“I have to admit, I wanted to see if you would turn into a wolf and run in the woods.”

  “Me?” Becky’s heart hitched. It was a good thing Pamela couldn’t smell her nervousness or hear her thumping heartbeat. “That would be scary.” Not only that Pamela would see Becky do that but that Becky would learn she had. But then she frowned. How had Pamela known who had actually saved her? The woman could have been anyone.

  “I always wanted to thank her,” Pamela said.

  “Why do you think she was my mother?” Becky had to ask, because in the article, it hadn’t said.

  “My parents hired a private investigator to find her. He found her home, though she denied she had done anything so heroic. But I had remembered the direction she had taken me from the lake. I used to play in the woods all the time. The investigator showed me a picture of their house and of her, and they were the same as I had remembered them. My father offered her fifty thousand dollars for saving my life. Your mother refused to accept the money, saying she hadn’t done anything, and if she had, she wouldn’t have asked for money for it.

  “But my father could be just as stubborn. A year after the incident, your mother had triplets, and he set up an account to fund you and your brother and sister’s education. He knew I wouldn’t have been alive if it wasn’t for your mother’s brave heroics, and he wanted to do something for her children.”

  “And then you hired me because of that?”

  Pamela smiled. “You have a great education, you’re fun to be around, and you’re really great at your job. I knew you would be. But what I still want to know is, can you shift into a wolf like your mother can?” Before Becky could answer her, Pamela got a call. She took it and said to Becky, “We’ll talk later.” Then she hurried out of the dining room.

  All Becky wanted to do was get on her phone and tell Max what had happened. She had half expected it, dreaded it, and when she heard Pamela talk all about it, that changed everything for her.

  Chapter 7

  Once Becky had told Max what had happened during the lunch with Pamela, he felt bad that he hadn’t been there to help her handle the issue. It wasn’t easy dealing with someone who knew what wolf shifters were and finally admitting to it and being put on the spot. “I’m on my way over.”

  “No, you need to keep working on finding Christopher. That’s your job.”

  “I should have been there for you.”

  “And done what? You couldn’t have done anything more about it.”

  “I should have been there for moral support, and yes, I could have at least talked to her about this wolf business.”

  “Will you have enough information to share with her about Christopher tonight?”

  “He’s running me ragged. I’m not sure that I will have.”

  “Okay, well, I want you to come tonight and have dinner with me anyway. And if it’s not too soon, stay the night.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  “But for heaven’s sake, learn something more about Christopher.”

  “I learned he’s working for an investment broker at a bank.”

  “Where?”

  “In a town in Kansas, but he’s gone to Europe, so I don’t know what that’s all about. But this business with Pamela changes everything if she’s totally hooked on him and doesn’t want to give him up for anything.”

  “We can’t turn him too. If we decide—the pack decides—Pamela needs to be turned for her own peace of mind and ours.”

  “I’ll have to call Ryan about this latest development.”

  “Okay. I’ll wait to hear what he has to say.”

  “He and Carol are busy with their jobs for now, so it will be a while before I can talk privately with them. I can’t wait to see you tonight though.”

  “I’m glad you came into my life. I just wanted to tell you that in case you didn’t know.”

  He smiled. “I feel the same way about you. And I’ve been trying to keep you a secret as much as I can.”

  “From whom?”

  “The other bachelor males.”

  She laughed. “I’ll see you tonight then.”

  “I might still be trying to track down Christopher while I’m at your house, if you don’t mind.”

  “No. I might have to field a call or two from Pamela, if it doesn’t bother you.”

  “Not in the least.”

  “Okay, good. Chicken for dinner?”

  “You read my mind.”

  Then they ended the call and he was glad he had let her know how he’d felt about her going it alone with discussing the wolf business with Pamela. He talked to Asher about the situation at the PI agency after that.

  “That’s all the more reason for one of us single wolves to meet up with Pamela and tell her how much we’re glad she understands us and can be our friend,” Asher said.

  “You would try to become her boyfriend, but I think she’s still hung up on this Christopher.”

  “Right, but you know what a relief it is when we meet up with another wolf and we can talk openly about what we are? After all these years with living with what had happened to her, don’t you think she’s going to feel the same way? That she can finally discuss what she has had to bottle up for decades?”

  “True. We’ll just have to see what our pack leaders say about it.” Max certainly didn’t want to start encouraging the rest of their wolves to meet up with her and make friends when Pamela wasn’t a wolf. What if she decided she’d made a big mistake? That she should have kept her mouth shut all this time?

  They couldn’t risk exposing more of their wolves’ identities to a human.

  “Well, I want to be the first in line to offer my bite.”

  Max chuckled. “What if she isn’t your type? You have no idea if the two of you would be compatible. Not that you would have to mate each other if you bit her, but still, what if she felt beholden to you, and you realized she wasn’t the woman you were interested in mating? It could be a disaster.”

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t bite her. I just would get together with her for a date or two and see if there was any spark between us. Speaking of which, what about you and Becky?”

