any further than just swimming in the lake with them, called us teases. Dusty yanked off my necklaceâpulled it over my head, so I donât think he broke itâand just tossed it in the lake. He said that we thought we were too good for them because both our families owned second homesâour cabin on the lake and the Rappaportsâ place in the mountains. Plus, Rose and I have our own businesses.â
âWhile theyâre just ranch hands and donât possess anything of their own, I take it.â
âRight. Though we thought they were fine before that. It doesnât matter that theyâre wolves. We werenât interested in anything permanent with them. But it is nice to go out with a male wolf sometimes as opposed to a human. Let our hair down, so to speak. Talk about wolf stuff. When Dusty grabbed my arm, I seized his balls and squeezed hard.â
She swore Paul looked a little pained just thinking about that happening to another guy.
âThen he and his brother took off, and we hadnât seen either of them again until last night at the auction. Anyway, Rose and I tried to locate the necklace, but we couldnât find it, despite how clear the water is. Itâs just too deep.â
âIâll look for it, but I need to get my scuba gear. I still think there are possible packs you could enjoy being around. Like Hunterâs. Theyâre good people. When Allan and I are gone on missions, youâd have someone in a wolf pack to call on if you needed help.â
She let out her breath in exasperation. âI wonât tell the two of you that you need to settle down here so we can be a viable wolf pack, and you shouldnât tell me that we should leave and find a pack to live with. Besides, maybe some lone wolf will be the right one for me, and he would help us make this more of a cohesive mate-run pack.â
Paul shook his head. âLone wolves donât like to start packs.â
âSome do.â Not that she knew of any personally, but she was certain there would be cases somewhere. With real wolves there were.
âEmma would surely scare them off anyway.â Paul sounded glad her grandma was watching out for Rose and Loriâs welfare.
Lori tried not to be annoyed again that he was suggesting they leave their home here and join another wolf pack.
Chapter 8
Paul and Lori spent all day painting, cleaning, and putting everything back in place. They shared lunch and dinner, watched the sunset again, and took a shorter wolf run into the woods just to stretch their legs. He could really get used to this routineâworking with Lori, sharing meals, running with her, and watching the sunset.
When it was time to retire for the night, Lori made a beeline for her bedroom as if she was afraid heâd want something more and she couldnât handle it.
He sighed and went to bed, thinking about how much heâd like to have her in his bed or be sleeping with her. Heâd thought about it a lot lately. More so than usual. He guessed she wasnât thinking along the same lines as he was.
No matter how much he tried to sleep, he couldnât help thinking of her in the next bedroom and how much heâd love to be cuddling with her.
The next morning, Paul assumed he was up before Lori because he didnât hear her in the kitchen making coffee. Naked, he left the bedroom, shifted, and noted she wasnât around. Her bedroom door was still closed, and everything was quiet in there. He headed for the wolf door. Not only was it natural for a wolf or lupus garou to scent-mark their territory, but it also was essential to ensure that other wolves didnât encroachâin this case, on Lori and Emmaâs cabin and the surrounding area.
If the women had lived in town? Or like Emma and Catherine, with homes surrounded by a lot of land, some for grazing and some for cultivating fields, they wouldnât need to scent-mark. Even though Emma and
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