He looked down at Ca.s.sie's sleep-filled features as he walked her into his bedroom, her expression so peaceful that he almost could envision she was his already, but he knew the fight lurked just beneath the surface. He shut the door with his hip and strode toward the bed.

When he had overstepped his boundaries with her as they sat beside each other on the couch, as subtle as his actions had been, he had loved her response. He could tell from her expression that she would have dumped the wine on him, too. She continually tried to hide the fact she desired him as much as he desired her, which triggered his interest in her even more.

He had wanted to sense if she was hurting during the meal; he was testing her also, to see her reaction, to learn whether she was willing or not. Just like a wolf would his mate--becoming more affectionate with nudges and kisses, with bodies pressed together when walking, with licking and nuzzling. His actions were as much instinctive as they were driven by need.

Now the feat was in convincing her that she wanted him for a mate, forever. He knew what it was like being a loner. If she truly was a loner, and he suspected she was, he understood her needs. And he would respect them. As much as he could.

After laying her on the mattress, he unbuckled the belt--his belt--at her waist. He shook his head. He a.s.sumed only the minx herself would have been bold enough to retrieve it from his closet. Which further emphasized the fact she was an alpha and perfect as his mate.

He removed the belt and slipped Laney's gaudy shirt off Ca.s.sie's shoulders. He ditched the pants next, the busy pattern and brightness enough to keep him awake half the night. He took the clothes and tossed them in a hamper. He'd rather Laney or someone else give Ca.s.sie other clothes to wear for tomorrow. Although Laney had asked him about taking her shopping, Leidolf wouldn't allow it. Not until he knew Ca.s.sie wouldn't take off.

He covered her with the comforter and considered the bandage on her shoulder. Tomorrow, he'd take a look at her injury. He touched her forehead with the palm of his hand. She felt cool enough to the touch, so he didn't think she was having any ill side effects, a fever, or chills. He hoped the pain would soon subside.

Then he took off his clothes, laid them on the desk chair, and turned to observe the redheaded beauty, her face tranquil in sleep, her eyelashes fluttering, her breathing soft and steady. To wake to such a dream the rest of his days would make staying with the pack all the more rewarding. He could even deal with the financial mess they were in and Quincy, Pierce, and Sarge's shenanigans. And the other two--Irving and Tynan, whatever they were up to.

He took a deep breath. Something about the girls had disturbed Ca.s.sie, though. At first, he thought his pack members had unduly upset her, possibly because of their enthusiastic interest in her being their pack leader's mate when she wasn't ready to commit. And being a loner, she might have been overwhelmed with all the members of his pack greeting her at once, all excited to meet her.

He again regretted so many of them showing up to check her out without his express permission. But he didn't think it was that. She seemed to feel some connection to the girls. Which bothered him somewhat. Carver was looking to have a mate. What if the girls really did need a mother? And Ca.s.sie was right for him?

Leidolf shook his head. Ca.s.sie had the hots for Leidolf, not for anyone else. Carver could have the other red female if she was truly a lupus garou and they could locate her. And if she was free to mate and agreeable.

Without a doubt, at least to his way of thinking, Ca.s.sie was Leidolf's.

He climbed into the bed, pulled Ca.s.sie into his arms, and closed his eyes. She quickly snuggled against him, slipping her leg between his, her soft cheek against his chest, her silky hair caressing his skin, her arm resting over his chest as if she owned him. He groaned. Wanting to believe she was giving herself to him, he had to remind himself he knew better. He hadn't been with a human woman in a long time. Now to have a chance to mate with a female lupus garou who was perfect for him in every way... He took a deep breath and caressed her back with a light stroke. She was heaven sent.

To an extent, he didn't believe in fate, but after learning Ca.s.sie was a lupus garou, he was rethinking his beliefs. His sister would just smile with that expression that said she told him so. He'd probably have to agree with her.

