Tracy understood Gabe’s point more than she would have before she became so close to Nina. But Nick was old school. He’d been born a wolf and into a ruling family. Of course he’d see a need to uphold tradition, it’s how he would have been raised and educated. But Gabe hadn’t started out a wolf, he had a human sensibility, and she agreed with him that it was important for Packs to democratize.

“Okay, anyway,” Tracy interrupted the argument, “I think it’s an interesting discussion and I have my own feelings on the issue but right now let’s get back to the topic. Nina the super hacker. I’m going to ask her to snoop around in the Pack accounts to see what she can turn up.”

“Nina’s a hacker?” Gabe grinned. “She’s a woman of many talents, I see.”

“If you say anything else about her with that look on your face I’ll scratch your eyes out,” Tracy growled and both men started at the change in her mood.

“Oh you can’t do that unless you’re going to be bending over the arm of the couch so I can f**k the sense back into you.” Gabe moved toward her, his wolf aroused at her display of dominance.

“I can do whatever I want if you think you’re going to talk about another female like that in my presence.” Eyes narrowed, she moved to him and his mouth was on hers, hand in her hair, holding her to him so that he could devour her.

He broke the kiss and looked down into her face. Her head was back, neck exposed to him fully, eyes still sparking at him. “Woman, what you do to me,” he murmured and skated his lips over her jawline and down her throat. “You wreck me as much as you complete me.” Moving back up to look into her face again, he caught the curve of her lips in a smile of utter female satisfaction.

“It does cheer me, yes, to know I have that effect on you.”

“We’ve created a monster,” Nick said in the background.

“Mmm-hmm. You’d best keep me satisfied then, hadn’t you?” Tracy winked at Nick and stepped out of Gabe’s embrace. “Now, I’m calling Nina. Do you have any basic info like a checkbook or account number where she can start?”

Nick swallowed hard as he followed her into the office. That bit of dominance play she’d engaged in out there with Gabe had fried his circuits. Pulling out a file from a drawer, he placed it on the desk in front of her. “This is all I’ve got. I’m going in the other room to call my father.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over her forehead and left, closing the door.

Gabe nipped in a moment later. “I’m just going to watch you work. I have some suspicions about Pellini that I’d like to discuss with you later.”

She nodded and picked up the phone to call Nina.

After explaining the situation, Nina got down to business and asked a million questions and promised to look into it and call her back when she found out anything.

Nick came in to tell them that a meeting had been arranged for the following day at the Pack house and Tracy told him Nina was looking into the account information.

“Whatever will we do for the next twenty-four hours?” Nick’s eyebrow rose.

“Go to Seattle so I can get my house in order and get my dog. Get some furniture for the new house.

I’m calling Cade right back to arrange to come up. We’ll stay at my house tonight.” Tracy grinned and neither man had the heart to stop her, she looked so damned happy.

Chapter Six

They drove straight to Tracy’s. Nick was impressed by the explosion of color when he walked into the living room. Orange and red and blue and yellow, it should have been too much but she’d made it work.

He made a mental note to let her have free rein in decorating the house.

He frowned though, as he caught sight of the dozens of pictures all over the place with her and various people, various male people. “Who are these people?” he called back over his shoulder.

“Friends and family.” She amazed him. She was one of the most efficient people he’d ever met. She’d already called a moving company on the way up and they were due to have dinner with her family at Cade’s shortly. She was looking through her stuff and distracted but still doing three things at once.

“Friends?”

She looked up and saw his look and snorted a laugh. “Yes, some of them are friends. Others are…were friends . Don’t worry,” she held back a smile, “I won’t hang them up at the house.”

“You’d better not or your eyes might get scratched out,” Gabe called out from the couch, where he’d been on the phone.

“Ha! I’ll drive over to Cade’s in my car. We’ll bring Milton back here tonight and he’ll ride down with me tomorrow morning.”

Nick stifled a sigh and just nodded. “One of us will ride with you too.”

“Why?”

“Safety.” He said it like she was simple, and she understood Nina’s frustration with Cade a lot better.

“You gonna protect me from poor gas mileage?”

Gabe watched, amused. Nick was a dumbass, handling her the way he did. Gabe had the wisdom that came with age and knew that a frontal attack was the wrong way to deal with her. Of course he wanted to protect her as well, but he knew it would happen a lot easier if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing instead of a patronizing command. Oh pup , watch and learn . He smiled in Nick’s direction, knowing

he’d swoop in tomorrow, butter her up and ride back, having her all to himself.