Free Wolf and Prejudice (The Alaska Princesses Trilogy, Book 2) by Theodora Taylor Page B

Viking.”
    She shook her head. “How is no one understanding the impact Chloe Adams might have had on our own history? For all we know, she’s influenced facets of our culture we don’t even know about. How can you all stay so busy bowing and scraping to this jerk that you can be totally okay with not finding out what happened to her? Where’s your curiosity?”
    Matt gave her a sad smile. “Believe me, Alisha. I’m not happy about this situation either. It sometimes feels like the Council only funds us so they can keep us in check. But that brings me to the possibly good news. Now that you don’t have a class load next semester, you can dedicate more time to solving the mystery of what happened to your friend.”
    She was still fuming, but she realized Matt was right. She would find out what happened to Chloe, she vowed. And she wasn’t going to let anyone, especially not Rafe Nightwolf, stop her.
    As if reading her thoughts, Matt leaned forward and looked over both shoulders before saying, “And if you’re thinking of going rogue with your investigation, like travelling to Europe or something, I was thinking I could go with you, help you with your research or whatever else you need.”
    Her heart melted at his offer. “Really? You’d do that for me? What about your class load? I mean you still have a job.”
    “I could take a sabbatical. Tell them it’s for research.”
    Alisha nodded, thinking of how much better it would feel to go wherever her research led her if she knew Matt was by her side. Many unheated she-wolves her age, especially princesses, didn’t travel for fear of going into heat somewhere inconvenient and even worse, mating with someone inappropriate.
    But if she did go into heat and mate with Matt, she could see herself living a nice boring life with her untitled co-worker, a life of intellectual pursuit, a life free of the Game of Wolves.
    “That’s a great idea,” she said to Matt. “I think our first stop should be the wolf collection in Russia…” Her excitement dimmed. “But first, I suppose I better clean out my office.”
    Matt stood up and gave her arm a sympathetic rub. “Let me help you with that.”
    With Matt’s assistance, she packed up her office with her head held high, ignoring her fellow liberal arts wolf professors and post-docs who just happened to walk by her open office door, shortly after Matt delivered the news. She figured they must have known what had happened and exactly why, because no one stopped in to offer her condolences on losing her job. It was like she had a contagious disease and they were afraid talking to her would call Rafe’s wrath down upon them as well.
    “Ignore them,” Matt said, picking up three of her five boxes in his long arms. “I’ll help you get these out to the car.”
    “Thanks,” she said. As she bent to pick up the other two boxes, she thought of Rafe, pictured his handsome face with a smug smile on it, because he’d gotten her fired. Well, she’d show him. He thought he’d shut her down, but he had only fueled her determination to get to the bottom of this mystery—
    Out of nowhere a tingling sensation overtook her. Like the worst case of static electricity, but all over her body.
    She stood back up, frowning.
    “What’s wrong?” Matt asked her. His voice sounded distorted, like he was speaking to her on a telephone with a faulty connection.
    “I don’t know,” she said, barely able to hear herself.
    But then there came the smell: sharp and lush and alive, like a feral animal had just entered the room, dangerous and uninvited.
    Dear Lord, she was in heat. What had been a hypothetical mere moments ago was now happening… to her… at this very moment.
    Her breasts swelled, her nipples tightening to the point of pain, to the point that she felt compelled to massage them over her blouse, in an attempt to give herself relief.
    But relief didn’t come. In fact, her pussy clenched so hard when she touched her own