Page 2 of Sanctuary

“You don’t even know,” she sneered. She looked away from him to glance at the wolf who was now pacing behind him.

Not only was she crazy, but she was also beautiful with her eyes flashing fire at him. It had been a long time since he felt any attraction toward a female, so his strong feelings for this woman not only shocked him, they sent his temper soaring. He didn’t have time in his life for attraction to a hardheaded female, no matter how cute she was.

“I told you it was a bad idea, Gemma,” Larry called out from the safety of the gate. “And if he hadn’t jumped in there, I’d probably be cleaning up body parts and putting them in a trash bag by now. I’d say you should be thanking him rather than cutting him with that sharp tongue of yours.”

Eric smirked at the man’s words and kept it on his face when the woman’s eyes jerked back to him.

“Larry, isn’t it feeding time?” The woman’s voice was barely controlled, the words coming through clenched teeth.

“Not yet, and I want to see what the sheriff and this guy here, who can climb a fence like nobody’s business, is wanting,” Larry countered.

Eric ignored the man who was staring at him as if he were going to answer how he climbed the fence. Instead, he watched the woman closely. Eric didn’t miss her flinch at the mention of the sheriff. He also heard her say “shit” through her clenched teeth. Very interesting. He turned to make eye contact with the wolf, which he now had dominance over. Eric was alpha, and the wolf knew it.

He turned his head once again to look at the woman who was staring at him. With the cock of his eyebrow, he grinned when she gave him a narrowed look, right before she turned away, heading toward where the sheriff stood waiting. His eyes automatically went to the sway of her hips. His grin grew because if she swayed those hips like that when she was just angry, he couldn’t wait to see them sway when she was enraged.

Chapter 2

Gemma stomped out of the enclosure after giving the stranger one more hard glare. Damn, he was handsome with his shoulder-length black hair, which sat in a wild tangle around his head. His brown eyes were oddly light with flecks of gold. Yeah, she glared at him that hard.

“We’ve got problems, Gemma.” The sheriff leaned against one of the empty enclosures, his always present toothpick in the corner of his fat lips.

“It wasn’t one of mine.” Gemma already knew what the problem was because that was the only reason the sheriff made his way out there. He never came when she called after someone trespassed on her property threatening her and her wolves. No, it was always when someone else had a problem with her.

The sheriff gave a loud sigh, then straightened up as if it took every ounce of energy to get his fat ass moving. There weren’t many people Gemma didn’t like, but Sheriff Brennan was one of them. He was the absolute worst sheriff, and he hated her. The feeling was mutual.

“And that’s what you say every time.” The sheriff narrowed his already squinty eyes.

“Seriously, don’t you have something better to do than to come around here and—”

“We have cameras.” Larry broke in, possibly saving Gemma a night in jail. “That’s proof that none of these here wolves got out.”

Gemma bit her lip, doing her best to keep cool. She really couldn’t afford a night in a cell again, and Brennan wouldn’t hesitate to take her in. After counting to ten, twice, she felt calm enough to speak without calling the sheriff an ignorant asshole who wouldn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground, which had in fact sent her to jail for a night in the past. Since he couldn’t arrest her for insulting an officer because of freedom of speech, she was charged with disorderly conduct. The ass.

“Who’s complaining this time?” Gemma said, keeping her voice calm, cool, and semifriendly.

“Lance Cutter had one of his bulls tore up,” Sheriff Brennan replied, a look of disgust flittering across his face. “Not many animals around these parts that can do that other than—”

“A pack of coyotes?” Gemma knew exactly where he was going with that and she’d be damned if he blamed any of her wolves. She knew the sheriff was going to argue by the look on his face, but she didn’t give him a chance. “We’ve had this conversation before, Sheriff, and it’s not my wolves.”

“What about that one?” The sheriff had a new party to blame as he pointed toward the purebred wolf that stood in the corner of the cage staring at them all.

“No blood on him when I found him in the enclosure this morning,” Larry said with a shake of his head.

“How in the blue blazes can a wolf just waltz into one of these enclosures?” The sheriff grumbled, his eyes narrowing at the enclosure then back to Larry.

“You know, sheriff, I think you need to get your hearing checked because I’ve told you every time you come here accusing us of something or another that we leave food and water in this enclosure for stray wolves. Most of the time they don’t feel threatened and stay. It’s been that way since Gemma’s granddad ran the place, and it’s the same damn way now,” Larry spat out with disgust. “And once again I will tell you, we have cameras on this whole property and can prove it.”

“Lance isn’t going to be happy about this.” Sheriff Brennan put his hands on his hips and looked around. “He’s pretty riled up about these wolves you’ve got so close to his property. That bull was already sold and—”

“Not my problem,” Gemma added, not wanting to hear the same song and dance. “Give him my condolences, but my wolves had nothing to do with it.”

The sheriff leaned down close to Gemma, who stood her ground. As much as she wanted to back away from his obnoxious, sweaty smell, she held her stance. “You better watch yourself, Miss.” The toothpick in his mouth disappeared for a second before reappearing. “Things are getting really heated around here.”

“Yeah, it’s summer.” Gemma cocked her eyebrow, not giving him the satisfaction of thinking his undercurrent of a threat bothered her in the least. “You have a nice day now, Sheriff.”

She waited as the sheriff stared at her before he dismissed her then walked away without saying a word and headed toward his car. With a frown, she turned toward the stranger, who she found oddly attractive and it pissed her off. Where in the hell were these thoughts coming from?

“Your ride is leaving.” Gemma only gave him a glance before heading toward the enclosure to check on the wolf.

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