When she didn't say anything, he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Cassie?"
"I'm a wolf biologist."
"Of that I'm well aware." He kissed the top of her head.
"I wouldn't give up my job for anything. The wolf pack that took me in saved my life. Then hunters killed them. Every last one of them. For a price. They were paid to kill them! The pups, too. I only escaped by turning into my human form and then the men caught me. They believed I was a wild child raised by wolves. I was, but not in the way they thought. I escaped them and moved farther south."
She leaned her head against his chest. "I have to show that wolves are not monsters, just survivors like everyone else." She gritted her teeth. "All I could think of was how I could have saved them. They were my second family, and I lost them, too."
"I promise you won't lose us also. And I can't afford to give you up, either."
"But I'm a wolf biologist."
Which he still wasn't happy about, but he schooled his reaction.
She gently pulled the hair on his arm and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I won't give up studying them and sharing what I learn with the world."
He dropped the subject. He didn't want her studying wild wolves and putting herself in danger, despite promising her he'd allow it. "The feral wolves are the only ones you intend to care for?"
She twisted her mouth and then gave a little ladylike snort. "As if you truly believe that."
"I have a pack to run."
"So run it. Nothing will change. Only I'll return and we'll have mind-blowing sex, and then I'll leave to do my studies again."
He sighed darkly. "I have a question for you. Did Sarge force you to take him with you?"
Cassie smiled. "Yeah, or he'd rat me out. He wasn't hurt, was he? What about your Jag?"
"The Jag's the former leader's sports car. Nothing mattered to me but that you were safe."
"And Sarge."
Leidolf grunted.
Cassie ran her fingers over Leidolf's chest in a teasing caress, stirring him up. "You talk tough, but if you'd really felt he needed to be terminated, you would have done it. Admit it. You have a soft spot for the guy."
"I would have killed him if he'd harmed you in any way. Or if he'd killed anyone when he was a werewolf hunter. But for his cooperation, he got off a lot easier than the rest of the Dark Angels. You sure he didn't threaten you?"
"If he had, he'd have seen some wicked wolf's teeth. He'll come around. And I suspect you believe he will also."
"Maybe you can help to influence him to settle down."
She laughed softly. "When I left him in the car by himself, headed down the hill? Don't think he'd be happy with me in the least."
"Served him right to mess with my mate." Leidolf tightened his hold on Cassie. "I believe it's time to find our way out of the zoo on our own."
Aimee hoped she wasn't making a mistake, taking the man chasing her as a wolf into her confidence as she leapt over another fallen tree in her own wolf form. She had to let someone know that her cousin had been captured and taken to the zoo. The mother wolf and her pups would be well taken care of. But the man who had been with Cassie needed rescuing, too. And this was way over her head. She just prayed the man in hot pursuit of her wasn't one of the villains' friends who had planned to kill her.
"Wait! I won't hurt you," the man shouted from the woods, having changed to his human form. "Are you a lupus garou?"
She stopped among a stand of hemlocks as the feathery leaves brushed her fur and waited for the man to catch up. He appeared in his very naked form covered in water droplets from the river, his hair dripping wet. His breathing came hard and fast, and he blinked a couple of times as if not believing she was real. He was cute in a hard sort of way. A sturdy jaw, amber eyes that hinted at a stormy past, no scowl, but no smile either.
He definitely appealed on a basic physical level. The way he came after her... she liked that he had guts. His voice, too, deep and commanding, yet expectant, similar to his expression, intrigued her. She was a lost cause when it came to strong men with needs.
He waited nervously, like a guy on a first date, his hands clenched until he folded his arms around his body. "Are you looking for a pack?"
How she wished she had some clothes to wear. Not that shifting in front of lupus garous was a problem when she was a member of the pack, but when not, it was a bit uncomfortable. Plus it was damn cold out.
Hell, she didn't have a choice if she was to solicit help for Cassie. She took a deep breath and shifted.
The man stared at her, stupefied at first, and then finally he said, "You're one of us. I'm Carver."
She kept her arms wrapped around her and shivered. "I'm Aimee Roux."
"Cassie's sister!" Carver hurried forth and before she could react, he pulled her into his heated embrace, warming her chilled skin.
"I'm Cassie's cousin. Her sister died many years ago. The... the men from the zoo took Cassie hostage. And one... of your men, too."
