But his leaving the room pronto wasn’t good enough for her. She had to get a better look at his face so she could identify him in a sketch and the police would have something to go on to catch him. Not to mention she wanted to scare the crap out of him so he wouldn’t pull this again with some other unsuspecting guest. No telling how many robberies he’d already committed and gotten away with.

  Imagine him thinking he was robbing a defenseless human but suddenly was faced with a snarling wolf!

  He had to assume the only occupant was a woman, since her bra, panties, jeans, and sweater were piled on the bed and a pair of size seven women’s boots were sitting on the floor next to the bed. There were no men’s clothes anywhere in the room.

  His back was to her while he was in fleeing mode, and she lunged and tackled him, her large paws slamming into his back and knocking him flat on his chest on the carpeted floor. She wanted to bite him! But she couldn’t or chance turning him into one of their kind. They couldn’t have that happen no matter what. It was bad enough if they did it to someone accidentally, but doing it on purpose to someone who exhibited criminal behavior? No way.

  She was growling, snapping her teeth next to his neck, letting him know just how dangerous she could be. And how stupid he’d been for breaking into her room with the intent of stealing from her.

  She smelled urine and growled again. She would have to switch rooms or smell his pee in her room for the rest of the time she was staying here.

  On his belly, he struggled to get free of her, terrified, crying out, his body pressed against the floor, trying to unsettle her. She had her front paws firmly on his back, pinning him down, her hind feet on the floor, giving her traction as she spread her large wolf paws out. He was trying to twist away, and then she realized he was reaching with his right hand for something in his pocket or at his waistband under his hoodie. A gun? A knife?

  Don’t bite him, she warned herself. She desperately wanted to. To show him he wasn’t in charge here. In the beginning, she should have let him go, she figured in retrospect, just scared him and forced him to run out of the room, shifted, then locked and bolted the door and called the police. And hurried to get dressed. Now, she assumed he was armed and could be more dangerous than her—only because she couldn’t take a bite out of him.

  She wasn’t sure what to do. Keep him pinned to the floor so he couldn’t hurt her and howl to get help? Uh, yeah, that would go over well.

  He smelled of beer and pot and pee, and she would remember his scent anywhere now. If she didn’t have to turn back into her human form, she could have tracked him down once he left the room. He finally managed to roll over so that she lost her grip on him, and then she studied him, growling.

  His face was filled with fear as he sat up and scooted away from her like someone doing a fast crab scuttle. She was glad she could get a good look at his long chin, the bristly dark hair covering it, pale thin lips, and wide hazel eyes. His hair was cut short, and he had a rattlesnake tattoo around his neck.

  He quickly scrambled to his feet and continued to back away toward the door and, at the same time, pulled a gun out of his pocket. She remained in her spot, ready to dodge if he fired a shot, but she suspected he didn’t want to use the gun if he didn’t have to and alert everyone within hearing distance that someone was firing a gun in a hotel room.

  Still, her heart was hammering triple time. What if he shot her accidentally, if not on purpose? She wanted to sit down, to show him she was letting him go, but she was afraid to make any kind of move at this point.

  He backed up all the way to the door, probably having heard that you never want to turn your back on an angry dog. And she was an angry wolf.

  He bumped against the door and fumbled behind with his free hand to reach for the handle. She should have locked the safety bar across it after the man delivered her meal. And especially before she stripped out of her clothes and took her shower. Damn it.

  Then the would-be robber pulled the door open and maneuvered around it, his eyes on her the whole time. Yeah, she had a real good idea of what he looked like and smelled like.

  As soon as he made his way out of the room, he pulled the door shut as fast as he could. She raced to the door, shifted, and shoved the security latch in place. Then she ran and got her phone and called Police Detective Adam Holmes, a red wolf like her. If she couldn’t get him, she would call Josh Wilding, also a red wolf with the pack and Adam’s former police detective partner, recently retired. She knew they would take this threat seriously.

  Thankfully, she got ahold of Adam right away. “I’ve had a break-in at my hotel room.” She gave the name of the hotel and found an address on a notepad. “Hurry. You might catch him! I’m in room 308.”

  “Are you all right?” Adam asked, his voice deeply concerned.

  She heard Adam’s Hummer door slam shut and his engine roar to life. “Yes. He ran out of the room, but I’ve got to get dressed.” Still naked, she hurried into the bathroom and turned off the shower, but she was glad Adam was coming to aid her and that it wasn’t someone she didn’t know.

  “You were showering?”

  Astute wolf’s hearing.

  “Yes, but I’ll be dressed before you get here.” She put the phone on speaker and grabbed a towel to dry herself off. Then she seized her phone, returned to the bedroom, and dug in her suitcase to find a pair of panties and pulled them on.

  “Hell, Sierra. I’m on my way. What did he look like?”

  She slid her bra straps over her arms and fastened it. “I’ll draw you a sketch, but if you see him race out of the hotel or anywhere in the vicinity when you get here, he’s wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, tears in several places on the thighs and knees, black sneakers, white male, approximately mid- to late twenties. He was scrawny, had short, brown hair and bristly chin whiskers, and a rattlesnake tattoo around his neck. He smells of pee and pot and beers, oh, and he has a diamond or fake diamond earring in both ears.”