  “We’re enjoying some time together.” Max didn’t want to tell him he was staying over at her place tonight. That would sound like the beginning of something deeper, but he didn’t want to take anything for granted. What if it didn’t work out? Then Asher might be interested in dating her. Max just felt it was best to keep mum about it all.

  “More than some time together, I suspect,” Asher said, then got a call on a case he was working. “Yes, Mrs. Probst. I’ve got some photos to share with you if you think you’re up for it.”

  Asher was working on a husband-cheating case where the wife had all the money, so she was ready to kick him to the curb if what she suspected was true. But she had to have proof so she wouldn’t have to lose too much money on the deal. Luckily, she did have a prenuptial.

  * * *

  Max packed his overnight bag with a couple of days of clothes and his laptop to do his research. Then he headed over to Becky’s place to have dinner with her. She’d already told Pamela he didn’t have enough new information to discuss with her tonight, and Pamela had made other plans for dinner. Becky hadn’t thought she would need to tell her boss when she was having dinner with a friend, but since he was working Pamela’s case and would be on her property, he wanted Pamela to know that he was going to be there.

  When he arrived at Becky’s home, she gave him a warm hug and a big kiss, which he immediately deepened, wrapping his arms snugly around her. “I know we haven’t been seeing each other for long, but this feels so right,” he said.

  “I agree, which is why I wanted you to stay the night. Not to mention that all this business with Pamela has me worried. I wanted to talk to you in person and not on the phone or be texting you all the time.”

  “I feel the same way.” He carried his bag into the bedroom, and then he set his laptop in the living room. “I should have mentioned it, but the reason I might be doing a little bit of work on this case tonight is because of the time differences.”

  “Certainly. What did Ryan and Carol say about this whole matter?”

  “They were both working at their jobs. I figured I would call them once we were together and we could all talk to one another on speakerphone, particularly since you were the one who actually spoke with Pamela about this.”

  “That’s true. Are you ready for some chicken?”

  “Yeah, and if you would like, and I’m not getting way ahead of myself, I could grill us some steaks tomorrow night. I noticed you have a grill on your back patio.”

  “Oh yes, I would love that. And a wolf run tonight? When I feel unsettled, I really like to run as a wolf. And now that there’s a cougar on the property, I really want to do it with you and not by myself.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Do you think we should go in a different direction? Just in case we missed seeing any cameras in that area?”

  “Yeah. I mean, we’ve checked it over, but the chances she would have them all over the place, rather than where you always run, seems to be unrealistic. We’ll have to scent-mark the new territory so the cougar knows he has got the two of us to deal with.”

  She smiled. “I never scent-mark my territory.”

  He tsked. “That’s half of who we are.”

  They sat down to eat the chicken and the Mediterranean vegetables she’d cooked in a spicy sauce—zucchini, potatoes, red bell peppers, peas. It was great.

  “I love your cooking.”

  “Thanks. I can’t wait to eat your grilled steaks.”

  “Corn on the cob sound good? Baked potatoes? I can make them with the steaks.” He forked up some more potatoes.

  “Sure, that sounds great.”

  “And for after we eat our chicken, I made us mocha treats topped with whipped cream and raspberries.”

  “Now that really sounds great.”

  Once they were done, they had dessert, and then Max needed to call Ryan and Carol. He’d already sent Ryan a text telling him that he needed to discuss the situation with them about Pamela after dinner.

  “Okay, so here’s the deal,” Max said and then he motioned for Becky to tell them everything that she could recall that Pamela had told her.

  “It sounds as though she wants to be one of us,” Carol said.

  “I agree, but is that prudent?” Ryan asked.

  Max and Becky took a seat on the couch together to snuggle while they talked over the speakerphone.

  “I think it all depends on Christopher,” Becky said. “If she is truly in love with him and he is with her, then I don’t think turning her is a great idea. Not unless you’re ready to turn Christopher too.”

  “And Christopher does have parents who are living. That would be an issue,” Max said. It could have a snowball effect. They didn’t want to have that many newly turned wolves to deal with. It was bad enough turning just one person.

  “If she wants to be turned,” Ryan said, “her whole staff would have to be terminated in a financially acceptable way. She can’t be around a bunch of humans on a daily basis if she has trouble shifting during the phase of the full moon. The only way it would work is if she hired all wolves from our pack to fill her various jobs. Some of her positions would be easy enough to fill, I’m sure. But some jobs could take some training. Still, she would have to agree to all that. She might be partial to some of her staff and not want that.”

  “Then it goes back to eliminating her,” Carol said.

  Everyone said no to that. Max knew that Carol was the most adamant about not doing that since she had been turned and still had difficulty at the time of the full moon. And she couldn’t shift and play as a wolf with her mate or the rest of the pack members during the new moon either. But it was different for her because she had a loving wolf mate and she was part of a whole pack who watched out for her. Even her job as nurse meant she worked in her own clinic with only her own people. They were still trying to get a wolf doctor to work for them as they expanded their wolf base, but for now, sick or injured wolves who needed to be seen by a doctor went to Silver Town.

