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“Damn but you taste good, Anna,” he said softly, his eyes dark with feral need as he rubbed her arms. The heat sizzled through her blood beneath the jacket and sweater she wore.
“He better be watching us,” Anna warned in a whisper, but she didn’t mean it. She loved the way he kissed.
Bjornolf gave her a devilish smile and a quick kiss on her cold nose, his mouth hot against her skin. “Follow you home, honey. ” He pulled her door open, and once she climbed in, he closed it for her. She waited for him to enter his own vehicle and start the engine before she drove off.
She hadn’t needed to wait for him, but something in the back of her mind nagged at her. Bjornolf had come to watch over her. What if someone tried to take him out and the only one who could save him was her? Not that they were in a jungle environment fighting drug-running terrorists here. But who knew what they were really up against?
Her lingering there had nothing to do with his kissing her, or pretending to be newlyweds if Everton was watching. Her duty as part of this new team was making sure Bjornolf had backup if he needed it, she told herself.
As his Land Rover followed her, she thought of the night she’d led him to the hotel where he’d finally tracked her down and gotten the best of her. She couldn’t help but look in her rearview mirror, watching his headlights and feeling a sense of déjà vu. Except that time, she’d thought he was an assassin. This time, he was on her team. Only it seemed as if he was looking for more than a temporary arrangement.
Yeah right, she scoffed. How much of that was her interest in him rather than his interest in her, and she was projecting what she wanted rather than what he truly desired?
Anna assumed that they’d talk as soon as she parked and Bjornolf followed her into the house. What she didn’t expect was that she’d wait for him to walk her to the door, even allowing him to take her hand as if they were wolves on a date.
What was wrong with her? With him?
They didn’t need to pretend to anyone here.
Bjornolf didn’t say a word, just held her hand possessively and escorted her to the porch. Then he unlocked the door and closed and locked it behind them.
“Did you want some cocoa?” he asked, as if he didn’t want the night to end.
She shook her head. “You have to go with Nathan to buy Christmas ornaments tomorrow. ”
She saw a flash of disappointment cross his face. She was surprised he hadn’t said a word about her investigating the crime scene on her own.
She remembered the dog tags in her pocket and pulled them out. “I found these right before Everton came across me. ” She glanced down at them and read the inscription. “Thomas Cremer. The other dead man, maybe?”
Bjornolf wasn’t looking at the dog tags when his gaze met hers. He’d been observing her face with a mixture of respect and astonishment. “Now I know why Hunter recommended you for this job. ”
She gave Bjornolf a slight smile, appreciating his comment more than a little.
He took the tags and examined them, sniffing them. “The second dead body we smelled. ”
“Yes,” she said solemnly. “The man had also been in the service. ”
“I’ll let Hunter know in the morning. Guess we ought to turn in. ” He looked hopeful that she’d say he could join her in her bed.
She gave him a quick smile and headed down the hall before she changed her mind. “’Night, Bjorn. ” As a humorous touch, she’d called him by the shortened version of his name that he’d given the man at the tree farm.
“Night, honey,” Bjornolf said as if they truly were newlyweds and he’d be joining her in bed shortly.
She looked back over her shoulder and saw the wicked gleam in his eye, a challenge that said he wasn’t leaving the situation as it was for long. She gave him a sassy smile back, daring him to make her change her mind.
She walked into the room and was about to close the master bedroom door when she heard Bjornolf curse as he stalked out of the guest room. He began yanking off his shirt as he headed for the back door.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, framed by the doorway into the master bedroom.
“Nathan’s gone. ”
Chapter 10
Nathan had left the house as a wolf and headed through the forest. For wolves like Bjornolf and Anna, Nathan’s trail wasn’t hard to find. He left paw prints in the half-frozen snow, and scruffs of his black fur snagged on tree branches. He wasn’t trying to hide his trail, which made Bjornolf suspect that the boy wanted to be followed.
He hoped that Nathan hadn’t gotten some clue concerning the murders and charged off to investigate on his own.
Bjornolf should have wanted Anna to stay back at the house so she would be safe from hunters and so he could work alone like he normally did. But he found he didn’t want to work alone and realized he was making up a hell of a lot more reasons why she should be with him. And that was a real change for him. He’d never needed anyone.
Having never seen Anna in her wolf form, Bjornolf took his fill of her as they paused to catch the trail again. Even as a wolf, she was petite, almost like a red wolf. Her face was more beige than gray, with a little white under her chin and a golden color framing her face. A small amount of gray dusted her cheeks, giving her a distinctive appearance.
