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  Damn pack tradition to hell and back anyway. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how to take care of herself.

  Sparks popped in her head, white tracers dancing before her eyes. The change from human to werewolf grabbed her hard enough to steal her breath.

  She embraced the pain of the change, her teeth chattering and pricking her lip as they grew into deadly fangs. Coarse white hair punctured through her skin, covering the goose bumps from the cold.

  Her lip burned, the quick prick of pain something to focus on while her bones stretched, lengthened and changed shape. Her skin hardened, a natural shield against the biting cold night. Warmth and strength coursed through her.

  One with the night, she dropped to all fours. The peace that rushed through her was the high after the quick, sharp pain. Nothing compared to the clarity of emotions, of her senses.

  Looking around her, sniffing the air, everything became clearer, easier to see, to smell, to hear. Her tongue thickened, darting over her quickly disappearing lips, tasting fur mixed with a tiny amount of blood.

  Howls filled the air and her heart exploded, throwing the change into hyper-mode. She almost fell over her paws when stumbling forward, her tail lengthening to support her.

  The den had arrived, ready to release their fury on Steve. Stupid son of a bitch. He deserved what he was about to get. She’d hold and comfort Wendy later, give her the support she needed after the pack contacted her. There were no doubts Wendy would be given honorary widow privileges. Although her cousin would mourn, it would be a relief to be unshackled from such a terrible werewolf.

  The scent of the Cariboo faded over the growing amount of werewolves at the pack leader’s house.

  Instinct kicked in and she dug at the earth with her claws as she ran. Time to get the hell away from her pack leader’s den.

  No longer did the cold air make her shiver. Instead she embraced it, enjoying the crispness of the night. Too much time had passed since she’d torn freely through the countryside, letting go and racing at full speed.

  Time in the States had spoiled her. Having run from her pack ten years ago when pack law concerning mating grew outrageous, she never thought she’d tear through this beautiful land again. Nothing compared to the open wilderness outside Prince George.

  A freak phone call in the middle of the night, her closest cousin crying over the phone from the abuse and neglect of her mate, had Jaynie returning to the pack. And she’d hated every minute that she’d been here—until now.

  The moon appeared between parting clouds, giving light to the overgrown countryside. Birds squawked in protest as Jaynie violated their space.

  I rule the night tonight, my dears.

  And with that freedom came the reality that she wasn’t too sure what to expect. This Cariboo could be mated. Although there was only one way to find out. She had no idea if he was even heading to his den. Not to mention how unsafe it would be to sniff her way around his den. But the mystery had its appeal. An adventure, taking on the unknown.

  Inhaling his scent—he wasn’t too far ahead—made her insides swell. Craving something a bit more wild, untamable and deadly powerful, she tracked him. Racing at a speed some cars couldn’t match, she gained on him. Now to find out what he would do once he learned he’d been followed.

  Perry almost took down his door when he reached the small cabin. His was the last on the row, a total of six cabins that housed the hired help on the Toubec ranch. A quick sniff of the air told him most of the cabins were empty, the help probably enjoying a communal run. That might make matters even worse.

  Stupid bitch. What the hell did she follow him for?

  Crashing into his tiny den, anger encouraged the change, the room spinning when he straightened. Yanking the clothes that he’d tied around his neck free, he untangled them with a growl then dressed quickly, not taking time to mess with shoes. He grabbed his coat off the nail by his door. His human flesh was soaked with sweat and he’d freeze quickly in the autumn night air after such a hard run.

  Not that he was a damn bit cold. Too outraged over seeing that little lunewulf chasing after him, he moved quickly, ready to knock some sense into her.

  Keeping close to the wall of the cabin, he moved through shadows, his night vision grossly impaired in his human form. But he wouldn’t take on the bitch in his fur. There might be a lot of bad things said about him but Perry didn’t rape unmated bitches. And the damned fool of a thing was asking for just that, racing toward a line of cabins housing werewolves who didn’t often get to spend a lot of time with a female.

