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And still, every time he came near her, her entire body went taut with expectation

"Hi," she said, without looking up fro conduit that needed a minor refit

Akin to the den in the San Rafael Mountains where she’d spent her teenage years, and on a smaller scale than the central den in the Sierra Nevada mountains, this den had literally been carved into and below a mountain, then reinforced with stone walls The tunnels ide and spacious, the rooenerous, but underneath the raw natural beauty of the stone pierced with threads of glittering ical heartbeat, one that Grace helped maintain

"Has there been a uessing that hy Cooper had taken the time to personally track her down

With both the chief and deputy chief of her department away at different tech conferences, Grace was currently the one in charge "I can look at it straight away - this isn’t urgent"

"No, everything’s fine"

He crouched down beside her, i up all available air in the vicinity

Concentrate on the job, she ordered herself, atte to remove a fried tubebut her entire body was attuned to his every breath, herin this section?" he asked, his voice pitched at a level she recognized as "careful"

She fought the suicidal urge to throw a tool at his head Her place in the hierarchy didn’t determine her entire personality As with every other dominance level, submissives could be shy or exuberant, cheerful or ht be quiet and a little shy in comparison to the majority of her pack up with two older adoptive siblings, doer temper from their father, she’d heard h the overhaul," she said, wishing he’d forget her place in the hierarchy and see her simply as a womana woman he wanted

If he did, ould you do?

Probably run very fast in the other direction

She twisted the wrench a fraction too hard and al, she flexed her fingers, took a deep breath, and completed the extraction with care, hotly conscious of Cooper’s watchful gaze

"There We can recycle the components"

"Removed without a scratch Iet the new shipment you wanted?"

She tore her eyes away froes that had for hands on her body, on her breasts, his skin exquisitely rough against her own Never had she responded to a man in such a way, and that it was a man whose mere presencea good laugh at Grace’s expense

"Yes," she ed to say in response to his question, "I did They were high quality, as proentle click as he returned the tube to the floor, she put down the wrench and went to pick up a -

"Grace" Fingers curling around her wrist

Her pulse spiked as she stared at that strong, dark-skinned hand so warentle, the calluses on his palm a sensual abrasion She couldn’t speak, the rush of noise inside her head too loud, drowning out all else

"Grace" Softer this ti, she chanced a peek, her wolf at rigid attention If he’d commanded, she would’ve obeyed at once, her nature such that defiance of an order from a lieutenant stressed her on a pri rather than a olf meant she had the capacity for such defiance, but it would require bone-deep disagreeh for the human side of her nature to override the powerful instincts of her wolf

But Cooper hadn’t co fe attention Now, her eyes met the intense near black of his and skated away When he did nothing but ith a patience she’d never expected fro with his

It sent a thrill through her wolf To hold the gaze of a lieutenant was a bold move for any wolf, but for a submissive, it went far beyond that In any other circuerous - just as she had her instincts, dominants had theirs If one interpreted the eye contact as a challenge, it could end badly The fact that in thehad happened both parties had been in wolf for an inadvertent violent response