After about an hour of mulling over everything that had happened from the first time he'd seen Ca.s.sie until now, and thinking about how he was going to convince her to stay with him, he finally drifted off. And returned to the place he loved to go, to get away, to recapture the wildness, to enjoy the solitude, to gather his thoughts and meditate.

Snow-capped Mount Hood stretched heavenward as fluffy clouds embraced its peak, the scene majestic, monumental, so far away.

The chilled water lapped at his legs and at the stony beach as he observed the beauty. He considered running in his wolf coat all the way there, letting the wind ruffle his fur, stretching his legs in the wilderness, getting away from the pack for longer than he'd planned, when a branch snapped in the woods behind him.

Whipping around, he saw her watching him. Red hair struggling to break free of its confinement. Green eyes challenging him to come for her. To take her. To make her his.

Ca.s.sie.

His body grew taut with need. Her parted lips beckoned him, taunted him to kiss them. She took a step back. She wasn't running away. Her eyes took in every bit of his nakedness. He smiled. She wanted him. And he wanted her. He stalked toward her, intending to help her make a decision to stay. And then she was running. She was his. All his, and he took chase. He was faster. He'd catch her. He couldn't let her get away.

Then he was jerked from the dream as Ca.s.sie crawled on top of him, her soft mouth forming quiet words that didn't make any sense, whispered against his chest, and she shivered. She was cold. He wrapped his arms tight around her and wanted so much more, but until she healed, until she agreed to be his... as difficult as it was, he would wait. He wouldn't quit trying to help her make up her mind faster, though.

He slipped into the dream again. Saw the mountain, felt the cold of the lake, heard the snapping branch, and faced the woman who would be his own.

Ca.s.sie slowly woke to the feel of a naked man beneath her. Not just any man. Leidolf. His heated body, hard beneath her, warmed her, comforted her. She breathed in his maleness, the woods, the s.e.xy smell of him, of his wanting her. What a mess she'd gotten herself into. Somehow she had to leave these people. The she-wolf depended on her. She was afraid Alex did also. Yet already she was feeling torn about leaving the pack behind.

The way they wanted her to stay, to be part of their family, she couldn't help but feel something for them. Even the way the band members who had played the music at the Forest Club, some of whom she'd seen watching and smiling at her as they ate their meals, the twin girls who seemed to look up to her, Laney, who acted motherly toward her... she sighed. Leidolf wasn't the only one who was making her feel the need to stay.

She lay very still, half-wanting to slip away into what was left of the night and take care of business, half-wanting to stay here and entice the man beneath her to make love to her, to claim her for his very own as she would claim him.

Then again, she knew what she had to do. Set aside these crazy lupus garou feelings she had and concentrate on what was important. She had to move off Leidolf, dress, and get away, but she feared any movement would wake him and he'd stop her.

With a monumental effort at trying to create the least amount of friction between them, she attempted to disentangle herself from the possessive man who had both arms wrapped around her back and one leg hooked over hers. The same leg she had sandwiched between his. She'd never been in this s.e.xy a position with a man she hadn't had s.e.x with. And she was having a hard time not envisioning what it would be like to give herself to him.

As she tried to pull her leg free, her skin slid over his. He stirred, and she didn't move a muscle. And then she worried. She hadn't had s.e.x with him last night by mistake, thinking in her dreamlike state that he was a human, had she? She wasn't sure he would have stopped her if she'd gotten too amorous, and he'd been in an aroused state, thinking she was willingly giving herself to him. She felt perfectly lubricated, as though she'd had s.e.x.

She sighed softly. When she attempted to pull her leg the rest of the way free, his leg caged hers in again, his heel hooking over hers like a manacle. She stayed stock still. Was he awake? Her heartbeat quickened. She couldn't get caught. Not this time.

Then his hand drifted down her back, lower still to her b.u.t.t, and he stroked for a few seconds. Even though she was perfectly still, her heart was beating way out of bounds, and she feared he'd open his eyes and realize she was awake and planning to escape.