  “So what do you want me to do?” Becky asked. “I think she suspects how dangerous her knowledge of us is to both her and to the wolves in general. But we owe it to her to tell her what her options are.”

  “We still need to find Christopher. I’m hoping that if I can make contact with him, he’ll tell me he’s not interested in her any longer and has moved on. I haven’t learned if he’s in a relationship, but if he is, I hope that would help her to see that he has moved on. The thing of it is, if he really wanted her money, he could have approached her right after her parents died and she had inherited all the estate. Why wait?”

  “To make it appear that he wasn’t after her money?” Becky asked. “I mean, if he had jumped right in after their deaths, don’t you think it would have looked like he had been waiting in the wings all that time for the day to come?”

  “I agree,” Carol said.

  “All right, well, I want you to learn what you can about Christopher. Find him, talk to him, and then we’ll go from there,” Ryan said.

  Ryan was one of the best investigators there was, and Max trusted his advice. The same thing went for being a great pack leader.

  “You two enjoy your night,” Ryan said, and Carol echoed the sentiment.

  Then they ended the call and Becky sighed. “I will feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles until we resolve this.”

  “I’m doing everything I can to locate Christopher so I can start up a dialogue with him. I just hope he’s honest with me when I’m able to talk to him.”

  Becky left the couch and began gathering up the dishes, and Max joined her to help clean up the kitchen.

  “But about us,” Becky said.

  Max smiled. “That’s more of a sure thing.”

  She smiled, raising a brow.

  “I wouldn’t leave you hanging about whether I would want to be with you or not. I definitely am all for being with you.”

  She chuckled and put the dirty dishes and the silverware in the dishwasher while he cleaned the baking dish.

  Becky sure hoped Max was ready to take their relationship further. Not all the way. They needed some time to get to know each other better. She was going to suggest a movie, but she wanted to make love to him—unconsummated, of course. Consummated meant mating for life, and they weren’t ready for that.

  She washed her hands and he followed suit. Then she cleared her throat, wanting to propose going to bed, and hoped he was thinking along the same lines.

  She reached up and cupped his face, and he instantly placed his hands on her hips, pulled her close, and leaned down to kiss her. Yes! That was just what she had in mind.

  They kissed, the heat building between them, but she wanted him to know she wanted more. Not just an after-dinner kiss. She ran her hands over his T-shirt. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, nice and casual, though she liked seeing him all dressed up too. He had nice legs, well-toned from running, and in shorts, he was hot.

  She kicked off her sandals and he smiled. Yeah, he knew where this was going.

  He nuzzled her cheek with his, his body pressed lightly against hers, but then he hugged her closer, letting her feel his burgeoning arousal. He was such a hot wolf. She shifted her hands down to his buttocks and pulled him even more firmly against her, wrapping one leg against the back of his, caressing him with her bare foot, offering herself to him in an erotic way.

  He cupped her buttocks then and lifted her against him, and she wrapped her legs around him. Man, she wished they could just go all the way, the sweet, achy longing between her legs just coming to bear.

  “To the bedroom?” he asked, kissing her cheek.

  “Yeah,” she said, her voice breathy, sounding sexier than she had thought it would.

  He carried her into her bedroom, her legs still wrapped around his hips, and the whole time he was kissing her, hugging her tight, making her wet.

  When he reached her bedroom, he set her down on the carpeted floor, then she removed his shirt, and he pulled her shirt up and over her head. He kissed the curve of her breasts and placed his hands on them, squeezing a little, then kissing her again, though he kept his hands on her breasts, massaging, making her feel sexy and irresistible.

  He slid his hands down her bare tummy and found the fastener on her shorts, then undid the button and unzipped the shorts. She wriggled out of them before she began working on his shorts. She loved summer. Fewer clothes when she wasn’t working, which meant less to have to peel off for making love to a wolf.

  He kissed each of her breasts through the sheer bra cups. She wore them for support, not for padding, but she liked the sheerer ones on hot days. They made her feel cooler, and for being with a hot wolf, the bra was sexier than others she had.

  He seemed to think so too and rubbed his thumbs over the fabric and her nipples and smiled as they peaked and poked at the fabric. She only wore bras like that when she wore T-shirts or other heavy materials that no one could see through, but when her shirt was off in the presence of a hot wolf that she was eager to seduce—perfect.

  Then he dipped his head and licked a nipple through the fabric, and she sucked in her breath. She was already soaking wet for him, and if they could make love to each other all the way, she would just pull him into bed and get on with it.

  He lightly scraped his teeth against one nipple, making her groan with need, his thumb still rubbing the other as if to keep it satisfied. She was feeling the erotic ache in her groin grow. Then he reached down and unfastened the clip in the front of the bra, unsnapping it and freeing her breasts like she wanted to do with his erection.

  Her bra straps were hanging off her arms, while she pulled down his unfastened shorts and released them. They slid to the floor, and she dropped her bra and started to pull down his boxer briefs. Then he was doing the same with her boy-shorts panties, and they were totally naked, their pheromones engaged and their hearts beating frantically.