question. âWas he angry that you had seen the boy?â
âNo. He wasâ¦happy with the man whoâd brought him in.â There had still been blood on Justinâs face and he stank with the excitement of the hunt.
Leo had been happy when Justin had first brought Anna to him, too. It had been Justin who had been angryâhe hadnât realized sheâd be a submissive wolf. Submissive meant that Annaâs place was at the very bottom of the pack. Justin had quickly decided he made a mistake when he Changed her. She thought he had, too.
âI see.â
For some reason she had the strange feeling that he did.
âWhere are you now, Anna?â
âAt a friendâs house.â
âAnother werewolf?â
âNo.â Then realizing he might think sheâd told someone about what she wasâsomething that was strictly forbiddenâshe hurried to explain. âI donât have a phone at my place. My neighbor is gone and Iâm taking care of her cat. I used her phone.â
âI see,â he said. âI want you to stay away from Leo and your pack for right nowâit might not be safe for you if someone figures out you called me.â
That was an understatement. âAll right.â
âAs it happens,â the Marrok said, âI have recently been made aware of problems in Chicago.â
The realization that she had risked everything unnecessarily made his next few words pass by her unheard.
ââI would normally have contacted the nearest pack. However, if Leo is murdering people, I donât see how the other Chicago Alpha wouldnât be aware of it. Since Jaimie hasnât contacted me, I have to assume that both Alphas are involved to one degree or another.â
âItâs not Leo whoâs making the werewolves,â she told him. âItâs Justin, his second.â
âThe Alpha is responsible for the actions of his pack,â replied the Marrok coolly. âIâve sent out anâ¦investigator. As it happens he is flying into Chicago tonight. Iâd like you to meet him.â
Which was how Anna ended up naked between a couple of parked cars in the middle of the night at OâHare International Airport. She didnât have a car or money for a taxi, but, as the crow flies, the airport was only about five miles from her apartment. It was after midnight and her wolf form was black as pitch and smallish as far as werewolves were concerned. The chances of someone seeing her and thinking she was anything but a stray dog were slight.
It had gotten colder, and she shivered as she pulled on the T-shirt sheâd brought. There hadnât been room in her small pack for her coat once sheâd stuffed it with shoes, jeans, and a topâall of which were more necessary.
She hadnât ever actually been to OâHare before, and it took her a while to find the right terminal. By the time she got there, he was already waiting for her.
Only after sheâd hung up the phone had she realized that the Marrok had given her no description of his investigator. Sheâd fretted all the way to the airport about it, but she neednât have. There was no mistaking him. Even in the busy terminal, people stopped to look at him, before furtively looking away.
Native Americans, while fairly rare in Chicago, werenât so unheard of as to cause all the attention he was gathering. None of the humans walking past him would probably have been able to explain exactly why they had to lookâbut Anna knew. It was something common to very dominant wolves. Leo had it, tooâbut not to this extent.
He was tall, taller even than Leo, and he wore his black, black hair in a thick braid that swung below his bead-and-leather belt. His jeans were dark and new-looking, a contrast to his battered cowboy boots. He turned his head a little and the lights caught a gleam from the gold studs he wore in his ears. Somehow he