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  Her plan was simple and would hopefully get the results her father wanted. They would spend the next couple of days running the woods in their wolf forms, maybe do a little hunting, and by the end of that Seth would be in touch with his wolfy side. She snorted and caught the quick flicker of his eyes on her. She was sure he wanted to know what was so funny but he didn’t ask, so she didn’t explain.

  She pondered the anomaly that was Seth. He was obviously a full-blooded shifter. He’d gone through the first transition when he was supposed to, like every other prepubescent pup. So what had caused the recessive, weaker, human genes to manifest? Was he truly a defective specimen who just hadn’t been culled when he was born? Were his human traits more prevalent because he didn’t embrace his wolf? Or was it because he didn’t shift just for the sake of shifting? She could almost smell strength in him, but for some reason it was being repressed.

  She was pulled from her musing by the very loud grumbling of Seth’s stomach. She glanced sideways and caught the flash of a blush under his skin. She grinned. He was cute because his reactions were so unlike a shifter’s. “Hungry?”

  “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t get time to grab something to eat.”

  “There’s a diner about five minutes from here that has good food—we can stop there.”

  Seth answered with a grunt and continued to stare out of the window. He wasn’t too angry about having to go this weekend, or she would have sensed it, so either he was usually this quiet or he was just resigned to the fact that she’d kidnapped him.

  They pulled into the parking lot of Sal’s and the smells of eggs and bacon oozed around the edges of the doors. Emily loved Sal’s. It helped that Sal was one of her father’s oldest friends and she’d grown up thinking of him as an uncle. She hopped out of the Jeep and motioned to her stoical passenger before heading into the restaurant.

  One whiff told her that the place was packed with shifters. Wonderful. She hoped she’d be able to get through the meal without having to put some asshole in his place. She hated going out in public. Being a strong female and the daughter of the area Alpha made every guy around her produce copious amounts of testosterone and increased their stupid quotient. They all thought they’d be the one to bring her to her belly and take her as their mate. Maybe her being with Seth would curtail some of the normal reactions, but she doubted it. With a sigh, she walked to her favorite booth and slid in to the side against the wall. She had a perfect view of the entire diner from there, and it placed them close to the back door in case she needed to drag someone out for a beating.

  She watched Seth slide in on the other side and searched his face for any kind of reaction to being in a place full of other shifters. Nothing at all changed. Either he didn’t know or didn’t care, but she guessed it was the former. “Tell me, can’t you smell them or are you just ignoring them?”

  “Can’t I smell what? All I can smell is coffee brewing and that they have fryers. What am I missing beyond that?” He wrinkled his nose and pushed his glasses up.

  “There are thirteen people in this building, all shifters. Nine are males, all but one of them are in our pack. The females are all pack and two of them are wearing way too much perfume. One of the females is pregnant. Let’s see…four of the males are already exuding lust and weren’t until we walked in.” She watched his eyes widen with each statement. So his sense of smell truly was lacking. If she couldn’t smell his wolf on him she would have sworn he was human. Bad eyesight, horrible sense of smell—what traits could he have possibly inherited with his shifter side? “I can tell that you’re surprised and slightly scared about something. It’s rolling off you in waves.”

  “You can really tell all of that with a few breaths?”

  “Yep. Each emotion carries a scent. Each person carries a scent individual to them.” She tilted her head and studied him from the point of view of a shifter for the first time. “If you can’t smell things that clearly, how have you known if you were around shifters or not?”

  “I haven’t known, unless someone said something to give it away. But honestly, I don’t hang out with people I don’t know. Sometimes my wolf gets excited around someone and I just assumed they were shifters. I try to keep it as quiet as I can, so I avoid others as much as I can.”

  Emily chewed on the information he’d given her. She couldn’t imagine going through her life without shifter abilities. Not to know whether someone she spoke to was angry with her or trying to lie. Not to have a clue whether the person was a shifter or just a human. She relied on her senses too much not to have them. Without her senses she would be lost. She studied him and caught a whiff of unease. She looked away, giving him a chance to get his emotions back under wraps.

