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.I couldn’t protect Zach, couldn’t protect any of my pack, unless I kept it together myself.Which meant not fighting.Which meant being cool when Patrickreported that the pair from Iowa had taken down two deer on thelodge property.It was a message, of course.Politeness meant weoffered them the chance to run and hunt.Politeness in returnUnexpected demands 69should have meant no large kill that would require clean-up onour part.Politeness was obviously not at the top of their agenda.Lucas and Damian had trailed the Chicago contingentthrough three bars and reported that they showed no signs ofheading home yet.They were acting a little drunk, hittingmildly on girls, but Lucas had watched how much they actuallyconsumed.His verdict was that they were cold sober.Anothermessage, harder to interpret.My wolves had dropped the South Dakota pair as soon asthey turned south instead of north from the airport.I’d passedon the info to Hanson, and received his report half an hour later.He didn’t say where the pair had gone after their confrontationunder the sign of the cactus in the parking lot of the MOA.He’descorted them north implacably but without violence.I didn’tthink I could ask more of him.David and Richard had lost the single wolf from Calgary.He rented a car and gave them the slip with what sounded likecontemptuous ease.I sent them to sit surveillance at the CountrySuites he had listed as his hotel, to see if they could pick him up again.I knew the least about him.His emails were laconic to afault.As the airline flights came in, I pulled my men off the wolveswho seemed settled for the night and sent more of them to watchover Simon and Paul.Night patrols meant we would all be shortof sleep in the morning.But it seemed less of a risk than thechance of someone going after my wolves ahead of schedule.I had considered it more of a precaution than a necessity.Rick Brown from Chicago had declared the pair off limits untiltomorrow, and having met the man I didn’t see anyone defyinghis order.But Mark woke me at three AM.“Aaron, we have a problem.”I blinked and pressed the phone to my ear, trying to get sharpagain.I glanced at the clock.Perhaps half an hour since I hadfinally drifted off.“What’s up?”70Kaje Harper“We caught a strange wolf sniffing around Simon’s place.Notone of our registered guests.He won’t tell us his pack or his name.”God, for a moment I wanted it to be a hundred years ago, soI could just say, Kill him and we’ll figure the rest out in the morning, and go back to sleep.But that was precisely the attitude I wanted to eliminate.Anyway, I wasn’t sure I could ever have been thatkind of Alpha.“Okay,” I said, rubbing my face vigorously.“Fifteen minutes.Keep him there, inside the house if you have enough men tocontrol him.”“Will do,” Mark said.I was grateful yet again for my Second’scool competence.“We’ll see you in fifteen.”I rolled out of bed and pulled my jeans back on.My dirtyT-shirt was over my face when I realized it smelled like stale sweat and pulled it back off.Maybe I would need every bit of Alpha Icould scrounge up.I yanked off the jeans too and went for slacks, a dress shirt, and a jacket.Outside Zach’s room, I hesitated.Zach was sleeping fitfully.I could hear him moving on the pillow.I wanted to let him rest.But I knew, from the nights I’d spent in catnaps, waking at everysound from his room, that he would never sleep through.And ifhe woke, and I was gone…I wasn’t taking chances.I strode into his room, snapped on the light, and yanked thecovers off him.“Rise and shine, pup.”He lay there blinking up at me, his eyes heavy with sleep.Hishair was a tousled black halo around his head on the white pillow.He slept nude.My ruthless stripping of the covers had revealedevery inch of his olive skin, the flat muscles of his stomach, long lean thighs, the evidence that he was not a child and was morewell-endowed than any slight young man had a right to be.Bad mistake.I turned away abruptly and stepped toward thedoor.“Wha’? Izzit morning?” His voice was muzzy with fatigue.Unexpected demands 71“Not morning, pup.Just time to get up,” I told him with falsecheer.“An Alpha’s work is never done, and therefore neither isyours.There’s trouble at Simon’s.Clothes on.Two minutes.”I expected more questions but all I heard was him tumblingout of bed and reaching for clothes.I had more than enoughcontrol not to turn and watch him dress.Not.When I turned,he was already zipping up his jeans.If there were boxers underthem, he was the fastest dresser in nine states [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]