His free hand drifted to her hair, and he sifted his fingers through the strands. Oh, G.o.d, he was awake. Or half awake, because she was sure he would have noticed how rapid her heart was beating, as astute as he was. And probably come to the conclusion she was preparing to bolt. Finally, his hands settled down and stopped their heavenly caresses.

Forever, it seemed, she lay still, not moving a hair. She listened to his breathing and thought from the steady, slow rhythm that he was truly asleep. She again tried to extricate herself from his leg, which was pinning hers down. And pulled free. She paused, waiting for him to wake. His hand tightened on her a.s.s again. Controlling alpha male!

Finally he appeared to drift off again. She eased herself off his stomach. He shifted his hand to his chest, and she slipped the pillow next to his head onto his belly. To her relief, he seemed dead to the world.

She imagined that running a pack was exhausting work. Probably more so than studying wolves. Although trying to track her and his men down might have had something to do with how tired he was.

She hesitated, ensuring he truly was asleep. And then she slid out from under the comforter, trying not to tug it away from him too much. She finally scooted away from him and off the edge of the mattress, which shook to high heaven despite how gently she tried to leave the bed. As soon as her feet hit the carpeted floor, she raced to the double-wide closet.

Jeez, Leidolf would have looked dest.i.tute, if it hadn't been for the size of his bedroom and its sumptuous features: velvet comforter, heavy, rich oak furniture, sitting area, and French doors leading out to a patio. But the walls were bare, the shadow of where paintings or pictures had once been the only evidence the place had at one time been decorated.

Ca.s.sie pulled the closet door open, cringing in case it creaked. It was quiet, thank goodness.

The thought unwillingly flitted across her mind that the place needed a woman decorator's touch as she unb.u.t.toned a shirt to pull it off the hanger. Yeah, as in Julia Wildthorn's s.e.xy, romantic touch. If Julia got hold of the bedroom and redid it in her own theme, Ca.s.sie envisioned a gold-gilt mirror hanging on the ceiling over the bed, a hot tub in the bathroom, silky pale blue sheets, and an indoor-outdoor shower with a view of the forest and Mount Hood beyond. She harrumphed at herself for thinking anything of the sort. Jealousy was not part of her psyche. Not professional, not personal. She attributed her annoyance with his interest in Ms. Wildthorn to the fact he was attempting to seduce her and planning on seeing another woman on Sat.u.r.day.

Ca.s.sie growled under her breath and yanked a blue-and-black plaid flannel shirt off a hanger. Immediately, a bolt of pain shot through her shoulder, and she stifled a moan. She didn't have time for gingerly movements and jerked her arms through the sleeves, clenching her teeth against the pain.

She considered the rest of his clothes, wondering what he'd done with Laney's floral pants. Not that they would have helped much. Although the walk-in closet was wide and deep, with four racks for clothes, only a handful of jeans hung from one of the rods along with maybe a half-dozen flannel shirts, mixed in with some short-sleeved shirts for the one month of the year that was really warm enough. She slid a pair of pants off their hanger and held them up to her waist.

She'd have a devil of a time with the length, perfect for his long legs but way too long for her and sure to trip her. She abandoned the jeans on the closet floor. A glance at the shelf of shoes showed all that he owned: five well-worn pairs of cowboy boots, a couple of pairs of running shoes, two pairs of hiking boots, snow boots, and one pair of sandals. None of which she could wear. Giving up, she rushed back into the bedroom.

Carefully sliding open a drawer, she found one pair of boxers. Needed to do a wash? Or just a token pair for appearance sake?

She pulled open several more drawers as quietly as she could before she found one full of wool sweaters. Big, large-cabled, warm wool. Not having time to b.u.t.ton the shirt, she yanked a green sweater off the top of the pile and slipped it over her head. A sharp pain stabbed her in the shoulder again, and she gritted her teeth to stifle a groan.

