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He shuddered, and it wasn t just from the cold bathroom. The answering machine light was flashing at him as he trudged into the bedroom. He didn t remember it ringing after Ethan had hung up on Michelle. On closer inspection he found that was because Ethan had turned off the ringer afterward. Three messages. He hit replay and listened to the start of each, in case there was something work related. Nope. All from Michelle. He hit delete all, and flipped the ringer back on in case Rob called. The television held nothing other than reruns and shows he had no interest in, so he turned it back off and stared out of the French windows. This whole man of leisure thing was dull as hell. Pack Rules 71 If Ethan was here, I d have something to do. Namely, bend over. He smirked. Now that would be a good way to spend the day. * * * * Evening came fast for Ethan, and by the time the sun set, he was raring to hunt. He parked his truck at the end of a short dirt track on the outskirts of the town. Avani had said the fight had been in the area, and the scents of blood and sweat still lingered in the still night air. After a last-minute check for witnesses, Ethan quickly undressed and threw his clothes into the cab of his truck, locked the door, and pushed the key into the dirt under one of the tyres. The change to his wolf form pushed away any vestiges of tiredness he may have been feeling, leaving him with a cold awareness of the area around him. While there were no wolves in the area at the moment, there were scents from several. Avani s came from a small group of trees a few hundred yards from the truck, along with a scent he didn t recognise. He headed over, his head and tail low as he moved, pausing to once again sniff the air once he reached the trees. The fight had been a long one. Several patches of ground were splattered with blood, both Avani s and her attacker s. The attacker had also left his scent on a tree, either just before the fight, or not long afterward. Ethan sat by a tree and took in the scene. From the various sights and scents, it looked like Avani had come in from the east, likely on a run between her favourite spots, and had discovered the other wolf, who had been waiting for her. An indentation in the foliage by the scented tree told that much. In fact, it was clear now that the wolf had scented the tree to attract Avani. As a second, she didn t back down from a fight unless heavily outnumbered. 72 JC Holly The fight had been typical. The two had used the open ground within the group of trees, and had circled for a time, trying to discover each other s weaknesses. There was no way of knowing who attacked first, but judging by the blood scents, Avani gave as good as she got, if not better. Ethan turned to follow the attacker s scent when a new scent reached him on the breeze. Two scents, in fact. One was the attacker, and one was new. As they neared, their movements became audible. Their footsteps slowed as they no doubt smelt Ethan. He caught a soft growl from one, though he wasn t sure which. They came into the circle on either side of the tree the attacker had scented the previous night. Whatever Avani had done to make the first bleed, it had healed up already. The large brown wolf sat in the indentation it had previously made and snarled at Ethan. The second wolf came farther forward. It was entirely black, an uncommon colouring in the area, and was smaller than the brown wolf. Its posture was pure aggression, like the other, its head and tail low, its front paws clawing at the ground. Ethan kept still while he decided on how to handle the fight. Running was not an option. Even if he wasn t an alpha, and honour bound to face any and all challenges, the smaller wolf could probably outrun him, and it would take only one well-placed bite to a hind leg to disable him. He let loose a low, deep growl. If they wanted to fight, he wouldn t deprive them. He would, however, make them regret it. The brown wolf was still sat by the far tree, but Black was in the centre of the circle of moss and leaves, just out of range of a leap. Or so he thought. He must have been young, as he d underestimated just how far an older wolf could jump. Ethan planted his back legs and leapt for the centre, taking the surprised wolf to the soft floor with a snarl and flash of teeth. He quickly had the wolf on its back and overpowered, but held back on the killing bite to the throat. The second he had taken to the air, the Pack Rules 73 brown wolf had slipped back into the shadows, and until Ethan spotted him again, he d keep Black as insurance. A growl came from behind, and Ethan dipped down past Black s snapping jaw and placed his teeth against the wolf s throat. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |