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Not that she was going along with it

She pulled aside the heavy, pale-blue velvet drapes and the ht vision so that she didn’t have to turn on the lamp She peered into the forest and actually could see, as if the woods werethe air further on this cold night, a stiff breeze tugged the branches,them dance to its tune

Then she saw hihtly out of the woods, watching her, and catching her eye Her lips parted in surprise, and she took a shuddering breath Who was he? She still didn’t know all of Darien’s people in their wolf for that she didn’t leave in a crazy attempt to run away and start her life aneithout Darien’s intervention? That would be plain ludicrous She could never e on her own, nor did she want to live that way

Because of the wolf’s posture--his ears perked, his head lifting even higher--he had to be an alpha It wasn’t one of Darien’s brothers Soht Darien for leadership? He’d have to battle Darien’s brothers also Jake and Tom would never allow soaze settled lower, studying the way she was dressed Could he see well enough froainst the silky gown in the chilly air? Observing a wolf and realizing it was probably a olf, ould have a aze returned to hers

Soh the hazy visions weren’t clear enough to tell her how She didn’t feel any apprehension, nor fear He was safe, she thought

Taking matters in hand, she would find out just who he was and, if she could, why he was here She yanked the drapes closed, then with as e, she slid a drawer open, hoping not to alert Lelandi, as sleeping in the ot herself into trouble because of everyone’s heightened sense of hearing She kept thinking they could foresee things as she did Not at all They were just very good at eavesdropping to spy on what she was up to Not in a mean way, of course But to protect her and theer in the wolf coat was, she yanked out a sweater and a pair of jeans and began to dress If she could get close enough, she would be able to snize him if she ran into him later in his human form

She hated how everyone watched her every lass exa she did or said was monitored But as said behind closed doors rattled her even more She was one of them, but not

Yet--she tilted her chin up a hair as she left her room and then crept down the stairs with the utmost caution--she wasn’t about to lose the person she had been before the change She s Lelandi that she was up after retiring to bed early and was planning an adventure she was certain none of the room to the back door and hopefully unlock, open, and close it without drawing attention

The house was quiet, Lelandi also having retired unusually early to bed Darien and his brothers orking late at the leather-goods factory as usual, so for once Carol wasn’t being monitored closely Because she’d been so tired fro shift and unable to sleep when she had the chance, no one expected her to leave her bedroom before daybreak

Slowly, she twisted the handle on the door to the back patio Without anyone’s permission or supervision, she’d be free for a few precious e her own life without disastrous consequences

Disgruntled with hih Darien’s forest as a wolf so he could watch the house for any sign of Carol Wood, Chester Ryan McKinley hated his obsession Even nohen his PI practice had taken a back burner to his position as ive up thinking about Carol, who aDarien’s pack Ryan had found a lot of evidence against the murderer, but Carol’s testimony had solicited the confession and the truth of the ed and stacked, with hair the color of the golden sun and eyes as deep and mysterious as a shadowed blue lake, she had often worn a troubled expression during the investigation Most likely due to the otten herself into as a huet herself into such a predicament bothered hi nature, he’d wanted to save her froht, ensure she didn’t become one of his kind, and shield her fronized his kind were lupus garous through strange visions, or so she had said There had been no way to change events During an ensuing fight between gray and red lupus garou packs, a red had bitten her and turned her Ryan sure the hell wished he’d been protecting her

Carol had been an innocent, unprepared for ould happen and unable to fight back He iined she’d never before witnessed wolf co Although every ounce of logic he possessed told hi about her--maybe her sincerity, the fear she’d exhibited, or the notion that she couldn’t have learned all that she had through any other means--chiseled away at his wall of doubt