Wolf Quest

Love and magic lie at the heart of this storm…as well as a whole lot of danger.

When Major Jesse Moore, brother to the Wyoming Pack Alpha, is sent to Iowa to check on his sister-in-law’s cousin, knocking politely isn’t an option. Sounds of a struggle send him storming into her kitchen—where he finds anything but a damsel in distress. The tiny human woman knows how to handle herself in a fight, and all Jesse’s senses shout she’s his mate.

Exotic-animal vet, Maria Garibaldi has never trusted the magic her aunt and grandmother claim is her birthright. She’s always known about the Others, but she had no idea she was also part of their world. When Maria sets out with Jesse to find the parents of a young grizzly shifter she found and treated, she learns the meaning of temptation in the form of the ex-Special Forces soldier. As passion flares, the trail leads them toward the eye of a massive storm…where an unspeakable evil awaits the right moment to destroy the good in the magical world.

CHAPTER ONE
“You hear that, Jess?” Arlo said over the tactical radios his small team employed.
The sound of breaking glass and the crash of furniture came from inside the farmhouse.
“I hear it. I think the subtle approach just went out the window. Let’s go.” Jesse moved on the backdoor even as he gave the order. He knew his team was doing the same on other approaches. They would storm the house and neutralize whatever threat was inside, probably frightening the girl they’d been sent to check on, but that couldn’t be avoided now.
Something was going on in there. Some kind of struggle. That much noise indicated nothing less than a full-throttle fight in progress.
Jesse kicked the door in and found what he’d expected, though not exactly the scenario he’d anticipated. There was a struggle going on all right, but the two men attacking the young lovely in her nightgown were definitely on the defensive. One was already out cold, slumped against the far wall, while the other was face down on the kitchen floor, his arm twisted behind him in what had to be an excruciating position. The woman crouching over his back had a fierce expression on her lovely face and her dark hair flipped out to the side almost in slow motion as she turned her head to look at Jesse.
“What do you want?” She couldn’t have growled any better if she’d been a female werewolf in half-shifted battle form.
The thought made Jesse grin as he aimed his weapon at the ground, away from her.
“We thought you might need some help, but I see you have matters in hand here.”
“We?” she asked, arching one eyebrow as she pulled the man’s arm a little tighter. The guy grunted in pain but she wasn’t letting up.
Jesse gave the signal over his tactical radio and the rest of the team appeared in the hall leading to the kitchen. The woman would be able to see them if she looked up, but the dude on the ground with his cheek pressed into the linoleum wouldn’t. Jesse gestured toward the hall with his eyes, hoping she’d get the message.
Wonder of wonders, she did. This girl was on the ball. Of course, he shouldn’t have expected anything less from Sally’s cousin. His brother’s new wife had already proven to be more than a match for a male Alpha werewolf.
And Jesse was definitely Alpha. And male. And a werewolf.
All his senses were standing on end in the gorgeous female’s presence. A bare hint of her scent wafted to him and his hormones raged.
Whoa. Down boy.
“Ma’am…” Jesse made himself get back to business. “We’ve been pursuing these boys. They’re wanted in connection with a kidnapping in Wyoming. I’m sorry we had to barge into your home, but I thought you might need assistance. As team leader, I take full responsibility, and I promise we’ll repair any damage our entry may have caused.” He glanced significantly back at the kitchen door. It was badly splintered and still swinging slightly on its hinges.
She didn’t ease off the man on the floor. “Look, buddy, I don’t know you. For all I know you could be working for these guys, just waiting for me to let this one go.”
“While I applaud your caution, in this instance it’s misplaced. If you’ll allow me?” He didn't wait for an answer before pulling a dart gun from the holster on his thigh and plugging the struggling man with sleep juice.
She didn’t even have time to blink, which was a good thing. Jesse sure as hell didn’t want to tranq her by mistake. Oh, no. He wanted her awake and spitting at him. He wanted the chance to try to gentle her. To woo her.
Woo her? Where the hell had that come from? Damn. She was every bit as attractive as her cousin and twice as alluring to Jesse’s senses. He’d thought his brother was a lucky man when he’d found Sally, but the mild envy he’d felt had nothing on the downright possessive streak that stirred in him at seeing Maria Garibaldi in her nightdress.
The dude under her went slack as the fast-acting drug kicked in.
“What did you just do?” she accused, outrage in her silky voice. Damn. He could listen to her for hours and never tire.
This thought from a man who found most women intensely annoying when they started to chatter? He was in trouble. Big trouble.
“He’ll wake in a few hours. I figured you wouldn’t mind since you knocked the other one out cold.” He glanced at the other man, still slumped against the wall. Signaling his men to enter the kitchen, he stepped closer to Maria. “We’ll take these guys off your hands, ma’am.”
Maria stood faster than he would have credited as he stepped forward. She was really quick for a human. Maybe her alleged magical ancestry gave her some physical advantages.
“You can have them, but I’m not going anywhere. And you can think again if you expect me to agree to anything else you may have in mind.”
He holstered the dart gun and held his hands out, palms up in the intergalactic gesture of I come in peace.