"They're not silver," Evan said, gasping for breath as he ran into the hallway behind Carver. "The bullets. They're not silver. I switched them before Irving and his brother disappeared again--hunting for the cougar. I switched them once before, too, only I forgot to mention it to anyone."

Leidolf's growl slipped into a small smile, but his eyes shimmered with contempt as he continued to stare the threat down. Cassie expected him to kill the bastard. He nodded his head in Cassie's direction. Did he mean for her to kill the man?

A gunshot blasted next to her. Aimee had fired the shot. A dart struck the man, and he went down.

It was decided then. Trial between wolves. As soon as the men could shift, when the waxing crescent moon again shone in the night sky and all lupus garous could shift between forms.

* * *

"We have new problems," Leidolf said to Cassie, as they returned to his bedroom at the ranch, but all she could think of was doing more of a search for her family, freeing the red wolf from the zoo, and--she wrinkled her nose--taking a shower to get rid of the smell of the bed of straw that she'd rested on at the zoo.

Aimee was staying in one of the guest rooms until the issue was resolved with Irving and Tynan, and she was grateful that young Evan had saved all their lives by switching the silver bullets for regular ones. Irving and Tynan were incarcerated in Fergus's cellar. Fergus scheduled his son, Evan, extra ranching duty first thing the next morning for taking Leidolf's Jag out without permission, for not making sure his elders knew what he was up to, for not telling them about the silver bullets, and for taking matters into his own hands.

"Besides the myriad of other problems we have--financial problems and the difficulty with Pierce, Quincy, and Sarge, not to mention Irving and Tynan--we don't have a nurse or an accountant." Leidolf glanced at Cassie hopefully.

"Don't look at me. I'm neither a nurse, nor do I have a head for figures." She started stripping out of her borrowed clothes, glad that the men had brought her truck to Leidolf's ranch so she had the two bags of clothes she'd stashed in there. She still needed to return to the woods to reclaim her backpack and favorite safari gear, though. "Do you have Internet access?"

He raised his brows at her and began taking off his clothes. "Already planning to leave to study more wolves?" He sounded a trifle annoyed.

She tilted her chin down and gave him a condemning look. He'd better not have a problem with her leaving every time she suggested it. "I might be able to locate some more of my family."

"Oh, sorry, Cassie. I thought... you were getting ready to leave me already."

For an instant, she felt guilty. But on the other hand, she was a touch peeved that he'd try to make her feel guilty. She sighed. Maybe she could hang around for a few days until the situation with Irving and Tynan was resolved and she had time to visit her cousin before she took off. Although she had to meet her deadline with the magazine for the article she was supposed to write, and with the red wolf incarcerated in the zoo, that wasn't happening.

"I'll have everyone working on it to see if we can locate your family," Leidolf added.

She smiled up at him, but before she could kiss him to show her appreciation, he slipped his hand around hers and led her into the bathroom.

She'd expected to find elegance, but nothing like this. White marble everywhere, floors countertops, and a big, big sauna tub. Brass and porcelain fixtures, tile mosaics on the wall of wolves lounging at a lake, and a painting of blue skies and puffs of white clouds on the ceiling.

But the shower really caught her eye. She opened the clear glass door to the shower stall, where the whole back half opened up to take in the cliff-side view of the surrounding woods. A privacy glass door was all that stood between them and the wilderness. Her lips parted as she thought of what Julia Wildthorn's take would have been on this for one of her wild romance books.

"Hmm," Cassie said, leaving the door open to the wild open spaces and reached down to turn on the hot water.

Leidolf moved in close behind her, placed his hands on her hips, and pressed his arousal against her butt. "Hmm, is right, Cassie." He rubbed against her, and she chuckled.

"You ready for something?" She was fairly sure that no matter how hot the sex was, he wasn't going along with her next plan of action--freeing the wild wolf and her pups. But... that was her next goal anyway.

The water sluiced over her shoulders and breasts, pouring down her waist and lower as he grabbed a bottle of sweet-smelling soft soap, the refreshing fragrance of tangerines and limes heavenly.

He began soaping her up, while she went straight for his package, thick, curved, and ready for action. His member jumped in her hands, and he sucked in a deep breath. He cupped her face with his slippery hands and kissed her mouth roughly, as if he'd been deprived of her affections for way too long, as if he was afraid he'd lose her again soon.

His kiss was anything but gentle--demanding, pressuring, conquering. She nibbled at his lips, his tongue, her hands sliding all over his hardened planes, his chest, his waist, his hips. God, he was perfection. Her sea god. Poseidon. Seducer of women, only she was seducing him instead.

