by Bonnie Vanak
Jenny looked up at him, admiration flaring on her face. “Are you my wolf in shining fur?”
He gave a little laugh. “I’m no hero, sweetheart. Just a guy on the road who’s lost his way.”
She took his hand. “I’ll pay for tonight’s room. I have some money and I want to thank you for trying to save me.”
As he looked at her big eyes, her waiflike look, Troy knew the truth. “Maybe you were the one who saved me.”
She gave him a puzzled look, then shook her head. “All I ask is one thing. Don’t fall in love with me. I’m bad news.”
Odd request. He pointed up the street. “Let’s go.”
As they dashed toward the hotel, Troy no longer felt adrift.
Purpose filled him. Jenny looked so frail and young, his protective instincts surged, along with a hard kick of pure male lust. Yet he had the feeling as much as he wanted to keep her safe, he was the one in danger.
Because he sensed this little Lupine had a power stronger than the ones she’d exhibited on the violent Skins. She could do more than break his bones.
She could break his heart.
Chapter 1
Montana, two months later
Just another boring lecture. Not.
It stopped being boring when Professor Eric Niles Perry began rambling about “werewolves walking amongst us.”
Jaw dropping, Jeff Carson stared at the man banging his fist on the podium. He knew Perry was eccentric and had serious doubts about his devotion to conserving wildlife, hell, even his master’s degree seemed fake. Perry came from a wealthy logging family and didn’t have to work, unlike Jeff who had sweated and labored in menial jobs the entire time he was in school.
Perry was a wild card who treated others with snobbish disdain. But this took things way too far.
Jeff’s girlfriend Judy poked him in the ribs. “Isn’t he brilliant?”
Off his rocker, most likely. There were no such things as werewolves.
The professor, preaching to a slim crowd in the university’s auditorium, talked of full moons and people who howled. Sighing, Jeff leaned back, stretched out his legs. Been a long day in the field. The wolf pack he’d been tracking in the mountains of Montana had a large territory and sitting for hours in a blind to watch them unobserved had been tiring, but worth it. Four new pups in the Timberline Pack! He wanted to celebrate with champagne and a romantic dinner out with Judy, but she dragged him here.
Obviously one of Perry’s more devout fans, who’d taken his class on wildlife and human co-habitation.
Jeff closed his eyes.
But when Perry began talking about trapping and shooting these wolves, he sat up and paid close attention. Real close attention.
Perry, his short hair sticking up at all ends, pointed a finger into his audience. “These werewolves are evil! They are neither human nor wolf. They must be trapped and shot and destroyed. Better yet, they must be completely wiped off the face of the earth. They are an aberration of nature!”
Holy nuthouse. This dude was off his rocker. Shooting wolves? They were supposed to be saving them from hunters, not joining them. Next the guy would start babbling about sacrificing them.
Perry’s voice dropped. He leaned on the podium. “Evil, ladies and gentlemen. Such evil must be returned to the bowels of earth from which it sprang.”
“You believe this crap?” he hissed at Judy.
Rapt with attention for the man up front, she ignored him.
“I’ll be outside,” he muttered, and slid out of his seat. The door couldn’t be reached fast enough.
His stomach whirled and grumbled as he leaned over, struggling with his nausea. Forget the fact he hadn’t eaten since grabbing a banana before racing out the door this morning for the long drive to the wolf’s territory. Perry’s lecture made him want to throw up. Thoughts spun around his head in a maelstrom. How the hell could someone call themselves a conservationist and want to kill wolves, not because they overpopulated, but for some nutcase theory that they were also human?
Jeff thought about the Timberline Pack he’d seen in the mountains of Montana, above a serene valley where horses and cattle grazed. Gradually his thoughts and stomach settled. When he first started his research, he’d worried the rancher in the valley would see and shoot the pack. After talking with the rancher, he’d found out the man not only knew about the pack of wolves, but encouraged studying them.
The rancher’s niece turned out to be one of Jeff’s students.
