Wild Ones: Prowl Read Online Free Page A

her amused smile -- or put down the gun, though she did point it away from her wolf. “Get this finished first,” she told her wolf. “Finish one thing before you start another.”
    The russet wolf sneezed again and wagged his tail. He faced forward and barked, loud, short and sharp, aimed at the bigger wolf. Well. Lainey didn’t have to guess what he might be saying, and she didn’t feel inclined to waste time questioning how he understood her or they understood each other.
    Nor did she think that bobcat would be bothering her again.
    Out by the wheat fields, her tall wolf shook himself from shoulders to haunches. Lainey frowned. Was that a streak of blood on his foreleg? “That damn cat got a bite of him,” she said, thinking twice about putting down her rifle.
    The russet wolf swung around to trot up the steps as free as he pleased; well, Lainey supposed he’d earned it. She rested her hand atop his head, finding his pelt to be both soft and scratchy at once. Reminded her of a man’s whiskers when he hadn’t shaved for two or three days. Neither beard nor stubble, kinder and more exciting against a lover’s skin.
    “All right,” she murmured to her russet wolf, hanging the rifle back in its place. “I won’t shoot. You feel like telling me why? I wouldn’t hit him.”
    The russet wolf wrinkled his muzzle. He took her hand in his mouth, so gently and so quickly she felt the light pressure of his teeth before she’d known he was moving at all.
    Lainey held very still. “If you try it, I will shoot you.”
    The russet wolf sighed. He let go of her hand and nudged her hip, guiding her to look out at the taller wolf. The taller wolf ignored them save for one quick peek back. He barked at the wheat fields. And stay out! Made Lainey laugh.
    The taller wolf wagged his tail once, twice, three times, and took off running, making a full circuit of the perimeter, and around the house. If the bobcat had bitten him, he didn’t seem to be bothered, but Lainey could tell for sure he was marking his scent all around the boundaries of her home.
    Well now. Lainey had to watch, and as she did her pleasure grew, as did her smile. Rosemary had been right. They’d protect her.
    Lainey could take care of herself. She’d not been looking for someone to take any burdens off her shoulders and expect to be thanked for it. But when they gave her this gift because they wanted to…
    The taller wolf finished his circuit and pranced up Lainey’s steps, looking so pleased with himself that Lainey had to laugh out loud. “You’re proud enough of yourself to pop, aren’t you?”
    Both wolves butted their heads against her legs. Russ stole a sniff while he was in the vicinity, for which Lainey twisted his ear.
    A tussle of any kind always did wonders for her mood, and here and now, bathed in moonlight as cool as water and satin on her skin, with the memory of two handsome men fresh in her mind, Lainey knew exactly what she wanted.
    “Stand up,” she told them, soft as velvet and strong as steel. “Stand up as men and let me get a good look at you.”
    The taller wolf cocked his head to a side. And then? he seemed to be asking.
    Lainey hadn’t enjoyed herself this much in years. “To the victors go the spoils,” she said. She cupped her breasts. “Stand up as men and find out.”
    Lainey couldn’t have told anyone what it was like to see the two wolves change. There weren’t words, at least not in any language she knew, and it was over as quick as a heartbeat. Wolves stood, unfolding into men, smooth and hard, as naked as she herself.
    And -- she checked -- as happy to see her as if they were still wolves wagging their tails. Though truth be told, Lainey liked the looks of this excitement far more. “Aren’t you a treat,” she said, a deliberate echo of the first words she’d spoken to the pair, to tease them and to get another look at those broad, infectious grins of theirs.
    That enjoyment made the taller wolf -- Asher