Free Wolf's Capture by Eve Langlais

quarters made it impossible to avoid her presence. Especially her scent.
    It wrapped around him in a perfumed gossamer. It roused his wild side. Made it pace. Hunger. Not to eat. But for more.
    Want more of her scent. Want to rub against her. Mate her. Bite her…
    Slap. It wasn’t a physical one, but a mental one. Brody reeled his irrational wolf back in line.
    Dude, we are not doing any of those things. For the moment, she is a civilian, and a possible enemy. We know the rules. Observe. Seek out. And, if needed, destroy.
    Currently, Layla fell under the observe column. He’d watch, take notes, and, at the same time, befriend her. Right now, she appeared just as suspicious of him as he was of her. If she told the truth about her situation, then she could prove a valuable ally.
    She tells the truth.
    His beast seemed so certain, but Brody didn’t think it would hurt to gather more Intel. In order to do that, he needed to get closer so she relaxed around him and divulged all her secrets—such as what hid under that gown.
    No.
    He was not flirting with her to get her to shed her clothes.
    Although, he wouldn’t argue if she did. He also probably wouldn’t be able to help himself.
    Alas, she did not strip. She dove into her pile of blankets and put even more fabric between them.
    A shame.
    She also seemed intent on ignoring him, burying her nose in one of her tawdry romance novels.
    Hmph. Wasting her time with a cardboard hero when she had the real thing within reach.
    No matter. He had more pressing things to do, such as devising a plan of action.
    Despite his first perusal, Brody spent some more time examining their prison. How the bars met the floor. The thickness of the welds at the top. He tried thrusting a hand through the tight silver bars to palpate the lock but hissed as the silver scored his skin and, in the end, learned nothing, other than burnt hair stank.
    At least singed hair hurt less than a wax strip down the middle of his somewhat furred chest, yanked by a sadistic polar bear. Fucking Gene.
    Thinking of Gene made him wonder how the attack on Kodiak Point had turned out. Did they prevail? Were there casualties?
    And did his disappearance garner any notice?
    With the chaos of attack, it would take some time for them to decipher the events and realize he never made it back to town. If too much time passed, would they even find his trail in the woods and discover his fate?
    Probably not, which meant he was on his own. A solo mission.
    For some reason that made him think of Kyle, whose personality quirk—which shrinks insisted on calling a disorder—resulted in him going through life in terms of missions.
    My mission? Get my ass out of here. And maybe bring the girl.
    Who was he kidding about maybe? Layla was coming with him.
    On the surface, he labeled her as a person of interest, someone that Reid would want to meet. But, if Brody dug a little deeper into his intentions, the man—and, yes, his pesky wolf—also wanted to rescue her from this sad fate. To see her eyes shine with appreciation and bask in the warmth of her thanks—naked.
    No. Not naked.
    He really needed to get his shit together and stop thinking of her as an attractive woman. He tried. He ignored her as best he could, only to get miffed when she paid him not the slightest bit of attention. Not once did he catch her staring.
    Must be a good book.
    As if words on paper could compare to the real thing. But what if she’s never experienced anything more than words ? As a captive, her options for socialization, and romance, were limited.
    She could very well be innocent. The concept almost dropped him to his knees.
    We could teach her.
    Oh, now didn’t that bring to mind a bunch of possibilities? Fantasies he quickly squashed.
    For now he needed to focus on spotting a weakness. None appeared, but he didn’t give up hope. He’d keep observing.
    The guards re-appeared at one point during the day—who knew what time? Without windows and any