As soon as he felt her relax, he released his grip on her, yet he was ready to tighten his hold again. She could feel the tension in his hands and arms.
Then he let her go and she dropped to her paws, sat, then lay down. She kept her head up, watching him, but she was too tired to battle him any longer.
Allan warily kept his eye on her and pulled out his phone. “Hey, Paul, the wolf is out of the bag. I’m going to need some help here.”
She growled softly. The whole pack would come and get her. She felt she was the blood sacrifice for some pagan satanic wolf pack.
* * *
Still lying down, Debbie didn’t look like a threat now, but Allan didn’t mind admitting she had scared the shit out of him when she lunged at him. A wolf’s teeth could rip him to shreds. He was lucky she was either holding back and her lovely, true nature still had some control over the anger she harbored against him for what she had become, or she was still so exhausted from her ordeal that she just didn’t have the strength.
Whatever the reason, he was thanking God she hadn’t killed him. “I’m taking you to my place and we’ll talk this all out.”
After about half an hour, though it seemed like forever, he heard trucks pull up and was surprised when Everett arrived with the owner of the Italian restaurant, Fred Garafalo, and his chef, Gary White—all three new to the pack.
They hurried inside to help Allan with Debbie.
“What can we do?” Everett asked, eyeing Debbie.
Despite the arrival of Allan’s new help, she hadn’t moved from where she was lying down. She’d rested her head on her legs, kept her eyes on Allan, and lifted her head when she heard the men arrive, but she didn’t move to attack anyone.
Thankfully. Maybe she was coming to realize they only wanted what was best for her. And they didn’t mean to hurt her in any way.
“She’s got some food in the freezer if someone wants to pack it in the ice chest. Someone can get her toiletries. Someone can pack some clothes for her. I’ll stay with her.” Allan would have packed her things for her so that someone she knew better was doing it, but it couldn’t be helped. If she got vicious again, he wanted to be the one dealing with her. He still had the sedative in case he needed to use it, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to.
She didn’t seem to care. He half expected her to growl again. Maybe she was too tired.
“Paul told me to bring a crate for her in case you need it. I put it in the back of your hatchback.”
Allan didn’t want to have to crate her, but he couldn’t risk her getting all snarly with him on the drive back to his place. It took about a half hour, longer in this weather, and he really had to concentrate on his driving.
“We’ll follow you home and help unpack everything so you can stay with her,” Everett said.
Everett was really good for the pack and Allan was glad he had mated his sister. He always seemed so diplomatic. Saying that Allan could keep an eye on Debbie would have sounded much more antagonistic than saying he could stay with her, as if to comfort her, which he wished he could. He didn’t think that was going to happen right away.
When they were all packed up, Everett and the other men waited to see what Allan wanted to do about the crate or if he was willing to risk letting her ride with him without being locked up.
Everett left for a moment, then came back with a heavy-duty leash and collar.
Allan really didn’t want to put her on a leash. But if they tried to get her out to the hatchback and she wasn’t on a leash, she was sure to run. Chasing her down could be a real nightmare for them and a danger for her. But he really didn’t want to have to leash her.
“Debbie, come on. Let’s go and get settled at my place and then we’ll talk.”
She was watching him, but she didn’t lift her head.
Everyone waited.
“I’ll carry her out, if someone can grab some towels for her.” Allan hoped that carrying her wasn’t a mistake. He wasn’t sure if she was playacting, or she really was being submissive and going along with the program. Or she was still exhausted.
She was so relaxed, he had a hard time lifting her. Everett helped get her off the floor, then Allan carried her to his vehicle.
Everett got the back door for her and the other men laid out the towels in the backseat since she was still so wet. Allan supposed she’d have an easier time stretching out in the backseat if she didn’t want to sit up front and watch out the window.
She stretched out like one sleepy wolf, yawned, sighed, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. At least she appeared to be sleeping. But that could be just a ploy. She could wake at any time, ready to renew the fight between them.
Allan closed the car door.
“That was easy, but it might not be when we arrive at your place.” Everett gave him the collar and leash.
“True. And it’s wilderness out there. She might think it’s safer there than running through this more heavily populated area. But she won’t know how to manage on her own in the woods. Not with all the cougars, wolves in real wolf packs, and bears out there. Thanks for all your help,” he said to the men, then got in his car and led the caravan to his mountainside cabin. He had mentioned the dangers for Debbie’s benefit as much as the men’s, hoping he could dissuade her from attempting to run.
They reached the cabin after about forty minutes and Debbie continued to sleep. At least he didn’t have any neighbors that could see his place. He carried her to the bedroom Rose always used when she came and stayed up there. His mother had even dropped by to leave off all the flowers from the pack members and fellow law-enforcement officials. The pack truly hoped Debbie would adjust without too much trouble. No one was a newly turned wolf, which was good, but it also meant she had no one to talk to about what she was experiencing.
Allan figured that when he could, he’d ask Tessa to talk with Debbie.
