Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) by Terry Spear Read Free Book Online Page B

do a variety of tasks. They played on the football team and had been promised extra credit in social sciences if they signed up to do this.
    The three wolf ranch hands looked like they could rope some steers, break some horses, and haul some hay. The redheaded, green-eyed Cooper twins and black-haired, blue-eyed Jerome Huffman were all wearing typical Western attire—cowboy boots, Western shirts, cowboy hats, blue jeans, and fancy belts.
    The trio had been outcasts, causing problems for their own pack—not hunting like they should have been, not guarding the pack when they were supposed to—but that proved to be a mixed blessing for them. When their pack killed a rabid elk and consumed it, the three omega wolves hadn’t been allowed to eat any part of it. They were lucky to not have contracted rabies and were able to escape their pack’s killing spree.
    Allan wore a pair of jeans, combat boots, and a blue button-down shirt that made him look as though he was ready to go on a date. Paul had on his palm-tree shirt. He’d worn it on three different missions, sure that it confused the bad guys into thinking he was just a tourist on vacation. Since all three missions had been successful, he considered it his lucky shirt.
    But as to what he and Allan could do for weekend projects? They were well trained to hunt down the bad guys and deal with them with finality, protect the good guys, and survive in any wilderness environment. He wasn’t sure what he could do here.
    He swore Emma was sitting on the edge of her seat in the front row, eager to get the bidding war started. The way she was eyeing him and smiling, he half suspected this was a matchmaking effort between him and her granddaughter, with Emma getting some work out of him at the same time. Every time he’d visited her over the last couple of years, he’d asked how Lori was, wishing he could see her and knowing she was avoiding him. And every time, Emma shook her head and said she just didn’t know what was wrong with her granddaughter. But he was fairly certain Lori didn’t make herself scarce because she despised him.
    He was damn glad he’d caught up with her at Catherine’s house and wondered if the only reason she’d been there was because she hadn’t expected him to arrive. That was probably also why she had been braless, wearing such hot shorts, and barefoot. Now that she was around, he had no intention of letting her slip away again.
    The bidding began then, and the whole affair was not as sedate as Paul had thought it would be. Women were shouting and laughing and cheering the bidding war on. For one hundred and fifty dollars, Widow Baxter bought one of the ranch hand’s services.
    All the ladies teased her about what she was going to do with Howard Cooper. Paul wanted to give the omega wolves the benefit of the doubt because they might have straightened out. But the business with the woman at the grocery store this morning—combined with Howard’s comment about them getting into a bind with their boss and the barroom brawls Catherine had mentioned—fed into what Paul already knew about them. They were trouble and they hadn’t changed.
    Allan was next up, and the bidding was going strong as he got into the fun of the auction, flexing his muscles and smiling brightly.
    â€œWay to go, SEAL!” Lori and Rose shouted.
    â€œTake off your shirt!” Emma shouted.
    Catherine whooped and whistled. Paul had to smile at Emma and Catherine.
    Lori’s face reddened a bit, probably because her own grandma had shouted out the recommendation.
    Allan began unbuttoning his shirt slowly and the crowd went wild.
    Paul laughed. He hadn’t thought that a honey-do bachelor auction would be anything like this. Then again, Emma was a wolf and they could change the dynamics of a situation in a heartbeat. The ranch hands made a big deal of jerking their shirts out of their waistbands and then