Page 17 of Anders
Please,Larissa snorted.I saw how you reacted when we suggested she might be a victim.Your wolf practically—
My wolf is irrelevant,Anders cut her off.The security of this pack is what matters.
Malcolm and Larissa exchanged one of their silent looks.
Just… Be careful,Malcolm said finally.With all of it.
Anders nodded curtly and took his leave, heading out with his phone still displaying the image of that strange mark on Etta’s neck.
But he didn’t go home.
Back in his command center, he began running the mark through various databases.He told himself he was just being thorough, that his intensity had nothing to do with the way his wolf paced restlessly whenever he thought about someone hurting her.
The pack comes first, he reminded himself.Everything else is secondary.
But as he worked through the night, his treacherous mind kept returning to that moment in her office.The way she’d leaned toward him.The way her scent had called to him.The way everything in him had yearned to claim her as his mate.
Irrelevant, he thought firmly.She’s either a threat or a victim.Either way, personal feelings have no place in this operation.
His wolf whined in protest, but Anders ignored it.
He had a job to do.
Even if it meant denying what his wolf already knew to be true.
OVER THE NEXT SEVERALdays, Anders developed a new routine.He split his time between the command center and field reconnaissance, carefully timing his movements to avoid direct contact with Etta while maintaining constant surveillance.
The wall of his command center slowly filled with notes and connections as he mapped out her movements.Her interview subjects drew his particular attention.
He sat staring at the list in front of him.
Interview log:
Day 1: Malcolm & Larissa (ranch association)
Day 2: Nick & Sarah (local business)
Day 3: Una (community center)
Day 4: Conall & Quinton (construction company)
The pattern was clear—she was systematically interviewing council members, plus a few other key pack members.All under the guise of community reporting.
Too systematic to be coincidence, he noted.But too obvious for a trained operative.
Anders found himself watching the surveillance feeds more often than strictly necessary.He told himself he was looking for suspicious behavior, but he couldn’t deny his fascination with her unconscious wolf mannerisms—the way she’d tilt her head to catch a sound, how she’d pause to scent the air before entering or leaving a building.
He kept remembering his thought from that first night:She moves like a wolf who has forgotten she’s a wolf.
The thought still made his chest ache.
On the sixth day of surveillance, he noticed something that made his blood run cold.A small device, barely visible, attached to the underside of a windowsill across from the newspaper office.
Not his equipment.
Unknown surveillance.Time of placement unclear.Could have been placed by her.Could have been watching longer than we’ve been watching her.
Somehow, he doubted she’d been surveilling herself.But possibly she wanted to see who might visit the newspaper office when she wasn’t around.
