Red's Wolf - Piper J. Drake Page 0,2

the dizziness that swept through her earlier. Her encounter with Jason had distracted her and she forgot to take a glucose tab then.

Ben shook his head. "We shapeshifters have sharper noses than humans. It's a good thing too, or you wouldn't have noticed this time."

"I'm usually much better than this." More annoyed at herself than anything else, she slipped the tab under her tongue to dissolve. "The train ride took a long time, and I'm out of sorts."

And some strange guy kissed the common sense right out of my head.

Tightness centered in her chest, and she wondered if she would see Jason again. Glacier Valley pack had a lot of wolves and the territory sprawled over hundreds of miles, but it was possible. The tightness slowly evolved into a flutter as she thought about the feel of his chest under her hands and his fingers at her jaw as he tilted her head.

If she did meet up with him, she wasn’t sure if she’d take a swing at him as payback or ask for another kiss.

"You're kidding, right?"

Carri eyes narrowed as the words left Jason's mouth. The urge to take a swing at him grew every second. She thought she might bump into the handsome shape shifter again, but she hadn't realized she would end up working with him for the duration of her visit. Apparently, neither had he.

Obviously, thrilled didn’t describe his reaction.

"I thought the point was to get this aerial sensor array system up and running to protect the territory." Not about to let him dismiss her, she pressed her point. "Recent attacks happened in adjacent territories and from what I've been told none of the prides and packs in the hit territories were weak. They all had strong patrols." No widespread alarm in the cities yet, only because human police still searched for normal perpetrators instead of attributing attacks to the strange hunters identified by the shapeshifters recently. Because Carri's mother had been raised by Jenna and Ben, her family received more information than most and, more importantly, they believed the danger existed. "Reconnaissance indicates incursions from the air. If this system works, it could mean a whole new level of protection for all of the territories."

Jason gave her an assessing look, impersonal and doubtful all in one. "And what does any of it have to do with you?"

She tapped the side of her head. "I led the design team for the detection software and sensors used in the system monitoring air traffic over the cities. I modified it for use out here.” She looked up into the air and out across the treetops of the forest around them. “If the hunters are coming in from the air, this system will detect them. It'll give early warning. It could save lives."

"Maybe, but I’ve always worked alone. Leave your software, and I'll get the installation done." Jason didn't seem to be a man of many words and he definitely didn’t give her the warm fuzzies at the moment.

"You want to install this new equipment with my software, fur ball, you work with me on the configurations.” She crossed her arms and jutted her chin, aware of how confrontational her body language came across. In a community running on four legs as well as two, and in their other forms couldn't use speech, body language spoke volumes and she used it to her advantage. Jenna shifted slightly at her shoulder, backing her.

As the alpha female of Glacier Valley pack, Jenna had a lot of clout in the territory. To give him credit, Jason didn't back down, even with Jenna showing her support. Instead, he took a step closer and drew a long breath, taking in Carri's scent.

"Last time I checked, you were human, Red." He stood close; close enough to surround her with his body heat. She forced herself to look up into his grey eyes and the energy of his feral nature skated along her skin. "You run with the wild things like you were raised to it."

She shrugged without dropping eye contact. "Don't have to be a wolf to be pack."

His grin faded away. "Don't have to be pack to be a wolf. Learn more, Red." He turned his back on her, striding into the small building housing the sensor array and controls. "I'll see you inside."

She would have followed him, but Jenna stopped her with a touch to the shoulder. "Carri, I know your mother passed on a lot of things about living with a pack."

"You