Free Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4) by Julie Wetzel

constant companion since she had arrived.
    Vicky lifted up the box containing the stuff for her wedding, deposited it in the dining room, and slid the wall back in place. She would just have to look over it later. The sound of the elevator door pulled Vicky from her thoughts, and she went to meet Karl.
    “Hey.” He greeted Vicky with a halfhearted smile. “Is she here?”
    Vicky smiled back and ran her eyes over him. He looked like he’d been under a lot of stress lately. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his wavy, brown hair was sticking up where he kept running his fingers through it. “She’s in the living room.” Vicky held out her hand so that Karl could lead the way into the room.
    He stopped just past the end of the fireplace and looked at Sue, still lying on the rug with Zak.
    Zak gurgled a warning at him.
    Ignoring the small fay, Karl came around the seating area so that he could see Sue’s face.
    Sue lay there, snubbing him; but once he was in her line of sight, her eyes tracked him.
    Darien folded his newspaper and got up from the couch. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me.” He slipped from the room so he wouldn’t be in the way.
    Vicky turned to follow him. These two obviously had something to work out.
    “Please stay,” Karl called from where he was crouching next to the loveseat.
    Vicky turned back to look at the pair of wolves standing off. There was a palatable tension hanging between them.
    Karl looked up at Vicky for a moment. “She may not want to talk to me.”
    Smiling reassuringly at him, Vicky moved to sit on the arm of the closest couch. “She isn’t talking to anyone right now,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
    Zak gurgled at her.
    “Except maybe Zak.”
    The little fay wiggled his ends over Sue’s fur in a reassuring way.
    “Please,” Karl begged.
    Vicky could see that the man was at a loss, so she slid over the arm of the couch and onto the cushion to watch.
    Karl turned his attention back to the wolf lying on the rug and a dropped to his hands and knees. He crawled towards her very slowly. Sue’s ears swiveled back as Karl pushed the glass table across the rug, giving them more room.
    Vicky had never studied wolves, but she could tell that this was some sort of dominance display.
    Never taking his eyes from Sue, Karl lay down and rolled to his back. Slowly, he closed his eyes and stretched his neck out, exposing his throat to Sue.
    Sue stared at the offering for several long minutes, but Karl never moved. Finally, she got up and moved to him. She stood over Karl’s prone form for another long moment before lowering her head and tightening her jaws around Karl’s neck.
    Vicky held her breath as Sue’s white teeth pressed into the medic’s throat, stretching the skin.
    Karl swallowed, waiting for Sue’s decision.
    After another unending minute, Sue released her hold on his uninjured skin. She licked his face a few times before nosing him up from the floor and sitting down beside him.
    Karl wrapped his arms around Sue’s neck. “I’m sorry.” He buried his face in her fur. “For everything.” Their embrace lasted a long time before he pulled away and looked into her golden eyes. “Can you shift back now so we can talk?”
    Sue let out a loud whimper and lay down against him.
    “Come on, Sue.” Karl sunk his fingers into her thick fur, rubbing her on the back of the neck. “Rupert is beside himself with this whole attack thing.”
    A rumble of anger rose from the tawny wolf.
    “I know you wouldn’t have done it without reason, but we need to know why.”
    Sue whined again and wiggled closer to him.
    Karl let out a frustrated growl.
    Vicky considered the problem, and an idea popped into her head. “I’ve got it!”
    Karl, Sue, and Zak all turned as Vicky jumped up from the couch and practically ran from the room.
    She was back in a few minutes with a small, velvet bag. “The problem is Sue can’t talk in wolf form, and she