They rushed through the trees, stopping only long enough to listen, sniff the air, and catch her scent.

"Do you think one of the men who murdered the woman was the same one who shot Ca.s.sie?" Elgin asked from several feet away in the darkened woods. "And she was with this guy named Alex?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think," Leidolf growled.

"Think he's a lupus garou, too, and that's why he didn't hang around and tell the police who he was?"

"No. He listened to her lecture at the town hall. He's a wolf biologist also, only of the human variety." Leidolf ground his teeth. What the h.e.l.l had Alex been doing with her in the woods? Had he pushed himself on her when she hadn't wanted him around? Or maybe the reason she was so desperate to get back here had nothing to do with a female red wolf, but rather with a human wolf biologist. Which meant even though he could usually read his people's actions, he was clueless about Ca.s.sie. And that he didn't like.

Leidolf strode forth, trying to get another location on his would-be mate.

Ca.s.sie was determined to break the hunter's grip on her arm and run free while the other man punched in numbers on his cell phone.

"Sheriff Whittaker?" the man said. "This is Everett Hollis. My brother, Ben, and I found a woman in the woods half naked, and we're about half a mile from--" He looked down at her and then nodded. "A pretty redhead." He smiled.

"Yeah, she's the one. Ben said she spoke at the town hall. She's that wolf biologist from California. We'll bring her to the road to hand her over to Mr. Wildhaven. Sure, Sheriff. She's not going anywhere."

He snapped his phone shut and said to Ben, "The little lady borrowed that rich rancher's Jag." He looked down at her clothes. "Looks like she took a little more than that."

Ben furrowed his brow at her. "I always thought rich folks didn't have any troubles." Then he gave her an evil smile. "Here I thought you were one of those stuck-up educated women, and come to find out you're down-to-earth like the rest of us." His grin broadened.

"You're hurting my wrist," she complained, frowning at him. He did have an ironclad hold on her, and it was cutting off the circulation, although her complaint was a little more devious than wanting to protest about the pressure on her wrist.

When Ben loosened his grip a little, Ca.s.sie twisted around and down, breaking his hold on her, and dashed south again for her vehicle.

"d.a.m.n it, Ben. How could you let a slip of a woman get away?"

They tromped after her in rabid pursuit. If she could just reach the truck before these men caught up to her, she could move it. Then she could return to the area where she'd left the salmon and locate the mother wolf and her den. Alex would most likely have left the area already.

She frowned as she plowed through tree branches and underbrush. Unless he worried about the wounded wolf--her--and was searching for her. d.a.m.n. Once she got to her truck, she could call Alex on her cell phone, if the cell-phone signal could reach him, and let him know she'd taken the wolf to a vet so he wouldn't worry about it--her. The lies would soon strangle her.

Leaving the hunters far behind where she didn't think they'd ever catch up, she kept running until she saw the narrow turnout where she'd parked her vehicle. When she reached the location, she found Alex's truck parked behind hers, blocking her in. She could scream. But the fact he hadn't left set her to worrying about his safety again.

She didn't have any other choice. She used the keypad to unlock her truck, then tossed her clothes--Leidolf's clothes, rather--inside and yanked off the bandage over her shoulder. Sharp pain streaked through the muscle and radiated down her back, and she let out a sorrowful groan. She shoved his garments and the bandage under the pa.s.senger seat, relocked the door, and shifted.

The shifting hurt. Landing on her front paws in her wolf form hurt. Everything hurt. But if Alex's truck was still here, he wasn't safe. Neither was she. For now, she had a couple of frantic rescue missions to accomplish, and she wasn't stopping until she did.

Leidolf's cell phone jingled again, and he quit walking through the woods to glance at the number, while his men stopped to hear the news. The sheriff. Leidolf jerked the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Just got the word two hunters came across a woman dressed like the one driving your Jag. Ben and Everett Hollis worried she was a runaway or had been traumatized, the way she was dressed, but then realized she was that wolf biologist who gave the lecture on wolves the other night. Ben said he's got her in tow, headed toward the road to hand her over to you."