Beth Mason not only knew her uncle Aiden well, she lived on the Mitchell Ranch. He planned a little talk with her tomorrow. Beth seemed quiet and kind, and genuinely interested in saving wolves.
Voices drifted his way as the doors swung open and the few in attendance began drifting out. Some looked amused, others disgusted, while others seemed spellbound as if they agreed.
To his dismay, Judy had the same fascinated look on her pretty face. As if Perry were a cult leader and she’d swallowed the Kool Aid.
She ran over to greet him. “Have you ever heard anything so interesting? He’s a distinguished professor!”
He wondered if aliens had kidnapped his girlfriend and swapped out her brain cells with rocks. Perhaps granite. Or feldspar.
Jeff sighed. “Judy, I have a bachelor’s degree in biology, master’s degree in wildlife conservation from Amherst, and my PhD in wildlife conservation biology from Colorado State. Perry bought his degree at a local convenience store with his daddy’s money.”
Her glare made him sigh again. “It’s a joke.”
“He’s your equal, Jeff. He’s as much of an authority as you are.”
He tried another tactic. “We are not equals. Even so…” he pushed off the wall and locked gazes with her. “Never mind the academic snobbery. Consider what your hero said a few minutes ago. He wants to kill wolves. Not save them. Not document their movements. Not protect them. Kill them, and by the sounds of his manic raging, make it pretty damn bloody as well.”
“He was joking to get our attention.” Judy shook her head.
“That’s the stupidest joke I’ve ever heard of.”
But the faraway, slightly vacant look in Judy’s eyes warned nothing he said would sway her from her worship of Professor Perry. Hell, maybe they were even sleeping together. Judy certainly hadn’t seemed interested the past two weeks and he’d been too engrossed in his studies of the Timberline Pack.
Jeff rubbed his aching temples. Time to call it quits in this relationship. How the hell did he end up with her as girlfriend? Were they ever compatible?
In bed, yeah. The sex was terrific. But he was 32 now and some things were more important to him than sex. He didn’t give a damn if Judy’s hips were like windmills and she made his cock feel like it’d been zapped with lightning. Not if she believed this fool.
This dangerous fool.
“Professor Perry said we must be vigilant. Times are changing and we have to prepare in order to save ourselves and the wolves are key to this. He invited me to join his study group. There’s a waiting list. He already has ten students and he said I can join their next meeting. We’re going to study the legend of werewolves.”
Maybe he shouldn’t break up with her yet. Not until he discovered what this asswipe Perry planned. Knowledge was power. If it meant saving innocent wolves that already were endangered, he’d play along.
“That’s a different approach to teaching. But most people don’t just go around saying there are werewolves. Not unless there’s proof.”
“He saw one two days ago when he flew his father’s helicopter over this ranch. He looked down and saw a man and a woman near the forest. The women changed into a wolf. At least he thinks she did, which is why he needs to investigate.”
“And why was he flying daddy’s helicopter?” Jeff demanded. “Working? Searching for wolf packs?”
“Professor Perry said he was surveying the mountains around the ranch for logging. His father owns that logging company and there’
s good timber there.”
Another reason to dislike the man. Who heard of a conservationist who liked to cut down wildlife habitats?
“Where is this mythical werewolf he claims he saw?”
“Some mountainous place by a ranch a few hours from here. A place called…” Judy’s brow wrinkled and then smoothed. “Oh yeah. The Mitchell Ranch.”
Jeff’s heart stilled. The Mitchell Ranch, the property abutting the mountains where the Timberline Pack lived. He needed to make that phone call to talk with Beth Mason’s uncle.
Tonight.
She never wanted more than she needed. Until Troy came along, and she found herself wanting him.
Not needing him. I don’t need anyone. The moment you need someone, you make yourself vulnerable.
Jenny scuffled her feet in the earth, stirring the dead leaves and making them swirl in the sudden breeze. Troy was gone far too long. She didn’t like it when he left and disliked staying human form while he was gone.
