Espino, Stacey - Surrounded by Wolves [Wolves of Climax 1] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) by Stacey Espino

when he was in his skin. Each step he made was too loud, dried leaves crunching under his boots, twigs snapping. Good. He wanted to be found, wanted his enemies to come out of the woodwork.
    Garret returned to the small town after dropping off Cassidy. He scoured the forest behind the diner, trying to come across the wolf who’d stared him down earlier. It had to be a Rockford wolf. What trouble were they getting into now? Although Climax was neutral territory, they rarely showed their faces around town.
    The first growl came from his left. He turned to find a set of glowing yellow eyes zeroed in on him. Despite his vulnerability, Garret had no fear. In the flash of an eye he could shift forms and challenge any threat head-on, confident in his fighting ability.
    “That only works on humans. You can growl and snarl all you want, I guarantee it’s not having the effect you want.” He leaned against a great oak, not wanting his back exposed.
    A low laugh seemed to come from everywhere at once, and then a slow, deliberate clapping of the hands. “Bravo. You must have balls of steel to come out here without your backup.”
    “Apparently, not you.” He could still see the other eyes around him. But after his comment, they slunk away. “Don’t waste my time. What do you want in Climax?”
    “You find your missing pack member? What was his name again? Was it Matthew?” The Rockford wolf stepped out into the gentle cast of moonlight.
    Garret’s fangs and claws lengthened. Any minute and he’d shift, tear the man in front of him apart limb from limb. The bastard toyed with him, using his grief as a weapon. Or mocking him because he had something do with the loss.
    “Play innocent all you want, Rockford, but I know you’re responsible for his disappearance.”
    He put a hand to his heart. “Moi? This time you’d be wrong. As much as I’d love to take responsibility for your suffering, I can’t.”
    “Then what the fuck are you doing here? If you have eyes for the woman I was with, you’d be smart to look the other way.”
    The shifter shrugged. “Later. What I want to know now is why you’ve put bear traps on your land. One of my pack was badly hurt, caught in one of your monstrous traps last night.”
    “I don’t put out traps. Ever. And if you say this happened on my land, what were your wolves doing on it in the first place?”
    “Passing through is all. But with lasting damage.”
    Garret was against traps. He’d campaigned against hunters who used them and forbade outside hunters on his land. With firsthand knowledge of the damage those oversized metal traps could do to an animal, he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy—not even the Rockford wolves. But if he found out they had something to do with Matthew’s disappearance, they’d pray for the simplicity of being caught in a trap.
    “I said I don’t use traps.” Garret had no clue how traps appeared on his land. The wolf could be lying, trying to take the heat off his pack for taking Matthew. He didn’t trust the Rockford wolves and never would.
    Garret would certainly investigate this new threat to be on the safe side. If the hunters were back to their old games, he’d deal with them swiftly, put the fear of their god back into their hearts. It seemed all of Climax was out to destroy the Gregor pack—hunters, loggers, the rival pack, and an unknown threat.
    The other wolf smirked. “I certainly hope not. Bear traps are low even for you, Gregor. It would be a shame for us to have more reason to hold a grudge.”
    “We’ve done nothing to your pack. You just stay on your land and we’ll stay on ours. All I want is Matthew back.” Those bastards had to have something to do with the disappearance. It was just too easy that they’d know nothing. After all the failed attempts they garnered trying to lure Matthew to their pack, they’d have to be more curious about his disappearance. They acted as if it were as natural as the dew in the