Page 87 of Silver Claw

But both packs accepted both alphas as theirs.

Energized, I shifted and took the lead, running free and wild through the deep woods with the wolves spreading out around me. We ran and played and chased and ate, and I healed.

I couldn’t imagine anything more perfect until my alpha arrived, trotting into the woods, his head up and tail high, face stern, the huge wolf surveying his pack and his woman, his love, his wolf.

I was lying beneath a tree, watching the evening sun through the growing leaves, thinking about dozing. Jared came to me andnosed away some younger wolves who were too close to me, then stretched out beside me.

He licked my face tenderly, and we lay against each other until the day began fading into night. I was reluctant to shift back. I might have stayed in the woods forever if I could have, with my alpha and my peace, but the woman had work to do and a more complicated life to live.

I kept my shift until the very last moment, though, shifting only when we reached the back door to Jared’s house. Just inside the door, hanging on hooks, was a row of thin robes. Both Jared and I dressed, not wanting to appear dirty and naked in front of his housekeeper Nell and her assistant Evan.

Nell kept the house pristine. Not that it hadn’t seen its share of blood and gore.

Before we left the room, Jared pulled me to him and wrapped me up in his arms. “You’re okay?”

I tightened my arms around his waist. “I am.”

“Zach told me what happened.”

I pulled back to look up at him. “How is he doing?”

“Ben patched him up. Voss is trying to weaken you and your backup. And he’s trying to make you afraid by attacking the people you care about.”

“He’s trying to piss me off,” I growled, “and he’s succeeding. I’m going to hunt him down, Jared. He wants me to run so he can chase me, and to hide so he can find me. I’m not playing his games.”

“I have people searching for him day and night, Kait.” He blew out a breath, attempting to keep his frustration under control. “He’s able to hide from me. I don’t know how. I can’t track him. I can’t catch his scent. When I get to a place he’s been staying, he’s gone before I get there.”

“He’s not like us,” I said. “He’s a freak. A mutant werewolf with magic. I’ve never even heard of such a creature. The only thing I had that stopped him has been taken from me.”

He took my hand and led me from the room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. “Sometimes I wish you were a normal mate,” he said, pulling out a chair at the table. “Then I’d forbid you to return to the council. I’d keep you from hunting Voss.” He tilted my face up and kissed my lips. “I’d feed you until you were fat and happy, fuck you until you were exhausted, and make sure you never wanted for anything.” He kissed me again, and I grinned against his lips.

“You’d be bored in a week, Alpha. I know you want me just as I am, even though you worry.”

He leaned his forehead against mine. “I am happy because you’re you,” he said. “And because you’re mine.”

“I thought I heard voices,” Nell said, hurrying into the kitchen. “Jared! Sit down with Kait. I’ll make you both some dinner.”

Iwashungry. I’d missed my dinner at the mayor’s, after all.

“Maybe a little something,” I said, even as my stomach growled.

“My goodness,” Nell said, rushing to the cupboard. “Is there a wolf hiding under the table? I can feed your friend, too, Kait.” She laughed heartily.

While she cooked us up a “little” something, I told Jared everything that had happened at the mayor’s house. I told him about Anika Draper, too.

When I was nearly finished, Lucy called.

“Lucy,” I said. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m just feeling restless and…alone, I guess. I wish Sam would come home.”

“Call him, Luce. Tell him you need him. He will be there.”

“Maybe I will,” she said.

I knew she wouldn’t.

“How is Rick?” Jared asked when I finished talking to Lucy.