For your own protection. I ain’t gonna be here to watch over you, Jenny, so you hang here and pretend to be a botanist, in case any Skins come along. If you’re in wolfskin, they’ll shoot you. Don’t decide to spontaneously shift like you did when that helicopter was flying overhead. Let them spook you and you’re a target.
Jenny knew all about wolf shootings. It was a little more than one year ago when hunters in huge black helicopters, sun glinting off the shiny metal, shot at her pack as they raced along a green meadow, desperate to evade the rifle fire.
Her entire family died that day, her mother’s dead body shielding Jenny from the assault. Their pack leader led them straight into a death run.
Now she trusted Skins less than she did foolhardy pack leaders. If she could stay in wolfskin forever, she would.
Troy wasn’t a Skin lover. He was wolf, through and through. Like her, he loved running wild and free through forest and field. When they’d found each other nearly two months ago, Jenny discovered her equal.
Her seemingly dormant hormones discovered they liked him as well. Every time she was around Troy, she trembled with raw female need.
Need she’d learned to push aside. Couldn’t afford to get entangled with anyone, not even a hot Lupine like Troy.
Friend, yes. Troy became her best friend. They roamed together, sticking to the nomad life, staying in wolfskin as much as possible to hunt and eat. Troy was honest and open, but he hid secrets, and she respected him too much to pry. He lived simply, liked to camp, yet he drove an expensive SUV. On the occasion when they booked a hotel room for the night, he insisted she take the bed while he curled up in his sleeping bag on the floor.
He had money and yet claimed he lived with a peace-loving pack that wasn’t into material items.
This forest, abutting a ranch called the Mitchell Ranch, was full of game. Troy told her he wanted to check the place out. He said they had a friendly pack and a friend had invited him to visit.
They’d driven here in Troy’s SUV two days ago, parking the vehicle at an access road and living off the land. But today Troy set off to buy supplies in town.
Sighing, Jenny touched the petals of a yellow daisy growing beside a tree stump. At least in Skin form, she could appreciate nature more, and little things like flowers. She tried so hard lately to find good things about being in her human form, because lately, she sensed an urgent restlessness in her friend. Troy wasn’t going to stick to this nomad roving much longer.
I’ll be alone again.
Better alone than dead.
Voices sounded in the distance. Leaves crunched under heavy footsteps, and the scent of the intruders filled her senses.
Patches of thick mud dotted the ground from a recent rainfall. Jenny scooped up handfuls, covering herself to disguise her scent. Breath coming in hot and fast, she scrambled for cover, slid in the mud and fell, her face striking against a rock. Warm blood trickled down her cheek. She made no noise.
Long ago she learned never to cry out.
Finally she found her footing, and dove behind a rotting tree stump to hide, her breath coming hot and fast. Fear skidded down her spine like spider legs against bare skin.
Jenny crouched down to make herself as small as possible, wishing she could shift. But she promised Troy. And shifting might mean these Skins would shoot her like they shot her family. Maybe they were hunters as well.
Stealing a peek around the log, she bit her lip.
Two Skins with rifles slung over their shoulders. Hunting?
She sniffed. No, not Skins. The distinct scent of Lupines mingled with a faint spicy aftershave on one, and cedar and vanilla on another. Vanilla intrigued her. This male with his black beard and muscled body looked too arrogant and confident to have the pure scent of virginity clinging to him. But vanilla also meant childhood.
Maybe he had a child, and if so, he must be a doting father.
The other Lupine had the stamp of female all over him, as if he’d recently indulged in sex. Lots of sex. Sex in Skin, but the earthy musk covered him like a blanket.
Jenny licked her lips, fighting her own natural urges. She focused on staying quiet and still, observing from her vantage point.
The two males paused, and the bearded one scanned the ground, his gaze hard. She shivered. He had the air of alpha about him, and an unhappy one.
“I can’t smell the trail anymore, Dale. You?”
The younger, beardless Lupine tilted his head back, sniffed the air. “Gone.”
She smiled. Troy was expert at covering their tracks.
“Whoever was camping here either left or did a mighty fine job covering their tracks, Aiden. If we hadn’t seen that SUV parked on our logging road, we never would have known they were here.”