Leidolf breathed a tentative sigh of relief. "Good news." He didn't think the sheepherders would do anything but keep her safe, even if they wouldn't like her wolf politics.

But before he could sign off, the sheriff said, "Wait, got another message coming in." He seemed to pause forever before he spoke again to Leidolf, and the suspense was killing him. "They lost her. She shook loose of Ben's grip and headed south again, but they're in pursuit of her."

"Wearing nighttime goggles?" Had to be if they could see like wolves in the gloom of night.

"Yeah. You want them to keep after her?"

"Sure. I'll give you an update in a while." Leidolf didn't want to make it sound as though he needed to keep the whole thing secret from the sheriff's office. Not at this point. He figured Ca.s.sie wouldn't allow the brothers to catch her again anyway. "We're headed in that direction." Leidolf signed off with the sheriff. He wanted Ca.s.sie under his protection and didn't like the idea the men would be manhandling her.

"She's headed this way," Elgin said, a little way away. "A turnout is just ahead."

"She's probably parked there," Leidolf responded. "h.e.l.l, if she gets into her vehicle, that's the last we'll see of her." He started running. He wasn't letting her go until he knew her story. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He didn't intend to let her go ever, although convincing her he had her best interests at heart was going to be some task.

Elgin and the others began to run in their spread-out configuration. Hunting the female made the wolfish side of him want her all the more.

Then they broke into the clearing for the turnout. They saw two pickups, both dark, no one in either, one blocking the other in at the trailhead.

"The green one's hers. The black one is Alex's." He turned to Pierce. "Pick the lock, and wait for her in the cab in the event she returns. Quincy, you take the truck behind it. If she returns with Alex, she might try to leave with him. We need to make sure that neither takes off before I can question them further."

"Yes, sir," both of his men said.

Elgin motioned toward the Willamette River. "She's headed this way, Leidolf."

A good half hour later, he heard the rush of the river and saw her in her red wolf form near the edge of the water, limping as she paced, sniffing and searching in the area... for what? And what the h.e.l.l was she doing in her wolf form, risking getting shot again? Trying to locate Alex? Although a sense of relief washed over Leidolf to see her there, unharmed except for the old injury.

When Ca.s.sie heard them approach, she stopped and narrowed her eyes. Their fluorescent color shimmered in the still dark, early-morning hour, but she seemed tired, her body, tail, and head sagging. Her shoulder had to be giving her fits.

"Are you looking for Alex Wellington?" Leidolf asked, motioning for his men to surround her but keeping her attention. He wasn't letting her go, not the way she was injured. She wouldn't make it anywhere safe when the sun shone in a few hours.

His expression told her she'd better not even think of crossing the river. He didn't believe she'd mind him if she wasn't hurting so much. "We'll find him, but you need to return to the ranch for your own safety." He hadn't meant to sound so irritated, but the notion of her risking her life and exposing their kind to be with Alex annoyed the h.e.l.l out of him.

Suddenly, Elgin and Fergus came out of the brush from behind a Douglas fir, both gripping a man's arms. The man's blue eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't see in the dark like they could.

Alex Wellington.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing out here? And who are these guys?" Alex tugged to free himself, but Leidolf's men would hold him tight until Leidolf said otherwise.

Had Alex been Ca.s.sie's human lover? If so, Leidolf planned to quickly remedy the situation. He frowned. "Did the men you overheard say they'd murdered a woman also shoot the red wolf?"

Alex didn't say anything, but he turned a little pale.

Leidolf didn't like having to repeat himself, and he figured that if Alex could have seen the look he was being given for his disobedience, he would have taken more heed. Leidolf tried again. This time, he growled: "Did one of them?"

Elgin sounded equally ferocious as he shook Alex's arm, "Answer the question."

