“They wouldn’t have. It was just to scare ’em off. I’m tired of being hunted like a gazelle.”

He stared at her and finally saw all the bruises on her face and neck, probably going well down her torso and legs. They’d caught up with her again. Dammit. He did try to protect her, but there was only so much he could do, and Sissy Mae simply wouldn’t call off her She-wolves. Not even seventeen and she already had her own Pack. The females her own age followed Sissy around town like the Second Coming. He had no idea what happened between them, but Sissy made it clear she thought of Jessie Ann Ward as their own Pack Omega. Problem was, Jessie Ann didn’t much like that position. So she fought back when most Omega wolves would have taken it until it was over. But she wasn’t wolf. She was wild dog. And if she had her own Pack... but the wild dogs were dying out. The young adults had been hit by a vicious strain of influenza that could only be passed between them when shifted. It had wiped out more than half of the adult breeders before their own doctors could get a handle on it and come up with a vaccine to stamp it out. The damn thing had left a lot of elderly grandparents raising pups and a lot of orphans. Orphans like Jessie Ann.

Tragically, like the full-blood wild dogs in Africa, Jessie’s people were becoming extinct. Which meant she had no one except him watching out for her. And once he got on that bus tomorrow, she wouldn’t even have that.

“Jessie, you’ve gotta learn to take care of yourself.” Without thinking, Bobby Ray reached out to touch her cheek and she reared back from him, which hurt his feelings. Especially his drunk feelings. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

She scrambled back from him. “I know that.” If she did, then why did she keep moving away from him? Annoyed, he grabbed hold of her ankle, holding her still. “If that’s true, why are you running from me?”

“I’m not running.” But she desperately tried to get him to release her leg.

“Then stop fussin’!” he snapped. When she didn’t, he yanked her over and somehow yanked her right onto his lap.

She gasped in surprise, her arms around his neck, her thighs on either side of his hips. For a little thing, she sure did feel good there. He rested his hands on her hips. Bobby Ray knew he should push her off, but all he wanted to do was bring her closer.

She stared down into his face, those brown eyes devouring him on the spot. Yeah, he knew when a female wanted him, and to his utter surprise, Jessie Ann Ward wanted him. He watched her gather her courage; then she moved in, her lips lowering toward his. He could feel her sweet breath against his mouth and he could easily imagine how hot the kiss would be. He knew she’d taste wonderful and would respond to him like no one ever had before.

He also knew kissing her would be the dumbest thing he could ever do. So, too drunk to temper his actions, he shoved her off his lap,wincing when she hit the floor hard.

Bobby Ray ran his hands through his hair. Sometime tomorrow all his hair would be gone. “We... we can’t.”

“We can’t what?” she snarled, pushing herself to her feet. “You grabbed me.” She stood and he could see she wore one of her Star Wars T-shirts. She must have ten of those and ten of her Raiders of the Lost Ark tees. A real nerd, Jessie Ann.

“Don’t be mad, Jessie Ann. It’s not—”

“Forget it.” She glanced at the small watch on her wrist. She had a weird thing about time, which he found fascinating since no one else in town did. “I gotta meet my friends at Riley’s.” A comic-book store in the next town over.

“I’ll walk with you.” He didn’t like her being out there on her own.

“No, I don’t need you.” She practically spit that in his face; then she grabbed her oversized backpack filled with her nerdy books and papers and hauled it onto her shoulders. For such a small thing, he had no idea how she managed to haul that bag around.

“It’s too dangerous for you to walk over there at this time of night.”

“I’m meeting my friends.” Her friends. All male. He often caught their scent lingering around her. He saw them once when he and one of his buddies went to the comic-book store on a whim. She was in the back with five other guys playing some game that involved a board, paper, and many-sided dice. He sensed dragons were involved and that’s pretty much where Bobby Ray lost interest. Dragons, swords, fairies—all that stuff seemed pretty stupid to him. But he hadn’t liked her being around all those full-human males. He liked it even less now.

She turned to walk away but stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder. “Good luck, Smith. You know, tomorrow. You’re gonna be great.” Then she took off running. He didn’t bother going after her. Wild dogs were wicked fast, and he was way too drunk to keep up.

Instead, Bobby Ray lay back against the floor and closed his eyes, figuring a few hours of sleep would have him right as rain. Of course, all those dreams about one small She-dog with innocent eyes and a wicked mouth only managed to drain him and make him wish things were different. But they weren’t. Not until he got out of Smithtown and changed his life for good.

Then maybe, just maybe, he’d have something to offer a spunky little wild dog who could haunt a man’s dreams and his heart.

Chapter 1

Sixteen years later

“Well, how bad is it?” Smitty asked, handing Mace Llewellyn a hot cup of coffee.

“Bad. Really bad. I can’t sleep. I barely eat. I’m terrified they’re going to come in the middle of the night and burn the house down.” He shook his head and sipped his coffee, unable to continue.