  “So, um…I didn’t bring a lot of cash,” he stammered, while looking anywhere but at her face. He nervously pushed his glasses up his nose again. The change in subject wasn’t subtle but she let it go.

  “Not to worry. My father has an account here and seeing it’s pack business this weekend we’ll just charge it to him.” She laughed at the disgruntled look that crossed his face. “Just order what you want, okay? No need to feel bad about spending my dad’s money.”

  “So what does your mom think of all of this pack stuff?”

  “My mom died eight years ago in a car accident.” She stopped him from giving her the normal response with a glare. “Yes, it’s sad, but it was a long time ago. I miss her but my dad has been great. My extended family took good care of us when we lost her. I’m at the point now where I can remember the good times and ward off the sadness of losing her.”

  “I’m still sorry. When my parents died I don’t know what I would’ve done without my aunt and uncle. They were wonderful about everything.”

  She felt a connection with him that she didn’t feel with too many others. He understood the pain of losing a parent yet he had made it through it. She smiled and reached across the table to squeeze his hand in thanks. The moment was broken when a familiar scent arrived, preceding Uncle Sal.

  Emily glanced up just in time to smile at Sal. He had aged some since the last time she’d seen him but he still was a beefy man. At one time he’d been a pack enforcer and she could still see the strength in his body. The gray hairs around his temple and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes didn’t cover the power and vigor still coursing through his veins. This male was something to be reckoned with, and most shifters obeyed the no-fighting rule on his property.

  “Well, Emily, what a sight for sore eyes you are, girly.” Sal’s familiar voice was like a hug. She stood and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek.

  “Hi, Sal. How’s business?”

  “Good. Your dad said you’d be up this way this weekend.” He turned and looked questioningly at Seth. “Who’s this?”

  “Sal, meet Seth. My project for the weekend. Seth, this is Sal. He’s my uncle by adoption, and one of my dad’s best friends.”

  “Nice to meet you, sir.” Seth put his hand out and shook Sal’s huge paw, as a good male should.

  Sal turned to Emily and quirked an eyebrow but didn’t ask anything else. She wasn’t sure how much her father had told his friend, but it must have been enough to keep Sal from asking questions. “So, what do you two want for breakfast?”

  They ordered almost identical meals, which should have irritated Emily but did nothing but add another layer of “cute” to her thoughts about Seth. She hated that word but it was really the only descriptor she could come up with that covered her protective emotions about the guy. He was like a child all grown up, who hadn’t lost his childlike qualities. Her wolf scoffed at her musings. The bitch didn’t think he was cute at all. She wanted to lick him and nibble on his earlobes.

  Bad wolf—down, girl.

  Sitting in silence, they both peered out of the large window, deep in their own thoughts. She really liked that about him. He seemed to keep himself as buried inside his head as she tended to be. Their companionable silence was broken
by the arrival of their food. That seemed to trigger the stupidity of a couple of males. Why they thought the arrival of her food would make their asinine attempts at wooing her any more palatable she didn’t know.

  “Hey, Emily.” She sighed when she looked up and found one of the town playboys standing, thumbs in pockets, leering at her. Fuck. Her breakfast was going to get cold.

  “Hi, Luke.”

  “Whatcha doin’ up this way with the likes of him?” Luke, the scholar that he was, jerked a nod in Seth’s direction as if she wouldn’t know who he was talking about. “If you’re lookin’ for a male how come you’re with a runt instead of me?”

  “Luke, turn around and go back to your seat.” She pressed him with her mind and snickered when his face blanked and he turned robotically to shuffle back to his seat. She looked at Seth and almost laughed at the look on his face. Confusion, anger and irritation warred for position. She pointed to his plate. “Eat fast because he isn’t the only one I’ll have to squash if we stay much longer.”