She searched through another drawer, found socks, and shoved her feet into a black pair, the heel riding higher than her ankles. At least they'd keep her feet a little warmer until she could reach her own truck, dress in her own clothes, use the can of hunter's fragrance that would hide her scent, and move her vehicle to some other location away from where she'd have to abandon the vehicle that she planned to borrow from Leidolf.

Glancing around the room, she was looking for the jeans he'd been wearing, figuring he'd probably have his keys in the pocket, when she saw a set of keys sitting in a gla.s.s bowl on top of the dresser.

She s.n.a.t.c.hed them up and then hurried for the gla.s.s patio doors, hoping she'd make her escape before she woke him.

Cautiously, she pulled the door open, and a blast of cold night air hit her. A steady wind hinted at rain, and she frowned as she slipped outside, closing the door behind her with a soft click. All she needed was to get drenched in a rainstorm as she searched for the she-wolf and Alex.

Then she raced around to the front of the house toward the welcome sight of a huge black Suburban sitting in the circular drive. She pushed the b.u.t.ton on the keyless remote entry and then yanked at the door handle. No response. She tried the remote again. The door was still locked. h.e.l.l, different vehicle. In case the keypad battery was dead, she tried to insert the key in the door, but it wouldn't allow her to insert even a tip of the metal. Her skin heated with anxiety.

She glanced back at the rambling ranch-style house. Several windows looked out over the front of the property, but all were pitch black. Still, she envisioned pack members sleeping in each of the bedrooms she'd pa.s.sed on her way to dinner. She couldn't help worrying that someone might look out one of the windows any second and see her trying to steal away with one of Leidolf's vehicles.

No security cameras hung under the eaves, so at least it seemed no security force watched for intruders. Not that anyone in his right mind would try to steal from a lupus garou pack leader who had a whole pack of men at his beck and call. Then she saw a black Humvee and a bright yellow Jaguar sitting in a garage, the doors to the garage wide open. Six more pickups were parked at another long building nearby, and she suspected they belonged to some of the male bachelors sleeping in a barracks.

She dashed for the Humvee, her sock feet silently padding over the cement drive. When she tried the remote on the vehicle, she heard the faint click of the lock, but when she tried the door, it wouldn't open. She used the key in the Humvee's lock, but it didn't work. Exasperated, she looked around the Humvee and considered the seductive allure of the mustard yellow Jaguar. The doe-eyed headlights, the sloping sleek grill. Too splashy. Too conspicuous. Too expensive. But it was a set of wheels.

Skirting completely around the Humvee, she thought maybe pushing the b.u.t.ton on the remote had unlocked the Jag's door instead. She yanked at the door handle... and voila! The door opened. She hoped her insurance would cover the damage if she wrecked the sports car, or she'd be handing her life savings over in bulk to the alpha leader, that is, if he ever caught up with her again. She didn't plan for that to happen anytime soon.

She climbed in, took a deep breath of the sweet smell of new b.u.t.ternut leather, and admired the lightly polished maple wood. Her car's worn cloth seats were padded economy style, but she sank into the driver's seat of the Jaguar as if she were ready to lounge at home. She shoved the key in, turned on the ignition, and then stared at the manual shift. It wasn't an automatic? She hadn't driven a stick shift in forever.

Suddenly, a figure loomed next to the driver's door. Her heart did a triple beat, but before she could react, the blond from dinner, the one who was being guarded, jerked the door open, reached in, and pulled the key from the ignition.

"You're taking me with you," he said, his voice low and determined, his blue eyes piercing her with the promise that if she didn't agree, he would cause real trouble for her. And she didn't doubt that he would.

She considered her options. No way was she taking a troublesome, newly turned lupus garou with her. Yet, she a.s.sumed that if she tried to leave without him, he'd tell the world. If she took him with her, she'd have to ditch him somewhere along the way, and that wouldn't be safe for any of their kind. Or for him, either.

