“Then why are you—”
“And I stayed to protect Mother from attack. Isn’t she favored by your pack?”
The alpha—named Emory Wolf—didn’t like being interrupted, but he didn’t quarrel. Instead, his gaze landed on Cecilia. Hank tried not to react. He really did. But the moment the guy’s eyes lingered too damn long on her bright, beautiful form, Hank felt his hackles rise and his hands shift into claws.
Wolf noticed. The bastard saw everything and he chose to poke at Hank by moving the conversation to Cecilia.
“I don’t remember this woman in my territory.”
Cecilia opened her mouth to speak, but Hank shot her a warning look. He hadn’t needed to. Simon spoke, his tone level and with the exact same amount of steel underneath as he always used.
“Dr. Cecilia Lu is from the CDC. We’ve brought her into the clan so she can help.”
Wolf’s brows rose. “Help what? There is a poison in the water. You said as much. The weak ones die, the strong ones evolve. She cannot help that.”
Cecilia snorted. “Pull that attitude out of the dark ages handbook?”
Well, it had been too much to hope that she could keep silent when someone—even as cold and powerful a man as the werewolf alpha—challenged the benefit of science. And just as Hank feared, the man bared his teeth at her, showing his elongated canines.
Instead of being frightened, the insane woman took an eager step forward. “Is that normal for you? I mean in your human form? Those canines are at least forty percent longer than typical for a human male. Are you able to partially change into a wolf? If so, then perhaps the hybrids are more wolf than—”
“I am a full shifter!” the man snapped. “And the hybrids are nothing but rabid dogs.”
The venom in his words was clear and Hank wouldn’t have been surprised if he whipped out his dick and urinated on the bodies as proof of his contempt. Meanwhile, Cecilia would not shut up.
“I get that. It’s their frontal cortex. Deteriorates for some reason. But if you can partially change, then that’s important. That’s…oh my.”
“Oh my” was right. The alpha’s eyes had gone yellow-green and fur popped out along his arms. His jaws elongated, and his teeth looked sharp and white as he growled at her. But he didn’t strip out of his clothes and he certainly didn’t shift the whole way. It made him look like the big bad wolf of Disney cartoons. A beast in human form. Except his hands stayed human, though they extended slightly as if he wanted to change but was holding himself back.
It was enough to silence Cecilia, and it was a damned impressive show of control. No other shifter that he knew of could consciously halt the change midway. For everyone else, it was all or nothing, and Hank couldn’t suppress a grudging respect.
Cecilia, on the other hand, was walking closer as she studied the alpha. And she was patting the pockets of her tunic as if looking for her phone, which was mercifully still in his car. Fortunately, she’d gotten close enough that he could grab her arm and hold her back.
“What are you doing?” he growled at her.
“You want me up to speed. This is how I get up to speed.”
He grimaced and turned to the alpha. “She is trying to help. Is there a wolf who could answer her questions? Someone young, perhaps, and not busy right now.”
There was a long pause as the wolf alpha stared at her, and Cecilia continued to inspect the man, clearly not nearly as intimidated as she should be. Everyone else remained poised, waiting for a response with seeming calm. Did no one else see the implied threat in the man’s furred face or long white teeth?
In the end, Wolf straightened, his expression turning cagey as he shifted back into human. Cecilia gasped audibly, her eyes practically dancing with interest. Everyone else pretended they’d seen that a thousand times before. Then the alpha spoke with sudden decisiveness, as if he were the one giving commands here.
“She will come with me. I will answer her questions.”
Hank’s bear reacted violently to that. It surged in his mind, roaring in a way that had his entire body prickling with fur. Or it would have if Hank hadn’t shifted last night. He wasn’t strong enough to change right now, and that was probably a good thing because it gave him a moment to control his reaction, though his words came out fast enough.
“She stays with me.”
The wolf grinned, his completely human teeth flashing. “Then come with us.”
Simon spoke, his voice so calm, it could have been a recording. “He stays with me.”
Mother snorted. “And you all can sit at my table and talk all you want. So long as someone is fixing my window and making sure those bodies are handled respectfully.” Her gaze narrowed. “Or maybe I’ll just find me a nice home in bear country and find other children to help.”
It was an empty threat. Mother had lived in this house for thirty years, and she had much more fondness for the dogs than the bears, probably because her husband had been a wolf. Plus the dogs popped out children like rabbits. Always a new puppy to care for, though they were completely human until adolescence. And though she’d cared for a variety of different breeds—Sammy being the most recent bear—she wasn’t going to up and move to Griz territory.
Meanwhile Wolf gestured with a single flick of a finger. Like the smallest tick of a tail, it was a signal to gather Antwone. “We will take our own.” His gaze landed on the more wolflike hybrid. “And that one.” His gaze slid to Simon. “Care for your own.”
