Wild Invitation

had fought his instincts on the point this long…well, it simply made her melt for him even more.
    “I like your kisses, bad girl.”
    Toes curling, she went to check her messages, only to discover one from her brother but nothing from Cooper. And she knew for a fact he was in the den, so he hadn’t been pulled away.
    Frowning, she sat down on her bed and thought things through. Given that Cooper had made it crystal clear he intended to have her…keep her, added to the reality that dominant males went after the women they wanted no holds barred, the fact that he’d expended no effort whatsoever to pin her down for tonight could only mean one thing—he was treating her as his, as if their spending time together was a given.
    It was a very subtle form of dominance play,and no matter how much woman and wolf both adored Cooper, Grace had no intention of being led on a leash.

Chapter 7
    COOPER’S blood went ice-cold when no one seemed to know where Grace had gone. He pulled out his cell phone to call her, knowing she’d see it as a controlling move on his part, but he needed to know she was okay, was
safe
. The rain was only a drizzle for the moment, but that didn’t mean the roads weren’t dangerous.
    “Hey, Coop.” Shamus ran over before he could input the call. “Emma’s abandoned me for dinner out with Grace and Vivienne. You want to grab a pizza?”
    It took everything Cooper had to hide his relief. “I’m heading out,” he managed to say. “Need to run. But I think a few of the others are hanging in the break room.”
    “We’ll save you a slice.” Shamus turned, ran backward for a few feet. “I was just outside. Still raining on and off, but the wind’s gone flat and the moon’s actually out—best view is past the twin waterfalls.”
    “Thanks.” Cooper shoved his cell phone back into his pocket as the senior soldier disappeared around the corner, and bracing his palm against the stone wall of the den, he gave in to a shudder. He knew his response was extreme, would scare Grace, seeming to spring from a level of possessiveness that went far beyond what might be expected from a SnowDancer lieutenant. No woman wanted to be with a man who wouldn’t permit her to breathe, whose care became a cage. Which was why he had to get a grip on himself before she saw him again.
    Growling under his breath, he made his way outside and ran until he could think through the chaotic haze of his emotions. He wanted to go after Grace with every cell of his being,needed desperately to scent her alive and well, but he’d already miscalculated once. Making his way to the den instead, damp but not cold, he showered, then grabbed some dinner from the kitchen and spent the next couple of hours working in his office.
    As was usual when he was alone in his office at this time of night, more than one member of the pack dropped by to talk or ask for advice. It kept him busy, and he was fine for the first half hour, okay for the second. The third and fourth were like having nails pounded into his flesh. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing Grace wasn’t alone and that Shamus was surely in touch with Emma. Anything happened, Cooper would have the information within minutes.
    Finally, he saw the women’s vehicle come in, the lights cutting through the dark of the night outside before the SUV slid silently into the underground garage. He forced himself to give Grace fifteen minutes to change and settle in, then stalked down to knock on her door.
    This time, he attracted a few interested glances from passing packmates. It was late for a man to be going to a woman’s room, and as Grace’s boss had returned that afternoon, Cooper couldn’t excuse it on the grounds of a systems emergency. He knew they were close to busted.
Good.
He needed people to know she was his, that he should be told if she was ever in any trouble.
    The lack of secrecy would also give him room to court her as outrageously as he liked.
    When the door opened to reveal her clad in pajama pants of pale blue fleece featuring fluffy white sheep, along with a soft black T-shirt that caressed her with the finesse of a lover, her hair tumbling over her shoulders in a dark cloud, he had to take a deep, deep breath to restrain his instinctive response to thrust his hands into the luxuriant mass, tilt back her neck, and bite.
    She’d scared him.
    He
hated
the feeling, but he also knew his scars weren’t Grace’s fault. She’d acted as any female