Page 35 of Chased

But at the end of their conversation, he surprised her. He said, “I’m not just the commander here—I’m the alpha wolf. I don’t know how it works with fox shifters, but here, it means this isn’t a democracy. What I say goes. The safety and well-being of every single person in this territory is my responsibility, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I will go to any lengths to protect my pack.”

He was absolutely, ruthlessly sincere—she could see it in his eyes. Then Gunn added, “As long as you’re here, that protection extends to you. You’re one of us.”

A strange feeling spread through Madison. People kept offering to protect her, and she didn’t know quite what to do with that. Especially because she was lying to them about who she was. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that.”

Gunn rose to his feet. “If you have any problems with anything, come to me or Mikey. We’ll handle it.”

She wished she could come to him with her problems. But she couldn’t risk it—at least, not right away. But maybe one day, when she’d proved her worth to them, she would.

She needed this job—and she liked it here. She intended to stay.

“I understand,” she said. “I’ll do my best for the pack.”

That seemed to be the right thing to say, because Gunn smiled for the first time. “Good,” he said, rising to his feet and holding out his hand. “Welcome to Outlaw Ridge.”

During her first few days, Breanna introduced Madison to their main areas of administration. One was the newly expanded mess hall, where they were working on making meals available 24/7 for guys on night duty or coming off of missions at odd hours.

“More mess hall capacity also gives us the ability to have more group housing,” Breanna explained. “A bunch of guys in one cabin with their own bedrooms and a shared living room. They’ll have a kitchenette, but they can get most of their meals at the mess hall.”

Overseeing that process, to make sure there was enough food without wasting a ton of it, was one of the things she and Breanna both had to learn about.

“But I also want to plan special meals,” Breanna said. “You know. Holidays, or theme days. To give it a more family atmosphere.”

They also had to provide every cabin with things like window shades, sheets and towels. “We have to pay a premium for the towels, because we’re not going with hotel white,” Breanna added matter-of-factly. “It’ll be all dark colors, like black and maroon, that don’t show blood.”

Which was another thing Madison had to get used to. Renards did their fighting and backstabbing in the company boardroom. The wolves did it for real. Fights—in human or wolf form—were pretty much a daily occurrence, and didn’t freak anybody out but Madison.

“You’ll get used to it,” Mikey told her cheerfully. “Jaeda and I grew up in a pack that was a lot less psycho than this one, and people still fought all the time. It’s a way to let off steam—for us and for our animals.”

“We should start a fight club,” Madison said. “Or MMA, or something. At least it would be… I don’t know. Contained?”

Breanna patted her arm. “I don’t think you can contain wolves very well. When they’re in a mood, you mostly just have to get out of the way.”

We’re not hiding in our burrow, Vixen said. Bite their noses and make them stay away from us.

Great. That was all she needed—Vixen wanting to fight people. Although to be honest, probably she could go around stabbing people with forks all the time here, and nobody would even care. It would certainly keep them from suspecting she was really a rabbit.

Only Sanchez knew she wasn’t a fox, and he obviously hadn’t told anyone. Yet.

Chapter 16

Sanchez hadn’t talked to anyone about Madison at all. But then, he didn’t talk to much of anyone about anything. And Madison… well, she’d hijacked his fucking brain, is what she’d done, and he wasn’t about to tell anybody that. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Couldn’t stop wanting to know about her.

Couldn’t stop himself from showing up everywhere she fucking went, making idiot excuses that probably fooled no one.

He was in the mess hall on Tuesday, when she came in at lunchtime with Breanna and Switch. He watched as she spoke to Boomer, and he watched as Breanna introduced her to the guys working the kitchen and food line, and he watched as she got her food and sat down.

He watched her until Cisco had to jog his arm hard enough to spill his coffee, just to get him to answer a question. And he still couldn’t stop sneaking glances her way.

She looked pretty, in snug jeans and a sweater that matched her green eyes. But not as pretty as she’d looked in her t-shirt that morning. His wolf had wanted to take a bite out of those perfect thighs. Sanchez did too—and then he wanted to work his way right up to her pussy and make her scream.

Which was fucking crazy. The last thing he needed was a woman in his life—especially one with secrets.

But still—on Wednesday, when he heard the guys in the motor pool had finished repairing her car, he decided he had to be the one to walk her down there and introduce her to the mechanics. To make sure they didn’t scare her, or anything. Turned out she charmed them with her quick comebacks to their banter.

She sure as fuck was getting over her fear of wolves pretty quick. Of course, Breanna and Mikey had passed around dire threats as to what would happen to anyone who gave her serious shit. He didn’t know which of those two the guys were more scared of—Mikey, who was badass and crazy as shit and could probably beat up any soldier here, or Breanna, who had the power to deprive them of cookies.