Free COYOTE SAVAGE by KRIS NORRIS Page A

lift. I hope
    Caden’s okay going back for my Jeep. Coyote or not, it’s a pretty long way.”
    Talon chuckled, threading his fingers through hers when she went to pull back. “I’d be
    more concerned about him driving your Jeep naked, than running through the snow. Can you
    imagine the mayor’s reaction if he happened to see Caden?”
    “Let me worry about the mayor.” She sat back, giving him a small half-smile when he
    released her fingers. She glanced at the station then back at him.
    Talon held up his hand, halting her before she began. “Don’t even say it. There’s no way
    I’m heading back to the ranch without being guaranteed of your safety.”
    Rebecca laughed and gave him a knowing look. “I’m the Sheriff. There’ll never be a
    guarantee of that, Talon. But I’ll be fine.”
    “Of course, you will. I’ll just help make sure.” He shook his head when she huffed at
    him. “You won’t even know I’m around. I promise. As long as Blake’s inside, I’ll hang out
    here.”
    Rebecca rolled her eyes, but her smile said differently. “Are you guys going to be this
    protective all the time?”
    Talon furrowed his brow, not sure why she seemed so surprised. “You’re our
    mate…we’d die for you.”
    Her features softened, and he thought her eyes looked glassy, but she turned away and
    jumped out of the truck. She darted around the front and headed for the building. He cursed,
    wondering why the hell he’d let the whole mate thing slip, when she spun around and returned to
    his door.
    She stepped up on the rung, bringing her face nearly even with his. “I don’t want you to
    freeze anything important out here. I’ll put the coffee on. Just give me about ten minutes to settle
    things inside.”
    She leaned forward and took his lips with hers, moaning against his mouth when their
    tongues tangled. She was still smiling when she pulled back and ran to the station, leaving him
    even more breathless than before.

    Rebecca stepped inside the building, her lips still tingling from the soul-searing kiss
    Talon had given her. Thank god it was the middle of winter, or she might have burst into flames
    long ago. She passed the hallway, rounded the corner and sighed. Darrin was pacing in her office
    while Deputy Blake sat at his desk just outside of the room, looking as if he wanted to be
    anywhere, but there.
    “Sheriff. I’m glad you’re here. I was starting to think you’d just vanished!”
    Rebecca chuckled. Bobby had a knack for overreacting to anything out of the ordinary.
    She headed to the coffeemaker, talking to Bobby over her shoulder. “It’s only been
    twenty minutes since I answered your text. A girl does need a bit of time to recover after a day of
    tromping through the woods.” She motioned to Darrin. “How long has he been waiting?”
    “About thirty minutes.” Bobby winced. “He’s very…”
    “Irritating?” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Darrin. Did you find anything in the
    woods?”
    Bobby glanced at her office then nodded. “It was the weirdest thing. I didn’t find the
    sheep, but there was a large dog carcass hidden in some deep brush at the edge of their property.
    It looked as if something had attacked it. When I went back and questioned Darrin about it, he
    got extremely upset and told me I’d made a mistake…that they didn’t keep dogs. I was going to
    bring it in, but when I went back, the carcass was gone. But I swear it was there.”
    “Easy. If you say you saw it, I believe you. I just don’t know why he’d lie about
    something like that.” She sighed. Nothing was making any sense. “I’ll go talk to him. Do me a
    favor? Do a search through our database, and see if you can find any unusual reports associated
    with either the Carson’s or the Brady’s ranch filed by my dad starting about two years ago.”
    Bobby nodded, though his expression marked his confusion. Rebecca took a deep breath
    and headed for her office door. Darrin