Page 50 of The Wolf's Plus-Size Bride

“I’m gonna go check on something,” I tell Rafe.

“Be careful,” he warns.

“Always am.”

I slip off into the trees, making sure to keep the rogues in sight. If I can just find something, anything to indicate whether or not they’re with that Lionel guy, then we can figure out what to do next.

I’m so focused on my task that I don’t realize someone is behind me until it’s too late.

I whirl around, and there’s a man standing there, puffing out his chest. “What the hell do you want? You’re trespassing.”

I shift back into my human form, keeping my eyes on the man. “You’re over the property line,” I point out. “Technically, you’re the one trespassing into Green Lake territory.”

The man looks genuinely confused, and I can tell he has no idea what I’m talking about. “Green what?”

“Green Lake Pack,” I repeat. “This is our land.”

He eyes me for a minute. For a second, I think he’s going to charge, but then Rafe and Jack come walking out of the bushes, and he shuffles backward, raising his hands.

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he says. “We were just making camp for the night. We’ll move on in the morning.”

“You should be more careful,” Rafe warns. “You’re lucky we’re not the type to just attack on sight.”

“We’re not here to cause trouble,” the man insists. “We’re not from the area, that’s all. We’re just passing through. Please, we mean no harm.”

Rafe studies the man for a moment, then nods. “All right, we’ll let you off with a warning. But we’ve had some problems with rogues around here, and I’m talking about the kind that do mean harm. So I suggest you pack it up right now and keep moving.”

“Will do,” the man promises.

Rafe turns and walks away, and Jack and I follow. To think we just wasted the whole day out here when we could’ve just had a damn conversation with them from the start.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Jack laughs.

“Yeah, well, I guess that’s what happens when you don’t just kill first and ask questions later,” I joke.

“Well, at least we know they aren’t with the same group that attacked us,” Rafe says. “That’s something.”

“I guess,” I sigh. I’m still not sure what to make of the whole situation. Something about it doesn’t sit right with me.

***

By the time I finally make it back to Jane’s place, I’m exhausted. All I want is to crawl into bed with her and sleep for a week.

I’m not expecting her to be waiting up for me, but the light is on in the kitchen, and Gwen and Richard’s car is gone. I open the door and step inside, inhaling the delicious aroma of food.

“Jane?” I call out.

“In the kitchen!” she replies.

I walk in, and my heart nearly stops. She’s standing there in front of the stove in the sexiest little black dress I’ve ever seen.

“Hey,” she says, her voice soft.

“Hi,” I say, my voice catching in my throat.

She smiles at me, and I can’t help but smile back.

“I made dinner,” she says, gesturing to the table. There’s a steaming plate of pasta and a bottle of wine sitting there, waiting for us. “And for dessert, I made those blondies you love so much. I figured after a long day of scouting, you’d be hungry.”

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