Page 6 of Fire Dancer

And sadly, my goals were nowhere near as lofty.

“Nice seeing you,” I sighed.

His eyes filled with hope and longing. But a moment later, he went all hard again.

“Be careful, Pippa.”

Out the door he went, a man on a mission.

“You too,” I started, but the door slammed before I finished.

The bell chimed, but the sound failed to cheer me.

Chapter Two

INGO

I threw my Jeep into gear and sped off down the road in pursuit of the SUV.

Grabbing my phone, I recorded the address Pippa had shown me. “TTC Limited, 3020 North Baseline Road, Park City, Utah.”

There’d been a six-digit office number too, but I wasn’t sure I’d gotten it right. One-two-eight, then a dash, and three more numbers. Not an address I recognized, but I would call it in soon.

I like 422 Forest Road better,my wolf growled the address of Pippa’s glass shop into my mind.

Every cell in my body screamed for me to turn around and race back to her, because she was all that counted. I could explain everything and patch things up between us. We could figure things out and get back on track to that happily-ever-after that had seemed like such a sure thing eight long years ago.

But how could I explain things to her if I could barely explain to myself?

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and continued in the direction the beige SUV had gone. The one with Utah plates and tinted windows.

Suspicious as hell, if you ask me,an inner voice declared.

Yes and no. Tinted windows could mean a lot of things. Some legit, some not so legit.

My money was onnotlegit, but I couldn’t explain why.

I knew what Pippa would say to that.Chill out. You don’t need to suspect everyone.

Words she’d uttered about a hundred times before we’d broken up.

Which was for the best. Pippa deserved a guy who not only put her on a pedestal, but also remembered not to leave her stranded there while he went off chasing windmills.

My wolf growled continuously, and I hesitated at the next corner — the perfect place to make a U-turn and race back to where I belonged. To Pippa, the only woman I’d ever met who combined the gumption of a tomboy with the grace of a supermodel.

On the other hand, the SUV was heading away quickly. Something about the driver — a bear shifter I’d caught a whiff of at a gas station a few minutes earlier — seemed off. It was my job to keep an eye on supernaturals in Sedona, so I’d decided to observe from a discreet distance, just in case. When they’d stopped at Pippa’s glass shop, every alarm in my body had started clanging.

I gripped the steering wheel harder and drove through the intersection, following my hunch instead of my heart.

I scanned the side streets as I drove, then pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. And, bingo. One beige Chevy Tahoe, and one redhead heading into the drugstore.

I studied the parked vehicle, not that I could see much through those deeply tinted windows. I dialed a contact on my phone while scanning every detail. The vehicle had a ding in the front bumper, but it was clean as hell, not caked with dust — or mud from the storm that passed last week. No Forest Service parking tag, no bumper stickers, no dealer sticker.

When a voice came over the line I’d called, I replied with a little swell of pride. “Agent Kemper, Sedona office. I need Records & Tracing, please.”

Dozens of agents had applied for the job, but I’d been the one to get it. Taking a brand-new, one-man post was a great opportunity to set my own priorities and demonstrate initiative, which would help me work my way up the ladder. It didn’t hurt that my friend Nash had just moved to Sedona or that the place was beautiful. All those red rocks, all that space to roam on two feet or four.

And Pippa,my wolf had eagerly reasoned at the time.

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