Wolf Fever by Terry Spear Page B

kin changed you, but you still don’t have a mate, so Connor or North may feel you belong to the family. But also, they might want you for revenge. Of course, I’m just guessing here. I have no idea if any of this is true.”
    Carol swallowed hard as uneasiness swept over her.
    â€œAnother possibility is that it’s just a red wolf who smelled you or me in a gray territory and was curious about the two of us.”
    â€œUnlikely, right?” Carol asked. Just the inflection in Lelandi’s voice told her Lelandi didn’t believe it.
    â€œYou’re right. The whole area is filled with gray lupus garous, which should be enough of a deterrent.” Lelandi clasped Carol’s hand and squeezed reassuringly. “Darien’s put out the word you’re to have a bodyguard at all times. The bachelor males have all eagerly signed up to take turns.”
    How could things get any worse?
    Carol hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Returning to the sunroom after her flight from the great room was a major feat. She wasn’t shy, but she wasn’t a stage personality, either. She was sure she would be the center of attention when she returned, while she would have much rather blended in.
    When they entered the great room, all eyes were upon them. Brows and lips lifted as the bachelors’ interest was piqued by the sight of Carol in the dress. Ryan seemed to be grilling Mervin in a corner of the room, the poor barber’s back to the wall and Ryan nearly nose to nosewith him. Ryan’s jaw dropped when he caught sight of Carol out of the corner of his eye, his fearsome expression instantly vaporizing. Now she wished she hadn’t changed out of her more casual, conservative clothing to something that really got the guys’ attention.
    She stiffened her back and glanced at the two women, who were staring at her and exchanging words with one another, both of them giving her a chilly look. Hell, Carol wasn’t going to be a wallflower any longer. The guys were single, and while she didn’t think she’d really get interested enough in any of them to mate, she had to remind herself that if she just got to know one of them, she might find he truly was someone she could care for. Still for now, all she intended to do was have fun.
    â€œCan we have some music?” she whispered to Lelandi.
    Lelandi smiled back. “Silva, want to get the music going? Let’s dance!”
    That was all it took. One of the men hurried forth to grab Carol’s arm, and she tried to tell herself she wanted this— Do not shift!
    When he grasped her arm, she took a deep calming breath and concentrated on his flyaway dark brown hair and intense air, his chocolate suit and matching tie at odds with his wild look, and attempted not to think of the force of his enthusiastic touch, which might trigger the shift.
    â€œMy name is Christian, and I couldn’t have been more proud of you for stealing Darien’s ribbon during the game today.”
    â€œReally,” she said, holding him at arm’s length as he moved her across the tile floor to dance. His darkened eyes looked at her as if he was fascinated with her, buthis voice was a little too high pitched to make her feel anything serious about him. “Everyone seemed shocked into silence.”
    He grinned. “Only until we saw how Darien would take it. I realize you don’t understand everything about pack politics yet, but Darien’s the pack leader so what he says is the law. Not that we don’t disagree with him sometimes, but we keep it to ourselves.”
    Betas. “And Lelandi?”
    â€œShe’s the pack leader’s mate, so sure, she has a lot of say. But ultimately, it falls on Darien’s shoulders to make sure that everyone follows the rules. His brothers help to enforce them also. So when someone does something that’s contrary to those guidelines, there’s a wait-and-see attitude. Does