Weremones Read Free

Leaning against the car, he played one handed key toss. Being the boss had plenty of advantages. Calling the shots appealed to the dominant wolf in him.
    Adam truly liked working with his hands. The carpenter’s life called to both sides of his nature.
    Lobos Luna Construction had a reputation for good, fast work. On this beautiful Saturday morning, they’d been hard at work so that the first house in the subdivision he was building would be on schedule. He’d promised those folks they could move in the first week of July, and by God they would.
    With a little hustling, and leaving his foreman Mack Spencer in charge, Adam had slipped away to retrieve the female’s car.
    Not everything about being the boss was daisy sweet. Not that he usually minded.
    Too much, that is.
    Though today, Adam would cheerfully have strangled the idiot at the builder’s supply. He’d never seen the like. Every two-by-four was warped, twisted, and full of knots the size of his fist. No exaggeration, the lumber had been that bad.
    The delivery was dropped off after everyone had gone for the day. Thank God Mack had inspected the load first thing this morning. Had it been used, Adam would have rework instead, on top of dead time with men on pay. It would have been a hell of a mess.
    Adam was later than he’d wanted to be getting the lady’s car. There was no telling what was going on at the house in his absence. Last night, the boys had scared the wits out of Diana Ridley while rescuing her.
    She’d seen and heard enough to think them all monster movie werewolves. Adam only hoped she blamed the fur-fest she’d seen last night on exhaustion and bad dreams.
    Maybe he could convince her it had all been a hallucination.
    He wrestled with the seat adjustment on Diana Ridley’s car, trying to fit his sixfoot-
    four-inch frame into a space normally occupied by a petite, short-legged female. Not that he’d noticed her legs, or how her soft curves felt pressed close in his arms either.
    Adam’s pack consisted of five underage pups. No fighters. No wardens to stand with him against a threat. He didn’t count the Mack, no matter how good the human was.
    He wanted Mack tucked away safe, but that wouldn’t happen in a million years. The exsoldier was too good at finding his own trouble.
    In the confines of the car, Adam inhaled the woman’s scent as he cranked and pulled out. A peculiar growl/whine slipped out of him. Her everyday use of it marked the vehicle as hers.
    She smelled delicious. Woman/cookie/citrus was Diana Ridley, a tasty morsel that roused hungers in both the man and the wolf. ... No hint of the magical flavor psychics gave off when using their gifts lingered.
    Apparently, he’d inherited his sire’s human fetish, even if he wasn’t in the market for procreation. Not a bad thing. At the end of the run, humans and shapeshifters shared the same DNA. Besides, humans had to be added in every couple generations for his line to stay fertile.
    Halfway across town, his cell phone rang, pulling Adam from his musing. He glanced at the ID and pressed the button.
    “Yeah?”
    “Forget the lady’s car, Adam. You better get back to the job site.”
    “Jesus, Mack. It’s been what? Fifteen minutes?”
    “Uh-huh. Just long enough for the crap to hit our doorstep. Hold up a sec.” After a muffled bump, the line went silent. Mack had covered the receiver with one hand. Adam made an illegal u-turn and headed back across town.
    “Adam? You still there?”
    “Yeah. What’s going on?”
    “Sorry, that was the guy from Animal Control. We found a dead wolf in the dumpster.”
    A knot of apprehension tightened Adam’s stomach. He’d had a few run-ins with animal control back in the Tarrant pack. Things were always touchy dealing with people who risked their lives handling wild and dangerous animals. People who occasionally ran into a changed wolven and captured them, thinking of keeping the human population safe from animal predators.
    If they