of shit and he wouldn’t be able to save her from whatever the fucking alphas decided had to happen. He couldn’t remember what happened the last time a human tried to expose shifters and magic to the rest of the world. It wasn’t good, he had no illusions about that.
And poor Persephone Lawson looked like she could disappear without anyone raising a big fuss. There were no family pictures in the apartment, no letters or cards on the fridge, no knick-knacks or heirlooms or anything that looked like it was treasured. Just a few images of beaches and mountains taken from magazines and pinned up in places, some architecture books and National Geographics on the coffee tables in the small living room, and a framed diploma from some university he probably should have heard of.
Dodge checked the small kitchen table near the single window, and found a scattered sample of draft brochures for an animal sanctuary outside the city. He picked them up and sorted through them. Maybe she went there. He figured she would have fled to safety in her den to hunker down and choose her next move, like any sane animal would, but maybe she continued on with her day?
Damn impressive, if she was that iron-willed. He checked the address for the sanctuary and put together a plan so he could quickly trap her and get her out of there without any witnesses. It was mid-afternoon, so there might have been other workers around. Better for everyone if it wrapped up quickly and he got her safely back to the alpha’s house. Then Evershaw and Deirdre could deal with it.
And Dodge would... He let himself out of the apartment as he tried to figure out why the fuck he got an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about returning Persephone to the witch’s house and then walking away because she wasn’t his responsibility. His wolf damn well wanted her to be his responsibility, or at least wanted to find out more about her, smell her, see if her skin was as soft as he imagined.
He growled in irritation at himself. He was a grown wolf and wasn’t going to lose his mind over a girl. Even one who smelled as nice as Persephone and who had the finest ass he’d ever seen in his life.
He hadn’t reconciled the urge to protect her with the need to eventually distance himself from a vulnerable human by the time he made it to the animal sanctuary. It wasn’t fair to get humans mixed up in pack business, and even though she’d been thrown in the deep end, that didn’t mean she wanted to take a swim. It had been hell on his parents, mixing worlds like that, and it wasn’t something he’d wish on anyone. Ever.
Dodge had traveled in his wolf form, the miles disappearing under his paws. He didn’t want to deal with leaving a vehicle behind, as it would just invite questions, and the less attention on Persephone’s hopefully short-lived disappearance, the better. He changed back into his clothes and carefully re-hid the knives he always carried, ducking behind a set of massive cargo containers.
There wasn’t much advertising for the place and very little information available on the charity that seemed to be running it, which gave him an uneasy feeling in his guts. They had a lot of gear and equipment around, but not many people to staff the place. Most of them seemed to be sitting around doing nothing, while Persephone – looking adorable and annoyed and informal in cargo pants and a t-shirt – hauled around landscaping. He watched her but stayed out of sight as the other workers knocked off later in the afternoon. Dodge expected her to also throw in the towel, but she kept working with a single-minded determination that started as damn impressive but grew into rather worrisome.
He nearly jumped out to help her a couple of times, particularly when she banged her shin and muttered in pain. Each time, he questioned his sanity for continuing to just observe the girl instead of grabbing her and getting the fuck out of there. He kept getting text messages from Evershaw asking when he would return, but ignored them like he usually did.
His superior shifter hearing alerted him to the arrival of at least two SUVs or trucks, possibly more, and several males. Persephone remained unaware, focused on her work. Dodge wanted to immediately swoop her up and