CHAPTER 61

*You forget that they've faced another like you. It is wise for them to protect against another assassination.*

I pressed my lips together, considering her words. She was right. They likely wouldn't have predicted that I would be sneaking into the ranch when I could just as easily stroll through the front gates. I was still a member of the organization, after all.

*That may be, but what are we going to do about this*? I gestured to my body which now smelled of slightly burned...something, coffee maybe. It wasn't necessarily an unpleasant smell, just irritating.

There was no way the other wolves hadn't scented the spray by now. They were nose blind compared to me, but their senses were still far superior to human

*I can smell water, in the far north corner of the yard. A pond, but the water smells fresh*.

The dug out. We didn't really have time for an impromptu bath, every moment we stayed we were more likely to be discovered, and explaining myself out of this one would not be an easy task. But there wasn't really any choice.

I changed my initial route and headed north instead.

My prediction was right and three of the nearby patrols had turned and were heading to the pole shed. They'd find the main cluster of scent there and easily follow my trail. To my relief, however, they didn't seem hurried, or overly alarmed, though they were walking with precise purpose.

*I thought you could sense electronic fields. How did we miss that?* Because the triggering mechanism at least had to have been electronic.

My wolf grimaced, and I could feel a prickle of shamed embarrassment.

*I was distracted, I can tell that your lover is in the main house, in a room alone with the one we are after.*

My lips pinched tighter. I could sense it now too, could even tell that they were talking, if I listened hard enough, their voices a muffled murmur. Something no alpha would do while seriously courting another. Especially when the others in the ranch house had to know they were alone together as well.

My stomach clenched, a pang of hurt settling into my chest. I picked up my pace toward the dug out, the patrols reaching the scent dispenser and honing in on my trail. I didn't know why I was upset. We'd barely explored the possibility of a relationship, hadn't even settled in, and it wasn't like we'd made any promises to each other. Hell, I was pretty sure I had to end our...whatever we had, especially since Anthony seemed bent on keeping me safe by restricting my freedom.

It wasn't like I loved him.

But, a small part of me interrupted, you might have come to. You weren't given the chance before he'd started to try to change you.

Maybe that was it, why I suddenly felt like burying myself in the mud at the pond's edge and having a good cry. To be so easily replaced by someone more pliable, obedient. Isn't that what he'd wanted from me? To take the Luna position, to spend my life supporting him and running all the background aspects of pack life that would show that we were an unmatched team.

Wasn't that what Leanne had been doing for him since Rob's death? Even if she was a false traitor?

Why? Why could no one just accept me as I was? Why did everyone need me to become someone else?

*I'm sorry*, my wolf consoled as I stepped into the water, clothes and all. I wasn't sure how a soaking would affect my equipment but there was no time to dig everything out of the pack, not with the group of wolves heading toward us. We had less than a minute to unscent ourselves before they would be upon us. *I know you wanted a mate*.

I sighed as I sank deeper and deeper into the water. It was cold, unusually so, for the ambient temperature and I realized that the pond must be fed by an underground spring.

Did I want a mate? I hadn't really thought of it like that, but my wolf's understandings of such things were different from that of the werewolf culture. For us a mate was exactly what Anthony had wanted. A female who would become a piece of him, a perfect partnership where both Alpha and Luna fit together like puzzle pieces, each essential for the pack. To my wolf a mate wasn't someone you became part of, it was someone who was whole and secure on their own, and who would allow his female her own autonomy, not to interfere in what each other were.

A companion, first and foremost, that understood what we were.

*I do not think I am capable of a mate bond, there is something broken in me, but I would have wished it for you*. She told me sadly.

*I know. It is not your fault. It is a comfort to know that we have each other, at least*. It was a stronger relationship than most weres had with their wolves.

I submerged scratching at the hair I'd carefully braided that was now loose floating in the water. When we emerged, silently, my wolf took a long deep breath, checking our scent.

*You will need to leave your clothes, it is too strong still, but your skin is weak enough I can block us.*

Great. I was going to have to invade the ranch house naked.

I didn't waste time listening though, because I could tell that we were nearly out of time. I stripped, scrabbling along the edges of the dug out for a heavy rock, and sunk my clothes and the pack, after pulling out the bugging devices, the grappling gun and the gloves, to the bottom of the pond. Then we dashed through the dark, our scent blocked anew until we reached a small stand of trees that had become part of the yard's decor over the years.

The wolves appeared almost as soon as we'd crouched their voices carrying over the short distance, questioning and calling to one another.

"It ends here," Angela was saying. "There's either someone under the water or we had another badger or fox go through and they slipped the fence on the other side."

Ah. That was why they weren't overly alarmed. Their new system still had some tweaks needed as it kept tagging wildlife.

"I'll keep watch here for a while, just in case," Chase answered and I could hear him adjust his ammunition. "Never know what they're capable of. The rest of you should spread out and check the fences."

There was a murmur of general agreement and the group dispersed. I waited for a long while, my heart slowly returning to normal, and tracked them as they walked the property. When I was certain, at last that my presence hadn't set off any alarms I turned to the Ranch house.

Now came the hard part.