicated the people they spoke with actually had an interest in attending.

  Some had mentioned coming back since they enjoyed Maya’s last presentation.

  But when they were done, Ryan had gotten Piers and Rocky headed back to their hotel. He’d have liked to stay with Maya but they had some Alpha Force business to attend to.

  And he’d known he would see her soon. Here. In the park.

  In fact, they’d already met up with her, right where they expected she would be.

  “Wow!” she said. “There are a lot of people here already and I don’t start for another ten minutes.”

  Ryan looked up at the podium to see that Maya had stopped fussing with the materials in front of her and began looking at the grounds. Her eyes looked huge, as if she was a bit nervous, but then she smiled.

  “Guess I’d better do a good job,” she added.

  “Guess you’d better.” Ryan made his tone sound stern, but when she caught his eye he grinned. “And I’m sure you will.”

  She seemed to relax a little as she got back to organizing her stuff. And Ryan looked around.

  “She’s right,” Piers said. “And so are you.” He stood near Ryan, with Rocky sitting on the lawn beside him looking interested and alert.

  “Of course I am,” Ryan responded. “You should know that.”

  He was teasing, of course, but that was a sort of reminder that, in their real life and job, Piers was his aide. Not that Piers ever needed a reminder. He had even taken charge of typing on his computer the list of to-do t
houghts Ryan had dictated to him back at their hotel before—mundane stuff in addition to the way he assisted in Ryan’s shifts. Now, he just raised his eyebrows at his superior officer, who smiled and looked down toward Rocky.

  “Good boy,” Ryan said soothingly to his cover dog, who remained still but tense as he sat there. Did Rocky capture the smell of shifters in this group? At least for now, Ryan didn’t.

  But as he had hoped, the whole Sharan family was there—Burt and Kathie and their son, Pete. At the moment, they all stood off toward the edge of the crowd, with some other folks Ryan recognized from the earlier presentation and otherwise, including bar owner Buck Lesterman. They were too far away from him to catch their scents unless he’d been in wolf form.

  There were aromas around him, though: the freshness of the grass, some forest smells from the hills rising beyond them, too many perfumes and aftershaves worn by the growing crowd—and canine scents, since some of those people had also brought their dogs to the park for this talk.

  A couple of the larger dogs—maybe a Great Dane mix and a Doberman—seemed interested in getting close to Rocky and tugged at their leashes, but their owners kept them well enough under control that they didn’t approach. Rocky was aware of them, though, looking in their direction and keeping his nose working.

  Good wolf-dog that he was, he didn’t pull at his own leash and remained sitting between the two men who were his pack. Ryan kept his hand gently on Rocky’s head to reward him.

  As they stood there, Ryan noted that guy who’d been at Maya’s last presentation and seemed too interested in her afterward now making his way through the crowd. What was his name? Oh, yeah, Trev. But Ryan didn’t want to sound as if he cared if some other fellow flirted with her.

  Even though, despite how dumb it was, he did care.

  The September day was warm and a little humid but not particularly uncomfortable. It seemed a good day for an outdoor presentation.

  And Ryan settled in to listen as Maya started to speak. The microphone worked well, and her voice resonated loudly enough so that Ryan believed everyone here could hear her. It seemed quite loud to his own enhanced hearing, and yet he welcomed it.