"All right, all right. It's none of your concern. h.e.l.l, all you are is a d.a.m.ned rancher."

In response, Elgin smirked. Carver shook his head. Satros studied the wolf biologist but didn't say a word, his expression hard. He didn't have much to do with humans, as old as he was. And he didn't tolerate them well when he had to deal with them. Fergus cleared his throat as if he was going to speak but then didn't.

"Was that your truck across the creek on the turnout south of here?" Leidolf asked, even though he knew it was.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Alex finally shook loose of Elgin and Fergus as Leidolf gave them the go-ahead to release him.

Leidolf growled, "What are you doing out here still?"

"If it's any of your business, I was looking for Ca.s.sie and an injured wolf. Instead of my locating the wolf, she found me again. But I haven't discovered any signs of Ca.s.sie."

None of which explained what Ca.s.sie was doing at the river's edge. Why didn't she lead Alex back to his truck? No, she was restless, pacing near the water like she was searching for something else. "We have a vet at the ranch. We'll take her with us and get her medical attention," Leidolf explained, trying to curb his irritation with both her and this friend of hers.

"If you're a rancher, why the h.e.l.l would you want to take care of a wolf?"

"She's not a problem. We're having trouble with a cougar, though. Killed a couple of our calves. Even so, we're turning the cat over to the zoo once we tranquilize it."

Alex's eyes rounded. "You didn't shoot those zoo men with tranquilizers, did you?"

Leidolf smiled, knowing the man couldn't see his expression in the dark. "We're only out to get the wolf medical attention and put the cougar in the zoo."

Alex's expression indicated that he thought Leidolf had shot the men and taken off with the wolf to protect her. Alex's face brightened, but then he frowned. "You tranquilized the men and took her home with you, didn't you? She must have run away again and come looking for me." He rubbed his stubbly chin and stared at the ground.

"Or she came back because of something else. I don't understand, though. She seems anxious, like she was looking for something but was afraid to leave me alone. She's wounded still, too. Limping pretty badly. Why didn't you keep her safely at home? I mean, I'm grateful she found me and then you did, but you should have locked her up for her own safety."

"Just what I intend to do." Leidolf gave Ca.s.sie a look that meant he was going to back up his words.

"Let me go with you," Alex said.

"We can't. Fergus can escort you back to your truck. Sheriff wants to talk to you about what you saw as far as the men are concerned."

"You think he could protect me? She knocked the one down but didn't bite him even. She was protecting me. She's got to have been your pet. Was she?"

"Yeah, she's mine. She got loose. We'll take it from here." h.e.l.l, Ca.s.sie. How could she have gotten so involved with a human. Leidolf gave her an annoyed look.

"Have you guys got night-vision goggles? I can't see a blamed thing out here with just this flashlight of mine," Alex said, waving the small light around, highlighting a few needles of the Douglas fir straight ahead of him with a pinp.r.i.c.k of light. "I figured I'd have to wait it out until morning to locate Ca.s.sie, when here comes the wolf. What's her name, by the way?"

"Red," Leidolf said.

Fergus turned on a penlight. "We're from around here and know the woods forward and backward... blindfolded. Come on. I'll take you to your truck."

"But Ca.s.sie is somewhere out here also."

Leidolf stalked toward him, ready to learn the truth about her relationship with him. "Who is she to you?"

The guy's eyes widened. h.e.l.l, Leidolf meant to ask more about her, not sound like a jealous d.a.m.n lover.

His men smirked at him. Ca.s.sie growled softly in her wolf form, now lying on her stomach, nose on her paws, her eyes focused on Leidolf. He continued to scowl, and Alex frowned. "The woman I'm going to marry. We'll make a d.a.m.ned good team."

The guy couldn't have surprised Leidolf any more with the news. His men looked just as stunned, their mouths gaping.

"Marriage?" He swore she gave him a what-of-it look, although she appeared worn out from her ordeal.