  “And he has your description,” Adam said, sounding worried that she was an eyewitness and the guy could retaliate against her.

  “As a red wolf. Yep.” She fumbled through her suitcase for a flannel shirt to wear.

  Adam didn’t say anything for a moment. “You shifted?”

  “That’s the only way he would have my description as a red wolf. Got to go, Adam. I need to get dressed.” She could envision the police at her door while she was still trying to dress!

  “Be there soon. Calling it in now.”

  She finished dressing and then started drawing the sketch of the man on her sketch pad at the little table for two in the room before she forgot anything.

  It wasn’t but about ten minutes later that Adam was knocking at Sierra’s door. “It’s me, Adam Holmes.”

  She hurried to let him in. He looked so spiffy in his suit, like an FBI agent, his green eyes narrowed as he considered her appearance, and she knew he was making sure she was okay. She was surprised that no one else was with him.

  “I have men downstairs talking to the clerks and trying to learn how he got a key to your room. I wanted to talk to you privately first. Are you okay?”

  She folded her arms. “Yes. And I know I should have secured the safety bar on the door.” She figured he would lecture her about that and about shifting.

  “Correct. Did he see you shift?” He was still frowning at her.

  “Of course not! I was in the shower, and he was rummaging through the empty bureau drawers.” As if she would do something so foolish. If he’d come into the bathroom, well, she would have shifted, but behind the shower curtain, not in front of him.

  “But he heard the shower going and that didn’t deter him from staying in your room?”

  “No, which was why I was really worried. The bathroom door was wide open, and I couldn’t jump out and lock it without him catching me at it. Oh, and he had a 9mm gun.”

  “Sierra.” Adam sounded totally exasperated with her.

  “What? I had to chase him off the only way I knew how. I didn’t bite him, but I would have if I’d known it wouldn’t turn him. I didn’t know he had a gun.”

  Adam let out his breath. “We’re certain this guy is part of a team of thieves who have hit numerous hotels. We still don’t know how they’re breaking into the rooms using the hotel keys, but you’re the first one who has actually witnessed a break-in.” He looked over the sketch and glanced at her. “Hell, this is really good.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re hired.”

  “What?”

  “We need an additional sketch artist at the Portland Police Bureau. It would be part-time so you can still teach your art classes. I’ll talk to the boss when I get back, if it’s something you would consider doing for us.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, and Adam said, “The kids need you for your art expertise, but we need you to help us catch criminals. You’re hired.”

  She smiled. Adam had such a way with words. And the more she got to know him, the more she really liked him.

  Chapter 2

  Seven months later

  Adam was glad Sierra had come to work for the Portland Police Bureau seven months ago as their part-time sketch artist and still had time to teach art lessons to the kids a couple of days a week and adults in the pack at night, mainly because she was so good at her job and she seemed to love doing both. He’d had a ball when he had gone to her first adult art class where she’d showed them how to create photoshopped artwork and was teaching them about perspective, lighting, and shadows. Most of her class had been made up of bachelor males vying to win her attention, even though she was still seeing an out-of-state wolf who used to work with her in the army.

  Adam had been trying to learn about art from her, but he was truly smitten with her—the way she smiled at her students and the way she tirelessly showed them over and over again how to create a simple picture using clip art and different layering techniques, laughing at some of their sillier comments and questions. She appeared to enjoy teaching them as much as they enjoyed getting to know her better.

  But now it was back to the grind for him. Since he had to investigate the case of a stolen rental car from the airport and Sierra had to catch a flight, he was on his way to her house to give her a lift, which worked out well for both of them. Though the reason she was flying out of Portland bothered him. She was still seeing her boyfriend in Texas, and he sure wished he could convince her that she didn’t want to leave the pack. To be honest, Adam didn’t want the boyfriend to join them here either.

  On the way over to her place, Adam got a call on Bluetooth from Sierra’s brother, Brad. He suspected Brad hoped Adam could convince Sierra she didn’t want to leave for Texas today or any other day. Not that Adam had told Brad he was taking her to the airport. “What’s up, Brad?”

  “You should tell Sierra you’re taking the boat out the weekend she gets back. We’ll go with you. Ask Josh and Brooke and my sister-in-law, Dorinda, to come too, and maybe Sierra won’t think it’s anything more than a family and friends get-together.”

  Adam chuckled. “I’ve asked her before, and she said no.”

  “Yeah, but right after she has seen her boyfriend, she’s more willing to go out. I think she feels everyone understands she’s ‘with’ him so none of the bachelors make a move on her.”

  “I’ll ask.” Adam was certain she would decline the invitation again.

  “Okay, I’ll keep working on her at this end.”

  Adam laughed.

  “It’s hard for Sierra to deal with change all at once. Retiring from the army, then moving here, she’s having a hard time letting go of the last tie she has there. But he’s not good for her.”

  Adam didn’t know if that was really true or if Brad just wanted his sister to live close by.

  “Okay, I’ll ask.”