"Leidolf?"
"Whoever was with Cassie."
"Leidolf. Our pack leader. Hell. Will you return with me?"
"One of your men planned to kill me," she said. Carver squeezed tighter, and she sure could get awfully used to his heated embrace. "Irving. Tynan was with him," she explained further. "Can you protect me? Keep me safe from them?"
He knew the bastards were up to something, but he'd never suspected anything like this. "Hell, yeah. Shift, and we'll return to the rest of the pack. Looks like we're bound for a trip to the zoo. Not our favorite place."
Aimee shifted from a silky-skinned beauty to an equally majestic red-furred beauty.
Then he shifted. She darted back into the woods toward the river. He took after her, and when they reached the trees near the river, the men all drew close to the shore, expectant. Elgin wore a worried frown, and so did Fergus. But Aimee held back at the tree line. Carver licked her face and nuzzled her cheek, encouraging her to come. He would protect her at all costs.
Then he trotted toward the river, hoping to hell she would follow his lead. He didn't look back. His pack members all watched her. Then he heard her footfalls on the slippery rocks, and she bumped his left flank, assuring him she was with him on this, that she trusted him to keep her safe. He wouldn't let her down.
"Did you hear that?" Sarah whispered, as she and Alice froze in amongst the hemlocks.
Alice breathed deeply, trying to smell who was out here. "Tynan," she responded, her voice hushed.
Their father had warned them that he and Irving were up to no good. But what if he could help them get Leidolf out of the zoo? If she and her sister and Evan botched this, they could be in real trouble. With everyone. But if an adult like Tynan was with them, he would be at fault, being the eldest.
Still, Alice was hesitant to call out to him, a sixth sense warning her he was not to be trusted.
Then everything was decided. She smelled a whiff of Irving, the leader of the two men. Tromping at a run in the brush, the two men headed straight for her and Sarah.
Chapter 24
Trying not to rush Cassie on the concrete as they crawled out of the wolves' tunnel, Leidolf led the way on his hands and knees and prayed they wouldn't get caught.
She grabbed his foot and wiggled it. "Hurry, Leidolf. I want out of this place." Her voice wasn't panicky or scared; she spoke in a teasing way as if trying to reduce the tension between them.
Loving the way she dealt with their dilemma, he chuckled. "This concrete is rough on my knees. You must have more padding."
She snorted. "I thought you were tougher than that. I'll have to remember you have delicate knees."
"You can kiss them when we're out of here."
"Hmm, and lots more than that. If we make it, someday we ought to revisit that lake I found you swimming in."
"Ready to take me up on my offer?" He hesitated and glanced back to see her expression.
"Maybe. I heard the soil made for a good comfy bed." She smiled at him as he raised a brow at her.
"Or ferns to lie down in, Douglas firs serving as our walls and canopy. Sounds good to me."
"And the Forest Club. I want to go back and dance. But this time I want to order the plate of roast tenderloin."
"Didn't get enough the last time?"
"You were such a gentleman. Thanks for sharing with me."
He paused. "I had to. If you licked your lips one more time while salivating over my roast, I would have had to join you on your side of the table and kiss you, right then and there. I didn't think you were quite ready for that. So I shared my roast with you instead."
She chuckled softly. He smiled again.
He reached the end of the tunnel and moved over so Cassie could kneel beside him. "We'll climb out there," he said, pointing to the fence on the north side of the wolves' exhibit. "Looks like one or two more fences beyond that. Once we've crossed all the fences, we'll shape-shift back into our wolf forms, and traverse Forest Park, which is closed now. We can reach Carver's house in a short while."
He took Cassie's face and kissed her mouth long and hard. "We can't get caught, Cassie. No matter what, we can't get caught."
She sighed. "I don't plan on it. All right. Let's do it." Cassie climbed out of the tunnel first and sprinted next to a building and through a group of trees, and then dove at the fence.
Intent on protecting her, Leidolf kept up with her, watching for any signs of trouble, sampling the air for human smells, listening for anyone's approach. At this time of night, Leidolf figured no one would be roaming around the grounds, unless someone thought the red wolves were in danger of being freed again. He smiled wryly.
When he joined Cassie in attempting to climb the high fence, he reached up and gave her ass a boost.