Then Allan helped the men carry in Debbie’s things, leaving the bags with her clothes and toiletries on the living room floor. While Everett was putting away her groceries, Allan thanked the other men and they left.
“Good luck,” they said.
“Thanks.” Allan suspected he would need more than that. Then he called Paul with an update.
“Do you want me to send Lori over? Would it help for Debbie to have a woman to talk to?”
“Debbie is sound asleep. I think for now, she’s fine. I’ll call you in the morning or if things get out of hand.”
Allan waved good-bye as Everett quietly left.
“Everett’s headed back to his house. I think we’ll be good for the night.”
“All right,” Paul said. “Don’t hesitate to call if you have any trouble at all.”
“Thanks. Talk to you in the morning.” At least Allan hoped he wouldn’t have to call anyone else tonight. He carried her bags into her bedroom and set them on the floor. Then he watched her sleep for a few minutes. Satisfied she was fine for the time being, he stalked down the hall to the master bedroom. He stripped out of his clothes, tired from all the late nights of worrying about Debbie and ready for a good night’s sleep. Though with her here now, he didn’t think he’d get one for long. He walked into the bathroom to take a shower.
He was lathering up when he sensed he was being watched. Then he saw her sitting on the tile floor, observing him through the lightly fogged-up glass shower doors.
Hell. He sure hoped she didn’t try to take a bite out of him when he left the shower stall. He realized too late he couldn’t even reach his phone to call for assistance. He should have locked his bedroom or bathroom door, but he wasn’t used to doing so, and he’d never even given it a thought.
“We don’t bite people,” he said calmly as he finished washing himself, as if he did this all the time—washed up while a hostile, newly turned wolf watched him through the glass doors. “We don’t kill peo
ple or hurt them.” Unless the people were trying to hurt his wolf pack. Even so, if they were human, his kind tried to ensure that law enforcement officials dealt with the crime through legal channels. He didn’t figure he needed to get into that right now with Debbie though.
He finished washing, hoping that delaying the inevitable would give her time to cool down. But now that he was done, he had to leave the shower. Sure, he was plenty alpha, but from her posture, so was she. And a human didn’t stand a chance against an angry wolf, unless he could discuss this rationally with her human side.
He wanted to reason with her, tell her the steps he was going to take, as if he were a police officer trying to talk someone down from doing something criminal. But wouldn’t she know what he was going to say and do anyway? Not a lot of choices here.
He figured he’d try and talk her down anyway, just in case it helped. Using his calmest voice, he said, “I’m coming out now. Don’t bite me. Your wolf teeth can crush bones and there’s no recovering from that.”
He turned off the water and then opened the glass doors. In that instant, looking into her beautiful brown eyes framed by the tan mask and reddish fur, the black hairs covering the tips of her ears, he thought how lovely she was. Her ears were perked, expectant, waiting for his next move as he stood still in the shower, dripping wet, naked, and vulnerable. He didn’t think he’d ever felt this imperiled in his life. Maybe because normally if he felt threatened, he’d take care of the threat in any way that he could. But in this instance, he wanted to make her feel safe and protected, and reassure her everything would be okay. That she would be okay.
So he was attempting to act calmly with no hint of aggression, which could escalate the already tense situation.
Her posture was stiff, indicating she was ready to spring into action, but her face was an unreadable mask. Wolves could be unpredictable when they were newly turned, or even if they were from another pack. Like old friends playing card games, wolves in a pack gave away their intentions in minute ways—the twitching of ears, shifting of the body, facial expressions—all kinds of visual cues. But she was an unknown quantity, totally indecipherable.
At first, her eyes were on his, a pure alpha challenge. But then her gaze moved and settled on his package. In a purely sexual way, he would have become aroused, but not in this instant. He didn’t even want to think what she could do to him if she was that angry. He hoped his nervousness didn’t show.
“You’re family now,” Allan said, trying to coax her down. “You’re one of us, a lupus garou. Before, I couldn’t date you, given what we both were. But now I want to, if you’re of a like mind.” Even if she wasn’t, he wanted to give them a shot. It might take years, he figured, but she wasn’t leaving them and he wasn’t giving up on her. He wasn’t certain this was the time to approach that subject, but she had seemed interested before. He wanted her to know how much he cared about her. That he would be there to help her through this every step of the way and, at the same time, give her his love unconditionally.
He slowly moved out of the shower to grab a towel, not wanting to move quickly and appear hostile.
Standing her ground, she refused to back up, which meant his legs were practically touching her nose. He tried not to think of it when she lifted her nose and smelled his package, those wicked teeth too close for comfort. Not that she was showing them, but it would only take a second to change from curious to vicious.
He had to remind himself that she was a new wolf and everything would be fascinating to her: the smells she could smell now, even the ability to identify distress and sexual interest, though he wasn’t certain if she could tell the difference at this point. To him, it was instinctive, but then again, he was born knowing this. Maybe with her new wolf genes, it would be just as natural for her.
If so, she could smell his stress.
