Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) by Terry Spear

form—and safer if hunters were around illegally hunting them.
    They sat on two outdoor, cushioned rocking chairs. Pine trees towered next to the deck on both sides. The dark blue lake stretched out before them, and the distant, misty-looking mountains served as a backdrop for the setting sun. Paul loved seeing the sun set over the lake. The way the top half of the sky was blue and a ribbon of orange and yellow rested on top of the distant mountains, the colorful sunset reflecting off the rippling waters and turning it orange as a motorboat off in the distance clipped the water.
    He glanced at Lori, expecting her to be observing the sunset, but she was watching him. She folded her arms and looked crossly at him. So much for simply enjoying the beautiful colors painting the sky, mountains, and water.
    â€œWhy did you kiss me? In front of Rose, her mom, and my grandma?” Lori asked.
    Paul had thought she was still mad at him for interrogating her about the Cooper brothers. This was a much more interesting topic. “I was making up to you. For scaring you.”
    â€œHa.” She continued to study him, watching his reaction and trying to get a feel for what was going on between them.
    â€œI was . And I was ensuring you didn’t hit me with the broom again.”
    She chuckled and looked back at the sunset.
    He smiled, loving the way she was as radiant as the sunset when she smiled or laughed.
    â€œI bet you were surprised.” She glanced back at him.
    He laughed. “Yeah. I didn’t realize I would be attacked by a broom-wielding martial-arts instructor. We thought you needed rescuing.”
    â€œSeriously? From the two of you , maybe. We thought you had sneaked in Rambo-style because Catherine said you couldn’t come over. And you were dying to know what secret activities we were up to at that time of the morning. And you’d have a little fun at our expense.”
    He was surprised to hear the women had assumed that. “You couldn’t have believed that of us.”
    â€œYou’ve done it before.”
    â€œWhat, when we were teens? We haven’t done anything like that in eons. Besides, we had just come off a dangerous mission. We were still thinking in terms of hostages, hostage takers, and a rescue.”

Chapter 6
    Remembering her grandma’s words about Paul feeling bad over losing a hostage, Lori wondered how much that was affecting him. None of them had considered that Paul and Allan came into the house like that because they truly thought the women were in danger. She wondered if Catherine had questioned Allan about it privately later, and he’d told her what happened on the job. And then Catherine told Emma. When Lori thought of it like that, it seemed as though the men had brought the mission home when they arrived at the house in full combat mode.
    She wondered if Paul and Allan were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She and the pack members worried about that when the men went off on an assignment. What had happened on the last job?
    As perceptive as she usually was, she should have realized their behavior could have been related to the mission. In fact, Paul’s reaction to this business with the Cooper brothers could be too. She felt bad that she hadn’t considered it before. Now she was dying to ask Paul about his last mission, though in the past, the SEAL team didn’t talk about their missions. Maybe among themselves or maybe to their mates, but not to anyone who wasn’t involved in the assignment.
    Yet, Allan had to have been sufficiently worried about Paul to mention some of the circumstances of the mission to his mom.
    Paul’s focus was again on the sunset. “We knew something bad had to be going on at the Rappaports’ house. The last time we arrived at the cabin and didn’t inform Catherine right away, she wasn’t happy about it. She always wants us to come by as soon as we arrive. We planned to