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Electronic Release: November 2013

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

Lacy Anders is getting burned out in her job with the state police, but when a cold case is reopened, she finds herself tapped for the undercover assignment. Never imagining that she would ever be back in the modeling world, she now finds herself posing as bait in order to catch a serial killer before they strike again.

The only problem? Her new modeling partner is the hottest man she’s ever laid eyes on, and she’s not entirely sure that her eyes will be the only things she lays on him!

Ethan Wolfe’s life is simple … until he meets Lacy. She is his every fantasy come to life, and soon he finds himself battling his inner wolf for control whenever she is near.

The little firecracker soon turns his world upside down, when she brings him on board with her investigation. Now, with models falling victim to strange “accidents”, the two must put their relationship to the side in order to catch the culprit.

But, when the killer finally comes out, will Ethan be in time to save his mate?

To all of you readers out there: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for loving the Wolfe Brothers as much as I do!

Chapter One

It was the end of his shift, and Ethan Wolfe was exhausted. He’d worked a double at the fire station so his buddy could be home for his sick wife, and now, Ethan had to grab a quick shower in the locker room and get into his forest ranger gear before heading out for the day.

Being a firefighter was something he’d wanted to do since he was a kid. Hell, what little boy didn’t want to be a fireman at some point? As he’d grown older, he’d discovered an intense love of nature, as well. This wasn’t merely because he was a werewolf. No, it went further than that.

His brothers picked on him, calling him a “tree-hugging hippie” whenever he went off on a lecture about how the litter left by campers was harming the animals in the woods or how they needed to tear down some of the old hunting cabins that were abandoned or uninhabitable. They just didn’t see the dangers those things could cause innocent creatures who lived in the…

Huh, so maybe, he did kinda sound like a hippie.

Once showered, Ethan approached his locker and prepared himself for whatever today’s joke might be. As he opened it, he noticed the centerfold picture of a beautiful, tanned woman stretched out on satin sheets in a very provocative pose. It would have been sexy if his picture hadn’t been glued to her face.

The guys had been ribbing him for weeks over the stupid photo shoot he would be supervising out in the woods. They all insisted he should just go for it and accept the invitation to model. Being from a small town, they all were eager to see the models when they arrived and had been hounding him, asking if he needed any help or offering to keep an eye on things while he was being photographed.

Ethan still had no intention of allowing himself to be plastered, half-naked, in pictures for women to gawk at, though the thought of seeing some of the female models posing was enough to get any red-blooded male’s fantasies going.

However, the annoying little photographer had been harassing him constantly since his brothers Abraham and Erik’s weddings, mailing calendars and magazines to him for the last few weeks as samples of his work. This particular photo shoot was to have a rugged outdoors theme and would be sold nationwide for use in various advertisements. They were looking for sexy women and rugged men to pose in various settings…and that little pest was
still
hounding him.

Ethan groaned, truly hating the thought of having to oversee what would surely end up causing him an ulcer.

Hell, he didn’t even think it was possible for a werewolf to get an ulcer!

* * * *

Lacy Anders regretted taking this assignment almost as soon as she’d been tapped for it, but her commanding officer insisted she was the only one in the department who could pull this off.

Recently, the cold case had been reopened. For years, a serial killer had been killing models then he’d suddenly disappeared. Now, five years later, the murders had begun again. It was the same “accidental” deaths, the same model types and the same time of year. The higher ups were positively foaming at the mouth for the chance to finally apprehend him.

This was why Lacy was currently being ushered into a quaint little house, in the small Mayberry-ish town of Hastings, with the rest of the models. Luckily, they’d been able to rent out the only local hotel and this little house for the next two weeks. This would make it easier for her to protect the female models while her partner covered the males.

The killer always targeted brunette models. Gender didn’t seem to matter, though there was a pattern to the killings, two female, one male, two female, one male. If their reports were accurate, the next victim would be a man, and since all of the attacks had previously taken place at outdoor shoots—and this was the only one happening for the next two weeks—all she needed to do was play her part as a model and hope she caught the bastard before he killed again.

There were only four female models and four male models for this shoot, so keeping tabs on the women shouldn’t be too difficult for Lacy, though a few seemed to be more than a little flighty. All of them were currently flouncing around the house in their thigh-length robes while various beauticians waited to do anything from mani/pedis, facials, hair, spray tan or massage.