  “All right, good. And be sure and take another art class of hers. The more we can convince her that everyone needs her to stay here, the better.”

  Adam smiled. “I am. She put them on hold to take a trip back to Texas, but I’m on the list for her next one coming up.” He didn’t think he’d ever really be able to do anything art-related that was newsworthy, but he was having fun taking the classes because she was teaching them. “Talk to you later.”

  Adam dropped by the coffee shop and picked up a chocolate-caramel-hazelnut coffee for Sierra—her favorite. He’d gotten into the habit of getting it for her at work once she’d teased him about drinking boring coffee and he had learned that was her favorite. Of course his former partner, Josh Wilding, had told him it was obvious Adam was making a play for her.

  After Sierra had drawn the police sketch of the man who had tried to rob from her hotel room, the police had also rounded up three staff members at three other hotels who had given the robbers access to the rooms. Sierra identified Dover Manning in a police lineup, though the robber denied he’d ever seen her before. Because he’d been armed with a gun and threatened her with it, even though she was a wolf at the time, he was charged with first-degree robbery. During the trial and his testimony, he had stated that he’d been protecting himself from a vicious guard dog. Of course no one—hotel staff, cleaning crew, or police officers—had seen any sign of a “guard dog” so Dover Manning was looking at twenty years in prison.

  Adam arrived at Sierra’s one-story brick home with flowers filling its flower beds and planters. He hadn’t realized she was quite the little gardener, never having been to her place before. While he was getting out of the Hummer, she came out of the house carrying two bags and he loaded them in the back of the vehicle.

  “Thanks, Adam.” Sierra pushed a loose red curl behind her ear—the rest of her curly hair held in a chignon, a few wisps of tendrils framing her face—and climbed into the passenger seat.

  He sure wished he could change her mind about going back to Texas so he could date her. He couldn’t imagine successfully being in a long-distance relationship like that. And the fact that she’d left the boyfriend behind had to say something about their relationship.

  “No problem. I had to be at the airport anyway,” he said. Her eyes were a clear blue like her brother’s and were spellbinding. She was petite but when she tussled with her brother as wolves, she was more than aggressive, and Adam would love to play with her like that. “Did you get everything you needed?”

  She checked her purse. “Yeah, I’ve got my ID. We’re good. Last year, I was behind a woman at the check-in counter at the airport who had forgotten her ID. She said she would never get back to the airport on time if she went home to get it. She was in tears when she left. I always remember that whenever I have a flight scheduled and check to make sure I have my ID on me.”

  “I don’t blame you. I bet the woman was upset.”

  Sierra took a deep breath of the aroma of the coffee and eyed the cup sitting in the console for her. “Ohmigod, I can’t believe you got my favorite coffee before I go on my trip.” Sierra smiled at him. “You are my hero.” She sipped some of the coffee and sighed. “You sure know how to help me unstress in a big way.”

  He smiled at her and drove in the direction of the airport. In a subtle way, he kept hoping he could convince her she didn’t need to return to Texas to see the boyfriend ever again.

  He was glad he had convinced Sierra to work with them at the police bureau. He loved watching her work on witness sketches. She always had such good rapport with everyone at the bureau and with witnesses she worked with. And with the pack members too. She was fun to be around at pack functions, but she avoided going out with any male wolf alone that could signal she was dating someone other than the out-of-state-wolf.

  He didn’t think she would say yes to a boat outing, but since Brad had spoken to him about it, he had to ask. Again. “Hey, I was going to take the boat out the weekend after you return from your vacation and—”

  She gave him a look that said he was pushing his luck.

  He smiled. “It would be with your brother, his mate, and his sister-in-law. And Josh and Brooke will come too.”

  “I’ll see how I feel when I get back.”

  He figured that was a no.

  Ever since she’d moved in with the pack, Adam had been interested in her but disappointed she was still seeing another wolf. He’d hoped once she began working for the bureau as a sketch artist and teaching art to the kids in the pack, who adored her, she would realize her home was truly here with the pack, her brother, and his mate. Even though Adam was an alpha wolf and would love to try to change her mind about dating the other guy, he just didn’t feel right about it. He considered himself one of the good guys.

  Stealing another wolf’s potential mate wasn’t something he was interested in doing. He supposed it had to do with that happening to him when he was a younger wolf in love with a she-wolf. A wolf passing through had convinced her to leave the pack and go away with him. Adam figured the woman he’d been dating wasn’t as interested in him as he’d been in her, but he wouldn’t do that to another wolf.

  “I’ll see if my brother can pick me up at the airport when I return.” Sierra was wringing her hands and appeared to be uncomfortable about something. Flying? Seeing the boyfriend?

  He hoped she was having second thoughts about returning to see the guy.

  “Sure.” Adam didn’t offer to pick her up. He could be in the middle of an important criminal case when she returned for all he knew and wouldn’t be able to spare the time. He didn’t want to dig deeper into the feelings he had about her. The fact that she was seeing someone as a possible mate—that she wasn’t free for him to pursue. If he had been seeing her, he would have damn well made sure he could pick her up from the airport. Criminal case or no.