Lone Wolf

“I’m not cynical. I’m a realist.”

“How can you not realize our daughter is the ultimate proof that our two species can coexist in harmony? How can anyone not realize that?”

Her lip curled. “Take off your rose-colored glasses.”

This cynicism saddened him, though he didn’t know why. He’d felt the same himself, until now. But knowing he had a daughter, knowing about his child, Dani, had given him fresh hope. “Juliet would have told you the same if she’d lived.”

She bared her teeth, a curiously Pack gesture that she must have learned from Juliet. “Don’t you dare throw her in my face. I knew her as well as you.”

“Really?” He raised a brow. “We were close.”

“I know. But we were friends a long time. Jules would have wanted to protect Dani at all costs. I’m sorry, but …” Touching her throat as though it had closed, she swallowed hard. “I’ve been dealing with this a long time.”

For a moment, he studied her, eyeing her perfectly formed features, her creamy, smooth skin. Though she looked like an ice princess now, he couldn’t help but remember her in his arms. In the throes of passion, she’d looked blazingly, thrillingly alive. He had a fierce ache to see her that way again.

“What?” Glaring back at him, she brought one hand up to her face, a curiously self-conscious and human gesture. “Do I have something on my face, or what?”

“Just thinking.” Though he wanted to touch her, he kept his hands clenched at his side.

“We’ve got to track them. To do that better, I need to change.”

“Why?” She gave him a bleak look. “You know as well as I do that they didn’t go on foot.”

“Can Dani shape-shift yet?”

She froze. He could have sworn a look of guilt crossed her face as her frown deepened. “Yes. But she wouldn’t have—”

“You never know. In the middle of the chaos, she may have changed while Addie fought them, and taken off. In her wolf shape, she could outrun any human.”

For the first time since they’d arrived, hope lit her perfect features. “I didn’t think of that. She could be free. By all means, change.”

Might as well tell her all of it. He took a deep breath. “Plus, when I’m wolf, I’ll be able to identify the blood, whether it’s Addie’s or …”