He slowly pulled a towel off the rack behind her, which meant he had to lean forward a little, something he really didn’t want to do because he was getting even more into her space. When he grabbed hold of the towel, she licked one of his balls, and he swore he nearly had a heart attack. It could have been sensuous and arousing under totally different circumstances.
He began to dry himself off, and she licked some of the water off his thigh. So far, so good. But as soon as he wrapped the towel around his waist to feel as though he had a little armor to protect his masculinity, she backed up. The way she crouched, as if she were on a hunt and held her tail straight out, he knew she was getting ready to attack.
He could have shifted and pinned her down, could have done so easily as a much bigger male wolf. But he didn’t want to scare her. Still, he had to get out of the damn bathroom in one piece. It might be his only choice.
She jumped, and he veered left, anticipating her move to the right. Just a slight turn in her body gave her away. He leaped out of her path, her teeth snapping, and she snarled. Wolves could be dangerous, and she sounded like a vicious predator, not a wolf in play. She grabbed his towel as if it was the only thing she could vent her frustration on. Teeth sinking into the blue plush towel, she yanked. Instinctively, he wouldn’t relinquish it. For a second, he had ahold of one end, and she had the other.
She tugged with all her might, body close to the floor, teeth and lips closed over the towel, butt elevated a little as she pulled backward, shaking her head while she tried to jerk it away from him and growling ferociously.
He saw the opportunity present itself at once. He dropped the towel and dove out the door, slamming it closed on his exodus. His heart racing, he hurried to throw some boxers on. She was snarling and banging against the door, sounding like she would rip him to shreds if he let her out.
He had no intention of doing so. Until she turned into her human form, and he could talk to her more reasonably, she was confined to his bathroom.
* * *
Debbie couldn’t have been any more incensed than she was right this very instant. She’d woken to hear what she thought was Allan in the shower. She was surprised he’d left his bedroom and bathroom door ajar, maybe to listen for her if something happened. She couldn’t believe how much she could smell things now, like the water from the shower in the next room—or the fluoride in it, she should say. And his scent everywhere in the place as he had walked through it. She thought she also smelled Paul’s scent, because he’d come to see her in the clinic, and she recognized it.
God, why did Allan have to be so damned hot and a wolf? Seeing him washing himself, running the soap all over his glorious body, she had stared at him in awe. She had sensed he was nervous. Some devious part of her had wanted to push the envelope and show him she wasn’t going to be pushed around, forced to do things that she didn’t want to do. To show him he wasn’t her boss.
On the other hand, as stressed out as he was, he had been so good with her—firm, letting her know how serious her biting him could be, but at the same time, gentle, reassuring—not all SEAL wolf tough. Which she imagined he could turn into in a second. She couldn’t tamp down the anger she felt, but she did concede that he was trying hard to be good to her, even when she must have looked seriously dangerous. She sure sounded that way to herself.
So now she knew why he had been so reluctant to date her. And why the family had disapproved. Probably the whole pack. But now for her to date him? He had to be nuts! She wanted to take a bite out of him.
“Debbie,” he said, and the bedsprings sank, so she suspected he was sitting on the edge of the bed while he was talking to her, “I didn’t turn you. None of us bit you. They gave you our blood in an IV. But believe me when I say it was the only way to save your life.”
She paced back and forth in the beige bathroom. It was nice and big, but not big enough for a pacing wolf.
“We have a wolf pack, as I’m sure you’re well aware. The flowers in your guest bedroom are from all the members of the pack and a few from law enforcement frien
ds. Everyone in the pack wants to welcome you and help you adjust to your new way of life. Our SEAL team leader’s wife was recently turned, so she could speak to you about what you’re experiencing. But everyone in our pack was born as a lupus garou. We don’t turn into vicious wolves. We keep a low profile and run through the woods as wolves, which can be tricky with genuine wolves, cougars, grizzlies, black bears, or hunters around. Which is why we stick together to keep everyone safe as much as possible.”
And they had multiple births. That’s why Lori and Rose were having twins and triplets! They were a bunch of wild animals. Or half of them was.
Debbie groaned, but it came out a low, menacing growl.
“The worst part is the shifting when you least expect it as a newly turned wolf. The worst time for that to happen is during the full moon.”
Great. How long did that last? Ohmigod, she couldn’t dive any longer? Or only when the full moon wasn’t out?
This was so much of a nightmare. If she was supposed to have died…
Then again, no, if she’d been given the choice, she probably would have opted for something to help save her. Like a bionic heart or something. Being a part-time wolf? She shook her head. She wasn’t sure she would have gone that far. Maybe. She’d have to see how badly this all turned out before she could make a final judgment.
“When you’re up to it, we can run as wolves together.”
Was Allan the one who had recommended she be turned so he could date her?
She growled again. Dating wasn’t going to happen. Not with him or any other wolf in the pack. How many were there?
Ohmigod, the wolf killer. He really was a werewolf hunter. There really were werewolves. The woman who had been murdered? Most likely she truly had been one. And what about the other case? With the bank robbers? The shoot-out? A wild wolf biting into tires and killing one of the men, the other naked in the lake after he fell off the cliffs?