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At first, she stood stock-still, just staring into the woods At the very place frolas firs But he didn’t think she could see hiether as if she were on a wolf-hunting ht for him! The notion that she’d hunt him down appealed on a strictly primal level Her hell-bent determination wreaked havoc with his need to keep this on a purely professional basis Willful is how he’d describe her actions What if he’d been bad news?

But he wasn’t, although right now he had the strongest urge to circle around her through the woods and stalk her right back A game betolves A competition And more Which made hirown up learning theo to discover who he was

Instead of tracking her down, heher into his trap, and listened to her steady footsteps They were more hurried now as she tried to reach the forest before he disappeared for good, he figured Or e

She stopped only a few feet away, the gray-green leaves of a Douglas fir brushing her ar the dark woods as he watched her His heart beat harder--the urge to hunt in his blood Then she lifted her nose in a wolf’s way, trying to catch his scent Seeing her react the way his kind would--s her head as she listenedto track him down like a wolf on the hunt--he felt a neave of respect for her wash over him He hadn’t seen this side of her before It suited her

Quickly, she turned her head, and when she saw hi

Unable to help himself when he should have been annoyed with her iave her a slight s

What now? He wanted to force her to return to the house On the other hand, he’d probably never get another chance to question her in private like this He laughed at himself Yeah, he’d shift, stand here naked in the cold as a human, and question her as if she was a suspect in one of his cases He’dinquisitor that she’d quickly spill her story

He took a deep breath and inhaled her feether in a tantalizing co et close to her before But not too close Darien and his people had made sure of that It was as if she were a fairy-tale princess in a gilded cage, and only those in Darien and Lelandi’s close inner circle were allowed to draw near

A feeling of satisfaction swept through hih it didn’t do hiood while he was in his wolf form He didn’t sotten her in trouble if she’d co about his intentions

"Who are you?" she asked, her brow deeply furrowed as she wrapped her arhtly around her waist, defensive but firm in her stance

He had half a mind to shift She’d asked a question she knew he couldn’t answer any other way What would she do then? Run screa for the house to alert Darien and everyone inside? He’d shock the hell out of the wo his head toward the house in his wolf’s way, ordering her to return

Determination etched in her brow, she shook her head "Shift Tell me what you want"

Without his express perain He couldn’t believe she’d order him about Him, an alphaDevious Appealing She didn’t think he’d shift?

She had asked for it He stood taller, tail straight out, sue Her brows lifted a little

Heat poured through every blood vessel, spilling through every vein and artery His , and then in a flash, he was standing as a man before her The cold breeze swept across his heated naked skin, and he expected Carol to vamoose or, at the very least, stare hi at his nakedness

A whisper of an intake of breath caught his attention, but she quickly recovered and took her fill of hi all the way down to his bare feet, appraising him in an unhurriedway

She snapped her gaze back to his face "You look nice and healthy to ht maybe you needed htingale wouldn’t be bothered by his nudity She was used to seeing naked ht irk him? Maybe not so much that she had seen a lot of nude , but that she didn’t think his maleness was special in any way Just… healthy Yet he could have sworn she looked him over in much more than a clinical manner

"Well?" she prompted

"To the point, Ms Wood--"

"Callto talk to me in the dark forest without a stitch of clothes on, it seems silly to be so fornize your wolf for to help Lelandi find her sister’s killer, no matter how much Darien disapproved"

The tone Carol used didn’t sound as though she was iht irritated to see him Despite her tone, he couldn’t shake loose of the fascination she held for hio by Ryan"

She hesitated to speak and then asked, to the point, "So, Ryan? Why are you here? Does Darien know?"