Page 3 of To Challenge a Wolf

Cassius and the blond both stiffened at her explanation, but Aaron’s shoulders relaxed slightly while she talked.

“As for how I found you in the first place… I created a fake profile online and posed as the mom of a new pup, and I got an invitation to a private directory. It included the phone number of someone named Malachi Fuller, along with the name of the town.”

“But why do you think a wolf you know is here?” asked the blond wolf.

“Because…” In seconds she’d concocted a plausible lie, but the wolves would smell it. She sighed. “Because I’ve been looking a long time. Process of elimination. But honestly? I’m not sure he’s here. I’m just really hoping he is.”

They exchanged glances, but after several seconds none of them seemed inclined to answer, which was an answer of its own. Denying they knew Rhett would have been simple if they’d done so immediately. Clearly none of the three of them knew much about lying.

“Look, Aaron, Cassius…and what’s your name?”

The blond wolf hesitated, then said, “Ezra.”

“And Ezra. If you’ve known him longer than a week, I get why you don’t want to talk about Rhett. His secretive-spy vibes arenext level. But I’m no threat to him or to anyone else in your pack, and you should be able to smell that I’m telling the truth.”

“But who are you?” Ezra said. “Why are you looking for this wolf?”

The questions were fair, yet she wanted to pull her hair out. She drew a calming breath and let it out. She let her arms fall to her sides. “I knew him a long time ago. I’ve been trying to find him, to confirm he’s all right.”

To apologize. To give him the chance to sayI told you so. And maybe to get to know him again, stupid and secretive though he might be at times. Dang, it had been a long ten years.

At last Aaron sighed and pulled out his phone. As he tapped his way to a phone call, he said, “I’ll tell him you’re here in town. Anything else is up to him.”

Her heart seemed to stall in her chest. Rhett. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t being held somewhere against his will, the ultimate torture for a wolf. He was alive. Free. And…here.

Rhett is here.

“Hey,” Ezra said quietly, “are you okay?”

She nodded.

“Rhett,” Aaron said into the phone, and her heart began to pound. “No, everything’s fine, but there’s a woman in town looking for you.” A pause, then, “She says her name is Vivian Rossi.” Another pause, longer this time. Aaron pulled the phone away to glance at the screen, then put it to his ear again. “Rhett?” Longest pause yet. “Are you sure?”

She couldn’t take any more. She stomped up to Aaron and reached up for his phone. Startled, he didn’t keep it away from her.

“Rhett, it’s me.”

A harsh intake of breath sounded from the other side of the call. Then a masculine baritone, low and slow, drawling her name exactly as he always had. “Vivian.”

He was alive. Alive and free. She had to gulp down a sudden sob. “I found you.”

“Didn’t know you were looking.”

How could he not know? How could he sound so unaffected? “We need to talk.”

She shouldn’t have to say those words. He should be glad to talk, glad to hear her voice. But he wasn’t. She still knew his inflections, though they varied little; and right now he wasn’t happy at all.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Face to face.” Her own voice was all barbs and wire, all ire and vulnerability, and he knew her too well not to hear every nuance. Or maybe he didn’t anymore.

“Did you hack the trust?”

“I tried, but you’d moved all the money, and I never could find it.”

“Then how…?”

“I’m happy to tell you. Face to face.”

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