Pack Investigator by Crissy Smith Page B

to touch him. She pushed back a piece of hair over his forehead. He didn’t even move. Of course he was exhausted, she had been too.
    A quick glance at the clock showed that it was a little after seven. Normally she was up and out of bed before six every morning. She liked to start her day with a good hard workout but since she’d had what she could only describe as a good hard workout the night before, she’d needed the extra sleep. She scooted off the bed and felt a twinge in her back. A soft chuckle escaped and she covered her mouth. Acrobatic might be a better description for the events earlier.
    She stood and stretched her body then glanced back at the bed. Oh, how she wanted to climb back in with him but she needed a shower, coffee and food. She’d have to go into the office. The last few days she’d gotten behind. There was always paperwork to file, custody applications to check on, and kids to make sure they felt safe and happy. After strolling into the bathroom, she closed the door behind her then turned on the shower. She gave it a few minutes before she checked the temperature and climbed in.
    There was a reason that she’d gone into social work. The small voices that didn’t have enough authority to speak up for themselves were what she strived to work for. As long as she had a job with the state there wouldn’t be a child that got lost in the system. Like she had.
    There hadn’t been anyone to stand for her, beside her. She’d just been a small girl that no one had known what to do with. Lily hadn’t known how to explain what was going on with her body. Why she’d felt as if there was something inside just tearing to get free. This had been before the shifters had gone public and no one had even thought being a shifter was possible. Lily had never even imagined it.
    She’d been thirteen the first time she’d shifted. The foster home that she’d run from had been too full, with an overworked mom and a dad who didn’t care about anything other than the money.
    The older kids had run that place. When Lily hadn’t messed around sexually with one of the sixteen year olds, he’d punched her and blamed her injury on one of the other kids. Lily had been too scared to speak up. Later he’d come at her and Lily had known she couldn’t stay. A knee in the balls had gotten the boy off her and she’d escaped through a window. She’d run in the middle of the night, while the others had been watching a movie.
    She could still remember the chill, the sounds of the woods that she’d wandered into, and the terror that someone would come after her. She’d screamed as her body had begun to transform. Two days she’d been stuck in her wolf form. At first all she’d done was curl up and whimper. She hadn’t known what was going on or why. Finally she’d allowed herself to relax into her new form and let the wolf take over. She’d hunted for a rabbit, eaten and had found a cold stream. The further away she’d moved from civilization, the safer she’d felt. Her entire life had changed when she’d caught the scent of the Pack. Of course she hadn’t known what it was at the time but she’d followed the smell until she’d come across the Alpha in human form.
    Lily had been scared but he’d very calmly spoken to her until she’d relaxed. Little by little, he’d gained her trust until he’d told her how to shift back. The minute she was human again, he’d thrown a blanket around her and cuddled her close. She’d never had to return to that house or any other foster home.
    She rinsed the conditioner from her hair and turned off the water. The towel was soft against her as she dried off before she wrapped it around her body. She opened the door to the bedroom and steam floated out around her. Surprised to see the bed empty, she glanced around her bedroom but Garrett was nowhere to be found.
    Panic hit first. Could he have taken off on her? Left while she’d been in the shower? No, Garrett wasn’t like