Page 18 of The Bear's Fated Mate
Oh, please. Which of us has the better sniffer?
Good point. If it wasn’t her overactive imagination, then Alex was not where he should be—she couldn’t imagine any of the Orion wolves allowing him to take a tour of the pack house.
She flew across the floor to the door as if shot from a bow. Slowly, slowly, she poked her head around the corner in the hopes of catching him in the act of trespassing.
The hallway was empty except for that addictive scent.
Ten feet away near where another hallway joined to this one, a faint shadow that seemed out of place stretched across the floor. Lara eased forward, ready to leap on whatever lay just out of sight—
Behind her, a loud clatter split the air, as if something heavy and metallic had hit the floor. Lara’s attention instantly shifted to the south.
“Dammit,help. Lara. Crystal.Anybody.” Auntie Amethyst cursed again then fell silent.
Lara headed at a full run to rescue her aunt, the tantalizing mystery regarding Alex temporarily pushed aside.
9
Breaking and enteringwas such a strong label, with such negative connotations, for what could be considered simple information gathering. Besides, as Alex continued his rapid mental justification, hehadn’tbroken in. He’d walked into the pack house—
Okay, he’d climbed a back wall, crossed the roof, and slid into the ventilation system before ending up in the remote hallway he’dthenwalked down to get to this point.
See? No breakage. A simple stroll, really.
Technically, sneaking wasn’t even illegal if you were doing an “I’m here to check out your security systems for a friend” kind of thing. Of course,thatsort of arrangement was usually set up in advance between two parties, but checking with Lara to see if she was interested in his expertise seemed a moot point.
Shehadadmired his large, impressive Trojan before, after all. She had to approve of his checking out her…systems.
His bear snickered in anticipation.May I make a joke?
That it’s large and impressive?
Oh, please.I’mlarge and impressive. I meant your supposed expertise. If you’re talking about sex, don’t you have to actually practice to stay at the top of your game?
Shut up,Alex responded out of reflex, but he was mostly amused. It had been a dry spell lately.
Just saying…
Alex grinned. He slipped farther down the hall then slid through the open door leading into the Orion pack office. It was too easy—made easier by that call for help he’d heard.
For a second he’d braced himself to respond, the fact he was in the pack house illegally totally irrelevant, when the sound of laughter followed immediately from the same direction. Obviously the issue had been easily dealt with.
He eased the door shut, noting there was no lock. Pretty much as he’d suspected. No wolf in their right mind would dream of entering the Alpha’s domain unasked.
But Alex wasn’t a wolf. He was a growly polar bear who was fed up with his lack of information. His searches were getting him nowhere, and other than the occasional glimpse of the woman, Lara wasn’t cooperating by hanging out where he could stalk—trackher easily.
Something was up, and he needed proof. Breaking into—wait, he was calling this a security run, not a B&E—checking outthe pack house was strictly a matter of information gathering.
He needed to know more, and nothing else was working. Time to take his destiny into his own hands and all that stuff.
An unexpected rush of heat swamped him, and Alex wrapped his fingers around the edges of the desk to catch his balance. Lara’s sweet scent grew stronger. He closed his eyes and all but groaned as lust roared through him.
Lust and aching physical need.
Want. Want now.
All the joking from a few moments earlier was gone from the beast’s tone, leaving nothing but pure animal need. Which was…
Unusual.
