Code Wolf. Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

critical mass, Riley slowly opened her eyes and took a breath before having to face whatever her fate was to be.

      Nothing happened immediately. Cool wind on her face soothed the icy shame of having put herself in harm’s way. But she was in somebody’s arms, and moving away from the street. For some reason, she didn’t sense harm here, though.

      Her inner defiance sparked and anger burned like a beacon.

      “Put me down. Let me catch my breath.”

      The arms holding her loosened considerably. Riley again felt the hard support of a wall behind her as the man did as she asked and set her down.

      In her vision, this guy’s body continued to move as if he had the ability to fluidly alter his shape. Yet she knew that couldn’t be right, and after a tense moment of silence, he spoke.

      “Can you stand?”

      The husky, overtly masculine voice cut through the pain behind her eyes.

      “You’ll be all right in a minute. We’ve called this in and someone will come to get you,” he said.

      Hell, had she just been rescued? Was that what all the commotion was about?

      Shaking off the last vestiges of dizziness, Riley focused all her attention on the person who had spoken to her, grateful that someone had heard her shout for help. Her attacker had been thwarted and she was going to live, after all.

      Her rescuer leaned closer to her, his bare chest wide and bronzed. Her gaze traveled slowly over that broad expanse of flesh before she worked her way upward. The thanks she had meant to offer was delayed by a question that took precedence over anything else she might have said.

      “Why are you half-naked?”

      “You’re welcome,” the shirtless man returned after a beat.

      He hadn’t stepped back to leave her. Instead, her rescuer seemed to be waiting to make sure she actually could stand up.

      His physique was rock-solid. Since he towered over her, there was no way to see his face without again banging her head against the wall behind her. One concussion per night was all she could manage.

      “I’m sorry.” Riley’s voice wasn’t as steady as she would have liked. “Thank you for helping me.”

      The guy didn’t respond verbally. His hard, muscled body pinned her in place for a few more seconds, as if body language had its own form of communication. Riley hadn’t noticed how much she had been shivering until she felt the warmth of the man’s closeness. Through the loose weave of her sweater, her rescuer’s heat was welcome.

      She sighed.

      He leaned closer.

      “Not an invitation,” Riley warned, turning her head to the side.

      “Didn’t think it was,” he replied.

      His voice was gruff, as if he hadn’t spoken in a while. At any other time, she probably would have been intrigued by that. Now she just wanted to go home.

      He spoke again. “Will you be okay? I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’ll have to leave you here.”

      The wail of a siren in the distance reminded Riley that this guy had mentioned something about calling in the incident. But as she contemplated that, wondering again why this Good Samaritan was roaming the city without his shirt, he disappeared.

      His heat was gone and the night’s coolness returned. She had no one to lean against now. It was a miracle she was still standing.

      The first thing that popped into her mind as she waited for the police to arrive was a ludicrous reaction to what had happened, and meant nothing, really. Nevertheless, she pursed her lips, took a deep breath and howled softly, almost to herself.

      “Ar-rrooo-ooo...”

      The heat returned, quick as a flash. The man who had rescued her was there to pin her to the wall again. With a mouth that was as feverish as the rest of his body, he brushed his lips across her forehead and down her right cheek. The featherlight touch, there and gone in a few fleeting seconds, left Riley breathless.

      Had she made a mistake in thinking this was a good guy?

      Inching backward far enough to put a finger under her chin, he carefully tilted her head so that he could look into her eyes with a studied observation. His eyes were light, maybe blue, and surrounded by dark lashes.

      Riley couldn’t look away or break eye contact. The intensity in those eyes would have held her captive if his body hadn’t. In his gaze she found something weirdly beautiful and at the same time troubling. She detected a flicker of real wildness there.

      Had she made this guy up in some head-injury-induced coma? Could she have banged her head that hard?

      Because...

      She was sure...

      No. She wasn’t sure at all, actually. How stupid would that have been?

      Riley listened to the absurdity of the words that came out of her mouth next, and winced when she was done.

      “There are no such things as werewolves. You do know that?”

      The smile this stranger offered her made her feel like she was being bathed in white light. She saw pearly teeth in a tanned face. The area around his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners, above chiseled features partially darkened by a five-o’clock shadow.

      That’s all she got, all she was allowed, before she found herself alone again with the lost cell phone he had somehow placed in her hand...and a splitting headache.

       Chapter 4

      Derek had to leave the woman or risk being caught by the people he took such pains to his hide true identity from on a daily basis. Dale was already sprinting in the opposite direction in human form, racing from shadow to shadow. But though Derek had also downsized to a human shape, he hated to leave before further help arrived for the woman they had rescued from harm. That part of being a werewolf sucked.

      The woman had howled. Sort of. And she had mentioned werewolves. That alone would have intrigued him, even if she hadn’t been so damn beautiful.

      What did she know about his kind? Anything? Could it be that she was just having him on with the werewolf remark, with no real idea how close to his reality she had come? Or was she fully equipped with knowledge about his kind?

      She was a fierce little thing. No wallflower when it came to protecting herself. He’d witnessed that kick she had given to the imbecile he and Dale had left unconscious and handcuffed to a drainpipe.

      She’d handled herself the best way she could without succumbing to shock. That took courage and also meant that her girl-next-door, wholesome looks were somewhat deceiving.

      Small and feisty would have been a turn-on for a big bad wolf if he had time for such things...and if she hadn’t been human. Add to that her pale oval face, big eyes and mass of shiny blond hair, and she became a real curiosity.

      With so many battles to fight these days, it was best for him to ignore distractions. He hadn’t indulged in anything that could have been considered a relationship since his heart had been broken, and he was still picking up the pieces of that breakup. It was also possible he had been wallowing a bit too long in its aftermath.

      The only reason he had risked a shift back to human form in this woman’s presence was because she hadn’t been in any kind of state to have recognized what was going on at the time. Only by shifting could he have offered assurance that she was going to be okay. Her eyes had barely focused. She had been confused.

      Still, and again, she had howled and mentioned werewolves.

      Dale was waiting for him around the next corner, at the edge of a dimly lit parking