Changeling Moon by Dani Harper Read Free Book Online

bitten.”
    â€œSounds like a plan. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with that, with letting people think it was a dog? You know what it was.”
    â€œI know what it was.” She looked at him sharply then. “Hey, so do you!” Why hadn’t she thought of it before? “I don’t have any proof that the wolf was a wolf but maybe you could back me up. The village officials would listen to you. Or maybe you could give me a couple of quotes I can use in my article.” She couldn’t keep the hopeful note out of her voice. A hope that faded as Connor shook his head slowly.
    â€œIt’s true that it was a wolf, but the truth can be misused. The local farmers and ranchers are likely to get gun-happy and wipe out every wolf they can find. Wolves aren’t a protected species here,” he explained. “I’m not happy that one attacked you but it’s out of character for wolves in general. It may have been sick, or too old to hunt regular game.”
    Like some lions that become man-eaters in Africa, she thought with a shiver. “I guess humans are very easy prey.”
    â€œUnless they have windshield wipers.”
    She snorted at that. Still, she couldn’t help agreeing with what he’d said. “Look, I don’t want to start a wolf extermination either. I just want people to be safe, and a dog attack story will probably do the job. But it bothers me that no one will be looking for this animal. Old or sick or just plain crazy, it should be stopped.”
    â€œThat much I can promise you.”
    â€œBut the authorities—”
    â€œAre not the only people capable of tracking down a rogue wolf,” he finished. “Trust me, my family and friends are on it as we speak. The wolf will be dealt with.” Connor placed his hand over hers.
    She hoped her hand wasn’t shaking. It was completely swallowed by his. She could feel the heat of it, and the rough palm that was the signature of a working man. It was sexy as hell and she caught herself wondering what that hand would feel like sliding slowly under the bathrobe, stroking her bare skin. . . . Her cheeks heated suddenly and she pulled her hand away.
    â€œI promised you a double-shot mocha,” she said as she got up and began pulling out canisters. She risked a quick glance at his face as she worked. There was humor in his eyes, as if he was laughing at her for pulling her hand away. Thank God he didn’t know what she had been thinking. Yesterday she’d felt nervous at the thought of seeing him again. And here she was in her pajamas and bathrobe, making him coffee in her own kitchen while thinking bedroom thoughts. And hoping like crazy she wasn’t blushing.
    â€œYou know, there’s another reason why the town officials didn’t take you seriously.”
    â€œWhat would that be?”
    â€œThey don’t want the stories about werewolves to start up again.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œWerewolves. Two years ago the paper carried a number of stories about werewolves attacking area residents.”
    She stopped dead and stared at him, the carafe forgotten in her hand. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    â€œNope. Wish I was. Of course, there were only three people interviewed, all of them regulars at the same bar, mind you. Didn’t stop some of the bigger city papers from picking up the story. We even had a television crew visit the sites of the alleged attacks. Dunvegan ended up on the national news and for a while it was impossible to go to the post office without running into reporters. It was all very X-Files.”
    Zoey shook her head slowly. She was in the news business—how had she not heard about the story before she came here? Had she been so intent on avoiding the paranormal that she had missed it? Of course, she would have been focused on “real” news, automatically filtering out anything that reeked of tabloid tales.