Raw passion blazed through her as she wrapped a leg around his, hooking her heel around his own, and rubbed her sex against his thigh.

"You're so wet for me, Cassie, aren't you?" he murmured against her lips, his eyes glazed with desire, his voice rough-hewn, the baritone quality sending shimmers of need racing through her.

"Always," she whispered back, pressing her body tightly against his, rubbing, making every bit of her so much more sensitive to his touch, her nipples teasing the light hair of his chest, her feminine lips caressing his taut thigh, her hip playing with his rigid sex.

He groaned and gave her a roguish grin. She had hunted and captured him and he was hers, for all eternity. He leaned down and slid his hand around her backside, lower until he'd found her feminine lips and slipped his fingers inside. "Warm, wet, and willing."

Her skin felt feverish between his touching her and the heat of the water. Only the cool air from outside kept her from burning up on the spot. He dipped his fingers in deeper, priming her even more for his penetration.

Or maybe he had captured her! She meant to prolong the exquisite way he was touching her, stroking her with wild abandon until the slow burn built into a bonfire, the flames flickering heavenward as she neared the peak. Arching away from him, she concentrated on the wicked way he touched her until she exploded with fiery sensations of exquisite bliss. Her body trembling with spent pleasure, she wanted him inside her now. She spread her legs farther apart, rubbed harder against him, and whispered, "If you're done torturing me..."

He chuckled tightly. "You are the one who is making me suffer." He lifted her legs around him, pressed her back against the shower stall, and entered her with one swift move.

Heavens above, she was in ecstasy! Her own body still convulsing with orgasm, she tightened her hold on his thrusting cock. Deep inside he plunged, his hands holding her tight against him, penetrating with savage urgency.

With a frenzy not his usual style, Leidolf drove again and again, coupling with the woman he loved, expressing the yearning he had for her that could never be extinguished. With every thrust, he took her for his own, his mate forever.

Her silky skin rode against his, every curve of her body a tactile delight. He tackled her mouth again as she breathed hard, her eyes half-closed with desire. He thought again about boosting her over the fence at the zoo, his fingers slipping into her wet cleft and how hard that had made him, despite their predicament.

The woman was an aphrodisiac for him, no matter where they were or what they were doing. She moaned, just as his seed spilled inside her, and for a second, a wicked thought flashed through his mind. Her pregnant, her belly growing with their babies. He groaned as he released the rest of his seed, loving her and wishing she'd never want to leave him.

After letting her down and gently washing her off, he grabbed a towel and began to dry her sweet body, flushed with arousal.

"I wanted you from the moment I saw you," he said, taking a deep breath, his gaze fixed on hers.

She smiled and lifted another towel off the hook and began drying his skin. "You thought I was human."

He smiled. "You loved wolves. That's all I needed to know. If I'd learned what you were, you'd never have gotten away from me." He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, figuring on sleeping for a while, or not. Depended on whether Cassie could handle more loving tonight. The way she was teasing his taut nipple, he suspected she wasn't quite ready for sleep.

Until he heard someone rushing toward his bedroom door. Hell.

Chapter 26

Heavy knocking at Leidolf's bedroom door was followed by Pierce saying, "Elgin sent me to tell you that Thompson is here. Elgin told him to come back at a decent hour, but the man insists that if you don't speak with him, he'll get a judge's order to have the place searched."

Leidolf cursed under his breath and set Cassie on the bed. "Stay. I'll be back shortly." Then he yanked on a pair of jeans and tugged a shirt on. Buttoning it, he left the bedroom, shut the door none too gently, and stalked toward the great room with Pierce at his side.

"Sorry, Leidolf. I know you didn't want to be disturbed, but Elgin said if we didn't handle this right, you'd really be pissed."

"It's not your fault. I knew this would eventually come back to bite us in the butt one way or another."

Elgin hurried to meet Leidolf before he reached the great room. "I've got him waiting in the den. But Thompson is here to see you about the red wolves. And that wolf biologist? Alex Wellington? He's with him."

"Hell. That's probably how Thompson knew about us. All right. Warn Felicity and everyone else at the ranch."

Leidolf met Thompson standing in the den and stretched out a hand, giving a firm handshake. Thompson's blue eyes studied him in return, measuring him, categorizing him. Like a wolf would analyze his potential enemy. Leidolf offered a small smile. Despite the guy tranquilizing him, he admired him for wanting to protect the wolf kind. "Leidolf Wildhaven."