SEAL Wolf In Too Deep (SEAL Wolf, 4) - Softcover

Chapter 1

Feeling useless, Paul Cunningham propped his broken leg on a few more pillows as he and Lori, his wolf mate and she-wolf leader of the pack, watched from the deck of their lakeside cabin. Their best friend, Allan Rappaport, was heading down the dock to practice diving with his new police dive partner Debbie Renaud. Allan had been partnered with Paul, who was now sidelined with his leg casted all the way up to his hip after a freak accident on a dive rescue mission.

"I still think Allan should ask the sheriff to make new assignments," Lori said. "You and Allan were raised as brothers, you're SEAL team members, although you've left the Navy, and you're used to working with other men, not women. And you're both wolves, not that anyone on the force knows that, but it makes it easier to work together. This business"-Lori motioned to Allan and Debbie as they talked to each other on the dock-"is bound to cause problems."

"Allan respects her work too much. Switching partners would look like he's having trouble with her on a professional level. He won't do anything that might jeopardize her career."

Looking cross, Lori folded her arms over her expanding belly. Paul reached over and she slipped her hand into his. "They'll be all right. Allan's smart enough to know the boundaries between lupus garous and humans," Paul said.

"I couldn't believe it when the sheriff assigned Allan to work with her after the accident. Are you sure Allan didn't ask to be teamed up with her?" Lori sounded like a guarded wolf.

Paul knew Lori was simply being a concerned pack leader and friend. "No. Allan and Debbie just both needed partners and were available to work together at the same time."

The ache in Paul's muscles and tendons kept reminding him how serious the compound fracture had been. The vehicle had rolled, pinning him on the bottom of a swiftly flowing river. He was fortunate to even be alive, due to Allan's heroic effort. Unfortunately, everyone there-rescue workers, ambulance crew, police-had witnessed the gruesome sight when Allan carried him out of the water.

With so many witnesses, Paul would have to pretend the knitting of the bones and the healing of the surrounding muscle and tissues took the same length of time as a human's injury, when their wolf kind actually recovered in half that time. Even so, because of the severity of his injuries, recovering was going to take three months as a lupus garou. It had been two weeks already and he still couldn't walk. Hell, Allan had to help him onto the chaise lounge. Paul hated being so incapacitated, though he had to be grateful he had survived. If it hadn't been for Allan, he would have drowned.

The problem was that Debbie's longtime dive partner had retired, the next one had moved to another state, and Allan had been without a dive partner because of the damnable accident. And the sheriff's department had needed Allan for some risky dive jobs.

"You needn't be concerned about them," he said. "Allan understands what he is and what she is, and he knows not to get involved with her." Paul hoped Lori was right. But where men and women were concerned, the waters became muddied.

Lori sat on the chair next to Paul's lounger and squeezed his hand. "Watch the way she looks up at him. They've been together for only two weeks and she is so enamored with him. All smiles and sweetness. She adores him. He's a SEAL, and women just fall all over themselves when they learn that."

Paul raised his brows at Lori.

She shook her head at him. "I know the two of you too well. Your SEAL status doesn't affect me in the least."

He chuckled. "Debbie is a smiley, sweet woman, Lori. You worry too much."

Lori frowned and settled back in her chair. "You're making light of this, but it's dangerous. He hasn't dated any of the eligible women in our pack, and we have several. Sure, he's nice and polite, but he's not interested in any of them. Look at the way he helps Debbie with her dive checks. They look like they're lovers."

Paul smiled. He knew Lori wanted Allan to care about a woman, but the woman had to be one of their kind, or the relationship would cause all kinds of complications they couldn't afford. "Come here."

"Your leg-"

"Come on the other side." She moved to his chaise lounge, and he snuggled with her. "He'll be okay. We're talking about Allan. In all our years of wolf longevity, how many times has he fallen for a human woman and not been able to let go of the notion?"

Lori relaxed then. "Never."

"Right. Never. So they're just working together, doing practice dives as a team so when they have risky dives to make, they'll be working in sync with each other. And look, they didn't have to dive here in front of us, knowing we're observing every move they make. He could have taken her anywhere to practice with her."

"True. But they won't always be here under our watchful supervision."

Paul chuckled. "Lori, you are a worrywart."

* * *

The day was nice and hot, perfect for practice dives, if that's all that was going on between Allan and Debbie. But Lori knew she wasn't just paranoid. She knew Debbie was interested in Allan and he returned the interest right back. What was not to like about Allan anyway? He was sexy and fit and loved to do what Debbie loved to do-dive. They had an easy way with each other, like they already knew each other intimately, not like people who had just started to work together. No formality between them. No getting to know each other.

Though Lori supposed he'd met Debbie on other occasions before she was partnered with him, like during monthly emergency rescue training.

There was just something about the two of them that seemed overly comfortable between new partners. Though Allan was careful not to be too friendly around Debbie when he was with Paul and Lori, she saw the way he cast Debbie looks. Intrigued looks. Not just on-the-job-training looks.

Paul was trying to calm her fears, but he was worried about Allan too. How could he not be?

Debbie was a lovely brunette and vivacious, something that totally appealed to Allan. She was definitely an alpha, ready for adventure. She loved the police work, loved saving people and animals, just like Allan. Worst of all, she was single.

Even if he hadn't been totally attracted to her at first, it would have been hard not to be when Debbie clearly admired him. She asked about his missions-that he could talk about-and wanted to know about his personal and family life. Any man would be flattered with the way she seemed to genuinely care about him, and Lori sensed that Debbie wasn't just intrigued with him because he was a hot SEAL.

As far as Lori was concerned, Debbie should be ultraprofessional and just get the job done.

"You need to talk to him," Lori told Paul.

"He's a grown man and knows what he's doing."

"He's human, well, and wolf, and both are going to get him into trouble."

"I'll talk to him, but he's going to wonder what all the fuss is about."

Lori was certain Allan would know just why they were concerned.

* * *

Allan was just as concerned about working with a human woman as Paul and Lori were, but he knew he could handle this. Going on dives with Debbie sure was a hell of a lot different than going with Paul.

He'd become so used to working with Paul over the years that they did everything in perfect sync-the hand signals, the body movements, the awareness of their partner. Some signals were universal, but he and Paul, along with the other members of their SEAL wolf team, had developed some over the years that were distinctive to them.

Allan knew Paul and Lori were warily observing them. He had to admit watching Debbie swim was a hell of a lot more attention-grabbing than watching Paul. And when she smiled at him, she made him feel as though he was dating her and not just working a job. He had to remind himself to act professional and get the training done. On an assignment, they had to concentrate on the mission so they could get the results they needed-evidence from a crime scene, people or animals to safety-while ensuring they came out unscathed.

If he'd been assigned to a human male dive partner, no problem. But working with a single female, one who fascinated him like she did, was different. He could see it would take a lot of diligence on his part to keep his mind on business and not on Debbie. If he could just become interested in one of the new single females in the pack, that would solve all his problems.

But when he swam next to Debbie in the clear blue lake, she fired his testosterone sky-high. That didn't happen when he was around the single women in his pack. He hoped he could deal with this without getting them both into dangerous waters.