Love at First Scent
Chapter 12

Caro woke up in a rush, the tail end of a woman’s scream sounding down the hall, followed by a loud animal squeaking noise.

“What the hell is going on?” she murmured as she swung her legs out of the bed to get her bearings. A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table read five in the morning. If she didn’t know that Bennett was here with Ellie, she would have been moving a lot faster, but she figured he was more equipped to handle a rogue animal invader in the wee hours of the morning than she was.

“Guys?” she called out as she made her way down the hall, turning on the lights as she went. The sounds of crashing furniture brought her to a stop in front of Ellie’s closed door.

“Ellie? What’s going on? I’m coming in—” She turned the doorknob and pushed open the door just as a frazzled-looking Bennett turned her way.

“Caro! Shut the door before she makes a break for it!” he yelled, causing her to slam the door behind her.

“What the hell is going on in here?” She took in the bed sheets in tangles and the side table toppled over, and when something moved under the comforter on the floor, Caro squeaked and jumped toward Bennett before looking around frantically for her sister. “Where’s Ellie?”

“She’s under the comforter. We need to coax her out and get her to calm down.”

Caro looked at the blankets on the floor, at the small, wiggling bump underneath it, and then back at the man standing beside her. Her confusion was definitely due to more than an abrupt wake-up call.

The loud screeching noise started again, making her jump.

“Elles, baby.” Bennett got to his knees and crooned to the lump on the floor. “You need to calm down and shift back. Think about your human body.”

Caro’s heart was beating a mile a minute. “If this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny, you guys!”

Bennett glanced up at her, and there was sympathy in his expression, “No joke, Caro. Ellie wanted to talk to you about it tomorrow first thing. We just weren’t expecting her to shift tonight.”

“Shift?” She could hear the panic in her own voice, and it was echoed by a yip from the blanket. “What are you talking about?”

Just as she was about to yell at him some more, the blob under the blanket moved closer to her until a red-gray muzzle appeared from under the edge. Then two large golden eyes followed until the beast’s entire face was looking right at her.

Caro’s breath left her body in a rush, panic rising like a wave. The wiggle at the back end of the animal still under the blankets gave her the impression she was about to be pounced on.

Oh, God, is this how I die?

Caro screamed and fell back as the furry body landed on top of her. There was a flurry of licks across her cheek before the weight of the animal grew considerably, and then her arms were full of a sobbing Ellie.

“I’m sorry, Caro!” Ellie scrambled back as Bennett wrapped a sheet around her from behind. “I was going to sit you down and explain everything this morning, but I guess my fox had other plans.”

Her mouth hung open as she stared at her sister in shock.

Am I losing my mind? Is this a dream? My sister could not have just turned into an animal and back again.

Thirty minutes later, Craig walked into Ellie’s kitchen to see Caro staring out the window to the backyard, holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hands but not drinking it. The sun was just beginning to peak above the trees, and she watched as a fox and a gray wolf pranced and played on the grass.

He didn’t step up behind her and cradle her in his arms like he wanted to. It was better to err on the side of caution, no matter how much everything in him was calling to comfort his female.

“It’s a tough one to wrap your brain around, I imagine?” he asked quietly from beside her.

Caro startled. She’d obviously not heard him enter, then she gave a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, well, I suppose our genetics could have been hiding something really awful, like cancer, or being descended from a heinous dictator or something.”

“Being a shifter is a gift in many ways.” He took a step closer. “We have better health, live longer lives, the connection you’ll have with your fox and the forest is indescribable, and there is no breaking the bonds we create when we choose a mate. We love for a lifetime, Caro.”

She turned to look at him wearily, “And you’re a wolf, like Bennett?”

“I am, I’m the alpha here in Hillard.”

He could see something click in her eyes as she nodded. “That’s why Bennett said that you were ‘in charge’ here. It’s not because of your ranger status.”

“Yes.”

“And what does that mean, to be an alpha?” she asked, still watching her sister and her mate outside.

“It means that it’s my job to make sure that all of my pack members here are safe, happy, and healthy, and that everyone is taken care of.” He thought about stopping there, but he wanted to lay everything out on the line with this woman. “And my mate would be the alpha female. She would help me to take care of and nurture our people.”

Caro’s eyes grew wider at his implication. “You mean me?”

“I do. My wolf has known there was something special about you since the first time I caught your scent. We’re both fascinated by you.”

“But,” she stuttered, “if this is true, then I’m a—I’m a fox, like Ellie.”

“Yes, that is true.” He reached out to take one of her hands in his. “That doesn’t matter to my wolf, or me. Though I am looking forward to seeing you in your shifted form. I imagine you’ll make a stunning vixen.”