  She took two mouthfuls before the next dickwad arrived. She sighed loudly and looked up. Well, at least she’d got to eat a little of her meal before it cooled. She growled, “What do you want, Lenny?”

  “Hiya, Emily.” Lenny was nice, not as obnoxious as some of the others she had to deal with, but he still didn’t take the hints she put forth each time he came on to her. He’d make some bitch a good mate, it just wasn’t going to be her. Dirty-blond hair in need of a cut lay shaggily over his eyes. Muddy brown eyes peeked at her between the mop of bangs. He was nice looking in that rugged, working-man kind of way. He didn’t look good enough for her to overlook the crap he was about to pull, though.

  “Lenny, how many times do we have to do this, hmm? Go eat. You aren’t going to lose face with your buddies if you just go back over there and eat like a good boy.” She smiled and whispered, “I don’t want to hurt you today.”

  Lenny, being the follower he was, turned to see what his friends were doing. They were all watching him expectantly, grinning like adolescent idiots. He turned back and she could see the determination on his face. Fine. They wanted a show, she would give them one.

  She stood from the table, took a step toward Lenny and growled deep in her throat. She let her eyes partially change, her wolf yipping for a fight inside her head. Harnessing the Alpha blood racing through her veins was easy. She unleashed a little of the power and wrapped it around the irritating male standing in front of her.

  The change in Lenny was instantaneous. He couldn’t fight her power—none of them could. He backed away from her, all six foot three of him, cowering slightly. Tremors worked their way through his body, making his teeth rattle. He turned his head and looked at the floor, tilting and baring his throat submissively. A low whine worked its way from through his lips. If she pushed much more he’d be a puddle on the floor, belly-up and quivering.

  She looked up and slowly met every set of eyes in the place. She bared slightly elongated canines and growled, “You will all leave me the fuck alone for the rest of my meal. If any of you approach me, so help me, I’ll make you piss yourself right here in front of everyone.”

  Two steps had her sliding back into the booth. She grumbled to herself about assholes and their friends. A chuckle brought her from her thoughts. She had totally forgotten about Seth. He was laughing silently, shaking hard enough to make the table vibrate. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be pissed at him or laugh along with him, so instead she scowled at him and went back to shoveling her now-cold eggs into her mouth.

  “Would you really make one of them piss their pants?” Mirth still clouded his voice, making it deeper. Amusement sparkled in his eyes. She almost kept from smiling back—almost.

  “Sure. I’ve made Lenny lick my boots before. Actually, most of the males in here have been belly-up at my feet a few times.” She said it with pride, although she almost cringed. How would he react to that? She never cared what anyone thought of her actions, but this one time she looked at how she treated some of these males and saw how bitchy she could be.

  “Nice. Well, at least the threat took care of them, although I was sort of looking forward to you making one of them piss himself.” He chuckled. It sounded nice rolling from his chest.

  The sound cut off abruptly and he exploded into a sneezing fit. She sighed. Weak males were the bane of her existence.

  “Come on, we’ve got about forty more minutes until we reach the cabin and I have a full day of fun planned for us.” Scooting from the bench seat ended the conversation. She threw a wave toward Sal and strode from the diner, fully aware that every set of lungs breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was gone. Some days she wished she was a normal female. It sucked having to be always on her guard, always the strong one.

  Chapter Three

  With a deep breath Emily pulled the pungent, pine-scented air into her lungs. She inhaled as fully as she could, trying to pull the smells all the way to her toes. Relaxation was a foreign concept to her, but when she was at this cabin, surrounded by nothing but nature and quiet, she could actually let her guard down. The peace of the area bled slowly into her body, muscles relaxing that she hadn’t even known she had clenched. She threw her head back, closed her eyes and flopped her arms out away from her body. The stance probably looked as if she were offering herself as a sacrifice but she just couldn’t care. The slight breeze ruffled her hair, bringing fresh smells to her. They invaded her senses and gave her a moment of absolute tranquility.

