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The he is lonely was directed atto visit Asheville is only sixty miles froh I’d brought Kem and Rick here in the first place I’d hoped the black were-leopard could ease Rick through his first shift, teach hi a were-cat The International Association of Weres had agreed, and insisted Keood reasons, Kem had been less than enthusiastic "Still no shift?"

"He will not try again until the full ot me I’d seen Rick try to shift on his first fulla man try to turn himself inside out "So where is he?"

"He likes to fish"

I smiled at that one and stood I rinsed the can and crushed it, tucking it in the sealed, bear-resistant recycle basket "Tell him I said hi" I turned and stopped Dead As still as a vaht Kem chuckled He’d seen Rick approach behind me, quiet as a cat Rick was unshaven and shirtless, his jeans hanging low on his hips, chest hair sparse and straight and for into the top of the jeans His black hair had grown, the ends curling at his nape and over his ears His eyes were shadowed, black as night, steely, pinning me to the path His torso and shoulders were aripping through his tattoos, nearly obscuring the bobcat and the olden-a about that naked chest and the scars that begged to be touched I curled ers under Rick’s eyes dropped to them, then back up in a leisurely perusal that htly, and I tightened all over, war from a lot more than the heat Boyfriend? Ohcity clothes Half-naked, in the wooded site, ungrooeous He shtly crooked, and I realized I’d said part of that aloud Crap

"I’ve missed you too," he said, amused He moved past me, and only then did I catch the s the man He carried a bait bucket, two rods, a tackle box, and a string of fish They looked like s One still flapped Rick stowed his gear away and carried a long curved knife and the fish to a board set up between two trees; there were traces of blood on the wood, and part of the dead-fish srindy actually ca station

Move the fish chain froills of the top fish It ills and cut off its head I wondered if Rick thought I’d run at the sight of the casual cruelty, but Beast soured she could outdo hiross-factor if I wanted Of course, Rick didn’t know about Beast Rick didn’t know a lot of things I hadn’t found a way to tell hi I was a coward, that’s why Rick didn’t know a lot of things

The knifewith swift, sure strokes, he scaled the fish, the iridescent scales flying everywhere I thought fishermen scaled fish before they beheaded theirlfriend

"Beer," Kem said fro in the tree, and walked to the cooler He took out a beer, opened the top and handed it to Ke his eyes It was the action of a subressive alpha Beast hissed quietly inside, the hair of her pelt rising, stiff, the phantoht inside my skin

Wordless, Rick returned to the fish I narrowed ether I walked to the ha , if he wasn’t too drunk to notice I stood over the hay shorts and a sheen of sweat He s er "You want a fight, don’t you Fine"

Drawing on Beast-speed, faster than he could see, faster than he could react, I flipped the haround He landed on his sto hi his spine, arching his neck Shoved the stake I had found under his chin The ha stopped The beer bottle landed, spilling in a froth Everything stopped

"I am your alpha," I said "Listen Or I’llmoment, relaxed into subht in New Orleans got away because they were in jail when I helped kill the rest of the pack A big guy and a little scrawny guy They followed etwoht They left this silver-tipped stake, rindy knows about the theet sober, and hunt theround I stood and walked away I caught a glihtly His eyes were too war Ke the first ti the Mississippi waterfront after a good , I don’t remember what, and it ticked me off I dropped him, but he’d been face up for it I tilteda half sht dirty," he "

I stopped He was talking about sex My face heated He leaned across the fish-cleaning board, blood and fish and fish heads between us, and breathed in, his nose only inches from my neck Beast reared up and tookher face, my face, into the soft tissue of his throat His scent filled ht into the center ofhis, his bristles far softer than they looked

Pelt, Beast thought Good mate Mine

I wrenched away Mo And sooo outta there Tears would haveI was mad And not sure why Halfway down the park road, my cell vibrated in my pocket I pulled onto the narrow shoulder and flipped it open, looked at the display It was Rick’s number, his picture in the small screen I heaved a breath that hurt rindy s around rindylow is tired of Kerindy and I would agree on that one"