Free Wanted by the Alphas (An Extremely Sensual Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Dawn Steele

brushes him firmly out of her mind.
    “This happened a year ago?” she says
carefully.
    “Yes.” Patty is clearly the town gossip and
she delights in having someone new to tell her stories to. “There
are wild animals in the woods. Wolves, coyotes and the like.”
    “I reckon.”
    “Old Man Pullnam would not be the first to go
that way. Dolphin’s Bay has had a history of animal attacks going
back as far as the 1930’s. The attacks are sporadic. No one ever
sees the animals or lived to tell the tale. Troopers have gone into
the woods to survey the area. They found wolves and coyotes and
shot them. But the attacks still go on. That is why the police put
out an advisory to those living near the forest. Has Deputy Janssen
been to see you?”
    Shannon has been working all day. So if the
good Deputy has dropped by, either Jared has received him and
forgotten to mention it to her or no one was home.
    “No.”
    “He’s slipping. He usually makes a personal
visit to newcomers in the area, especially when there’s a pretty
girl around.” Patty smiles. “You are very pretty, you know.”
    Shannon blushes. “Thank you.”
    They continue to make small talk for a while.
Then Shannon says, “Does Dr. Fitzpatrick do lunch?”
    “He doesn’t eat lunch.” Patty studies her.
“You’re not having designs on him, are you?”
    “Huh? No, of course not!”
    “Well, you wouldn’t be the first to, believe
me. Every girl comes in here and falls for him in one way or
another, but he doesn’t date. Rumor is that he has a girlfriend
back East. He trained in John Hopkins, you know, and word is that
he’s pining for some colleague of his back there.”
    “You’re his clinic nurse and you don’t
know?”
    “No one knows anything about him. He’s real
close-mouthed. All work and no play, I suppose.” Patty sighs.
    “Maybe he’s gay.”
    “Gay? I don’t think so. He’s very male,
although I suppose plenty of gay men are very masculine as well.
Anyway, I thought I’d let you know the score with him so you don’t
go around having your hopes dashed.”
    “Thank you for being so charitable.”
    Patty laughs. “Do I detect a hint of sarcasm
there? You’ll do fine here. Some of the other guys are already
talking about asking you out. You’re still single, right?”
    “Yes. Though I’m not technically looking to
start a relationship.”
    “Been through a bad one?” Patty says
sympathetically.
    Boy, is she nosy! Shannon thinks. Though she
doesn’t sense anything but warm curiosity and kindness on Patty’s
part.
    “Let’s just say I need to cool off a
bit.”
    Patty winks. “I’ll let the word out to the
guys. But anytime you change your mind . . . ”
    Shannon laughs. Despite everything, she likes
Patty.
     
    *
     
    After a grueling Friday, Shannon is looking
towards a long, nice weekend just chilling out after her first week
at work. She drives the Toyota to a local supermarket she has noted
called ‘Safeway’s’. It is fairly large with a huge parking lot
half-filled with cars.
    As she alights from her car, a familiar white
Mercedes draws into the empty parking lot next to hers.
    Shannon looks up in surprise. Lucien Walker
comes out of the driver’s seat and saunters over to her,
smiling.
    “Hi,” he says.
    “Hi.” She never expected to see him again,
and so this is a major surprise.
    OK, if she is to be honest with herself, she
did check her phone now and again to see if there were any text
messages or missed calls from him. And whenever they were none, she
quelled her disappointment and busied herself with work.
    “I saw your car out there and I decided to
follow you.” As soon as he said this, he seems ill at ease, which
has to be unusual for Lucien. “Um, I didn’t mean it in a stalker
mentality sort of way. I just thought it would be nice to . . . you
know, see how you’re getting along.”
    His hair is neatly combed back and his face
is a paragon of Nordic male beauty, as always. She remembers