Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) by Wendy Sparrow Page B

me one reason.”
    “Because that’d make him a better man than you.”
    He sighed. “Go leash your human and make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”

Chapter Six
    Tracking wasn’t his specialty, and he was more concerned with making sure nothing happened to Sammy, so he kept her within sight as he followed one set of tracks.
    “No drag marks or signs of blood. And the footprints I’m seeing are all large and probably from the police.”
    “They had a local tracker here the night I found the car.”
    “You found the car?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who was the tracker?”
    Dane shrugged. “No idea. He never got out of his SUV while I was here. Travis could tell you.”
    Sammy crouched again. “It looks like they were searching for something. The wolves, I mean. Their tracks fan out and return to this path.”
    That’s what he was seeing too, but he wasn’t planning on speculating until he knew what Vanessa’s place in all this was. It’d be useful if he’d gotten her phone number. Then again, she didn’t even carry a change of clothing around with her most of the times they’d run across each other, so a cell phone number might be worthless.
    His phone rang, the sound loud in the quiet forest. He answered it quickly.
    “Hey, Christa, when do you think you’ll be by for the cat?”
    “Oh, I already stopped by.” He didn’t trust the amusement he heard in her voice.
    “You did?”
    “Uh-huh. I can see why you were so anxious to get rid of him.”
    “Oh?” Hopefully, that didn’t mean what he thought it meant. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Christa meeting…whatever Vanessa was. Not anymore. Two hours ago, he’d known he wanted her for a good long time. Now he wasn’t sure if she was dangerous. For all he knew, her fellow wolves had hunted and killed that woman. Even if Vanessa wasn’t involved…well…still…
    “She’s really pretty.”
    Gorgeous. Even as a wolf, she’d retained that sleek elegance. In her skin, she was irresistible.
    Just like the previous night, he felt her eyes, and he turned to see a silver wolf watching him from nearby. “Yeah, I guess,” he said.
    “You don’t seem sure.”
    Dane shook his head. “Uhh, Christa, I’m tracking some…wildlife, and I’m a bit distracted. Can I call you later?”
    “Okay, but you’ll have to spill everything…how you met…everything.”
    He snorted a laugh. That would be a riot. No one was hearing that story. “We’ll see. Bye.”
    He hung up and stared down his she-wolf. “So, you met my sister, huh?” His jaw hurt from how hard he was clenching it. It was insulting she was playing him for a fool by pretending she wasn’t a wolf, especially in light of people disappearing in his jurisdiction. Things became drastically less funny when people were dragged from their car by a pack of werewolves. “How was that? Was it good? Thanks for leaving her alive.”
    The silver wolf twitched, and her eyes looked reproachful. Well, she had no right to that.
    “Did you say something?” Sammy called.
    Dane kept eye contact with his wolf, so he saw her take a step back in retreat when he yelled back, “Yeah.” The silver wolf pulled back into the shadows. “Oh, nice, you don’t trust me?” he whispered. “I’m going to follow a set of tracks west for a bit—see where it takes me!” he yelled to the other ranger.
    “Radio me if you find anything.”
    “Yep.” He stalked off away from Sammy’s listening ears, knowing he had a silver shadow. When he’d put a good amount of distance between them, he said, without looking to see if she was there, “So, what? Did I just get off easy because I was armed and you jumped in?” He jerked his head back in the direction of the road. “Is this how your pack handles things? Killing humans who find out about you?”
    “That’s not how it is,” she said quietly, her voice coming from the other side of a nearby tree. “Cheri has always known about us.”
    He set down his shotgun and