  And she raced toward them as if craving a formal announcement. Tiny paws crashing through underbrush. A full-blood lunewulf, blessed with speed no other creature on earth could match. If any of the ranch hands were in their cabins they’d pounce on her with one thing on their minds.

  Slowing at the edge of the trees, the moonlight caught her white coat, making it glow in the darkness. Limber and slim and so petite, she stole his breath with her intense beauty. Perry had been with this pack well over a year. He’d have remembered this little lunewulf bitch if he’d seen her before.

  She sniffed the ground, her silver eyes glowing in the light streaming from his cabin. Perry stood very still in the shadows. Her scent drifted toward him. She moved warily, continually looking around her. If she searched for his animal scent, it would lead her to his cabin.

  Mere feet from the entrance to his den, light shone over her smooth white coat. A beautiful creature, sultry in her movements. Almond-shaped eyes, glowing silver, stood out against the soft contour of her head. Even in his human form, his insides hardened in appreciation of the sexy female lunewulf who moved with either incredible bravery or as a complete idiot toward the dens of unmated werewolves.

  He waited. Not breathing, not moving an inch. This bitch was no expert tracker or she’d have picked up his human scent. Her thoughts were preoccupied, with what he would soon find out. But he patiently held his position until she was right where he wanted her.

  “Inside. Now.” Perry moved behind her, pointing toward the cabin door.

  The little lunewulf turned on him, baring her long fangs and growling. Her hackles went up, not fazing him in the least.

  “You can get inside and change,” he hissed, staring into those intent silver eyes. “Or I can change and we can stay out here in our fur.”

  His meaning wasn’t missed. In their fur, he’d fuck her first and ask questions later. Instinct and primal desire ran strong in his more pure state. Human hesitation and good manners fogged the natural instinctive reaction to fuck silly a sexy woman.

  She backed up, pushing the door to his cabin the rest of the way open with her rear end.

  Perry smiled, his cock hardening while the adorable little bitch backed into his den. No matter what form he took, a sexy female was just that. And one this full of energy and cockiness turned him on even more. Living on the wild side and more than likely completely untamable. Add that to beauty and defiance and you had the perfect female.

  The door slammed in his face.

  “What the fuck?”

  Darkness enveloped him as quickly as his anger did. Like hell she would lock him out of his own fucking den.

  He hit the door hard, pounding his shoulder into the wood. The vibration racked his body as wood split, jarring his muscles. The door swung open.

  The female inside shrieked. And the sight of her made him forget how cold he was a second ago. Heat rushed through him as fast as his blood did. His cock danced back to life.

  Her body glistened with sweat, slender with large breasts and curvy hips, and holy shit—a beautiful shaved pussy. Unable to breathe, unable to move—hell, he wouldn’t have been able to form a word if he tried. It was as if his tongue had made the change leaving the rest of him standing there in human form like a complete idiot.

  “You made me change. Now turn the fuck around and let me get dressed.” Bright blue eyes glared furiously at him while she fought to untangl
e the clothes she’d tied around her waist.

  Perry shut the door behind him slowly. Thankfully it still shut, although he’d have to fix the broken doorframe and lock first thing in the morning. A cold breeze blew against his backside. This time it had no effect on him.

  “You followed me here. Looks like you’re going to have to face the consequences.” No way would she start demanding anything of him. “Put your clothes on if you like. But then you’re going to explain yourself.”

  Her nipples puckered and her full breasts bounced slightly as she fought with her clothes. He almost felt sorry for her, watching her shake like a leaf while trying to get her jeans straightened so she could slide them on. Long blonde hair fell down her front, parting around her breasts. Damn, she was fucking hot as hell.

  “There’s nothing to explain,” she said quickly. “My cousin’s mate is finally getting what he deserved. Forgive me for deciding not to watch.”

  “Yet you didn’t run to her den to tell her?”

  “Tell her that her mate raped an unmated female? That he committed the most heinous of crimes and that she’s now a widow?”

