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exactly he thought he could do, but a more disturbing thing was happening. She leaned forward. “Why is Travis taking off his coat? And his boots. Is he seriously stripping?” Her voice grew more and more shrill as the situation went from weird to extremely disturbing.
    “See, this is why I won’t ever get married. Women! Always asking questions,” grumbled Boris. He pulled back behind the curtain, and she heard him rummaging.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “What needs to be done. Sleep, little human.”
    Sleep? Was this man as lunatic as his partner? A prick on the side of her neck saw that thought and all others sliding away as she slumped into darkness.

Chapter Four
    It just so happened, according to satellite co-ordinates, that Reid was close by when the call from Travis arrived. He’d not meant to head out so far, but his gut—and his bear—insisted he ride parallel to the route his next delivery would arrive from. If there was one thing Reid had learned when he served overseas, it was to listen to his instincts. If they screamed he would probably be needed, then he heeded the warning.
    “What is it, Trav?”
    “Boss, we’ve got a problem. A couple actually. The most pressing is I got a flat tire.”
    “From what?”
    “Nothing I could see.”
    “So, in other words, you don’t know if it’s intentional or not.”
    “Nope. But I’m gonna need help.”
    “With the tire? You know how to change a tire. You’ve got Boris to give you a hand.” Between the two of them, they had enough muscle to handle it.
    “The flat is not the problem nor are the wolves.”
    Reid straightened his spine. “Wolves? Shifters or wild ones?”
    “Given their tiny size, I’d say wild ones, but they look hungry.”
    They always were this time of the year. “So take care of them.”
    “I plan to. It’s the human I’m not sure what to do with.”
    Those words caused Reid to practically fall off his snowmobile as he barked, “Human? What fucking human, and what the hell is he doing in your truck?”
    “First off, he is a she, and she didn’t give me much of a choice when she showed up this morning in the truck yard.”
    As Travis quickly relayed who she was and why she rode with him, Reid’s irritation swelled. He’d expected some kind of insurance investigator to show up at one point, a human he had no way of diverting. Damn his insurance company. But he’d at least expected some kind of warning. Getting ambushed like this didn’t sit well with him at all.
    Unfortunately, while he could control who moved into the town he ruled, he couldn’t control outside forces, and the need for insurance to run a business was one of them. Usually Reid would have swallowed the cost of a lost truck and not reported it, but with three missing, and foul play suspected against the drivers? Three was too many even for him to hide. Not to mention he couldn’t quite absorb or eliminate it from the ledgers cost-wise, not without drawing even more unwanted attention. The IRS gave no one any quarter.
    Reid had to make a snap decision. “Forget what I said before. Don’t do anything. We can’t risk this broad suspecting what you are. I’ll send a team to help with the tire.”
    “What about the wolves?”
    “Ignore them. They should scatter when the others arrive on their sleds.” Reid included himself among that number. Sometimes just the scent of his bestial side was enough to send unenlightened creatures running. True shifters on the other hand? They always knew to run when he showed up sporting a scowl.
    “Ignore the wolves? Yeah, I don’t think that’s an option.”
    “Travis!” Reid growled his cousin’s name. “There is a human watching. Get in the truck and play cool.”
    “Ah, come on, cuz. That’s no fun.”
    “No fun is letting the girl know what we are.”
    “No, no fun is letting her get eaten.” Travis’ tone turned from mocking to serious. “Remember what I said about the wolves not being