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Carol hesitated at the bottoht froreat rooe personality, either She was sure she would be the center of attention when she returned, while she would have reat room, all eyes were upon them Brows and lips lifted as the bachelors’ interest was piqued by the sight of Carol in the dress Ryan see Mervin in a corner of the room, the poor barber’s back to the wall and Ryan nearly nose to nose with hiht of Carol out of the corner of his eye, his fearso Now she wished she hadn’t changed out of her ot the guys’ attention

She stiffened her back and glanced at the to words with one another, both of the to be a wallflower any longer The guys were single, and while she didn’t think she’d really get interested enough in any of theot to know one of theht find he truly was someone she could care for Still for now, all she intended to do was have fun

"Can we have some music?" she whispered to Lelandi

Lelandi s? Let’s dance!"

That was all it took One of the rab Carol’s arm, and she tried to tell herself she wanted this--Do not shift!

When he grasped her ar breath and concentrated on his flyaway dark brown hair and intense air, his chocolate suit andtie at odds with his wild look, and attempted not to think of the force of his enthusiastic touch, which er the shift

"My name is Christian, and I couldn’t have been ath as he moved her across the tile floor to dance His darkened eyes looked at her as if he was fascinated with her, but his voice was a little too high pitched toserious about hirinned "Only untilDarien would take it I realize you don’t understand everything about pack politics yet, but Darien’s the pack leader so what he says is the law Not that we don’t disagree with him sometimes, but we keep it to ourselves"

Betas "And Lelandi?"

"She’s the pack leader’s mate, so sure, she has a lot of say But ultimately, it falls on Darien’s shoulders to make sure that everyone follows the rules His brothers help to enforce the that’s contrary to those guidelines, there’s a wait-and-see attitude Does Darien find it acceptable or not? You ht not think so, but the way he’s taken you into his householdto upset hi you"

She snorted "Darien is protective I’ll give hi"

"That’s because you’re fighting the shift It sets you apart from the rest of us, but worse than that, one of these days you won’t be able to control it And you’ll put us all in a bind"

Not liking the way he frowned at her and the sudden edge to his voice, she htened his hold She was afraid that if she fought hiain

She could see it now--pulling her dress straps down, exposing her bra, yanking her dress the rest of the way off as fast as she could Then before she knew it, she’d be standing naked in front of a crowd that was shocked or aht And the talk for years of Carol’s coht

Christian didn’t seem to notice the tension in her body and continued to speak as if he hadn’t upset her "I’uard And I’ll take the job seriously Anyone who tries to get to you will have to deal with me"

"Anyone?" she asked, curious if this et close to her, either

"Any red"I’d keep any male away, but not for that reason Darien has sent soht, looking for hi to think about being stalked, Carol switched topics "What do you think of Marilee and Becky?"

Christian glanced at Becky, as dancing with Mervin Carol al her distance, and Mervin atching Carol Another bachelor clung to Marilee

His expression fierce, Ryan was standing alone, arry, so dangerous Maybe because he was irritated that another bachelor irls," Christian said "They’ll et out maybe, but cute? Not in this lifetime

What she really wanted to hear was that Christian didn’t think the women orthy of consideration Not that she was interested in hi the shift, but…

The ain, Tom butted in "Mind, Christian?"

Even if Christian had runtled look on his face, Darien’s brothers had priority as sub-leaders in having their wishes met

His mouth curved down, Christian bowed politely and then stepped away She couldn’t believe Tom had even asked her He kept her separated fronified, very respectful, but when he spoke, she knew Darien had prompted him to dance with her

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