"Hurry up, Ca.s.sie," he said, his tone ominous. "You have a second to decide, or I sound the alarm that you're running away in Leidolf's sports car." He tilted his head to the side a little. "And I could use some good points with Leidolf about now."

h.e.l.l, no way did she want to take this guy with her. He couldn't cope in the least if she were to leave him on his own alone somewhere. She doubted she could trust him to help her or keep quiet or not get himself shot by accident.

When she still didn't decide, he tried a more coaxing approach. "You're like me, newly turned. And I know you don't want to stay here. They'll force you to. You know it. So we can work together."

"Get in," she growled. Why weren't this guy's keepers making sure he stayed put?

"Thanks, I owe you. Then again..." he said, pausing as he rushed around to the other side of the car and yanked it open, "...I figure you owe me because I can watch your back."

Yeah, right. She'd be doing all the work, trying to keep both their b.u.t.ts out of the fire. She held her hand out for the keys.

He hesitated to give them to her. "Don't try to pull anything. I'll be watching you."

"What in the world do you think I can do? Wreck the vehicle? Not on your life. The insurance cost would eat me alive." She started the engine and backed out of the garage.

The engine purred, and she thought how much she could get used to driving in luxury like this. When she tried to drive forward on the gravel road, the car bucked and stopped dead. She stared at the controls and then, figuring she'd put it in second gear instead of first, she planned to try again, when the blond guy said, "Don't you know how to drive a stick? Here, let me have the key and I'll drive." He grabbed for the keys, but she slapped his hand away hard, showing him just who was in charge.

"I'll do it."

No way was she letting this guy have any control over her, well, any more so than he did at this point. She put the Jag into neutral, started the engine, and rolled along the road, this time in first gear and inching along at a painfully slow pace. As they pa.s.sed the bunkhouse, she cringed to think every last one of the bachelor males would come after her for stealing the pack leader's sports car. She envisioned a mad chase of trucks in hot pursuit if they heard the car leaving the compound in the middle of the night. What she saw next surprised the h.e.l.l out of her.

Her headlights shined a spotlight on the barracks briefly, catching a couple of teens kissing in the shadows of the building near the road she had to take, and she held her breath. h.e.l.l... Evan and Alice?

Alice's father would kill Evan, she suspected, if he learned they were out here kissing in the dark. Worse, she was about to be caught.

The teens turned to observe the Jag, their mouths parted in surprise. The tinted windows would hide her and the blond sufficiently. She just prayed they'd think their leader was taking a spin. The teens remained frozen as she slowly made her way past them, not wanting to alert the others if all of a sudden she roared down the road.

As soon as she pa.s.sed them, Evan dashed for the house. c.r.a.p. Alice didn't move. Probably didn't want her father knowing she'd been alone with Evan in the dark shadows late at night.

"s.h.i.t," the blond said. "Evan will warn Leidolf, and we'll both be in a h.e.l.l of a lot of trouble."

Evan--yep, the boy Alice and Sarah had a crush on. He was a teen heartthrob already. She wondered if Leidolf had been like that or a loner early on. Probably always a loner. Or not. She frowned and then glanced at the blond. She suspected this guy would be in much more trouble than she would with Leidolf, just for being alone with her and threatening her with exposure if she didn't take him with her. Or maybe not. It depended on how attached Leidolf was to his hot rod. Probably a lot.

Her skin peppered with perspiration, Ca.s.sie sped up a little, but the road was gravel and the car slipped a couple of times. Why would Leidolf have such an impractical, low-slung vehicle for out here on gravel and dirt ranch roads? Rich-guy mentality, she guessed.

"What's your name?" she asked the blond as she headed for what she hoped would soon be a paved road, figuring he was the one the girls called Sarge but wanting to make sure.

"Sarge is what everyone calls me on account of I was a clerk in the army for a couple of years."

"Didn't like the army?"

The view of a valley, gra.s.s just beginning to green with the spring rains, appeared below the main house. She spotted several elk in the distance and, closer in, cows, yearlings, and horses on higher ground. Some of the lower-lying pasture lands under water, most likely due to recent heavy rains.