  He wouldn’t be anxious to share that news either. “You must know the queen bitch will contact her immediately.”

  She nodded, not looking up but focusing on her jeans, which she now had pulled up to her thighs. He would miss that awesome view of her pussy.

  “Yet this cousin of yours sent you out to report back to her? What kind of den approves of an unmated bitch running on her own at night, especially into such dangerous territory?”

  “I can take care of myself,” she snapped, shoving her hair over her shoulder and glaring at him.

  She didn’t deny being unmated. Knowledge that she had no mate, an available bitch, put an exciting edge to this little scene.

  Her anger filled the air with its spicy smell. It didn’t hide the slight tinge of fear he smelled too. She knew she wasn’t out of the woods with him yet.

  “I can see that.” Maybe a fire would be a good idea.

  Sweat had started to dry on his flesh, leaving the chill there. Moving to the wooden box next to his small fireplace, he pulled a fresh log and some kindling and dumped it into the hearth.

  He smelled her defiance at the same time she made a bolt for the door—but not fast enough.

  Perry dove on her, crashing to the floor with her soft body smashed underneath him.

  “Shit,” she hissed.

  His cock nudged against her ass. Her jeans were pulled up although she hadn’t zipped them, and she’d yet to bother with her shirt. Getting dressed had been a ploy. She wanted to escape, return to her fur and be gone. That didn’t explain why she had come though.

  “Leaving so soon?” he whispered into her hair.

  She stilled.

  Lifting the two of them up, he kept a firm grip around her naked waist, her large breasts almost touching his arm while he kicked the door shut.

  “I don’t think so,” he told her.

  She dared look over her shoulder, twisting her body against his. Firm and soft in all the right places. Damn it. It was a fight to keep all the blood in his body from draining straight into his cock.

  “And are you a rapist as well?” Her blue eyes danced with defiance.

  He almost shook his head with disbelief at her lack of fear and her outward cockiness.

  “It’s pretty hard to rape the willing.”

  She raised an eyebrow, twisting a bit harder in his arms. He really didn’t want to let her go. Not that he would let her know how long it had been since he’d been with a female, or how hard she made him by twisting in his arms like that. Especially without her shirt on.

  “Do you use the money you make tracking werewolves to buy your sex?”

  Now she did intentionally insult him. He smiled, knowing it probably looked more like a sneer. “If you didn’t come here to sell yourself then maybe you should start behaving.”

  She moved quickly, doing her best to elbow him in the gut and kick his leg at the same time.

  “Behave?” she hissed. “But I thought Cariboo liked it rough.”

  “You couldn’t handle what I like,” he growled.

  Grabbing her arms, he pinned them behind her back, while shoving his leg between her legs. She couldn’t move. Her hair fanned over her large breasts. Her body stretched out before him. But she stilled quickly. Either realizing how grossly outmatched she was, or contemplating what kind of sex he did like.

  “Why did you follow me?” he asked.

  “Because I want to track werewolves too.”

  Another lie.

  He didn’t rely on her physical reactions to his questions as much as he did her scent. The saltiness of her lie didn’t hide the pungent smell of her sexuality. Him holding her like this, or maybe it was just the excitement of an unknown Cariboo, turned her on.

  Either way, he was intrigued. She’d dared to follow him, take him on. For all practical purposes, she broke every rule held over a single bitch by the pack.

  “I think,” he said slowly, pulling slightly on her wrists so that she arched her back further. He cupped her chin with his free hand, turning her face to his. “You’ll stay here with me until I hear the truth.”

  “The truth?” she whispered, the slightest hints of silver streaking through her large blue eyes as she stared up at him.

  “Why are you here?”

  Her breasts swelled with each breath she took, her brown nipples so hard they puckered into beautiful peaks. The shirt she’d gripped in her hands fell to the floor between them. He ignored the small action, her ripening smell of desire proving too much of a distraction.

