This dangerous fool.
“Professor Perry said we must be vigilant. Times are changing and we have to prepare in order to save ourselves and the wolves are key to this. He invited me to join his study group. There’s a waiting list. He already has ten students and he said I can join their next meeting. We’re going to study the legend of werewolves.”
Maybe he shouldn’t break up with her yet. Not until he discovered what this asswipe Perry planned. Knowledge was power. If it meant saving innocent wolves that already were endangered, he’d play along.
“That’s a different approach to teaching. But most people don’t just go around saying there are werewolves. Not unless there’s proof.”
“He saw one two days ago when he flew his father’s helicopter over this ranch. He looked down and saw a man and a woman near the forest. The women changed into a wolf. At least he thinks she did, which is why he needs to investigate.”
“And why was he flying daddy’s helicopter?” Jeff demanded. “Working? Searching for wolf packs?”
“Professor Perry said he was surveying the mountains around the ranch for logging. His father owns that logging company and there’s good timber there.”
Another reason to dislike the man. Who heard of a conservationist who liked to cut down wildlife habitats?
“Where is this mythical werewolf he claims he saw?”
“Some mountainous place by a ranch a few hours from here. A place called…” Judy’s brow wrinkled and then smoothed. “Oh yeah. The Mitchell Ranch.”
Jeff’s heart stilled. The Mitchell Ranch, the property abutting the mountains where the Timberline Pack lived. He needed to make that phone call to talk with Beth Mason’s uncle.
Tonight.
She never wanted more than she needed. Until Troy came along, and she found herself wanting him.
Not needing him. I don’t need anyone. The moment you need someone, you make yourself vulnerable.
Jenny scuffled her feet in the earth, stirring the dead leaves and making them swirl in the sudden breeze. Troy was gone far too long. She didn’t like it when he left and disliked staying human form while he was gone.
For your own protection. I ain’t gonna be here to watch over you, Jenny, so you hang here and pretend to be a botanist, in case any Skins come along. If you’re in wolfskin, they’ll shoot you. Don’t decide to spontaneously shift like you did when that helicopter was flying overhead. Let them spook you and you’re a target.
Jenny knew all about wolf shootings. It was a little more than one year ago when hunters in huge black helicopters, sun glinting off the shiny metal, shot at her pack as they raced along a green meadow, desperate to evade the rifle fire.
Her entire family died that day, her mother’s dead body shielding Jenny from the assault. Their pack leader led them straight into a death run.
Now she trusted Skins less than she did foolhardy pack leaders. If she could stay in wolfskin forever, she would.
Troy wasn’t a Skin lover. He was wolf, through and through. Like her, he loved running wild and free through forest and field. When they’d found each other nearly two months ago, Jenny discovered her equal.
Her seemingly dormant hormones discovered they liked him as well. Every time she was around Troy, she trembled with raw female need.
Need she’d learned to push aside. Couldn’t afford to get entangled with anyone, not even a hot Lupine like Troy.
Friend, yes. Troy became her best friend. They roamed together, sticking to the nomad life, staying in wolfskin as much as possible to hunt and eat. Troy was honest and open, but he hid secrets, and she respected him too much to pry. He lived simply, liked to camp, yet he drove an expensive SUV. On the occasion when they booked a hotel room for the night, he insisted she take the bed while he curled up in his sleeping bag on the floor.
He had money and yet claimed he lived with a peace-loving pack that wasn’t into material items.
This forest, abutting a ranch called the Mitchell Ranch, was full of game. Troy told her he wanted to check the place out. He said they had a friendly pack and a friend had invited him to visit.
They’d driven here in Troy’s SUV two days ago, parking the vehicle at an access road and living off the land. But today Troy set off to buy supplies in town.
Sighing, Jenny touched the petals of a yellow daisy growing beside a tree stump. At least in Skin form, she could appreciate nature more, and little things like flowers. She tried so hard lately to find good things about being in her human form, because lately, she sensed an urgent restlessness in her friend. Troy wasn’t going to stick to this nomad roving much longer.
I’ll be alone again.
Better alone than dead.
Voices sounded in the distance. Leaves crunched under heavy footsteps, and the scent of the intruders filled her senses.
Patches of thick mud dotted the ground from a recent rainfall. Jenny scooped up handfuls, covering herself to disguise her scent. Breath coming in hot and fast, she scrambled for cover, slid in the mud and fell, her face striking against a rock. Warm blood trickled down her cheek. She made no noise.
Long ago she learned never to cry out.
Finally she found her footing, and dove behind a rotting tree stump to hide, her breath coming hot and fast. Fear skidded down her spine like spider legs against bare skin.
Jenny crouched down to make herself as small as possible, wishing she could shift. But she promised Troy. And shifting might mean these Skins would shoot her like they shot her family. Maybe they were hunters as well.
Stealing a peek around the log, she bit