Sarge stared out the window and then glanced at her. "Got into trouble."

Figured. She had a feeling the guy was trouble in a lot more ways than just this incident, which accounted for his having had a guard detail at dinner. What had happened to the men who were supposed to be watching him? They'd surely catch h.e.l.l when Leidolf discovered Sarge was missing.

"What kind of trouble?" she asked, wanting to hear the truth in his own words.

He stared at her, as if putting a hex on her, and her skin crawled. Not that she couldn't handle him, if she needed to, but she didn't like getting mixed up with a troublesome lupus garou on top of everything else.

Ca.s.sie pressed the gas pedal a little harder and crawled a little faster along the ranch road beside the river. Then she looked up at the main house and two others that overlooked the view. No one was following her, yet. As soon as the teen told Leidolf his car was going out for a drive--without him, they'd be after her. And someone was sure to alert Leidolf that his newly turned lupus garou was missing also. She figured that he really wouldn't like Sarge having come along with her. Not that she'd helped Sarge escape, but that he'd be worried about her with the unpredictable guy.

Sarge shrugged and looked back out the window. "I was kicked out of the service because of drug use. Lots of guys were doing it. No big deal. It's just that I got caught."

Which didn't explain how he came to be here. "Right. So, how did you end up in Leidolf's pack?"

"I was a werewolf hunter."

Catching her breath in her throat, Ca.s.sie didn't say anything. She felt that Sarge was watching her, waiting for her response. Everything the girls had said was true. No wonder he was being treated like an omega, someone no one wanted to be friends with. A werewolf killer? Great, just great. She glanced at his arm, but she couldn't see the scar from where the tattoo had been removed. Probably on the other arm.

"You don't kill us anymore, right?"

"I didn't kill the others."

Relieved, she let out her breath. She wasn't afraid of him. She could take care of herself. But taking someone like him away from Leidolf's pack was a real mistake when he needed heavy supervision. "Those two men who were with you, were they serving as your guards?"

"Pierce and Quincy? h.e.l.l, they've been in nearly as much trouble as me. They joined a week before I did, although they were born lupus garous. Fergus... he's like Elgin, a sub-leader... he's supposed to be watching all three of us. And then Pierce and Quincy are supposed to be keeping an eye on me. They were busy watching a game, so that was the end of guarding me.

"And Fergus was looking for his son. Evan? The kid who was kissing the girl out by the building back there? My kind of kid." Sarge gave an evil smile. "So where are we running off to?"

If they caught her before she reached her destination, she'd never manage to sneak away again, she was certain. And alpha leaders ruled their territories, so if she wanted to stay here, she had to obey Leidolf's pack rules. Or at least those were the unwritten laws of any lupus garou pack. Taking this knucklehead with her complicated everything.

"I have business to take care of in Mount Hood National Forest. So when we reach the place I need to go, you can stay in the car and wait for me."

"And give me the slip? And Leidolf, too? Not on your life, lady. How dumb do I look? If I stayed in this bucket, it'd be like having a neon sign plastered to it saying, 'Here they are. Right here.' Why didn't you take the Humvee? Less noticeable." He shook his head like she was some kind of idiot.

No other keys had been on the dresser top. Probably Leidolf didn't use the Jag as much.

She imagined Leidolf would drive it to the book-signing at Powell's on Sat.u.r.day, though, to take little Miss Julia Wildthorn for a spin. Show off his hot rod and even hotter aspects that were all his.

"So, no thank you," Sarge said, jerking her from her thoughts about Leidolf and his planned romantic liaison with the romance author. "I'm sticking with you. I know I need guidance to get through this nightmare. I'd rather have yours than Leidolf's. A gentler woman's touch. Maybe we could even... you know, get to like one another." He grinned.

She refrained from rolling her eyes. If she had to confront him in her wolf form, bearing her very wicked canines, she'd have no difficulty. And he'd soon learn that she could be just as rough on him as any male.