  “To learn more about you,” she whispered. “But if you don’t think I could handle you then you doubt my ability to handle any werewolf.”

  “I’m not any werewolf,” he growled.

  “You could be handled.”

  “By you?”

  She bit her lip, looked up at him quickly, and the fire burning inside her made her expression glow. “I can handle anything.”

  Chapter Three

  Jaynie’s phone vibrated against her leg. She tensed, watching the Cariboo, Perry, while hard muscle hit every overstimulated nerve ending in her body. Whoever called her right now wouldn’t be bearing good news. Not at this hour.

  “Not every day someone calls your bluff?” she chided him.

  A nerve twitched next to his mouth. Silver suddenly shot through his deep blue eyes. His blond hair curled around his neck, ending at his shirt collar. Deadly looking and fucking hot as hell.

  Then his cell phone rang, a loud chirping sound, and she almost had a heart attack.

  “Yes,” he said in a deep baritone into the cell.

  The male voice on the other end of the line tickled her ear. Perry held her close, but making out what was said was impossible. Her phone vibrated again.

  “Her name is Jaynie Rousseau?” His grip on her tightened and she froze.

  Why the hell would he be getting a call about her?

  “Yup. I agree.” He grew before her eyes, anger filling the air around them. “I’ll find her.”

  A deadly silence filled the room when he dropped his phone on the table. Her phone began vibrating a third time. Anything was better than smelling the fury that emanated around him.

  “My phone is ringing.” She struggled but he released her easily.

  No way would he intimidate her, but getting a phone call about her didn’t sit well with her. She trembled as she dug her phone out of her jeans pocket.

  “Hello.”

  “Jaynie. Oh God. I’ve been trying to call you,” Wendy wailed into the phone.

  Jaynie forced a small laugh. Her cousin didn’t need any stress from her. “I’m okay. I had to allow the change before I could answer,” she lied, closing her eyes. Her cousin didn’t need to know where she was right now. “How are you?”

  “Samantha Rousseau is here.”

  Well, it hadn’t taken long for
their queen bitch to make it over to Wendy’s den. She exhaled, doing her best to clear her head for her cousin’s sake.

  “Good. I’ll be there soon.”

  “I was so worried about you. I mean…Steve…they caught him doing something terrible.”

  “I know, Wendy. I know.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. I told you I’d go find him.”

  Someone spoke in the background, another female, and Wendy whispered that she had Jaynie on the phone now.

  “Jaynie. I can’t stay here. I called my sire. I’m going home to my den,” Wendy told her in a rush. “This den is dead to me. I don’t care if you stay here. Samantha will talk to you about it. She has to talk to her mate.”

  It was like all the walls in that small cabin suddenly closed in around her. Her cousin was no longer mated and chose to return to her den, which was her right. That left her alone. Already the leash reached for her. Johann had called out his tracker. He’d called Perry. And she would be brought in for her pack leader to determine what to do with her. Single bitches had less freedom than a fucking slave.

  “I understand,” she managed to choke out.

  “I love you, Jaynie,” Wendy whispered.

  “I love you too.”

  She almost crushed her phone in her hand, fighting the urge not to hurl it across the room. The death of a scumbag werewolf had stolen her freedom. And the werewolf holding the leash stood right behind her.

  “Jaynie Rousseau,” he said from behind her.

  What the hell was she supposed to do, deny who she was?

  “You asked why I came here,” she said, turning around until she found her shirt on the ground. Grabbing it, she stuck her arms in the sleeves and then slipped it over her head. “I came here because I could. To be able to run, explore, take on the unknown—that can’t ever be taken from you. You turn me in to Johann and it will be taken from me.”

  “And that’s what you think I’ll do?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  He didn’t answer. And when she looked up, questioningly, the intensity of his stare stole her breath. Cariboo were known for their height, their powerful muscle tone, but this werewolf was bigger than any she’d ever laid eyes on. More than likely he had a perfect track record, turning over any renegade werewolf whose name appeared on his list.