  “I’ll just take our bags inside.” Seth’s low voice brought her back to her surroundings. She needed to keep a better handle on her behavior around him. For some reason she felt no need to keep her guard up around the male. She hadn’t even taken two steps from the Jeep before starting her sensory indulgence.

  Okay, Emily, get a grip.

  She turned to find him watching her with a mixture of amusement and understanding. Anger rose in her gut. How dare he try to play the understanding card? He didn’t know a damn thing about her. She growled low in her throat. “Nope, put the bags back in the vehicle. We’re going for a run before we do anything else.”

  The look of panic that crossed Seth’s face made her grin. She flashed partially elongated canines at him. The hard swallow he took could be heard across the clearing. “A run? Now?”

  “Yep.” She laughed at the squeak in his voice. “Come on, wolf boy, strip and shift.”

  She turned and quickly shed her clothes, folding them and making a tidy pile on the hood of the Jeep. Nudity wasn’t an issue for her. She knew she looked good and after years of shifting in front of hundreds of people it just didn’t bother her anymore.

  She called her wolfy self forward, pulling her animal to the forefront, and sighed as her bones started to pop and change. The shift didn’t cause her pain anymore. It actually felt as if she were scratching that elusive place on her back that itched all the time but she just couldn’t reach. A sense of relief flooded through her. The change from human thought patterns to animal was wonderful. Things were so much simpler to the animal. The world was much more black and white, good and bad, right and wrong. Gray areas didn’t exist in her animal thoughts. Silly human emotions like confusion and embarrassment became muted in animal form. Within a minute she was on four black paws, shaking out her fur. She rumbled low in her chest. A yip of exaltation escaped her lips.

  A sound behind her brought her attention around to Seth, who against her orders was still fully clothed and staring open-mouthed at her. Her wolf was happy to see him even in his human skin. She had to stop herself from romping over to him like a puppy, wagging her tail. Instead she growled at him, trying to communicate her demands in wolf form. The look of trepidation that crossed his face made it clear that he either didn’t understand wolf growls or was too scared to listen. Freaking weakling shifter males.

  * * * * *

  Strip and shift—was she crazy? He watched in fascination as Emily slowly and meticulously removed her
clothing and folded the pieces. She never wavered in her striptease. With each new piece of skin she revealed, his cock hardened. She was beautiful from the tip of her freckled nose to the pink nails on her toes. Her body was luscious—there wasn’t a better expression. Her creamy skin covered wondrous curves that just begged to be nuzzled and stroked.

  Watching her shift was mesmerizing. Power unfolded from her body and washed over him in waves. One moment she was a gloriously naked woman, the next she was changing into a pure black wolf. The transition was seamless and almost erotic. He wouldn’t admit it unless he had to, but she was the first shifter he’d ever watched go through the change and he was faced with a conundrum. His entire adult life had been centered around avoiding his inner wolf. He despised the beast and was horrified that he turned into an animal. Watching Emily go through the change from beautiful woman to dangerous wolf challenged his beliefs. She was beautiful in both forms. Full of power and grace. How could he think his beast any different from hers?

  When her body had completely changed he watched a majestic animal almost wiggle with enthusiasm. He could feel her relief skate across his skin like a caress. He snorted at the difference between badass female and happy wolf. The noise must have been louder than he thought because that happy wolf pinned her ears back and spun to face him. Shit. Angry wolf staring at him was bad—very bad. She caught his gaze with her amber eyes and fear thudded through his body. He knew that inside the animal was a thinking, intelligent person, but telling that to his adrenal glands was impossible. A surge of adrenaline coursed through his body, amplifying the need to run from the predator staring at him. When she unleashed a deep growl it took every ounce of strength to keep his feet rooted to the ground and not turn tail like the weakling he was.

  He watched the wolf change again to a stunning female and tried to cover the renewed interest from his cock. Even with terror surging through his body he hadn’t softened. The view of Emily in all her naked glory made him lightheaded. He stared at her and tried to keep from drooling.