Then again, maybe he was good at hiding tracks, but not skilled in hiding a vehicle. Unless he wanted it found. Troy wanted to visit, but check the place out first.
“Trespassers on our land. I don’t think they’re the ones killing the cattle in our summer pasture. The female…” The bearded Lupine squatted down, touched the ground. “I don’t care about the female. Always welcome another one into the pack. But there’s something different about this female.”
“You think she was the one that lunatic in the chopper saw shifting from a human into a wolf?”
Dale’s voice sent a chill down Jenny’s spine. Damn. She’d been so hopeful no one had seen her. But when she’d heard the blades roar overhead, it took her back to that horrid day and her instinct surged. Her wolf demanded to shift, and shift now, and RUN!
“Has to be. None of our people would be that stupid,” the bearded Lupine said.
Ow. Yeah, I deserved that.
“Good thing Professor Chance, Beth’s teacher, warned us about Perry. I made sure to ward our land so no choppers can ever fly over here again,” Dale said, and then squatted down next to the bearded man.
“The male’s scent isn’t as strong. Not as feral. But what the hell are they doing here on our land? Lone wolves ain’t a good thing, even if they mean no harm,” Dale said.
The bearded one tilted his head into the air. He smelled strong, like an alpha.
Suddenly the one named Aiden stiffened, his nostrils flaring. “Something really different about this female…”
Yeah, I know. I never did fit in with Lupines.
“Her scent. It seems strong, but off.” Dale frowned.
“Yes, I’ve smelled this before… let her be,” Aiden said, his manner suddenly different. He seemed less tense, more alert and downright puzzled, the groves between his dark brows deep.
“If she’s a threat…”
“She is not. I can’t tell you how or why I know, but her scent… she’s not a threat to us.”
“If they become one, I’ll deal with it. In Skin or as wolf.” Dale snarled, scanning the area.
Jenny shivered.
“In case the male needs a reminder whose land this is…” Aiden turned, unzipped and she smelled the alpha’s scent ev
en stronger.
Marking his territory.
The two walked off, their backs turned toward her. She did not relax, not even when Troy appeared several minutes later carrying two large sacks.
Brown hair tousled, he looked more cute than rugged. Lean, muscled body covered by worn blue jeans hugging his firm butt, and a blue and white baseball shirt beneath his gray hoodie. Hiking boots looked well-worn, so if Skins wondered what he was all about, well, there was your answer.
Troy knew about disguising himself in the Skin world. He looked to be in his late twenties, but Jenny sensed he was older. He’d seen too much.
Unlike her, the 22-year-old naïve wolf who once thought the world was kind. No longer.
A shiver raced down her spine as he studied her with his searing brown gaze. Wolf eyes. Everything lurking beneath his skin was pure wolf.
Jenny felt pure wolf as well. She knew how to take care of herself and being in wolfskin instead of human form meant she couldn’t use the terrifying powers she’d had since turning 21. But it sure was nice having someone watch her back on the road.
His sunny smile vanished as he sniffed the air and the blank look turned into a menacing scowl. Damn. He’d scented the males.
Amber flashed in his eyes, signaling the rise of his wolf. Hands shaking he seemed to fight to control it. She wondered if Troy could beat the alpha in a fight. The alpha, Aiden, was bulky with muscle, while Troy was wiry.
Like a finely-tempered thin steel blade, while Aiden was a battleax.
Huh. Why did she always like comparing men to swords? Had done it since she reached adulthood and began noticing them more.
Troy set the bags on the ground, his gaze normal. “You’re filthy. You had to cover up your scent. You ok?” The deep timbre of his voice sent another shiver of need skating down her spine. Troy could make a simple greeting sound sexy.
Jenny nodded.
“What happened?”
His thumb gently grazed dried blood on her cheek, touching the almost healed cut caused by her mad dash and subsequent fall.
“Just a stumble. Hit my face. I’m fine.” She breathed in his scent of wood smoke and spices, uniquely Troy, wild as him.