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"Then ould she say…" Darien didn’t say anything for a ray wolf Are you certain?"

For a split second, Jake mulled that over Then he frowned "Of course, I’e that first day"

"What if she was bitten after you saw her?"

Jake considered that scenario, his hackles instantly rising "Hell If she’s been bitten recently, she most likely has very little control over the shift" But that would explain why he was drea with her She needed hiallery and didn’t knohat else to do about being stuck in the ladies’ rooed everything between them "Then who turned her?"

"Someone who’s after her possibly, or someone who’s dead That may be the reason she’s never tried to hook up with you Without knowing you’re also a wolf, she wouldn’t want to risk discovery"

"Hell Alicia has to be frantic" He only hoped to hell she was still alive so he could rescue her once again And then they’d deal with all the issues she had to face--these enetics, her need for a mate--him

Silence ht Well, Peter said she’s in a hell of a lot of trouble You can’t go it alone"

"I’ to track her down, locate her scent, see what I can co Peter and Toe to rescue some da up on Jake

Jake let out his breath in an exasperated huff Yes, they worked together as a pack And Jake was obligated to let his pack leader knohat he was up to when there was trouble in the wind

But that was under normal circumstances This ay beyond noret ahis drea this his way

Chapter 11

As a gray wolf, Alicia bolted out of the hotel and ran at a gallop, tearing through the woods and keeping close to the road that would take her to Silver Town At this point, she figured she had nowhere else to turn Although in the back of herherself she shouldn’t try to locate Jake That seeing hi to face He’d want to seeto bite him Turn him Just like Ferdinand had done to her So that Ferdinand--in his oords--wouldn’t be alone If she turned Jake, she wouldn’t be alone

But she couldn’t do that to Jake

So as she still running toward Silver Town? Because for the first time in her life, she really didn’t knohat else to do And she realized then just how isolated she’d become No real friends, not after her mother had been h the pines and spruce and ash trees, she just hoped no one would shoot her

She’d have given anything to see those bastards’ faces after she’d bitten the one in the ar around to shoot her, once he’d broken into the rooainst the wall His jaw had sagged, his eyes had widened, and he’d lowered his gun in surprise She’d lunged at him as if it was instinctual and bitten as hard as she could, afraid anything less wouldn’t have gotten the , burly, black-hairedher head to bite hiuy she was supposed to serve a warrant on Ferdinand’s brother, whom Ferdinand said would kill Alicia and hine He’d been at Ferdinand’s condo and had co for her when she had hidden under the bed He was partly responsible for Ferdinand’s death Maybe even the one who had ultiiven the order

Danny had fired off three shots at the night sky as he fell on his butt, trying to avoid the snap of her jaws and her wicked teeth

For a daiven her tiun, and rearrest hiained her senses, and too concerned he un at her the next ti at her for sure

She thought she h She wasn’t certain, but he’d lost the gun, which was her whole reason for biting him, and her jaere so powerful that she hadn’t realized her own strength It felt as though she’d crushed the bones He had cried out in the uttural pain, then dropped to his knees and collapsed on his face He couldn’t have died, unless she’d given hiht now, she didn’t care She was alive and wanted to stay that way And the truth of the matter was, if he had died, that meant one less killer on Mario’s payroll who’d be after her

She’d run across the street and headed for the woods, only looking back to see Danny still sitting on his butt, staring after her as if he had seen a ghost Then he scra his partner in cri to take care of her--as Alicia the wo Alicia was the wolf that had just escaped thes She didn’t like the lack of control she had with shifting Especially when she couldn’t always shift at will or fight the shift during the fullbusiness could co as a wolf than she’d been as a woun And to an extent, she liked her enhanced hearing, although trying to focus on one conversation at a time had proved difficult so else She smelled way too many odors that she didn’t want to