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was complaining that nothing had been done about his ordering issues with us. He filed a complaint six months ago, but we didn’t get it. It must have gotten lost. So when it was resent and finally reached the board and us, he was very put out and demanded we mention his complaint on our site. Instead of just the Lucinda Clearwater issue. Don’t be mad.
     
    Mick
     
     
    Cole growled and went back to the site to find Dayne’s complaint along with a response alerting and warning people about him. Oh, that was going to go over well.
    If they had all been human Dayne could probably sue them, but he was the one who’d insisted they list the complaint. At least Mick wasn’t letting the sorcerer bully him.
    Cole checked sales and handled the other complaints that had been forwarded. By the time he’d finished, another hour had passed.
    He listened for Jane’s breathing again. Good. Deep sleep. His stomach was growling at him, and being in the same cave as a human wasn’t the wisest move at the moment.
     
    ***
     
    Once outside and safe under the cloak of trees and darkness, he stripped his clothes off and buried them in the dirt. He turned his mind to the moon, his focal point for the change. The forest swirled around him in a blur of deep green, as his spirit was ripped away then slammed back into the new wolf form. He shook himself and fought back the sense of vertigo. Unlike most of his kind, he knew he’d never get used to the way shifting felt.
    As a wolf, Cole was solid black, something he loved for the way it helped him blend in dark places. He’d planned to go hunting out of town. But first, since Dayne lived in this forest, he might as well sniff around the place and see if he could pick up the scent of anything interesting he could use to his benefit should the board not be satisfied with his word on matters. The smell of roasting werecat perhaps?
    He slowed as he neared the cottage. The place was heavily warded. Even he would have thought twice about coming this way if he didn’t know about Dayne, assuming his primal instincts were warning him of a large, impending threat. He pushed past the feeling and crept to the back of the house. He smelled salt and heard a woman crying.
    I knew it! Then there was a second female voice.
    “Charlee, please calm down. I understand with Anthony,” she said the name with revulsion in her voice, “that you’re on a vampire sleep schedule, but you have to understand I have to open the bookstore in the morning. In six hours.”
    “I know, I’m sorry. I just . . . He could do anything to her, and I can’t help. I should have paid more attention to what was going on. I knew Paul was bad news, but I didn’t want to believe he was hurting her. If I’d listened to my gut I could have kept her away from him, and this wouldn’t have happened.”
    A chair creaked as one of the girls sat down. Where was Dayne in the middle of this sobfest? And why was there a human and another girl hanging out in the evil sorcerer’s lair, anyway? He took another whiff. A werecat? Why was a werecat making herself at home in Dayne’s cottage?
    “Can’t Anthony get her back?”
    More crying.
    “Cole won’t give her up without a fight, and Anthony can’t get into a war over a human. He’s having issues with a few members of the coven who don’t support him having a human mate to begin with. It’s my fault. If he wasn’t with me, he could get Jane back. He told me he thought she’s probably safer where she is. He’s just making excuses. I can’t believe I saved his life.”
    Cole’s furry eyebrow rose. Oh really? He hadn’t heard that part of the tale. Charlee had saved Anthony’s life? Seemed a lot of humans were saving him, and he was supposed to be the vampire king.
    “Anthony’s not that bad. Let’s not forget he helped save Greta.” Dayne. What the hell? Had Cole landed in an alternate dimension? Was he being Punk’d? He looked around for hidden cameras.
    “Yeah, and