The Wolf Marshal's Pack (U.S. Marshal Shifters 3)

he full effect of that statement as it really sank into her. The one thing guaranteed to lift anyone’s spirits was the thought of sitting astride a dragon or a flying horse.

Show-offs, his wolf said, miffed. We can protect our mate as well as any dragon, and three times as well as any pegasus.

Hey, buddy, those are my friends we’re talking about.

Just because we can’t be ridden doesn’t mean—

Trust me, Colby said, she’s perfectly happy with the kind of riding we can offer her.

There was a pause, and then he had the distinct impression that he’d managed to scandalize the mutt. Inner animals were always really gung-ho about mating, but just in a slightly earthier “your aunt who keeps asking when you’re going to get married” way. They didn’t want specifics.

There was a wide bank of gravel up on the hill that served as overflow parking for the preserve. This morning, with crime scene tape still wound around the preserve’s entrances, the lot was deserted. It gave the whole little neighborhood a feeling of eerie calm.

The cabin with the blue shutters was right on the end of the row of houses. Its back was towards the preserve.

Susan Fowler had a spacious deck back there, with a patio table with an umbrella. That was probably where Eli had first seen her.

“He’ll break in as a wolf,” Colby said, thinking it through. “He doesn’t have the social skills to talk himself in as a human, especially since they’ve never even met.”

“And most single women won’t let a strange guy into their house anyway.”

“Right. There’s one part of Eli’s pattern that we know he’s still sticking to. It’s not just in his criminal history, it’s in your wrecked living room too. He barrels in.”

“So the fact that Susan still seems to have her front and back doors,” Aria said, craning her neck to double-check the back, “means that he hasn’t made his move yet.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” He unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’m going to go get her out of there.”

“Great. I’m coming with you.”

He put his hand on her arm. Even now, with so much at stake, the feeling of his bare skin against hers sent little shocks running through him.

He couldn’t lose her.

It wasn’t even about how devastated he would be if his life somehow went on without her, when she had become as essential to him as his own heartbeat. He couldn’t imagine the world without her. Her absence would be a smoking crater at the center of her family; their happy, bustling world would be razed flat in a single moment. The natural world they both loved would be poorer without her there to capture its beauty and argue, passionately, for its protection.

The universe needed her smile, her mind, and her warmth.

He felt too tongue-tied to say everything he meant to.

He would never object to her going on the long solo camping trips she needed to in order to get the shots that had made her reputation. But this was his field, not hers. Just because she knew how to shoot didn’t mean she was trained for an actual firefight.

“Please stay,” Colby said simply. “I’ll have backup in just a few minutes. If Eli shows up, you can ram him with the car, and I’ll put the cuffs on him.”

A tiny smile flitted across her face, and he was guessing she liked the mental image of driving straight into the man who’d caused all this trouble.

“What if you cuff him and he just shifts again?”

“He wouldn’t be able to.” He put his hands behind his back to show her. “Sure, his forelegs as a wolf would be skinny enough to slip out of these, but he’d be changing with his arms—those same forelegs—twisted behind his back. Try to picture a wolf in that position.”

She did, and the immediate result was a visceral cringe.

“But he’d have to be human for you to cuff him. And you were just saying that you don’t think he’ll attack that way.”

“I’m going to try to convince him to turn human,” Colby said grimly. “Because I can’t arrest a wolf.”

He cupped her cheek.

“Please,” he said again.