She considered the rest of his clothes, wondering what he'd done with Laney's floral pants. Not that they would have helped much. Although the walk-in closet was wide and deep, with four racks for clothes, only a handful of jeans hung from one of the rods along with maybe a half-dozen flannel shirts, mixed in with some short-sleeved shirts for the one month of the year that was really warm enough. She slid a pair of pants off their hanger and held them up to her waist.
She'd have a devil of a time with the length, perfect for his long legs but way too long for her and sure to trip her. She abandoned the jeans on the closet floor. A glance at the shelf of shoes showed all that he owned: five well-worn pairs of cowboy boots, a couple of pairs of running shoes, two pairs of hiking boots, snow boots, and one pair of sandals. None of which she could wear. Giving up, she rushed back into the bedroom.
Carefully sliding open a drawer, she found one pair of boxers. Needed to do a wash? Or just a token pair for appearance sake?
She pulled open several more drawers as quietly as she could before she found one full of wool sweaters. Big, large-cabled, warm wool. Not having time to button the shirt, she yanked a green sweater off the top of the pile and slipped it over her head. A sharp pain stabbed her in the shoulder again, and she gritted her teeth to stifle a groan.
She searched through another drawer, found socks, and shoved her feet into a black pair, the heel riding higher than her ankles. At least they'd keep her feet a little warmer until she could reach her own truck, dress in her own clothes, use the can of hunter's fragrance that would hide her scent, and move her vehicle to some other location away from where she'd have to abandon the vehicle that she planned to borrow from Leidolf.
Glancing around the room, she was looking for the jeans he'd been wearing, figuring he'd probably have his keys in the pocket, when she saw a set of keys sitting in a glass bowl on top of the dresser.
She snatched them up and then hurried for the glass patio doors, hoping she'd make her escape before she woke him.
Cautiously, she pulled the door open, and a blast of cold night air hit her. A steady wind hinted at rain, and she frowned as she slipped outside, closing the door behind her with a soft click. All she needed was to get drenched in a rainstorm as she searched for the she-wolf and Alex.
Then she raced around to the front of the house toward the welcome sight of a huge black Suburban sitting in the circular drive. She pushed the button on the keyless remote entry and then yanked at the door handle. No response. She tried the remote again. The door was still locked. Hell, different vehicle. In case the keypad battery was dead, she tried to insert the key in the door, but it wouldn't allow her to insert even a tip of the metal. Her skin heated with anxiety.
She glanced back at the rambling ranch-style house. Several windows looked out over the front of the property, but all were pitch black. Still, she envisioned pack members sleeping in each of the bedrooms she'd passed on her way to dinner. She couldn't help worrying that someone might look out one of the windows any second and see her trying to steal away with one of Leidolf's vehicles.
No security cameras hung under the eaves, so at least it seemed no security force watched for intruders. Not that anyone in his right mind would try to steal from a lupus garou pack leader who had a whole pack of men at his beck and call. Then she saw a black Humvee and a bright yellow Jaguar sitting in a garage, the doors to the garage wide open. Six more pickups were parked at another long building nearby, and she suspected they belonged to some of the male bachelors sleeping in a barracks.
She dashed for the Humvee, her sock feet silently padding over the cement drive. When she tried the remote on the vehicle, she heard the faint click of the lock, but when she tried the door, it wouldn't open. She used the key in the Humvee's lock, but it didn't work. Exasperated, she looked around the Humvee and considered the seductive allure of the mustard yellow Jaguar. The doe-eyed headlights, the sloping sleek grill. Too splashy. Too conspicuous. Too expensive. But it was a set of wheels.
Skirting completely around the Humvee, she thought maybe pushing the button on the remote had unlocked the Jag's door instead. She yanked at the door handle... and voila! The door opened. She hoped her insurance would cover the damage if she wrecked the sports car, or she'd be handing her life savings over in bulk to the alpha leader, that is, if he ever caught up with her again. She didn't plan for that to happen anytime soon.
She climbed in, took a deep breath of the sweet smell of new butternut leather, and admired the lightly polished maple wood. Her car's worn cloth seats were padded economy style, but she sank into the driver's seat of the Jaguar as if she were ready to lounge at home. She shoved the key in, turned on the ignition, and then stared at the manual shift. It wasn't an automatic? She hadn't driven a stick shift in forever.
Suddenly, a figure loomed next to the driver's door. Her heart did a triple beat, but before she could react, the blond from dinner, the one who was being guarded, jerked the door open, reached in, and pulled the key from the ignition.
"You're taking me with you," he said, his voice low and determined, his blue eyes piercing her with the promise that if she didn't agree, he would cause real trouble for her. And she didn't doubt that he would.
She considered her options. No way was she taking a troublesome, newly turned lupus garou with her. Yet, she assumed that if she tried to leave without him, he'd tell the world. If she took him with her, she'd have to ditch him somewhere along the way, and that wouldn't be safe for any of their kind. Or for him, either.
"Hurry up, Cassie," he said, his tone ominous. "You have a second to decide, or I sound the alarm that you're running away in Leidolf's sports car." He tilted his head to the side a little. "And I could use some good points with Leidolf about now."
Hell, no way did she want to take this guy with her. He couldn't cope in the least if she were to leave him on his own alone somewhere. She doubted she could trust him to help her or keep quiet or not get himself shot by accident.
When she still didn't decide, he tried a more coaxing approach. "You're like me, newly turned. And I know you don't want to stay here. They'll force you to. You know it. So we can work together."
"Get in," she growled. Why weren't this guy's keepers making sure he stayed put?
"Thanks, I owe you. Then again..." he said, pausing as he rushed around to the other side of the car and yanked it open, "...I figure you owe me because I can watch your back."
Yeah, right. She'd be doing all the work, trying to keep both their butts out of the fire. She held her hand out for the keys.
He hesitated to give them to her. "Don't try to pull anything. I'll be watching you."
"What in the world do you think I can do? Wreck the vehicle? Not on your life. The insurance cost would eat me alive." She started the engine and backed out of the garage.
The engine purred, and she thought how much she could get used to driving in luxury like this. When she tried to drive forward on the gravel road, the car bucked and stopped dead. She stared at the controls and then, figuring she'd put it in second gear instead of first, she planned to try again, when the blond guy said, "Don't you know how to drive a stick? Here, let me have the key and I'll drive." He grabbed for the keys, but she slapped his hand away hard, showing him just who was in charge.
"I'll do it."
No way was she letting this guy have any control over her, well, any more so than he did at this point. She put the Jag into neutral, started the engine, and rolled along the road, this time in first gear and inching along at a painfully slow pace. As they passed the bunkhouse, she cringed to think every last one of the bachelor males would come after her for stealing the pack leader's sports car. She envisioned a mad chase of trucks in hot pursuit if they heard the car leaving the compound in the middle of the night. What she saw next surprised the hell out of her.