Wicked Days with a Lone Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

agreed, Ash seethed inside. He didn’t like her leaving. Not now. Not one bit.

Chapter 4
    S herri stopped short on her way into Ash’s house when he mentioned those two little words: Pack business?
    “I don’t understand. You don’t belong to the pack anymore. So what’s the situation here?” She’d pulled her hair into a ponytail but a piece came free, and she tugged at it, nervous and unable to stop. “This is about Zoe, right? I mean, I want you to help her if she needs help. But the last time you got mixed up in pack business, bad things happened. You could have gotten killed. We could have gotten killed.”
    They stood on the porch of Ash’s rambling home, half in and half out the front door. Their position felt appropriate, like a statement on Sherri’s life overall. Half in. Half out.
    She slept in a hotel when she wasn’t staying here at Ash’s place. She hadn’t found another job. For a month she’d been living off of savings and rental income, but her rental income had gone out the door with her renters after the incident at her condo.
    Her job? Well, she should get one of those. She’d quit the FBI thinking maybe she’d join up with the local police, but the idea held no appeal. She’d wanted to help people, but wearing a badge hadn’t been all she thought it would be. She watched Ash’s brother struggle with being a werewolf and a police detective at the same time, and wondered if even as a human dating a were she might struggle on the force.
    No, she didn’t think she wanted to wear a badge anymore.
    So what did she want to do? Where did she want to go?
    She could go back home. Fix up her place. Live there, away from men who turned into wolves and away from bodies that looked like they’d been tossed around by those same wild animals. That would be... safer.
    Ash pressed against her, his hand coming to her chin so they had to meet face-to-face. His eyes, sometimes dark like coal, took on a warm glow in the afternoon sun.
    Indecision swirled through Sherri as she returned the gesture, brushing her fingers over the stubble on his jaw. Was safe what she wanted, if it meant leaving Ash?
    “Zoe’s out of the pack in bad standing,” Ash murmured.
    “Meaning what? Is that some sort of official pack kiss-off?”
    Ash’s head dipped slightly. “That’s the gist. You can leave the pack in good standing, usually by passing away. Or there’s the bad. Kicked out. Ostracized and better off dead, like my mother.”
    Oh. Sherri’s heart ached. Ash’s human mother was a tender spot. The way she’d been cast out of the pack and then rejected by the locals for having loved a were still hit him hard . It should have occurred to her that Ash’s feelings of loyalty might somehow be related. “You should have told me. I know your mother’s death hurts you a great deal. You do what you need to do to help Zoe.”
    He pressed his forehead to hers. Warm hands slid under the edge of her shirt, the added warmth making her shiver. With pleasure, with worry. Every day they entered uncharted territory, and the more they got to know each other, the more landmines they risked exploding.
    Ash released a breath. “I need to be sure Zoe’s all right and that my father isn’t after her. She helped us after her own mate kidnapped you, and for that alone she’s lucky the pack didn’t have her head. I don’t know if she killed that guy. I do know that she needs someone on her side.”
    A desperate ache spread through Sherri’s chest and into her stomach. Ash was a good guy. She’d fallen for him for that reason. But things between the two of them were so new, and this... the timing of it all sucked. “Just be careful. Please.”
    “Of course I will.”
    She put a hand to his chest and hoped her touch conveyed more reassurance than she felt. “Listen, this will all work out. I’m gonna go up to DC, hire someone to handle the condo damage, and I’m gonna come back. You’ll hardly miss me.”
    His uncertain