Ugh, she’d kill for a good rub down right about now, but she needed to slink off and call in a report. Slipping out the back door, she dug her phone from her robe pocket and dialed in, not at all surprised when the chief answered on the first ring.

“How’s my favorite centerfold doing? Blending with the natives, I hope.”

Lacy usually found his rumbling baritone voice soothing, but today, all she wanted to do was wrap her hands around his throat until he couldn’t utter one more smart-assed comment. It wasn’t as if she didn’t get enough of that crap from the other officers who treated her like their kid sister, picking on her, although in a good-natured way.

“I haven’t modeled since college, but it’s not exactly rocket science, Murphy,” she snapped.

“Good, because you know how important it is that we catch this nut job…”

Lacy listened to her superior go off on his usual stint regarding the murderer’s past victims, the types of deaths, the possible accidents that could happen outdoors and anything else he could throw in.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to do her job. On the contrary, she was very good at what she did, which was why they didn’t want her to leave the force, but man, was she tired of it all.

“I know what to do, Murphy, so let me go and do it. Standing outside on my phone won’t allow me to watch over these girls,” she grumbled. “Not that there’s a whole lot to watch. A weak breeze would knock them down.”

“Not every woman can have your killer curves, Anders. It wouldn’t be fair to the male population.”

Yeah, like she hadn’t heard
that
before.

She hung up on his lingering laughter and thought back to her early years in modeling. She’d been tapped in college by an agent who’d happened to see her in the mall and asked her if she would be interested in modeling for a fashion catalog. Being a broke college student, she’d jumped at the opportunity and discovered that people really responded to her photos. She’d worked steadily while in school and ended up with a hefty savings account to show for it…but that was it.

Friends in the industry were a joke. At the first opening, another girl would gladly jump on a chance to steal a job from you. They would offer anything from doing the job for less money to sex. All in all, models were just like anyone else, their profession just as cutthroat as any other highly paid position. Lacy hated it.

At the moment, she was beyond frustrated. She hadn’t given this part of her past a thought for the last four years, but now, she was neck deep in it again and all because of her dipshit boss.

She’d just entered the back door when she was escorted into the kitchen area where a massage table had been erected behind a privacy screen. The thought of a massage was enough to make her weak in the knees, but the sight of the warm wax and strips of cloth next to the table was like a bucket of ice water on that little fantasy.

“You’re next dear,” the tiny woman sang, patting the table. “Hop up, and we’ll get started.”

“It’s amazing how chipper you guys are when you’re ripping our hair out,” Lacy grouched.

“It’s a good paying job, and besides, it’s the guys that get the worst deal on the waxing, believe me.”

Lacy had to chuckle at that. She wouldn’t mind signing up her superior for a round of waxing. Maybe then, he’d appreciate just how dedicated she was to this job.

Actually, if she was being truthful, she was getting pretty burnt out. She loved law enforcement, but recently, she’d decided to relocate. The city was just an endless cycle of violence and crime that left her feeling as if the life had been sucked out of her at the end of the day.

The craving for wide-open spaces and freedom from the towering cement and glass walls of the city was a major factor in her decision to leave. Lacy wanted to try for a small town, similar to Hastings, but her fellow officers continued to find cases—such as this one—where she was the only officer able to pull off the undercover assignment. Probably because she looked nothing like a cop.

Yeeouch!

Speaking of pulling things off, the wax Nazi was already applying the next strip of wax to her right leg. “You know, I could just shave,” Lacy offered.

Of course, the evil little woman just laughed and snatched the next strip. “They said to have you ladies as smooth as a baby’s bottom from head to toe, so that’s what we’re doing.”

“
Everywhere?
”

“Oh, yes. Those bathing suits are quite small. I’m not sure a trim job will do.”

That is it!
Lacy thought furiously.
This is my last case
.

A few strips later and the woman was instructing Lacy on how to position her legs for the bikini wax.
Oh, yeah, someone is going to pay for this
.

Chapter Two

Ethan spent the next two days in mind-numbing boredom. He’d been reduced to babysitting the photographer and his assistants as they plotted out their “vision” for the shoot.

Apparently, that vision still involved him since the irritating little runt of a man continued to hound him and had even attempted to sway him by promising Ethan his pick of the models to work with.

Didn’t the little pigmy understand the word
no
?

Ethan sighed. Obviously, he hadn’t denied the man enough because he was making his way over to Ethan again.

To his left, his youngest brother, Adam, emerged from the trees, and Ethan sent him a questioning look.

BOOK: To Save His Mate

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