“You chip wolves.” I tried to keep the insult out of my voice. It went against my DNA to have an animal tracked and studied. To be nothing but a four-legged piece of data.
Didn’t she know how her research could affect said population? She might be the cause of it thinning back down. Rapidly.
I thought of my mother and I got heartburn, my steak losing its appeal.
She nodded, rewarding our overly friendly bartender with a smile when he brought her steak salad.
“Yours will be right out,” he told me.
It was all I could do not to growl at him to stay the fuck away from her. It had been years since my mother had been killed, but the wound would never heal. The anger was always there. But my inner wolf was still interested in this woman. Wanted her. I was… possessive, and that pissed me off. I was mad at myself.
I couldn’t help it.
At the bartender for being… nice. And a guy. The fucker. I somehow managed a nod before he went off to help someone else.
“How do you chip them?” I prodded, when Caitlyn didn’t elaborate.
She picked up her fork and speared a piece of lettuce. “You know, I just bring doggie treats out—”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline.
“Just kidding.” This time I was treated to her smile, which I swore to Fate could light the night sky. She was damn lucky she was so cute, or I’d have taken offense to her joke. “I tranq them, and then inject a chip to track.”
“You tranq them,” I repeated, blinking. Memories of my mother’s blood staining the earth crowded my mind. Realizing my fists were clenched, I slowly forced myself to relax. But that had me deep breathing, which filled me with her fucking sweet scent. Which agitated me in an entirely different way.
Focus, Wade.
“Yes.” She took a bite of her salad, chewed.
“How many people on your team? How many wolves do you chip at a time?”
She scooted her barstool closer to speak over the growing din, her expression bright. Obviously, she loved to talk about her work. “My team? It’s just me. It can take weeks for me to find even one wolf, but I’m headed into the mountains above the town of West Springs, where I hope to find several. Ever heard of the place?”
I nodded. “Actually, I live in that area.”
Her eyes flared in surprise, but it was only about sixty miles from here, so not a huge coincidence. “I’m going in two weeks because I heard there’s a whole pack. I’m hoping to get as many as possible. I’ve got to wait until the twelfth, though, when I will have all my supplies.” She didn’t sound keen on waiting, but she was a scientist and, I was sure, wanted everything just so.
My brain struggled, registering two things at once. One was the danger to my pack, and Caitlyn’s plans to head to Two Marks land above West Springs despite Gibson’s denial of her request. That should be my only concern as temporary pack enforcer. Instead, what was pushed to the forefront of my mind was a blinding need to throw this woman over my shoulder and carry her somewhere private.
Somewhere I could get my hands on her bare skin. Taste her. Make her come. As a shifter male who found a female who called to his inner wolf.
Fates, her strawberry-spice scent wrapped around me like an intoxicating noose, tempting me in ways I’d never before experienced. I was in big trouble here.
Ben would be pissed.
“There’s a pack of wolves in West Springs?” I hoped I was keeping my face blank enough.
“Well, not in town,” she said, rolling her eyes once more. “The mountains above there. I believe so, at least. My data and reports from locals support it. Unfortunately, I think they’re on private land up there, and I couldn’t get permission from the owner.” She looked left and right, then leaned in. “But I’m going anyway.”
My brows furrowed.
“I have to,” she explained. “My boss, the lead research scientist, said the grant funding is at risk if I don’t get more chipped by the end of the summer.”
I didn’t like anything about what she’d just said. I also had to find out who the hell her boss was. “So you’re going to trespass on private land?”
She shrugged with a smile. “I know. Naughty me.”
Naughty? Yeah, if she was planning to go onto Two Marks land even though Gib told her no, then she was a bad girl.
I couldn’t just open my mouth and tell her off. That she sure as shit couldn’t go against the alpha’s command. I had no reason for doing so. I’d give away who I was and why I was in town, because without telling her we didn’t want to have shifters—or any wolves, for that matter—chipped and monitored, all I’d appear was creepy.