Her ears were perked, listening for any sounds as the breeze stirred the pine branches. Peering into the woods, her amber eyes were soft with concern, but her tail was straight out behind her in alpha mode. Her slight body tense, she was ready to spring into action as soon as she caught Nathan’s scent again.
She suddenly lifted her chin and howled for Nathan. Bjornolf knew she was howling for the boy, but he envisioned her howling for him—calling him to her in the snowy woods.
Bjornolf also let loose a howl. His howl was deeper, not as musical as Anna’s, a command to come home. Their howls were a way to communicate with other wolves, to declare this was their territory, to gather the pack, or to locate a mate.
They waited for a moment, but when Nathan didn’t respond, Anna dashed off and Bjornolf raced after her. Glad to be running with Anna, panting, zigzagging across the snow-powdered earth, he tried to pick up Nathan’s scent as they moved farther away from the cottage.
Where was the kid off to? Bjornolf thought Nathan might have gone to the Christmas tree farm, but he hadn’t run in that direction.
Worse, it was one in the morning when they started out after him, and they’d been trailing him for two hours. It would be dark for several more hours, but if Nathan continued to run, eventually it would be too late for any of them to return home before it was light out. Anna and Bjornolf would end up having to hide in the surrounding woods or risk the long trek back home in daylight in their wolf skins.
They took a drink at an icy cold stream and then crossed it. The mossy rocks were topped with an inch of snow, and the bare-branch deciduous trees and evergreens were also coated with snow.
Bjornolf glanced at Anna. She was looking in the direction of Portland, her ears twitching back and forth.
A red wolf pack resided in Portland and the surrounding territory, led by a wolf named Leidolf. The city was still a long way off and Bjornolf was certain Hunter had never talked to Leidolf about SEAL business, the team, Anna, or himself. Leidolf would consider them encroaching on his pack’s territory and wouldn’t like it.
The day was gray, with clouds covering every square inch of sky. Dawn was creeping over the landscape, silent, exposing them to danger—hunter danger.
It had been light out for a couple of hours when they reached the relative safety of Forest Park, over five thousand acres of woods within Portland, stretching for more than eight miles over hilly terrain overlooking the Willamette River. Nathan’s scent was getting stronger. Bjornolf smelled the odors from the nearby zoo butted up against the park, heard a lion roar, and wondered if wolves that weren’t shifters w
ere also penned up in there. Anna sniffed the air, her posture alert and eager as she knew they were getting close to their quarry.
The park was already open. Any number of people could be running, hiking, biking, or horseback riding through here so they weren’t without risk.
Anna turned her head, listened for a moment, and then took off running. She was determined to locate the teen before he came to harm, which meant a lot to Bjornolf. As much as she’d intimated that she wasn’t into kid stuff, she wasn’t letting this go.
He took off after her, not liking the path they were moving on… toward a group of stately homes backed up against the park, mostly hidden by huge evergreens. One of them in particular made him frown and sniff the ground.
The scent of wolves was heavy here along the entrance to the path. Male, female, young, old. Bjornolf suspected it was a safe house for wolves who belonged to the pack but lived in the outlying areas and were visiting Portland for the day.
Anna loped down the winding path through the woods, eagerly sniffing the ground. Nathan had been here.
When Bjornolf followed her, he found her standing at a beige stone wall topped with snow. She was studying the wolf door in the redwood gate, calculating the risk of entering another wolf’s backyard. He was going to nudge her face, to let her know that he wanted her to stay here while he investigated the backyard and she watched for Nathan.
But she had already made up her mind.
Nearly making his heart stop, she dashed for the gate, pushed the wolf door open with her nose, then barged in.
Bjornolf shoved his nose through the door, raced around a wall of evergreens, and found Anna stopped at a patio filled with ornate wrought-iron café tables and chairs. The backyard featured a copper statue of two wolves standing together and a fountain displaying a group of wolves frolicking at the base while playing with butterflies in flight. The scents in the yard further indicated that this was a wolf-owned house.
Icicle Christmas lights dangled from the gutters around the house, while a Douglas fir tree inside filled the picture window, showcasing mostly red, green, and white Christmas ornaments and colorful sparkling lights.
He smelled Nathan’s scent and a she-wolf’s scent—both had been here recently. But there was no sign of either of them, unless they were in the house…