as he decided it was time to leave. He had been standing behind a large SUV that concealed him from view of anyone in the building and its cameras, and this area was far enough from the hospital entrances that no one around there would have noticed him either.
A movement startled him—a shadow. A large bird had just flown beneath one of the parking-lot lights. A hawk? It circled majestically overhead. He watched it for a long minute until it flew in the direction of the air-force base.
Which was when he saw something moving between some of the farthest cars beneath where the bird had just flown.
An animal? It disappeared again behind a car. Could it be the wolf he thought he had scented? Most likely it was just a dog that belonged to a visitor, one that had been released outside to do its duty.
But maybe not. It wouldn’t hurt to find out.
Wolves might exist around here. Real ones. And others like him?
What if—?
It could be Grace—or not. When she had hinted about being a shapeshifter years ago, he had assumed she was baiting a trap for him like those cursed nonshifters who had harmed his family.
Now that they were reunited—sort of—she had acted as if she knew he was a shifter but had no longer hinted that she could be one, too.
He needed to find out.
He wasn’t able to get closer yet, though. He needed to keep his speed similar to that of the creature he followed so he didn’t spook it. If it was a dog, no harm, no foul. If it was a wolf, even a shifter, it would be able to smell him even better than he could smell it.
Unless—he looked up toward the palm trees above. Determined the way the breeze blew.
Made sure he stayed upwind of the creature as he continued in the direction he believed it was heading. She was heading.
He would find out for sure, but he felt almost certain it was Grace.
Glimpses of fur between vehicles, then along the hedges between the two properties, kept him going. If she could not smell him, he was in a similar position of not being able to scent her, especially in human form with his senses so limited.
And then… Damn it. He’d lost her. He no longer saw or otherwise sensed her.
Even so, he kept going in the direction she seemed to have been heading, along the thick hedges that separated the hospital from the adjoining base. He had to be even more careful now. He didn’t want to be surprised by catching up with her. Or going farther than she had so she ran into him.
He walked slowly, cautiously, trying to make no noise on the sandy path, raising his head to scent the air the best he could in his nonwolf form.
Then he heard a voice. Low, urgent, soothing. Grace’s? No, it didn’t sound like her. Whose, then? Someone talking to the creature—the wolf? Grace?
He edged in the direction of the whisper. Moved upwind of it again, and stayed in the cover of the tall hedges as best he could.
There. Looking through a slight opening in the branches with their green but browning leaves, he saw someone. A person, not a canine. It was that nurse who was new to the hospital, who had arrived at the same time Grace did and appeared to be her aide. What was her name? Sgt. Norwood. Kristine.
She was looking down, and Simon maneuvered to see what she was staring at.
A wolf. He wasn’t surprised. But it wasn’t only a wolf. It was a shifter, starting the metamorphosis he mostly experienced himself and hadn’t observed for a long time, since moving away from his family.
Mesmerized, he continued to watch through the branches that were his cover but that also kept him from having as good a view as he craved.
Nevertheless, he saw the wolfen body twisting. Gyrating. Absorbing the fur that was its silvery pelt, even as it was replaced by smooth, human skin.
And when the transformation was complete, it proffered the view he had anticipated all along. Only for a moment, though, since Kristine Norwood had come prepared with clothing, which she held out toward the woman who stood there.
The gorgeous woman with the body that made Simon’s own react immediately, despite the unusual circumstances.
Grace.
Simon watched from where he stood for as long as Grace and Kristine remained where they were.
He knew what it was like to need to catch one’s breath after a