"Yeah, we'll make a terrific husband-and-wife team. Really go places once we make a pact. It's not safe for her to be running around in the wilderness alone."

"She's engaged to you?" Leidolf asked, not bothering to hide the skepticism in his tone of voice.

Alex shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. "As soon as I can propose properly to her. I figured once I'd made the wolf find," he said, motioning to Ca.s.sie, "and hooked up with Ca.s.sie, I'd share the good news with her and that would be what did it. h.e.l.l, if the wolf is just a pet, that won't interest her."

"If you ask her to marry you, she won't say yes." Leidolf couldn't tell what Ca.s.sie was thinking, but she was staring at Alex, waiting for a response. Leidolf could sure as h.e.l.l tell her what he was thinking. No unmated red female was changing some human to be her mate.

"Sure, she'll say yes. As soon as she realizes how perfect we'll be for each other."

"Are you lovers?"

Everyone was rabidly watching Alex for his response. Leidolf thought he heard Ca.s.sie emit a very low growl, directed at him, not at Alex.

"None of your d.a.m.n business."

Leidolf smiled. Just the answer he wanted. No, they weren't lovers.

Leidolf folded his arms across his chest and stood taller. "I can tell you right now that she won't marry you. We're engaged to be married. Couple of weeks, and the knot will be tied."

Ca.s.sie shook her head and narrowed her eyes at Leidolf.

Elgin smiled broadly. "Yeah, I'll be best man at the wedding."

Motioning to the other men, Carver spoke up, "We're all Leidolf's groomsmen."

Alex closed his gaping mouth. Poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d was outnumbered and outmaneuvered. It paid at times like this to be a member of a werewolf pack.

"Ca.s.sie's at home in bed where she ought to be, safe and sound. But now I need to get Red to the vet to take care of her injury. And lock her up so that she doesn't get loose and hurt herself further." Leidolf gave her a pointed look. "Fergus, take Alex to his truck, will you?"

Alex looked back at Ca.s.sie. "I'd like to drop by and tell Ca.s.sie congratulations on her upcoming marriage and see Red when she's healed up. Where did you say they'd be staying?"

"Fergus?" Leidolf said, not about to let this guy get anywhere near Ca.s.sie again, if he could help it.

"Come on," Fergus said, leading the way with his small penlight.

Alex walked behind him in the direction of the turnout, muttering under his breath, "I don't know how you could see anything in this dark. Your light is even smaller than mine." Suddenly he stopped and turned. "What about the other wolves?"

Leidolf felt the tension in the air renew among his pack members. "What other wolves?" He tried to curb his agitation that the guy would continue to question him.

Alex stiffened and gave Leidolf a look like he wasn't that dumb. "I'm a wolf biologist by trade. At least two other wolves were in the vicinity where the men from the zoo were tranquilized. As evidenced by the tracks they left behind, the wolves ran beside the men, who most likely drugged the guys from the zoo. So where are the other wolves?"

"Take him back to his vehicle, Fergus." h.e.l.l, what else could Leidolf say? He had a pack of wolves at the ranch--but he didn't have a license to keep wild animals on the premises? He didn't have any other wolves--and Alex would know he was lying? At least he a.s.sumed the man would know the difference between wolf tracks and dog's or even hybrid wolf-dog tracks. Unless the animals were more wolf than dog.

Besides, he would be d.a.m.ned if he'd explain anything to a wannabe lover of Ca.s.sie's.

Alex snorted. "All right." He turned and headed off with Fergus in the direction of his truck.

Once they were beyond earshot, Elgin warned, "He believes we have a whole pack of wolves back at the ranch."

Leidolf frowned at Elgin. "I'm not changing another d.a.m.n human and taking him into the pack. Sure as h.e.l.l not when the guy has the hots for Ca.s.sie."

"You don't think he'll learn too much, do you?" Carver asked, and the dark expression on his face said he'd take care of the guy one way or another.