Page 54 of The Mating Need
A chill seized her as one of the Skins turned, sniffed the air. This was no humanbeing.
Only what was left ofone.
His eyes glowed like fiery coals, and his complexion was pale as moonlight. He lifted a hand, and displayed talons instead offingers.
Dear goddess, what wasthat?
Struggling to overcome her instinctual need to flee away from this macabre being, she calmed her wolf. She watched them approach the den holding the Timberline alpha’s pups. The hell with fear. Perry wanted to shoot thepups?
Jenny growled deep in herthroat.
Not on mywatch.
She culled her magick, not all of it, just enough to send a stream of pure energy sailing through the air at the rifle Perry held. It turned red hot and he yelped, dropping theweapon.
“Magick,” he yelled. “Show yourself,werewolf!”
Jenny ducked behind a tree, but not before Perry sawher.
“Get out of here, trespassers,” sheshouted.
They ran off, and she heard the roar of pickup truck engines, and then tires spitting gravel on theroad.
Gone.
This wasn’tgood.
She had to tell Aiden before Perry and his followers returned. But would he believeher?
The following day at noon,Troy and Jenny went to the pack’s meeting hall near the lodge. Hundreds of Lupines had already gatheredinside.
Jenny worried him. She’d been unusually quiet yesterday when he returned from patrolling the grounds. Finally she told him she’d seen some Skin activity near the wolfpack.
Troy informed Aiden, who sent out another patrol to investigate. All seemed well, he told them. As a precaution, he’d had Darius put extra warding around the wolfpack.
Last night Troy tried to coax her into telling him exactly what she’d seen, but she’d evaded thesubject.
They’d made love when they went to bed, sharing the big bed for the first time, and she’d fallen asleep in hisarms.
When he woke at sunrise, she was outside, pacing the grounds as wolf, clearly agitated. He’d joined her for a run and they’d dashed through the forest as wolves. Only then did she seem to relax alittle.
No time to probe her thoughts after breakfast, though, because he had chores before themeeting.
Troy wished they didn’t have toattend.
Jenny disliked crowds and the one here at the Mitchell Ranch proved no exception. Troy could tell how rattled she felt by her body’s trembling as he put a hand on the small of her back to guide herinside.
“It’ll be a quick one. Aiden needs to keep everyone updated on what’s happening. Informed is best,” he told her as he herded her to two empty chairs near thefront.
Troy gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they sat. It did nothing to reassure her. Her gaze roamed around the room, and she kept moving in her seat. Jenny wanted out.Now.
But if they were to make this a home and be part of the pack, they needed to follow therules.
Jenny turned to him, clutching his arm. “Troy, before Aiden speaks, I have to tell you exactly what Isaw.”
Finally.
“Perry and his gang were in the woods yesterday afternoon while you werepatrolling.”
