Maizie’s sex muscles flexed, aching to be filled. She braced her hands into the mattress on either side of her hips, unable to deny the pleasure Annette stroked through her. The overly sweet smell of her perfume, her long hair tickling her belly, her skin silky smooth, the sensations were maddening.

Maizie looked down for a moment and watched the sweet feminine face pressed to her breast. Her little ear with its silver hoop earring, her smooth skin and pouty lips. She watched Annette’s tongue toy with her nipple, noticed her long mascara-covered lashes shadowing her cheek. She was a woman. The sight was all wrong and all the more erotic.

Maizie’s brain spun with a heated mix of sensation and reason, but it wasn’t natural. Not for her.

Her body had a mind of its own, wanting anything, everything, recognizing satisfaction in any form. But Maizie’s brain couldn’t allow it, couldn’t let go of instinctive preferences.

“No.” Maizie’s voice was barely there, her breath hot and panting. “Stop. I can’t. Annette, stop.”

Annette drew back from her breast, her fingers still caressing Maizie’s pussy. She licked her lips, her eyes hooded. She drew close to Maizie’s lips. “But you like it.” Her voice was husky, her lips brushing Maizie’s. “I can tell you like it.”

“Yes. I like it, but not…not this way. This…this… No, no, this isn’t…me. Shit.” Annette kept stroking her, Maizie’s hips pressing toward her touch despite herself. She couldn’t think.

“Annette…” Maizie grabbed her wrist, pulled her hand from her sex. “Please. Stop.”

Annette straightened, blinked. Her brows creased, her bottom lip pouting, she avoided Maizie’s eyes. “Sorry. I thought you were liking it. I didn’t mean to force you.”

“You didn’t force me,” Maizie said, fighting to catch her breath, to calm the pound of her heart, the need storming through her body. “I should’ve stopped you sooner. Maybe it’s the virus. But I’m with Gray. Not even sure what that means, but I can feel it and this…this is wrong. Not just because you’re a woman, but…”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. Shoot.” Annette’s eyes stretched wide and hopeful. “Will you at least bite me? We don’t have to have sex for you to turn me.”

Maizie couldn’t help the smile tugging at her mouth. What an odd world she’d fallen into. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Not now. I’m not sure how I feel about being…what I am. I don’t feel right condemning you to the same fate until I do.”

Annette’s hopeful smile faltered, but after a deep breath she forced it brighter, though the expression still wasn’t convincing. “I understand. You and Gray are a lot alike, I kind of figured. Maybe in a few weeks or months you’ll change your mind.”

“Maybe.” Maizie smiled, hating the disappointment edging Annette’s tone.

“Thanks.” Annette’s smile flickered as though she fought to keep it on her lips. She stepped back, fixing her bra, slipping into her blouse. “I’d say I’m sorry about trying to seduce you, but I’m not. I love Gray, but I had to try. I know how you feel though, so you don’t have to worry about it happening again.”

Maizie’s cheeks warmed. She pulled the sheet to her neck and smiled. “Okay.”

Annette grabbed her glasses and twisted her hair into a bun as she left. “Gray won’t be back from his meeting with Mr. Cadwick for another hour or more. So if you need anything use the intercom. Some of us don’t have super-werewolf hearing,” she said, teasing as she closed the door behind her.

Ravenous, Maizie devoured the triple-decker peanut butter sandwich and downed the tall glass of milk before she even considered a shower. She took her time under the hot water, memories flashing through her mind. They were skewed through the eyes of her wolf-half, cloudy and ominous as though something about them was important. She couldn’t put her finger on it, though. She’d dried her hair and finished dressing before it hit her.

“Cadwick.” The memory crystallized in her mind the moment she said his name. Those papers, what were they? Maizie’s gut told her they were nothing good. Annette had said Gray was meeting with Cadwick now. If she could reach Gray maybe he could use his business connection to get the wolf of a man to leave Granny and her land alone.

Maizie raced to the phone on the opposite side of the bed. The intercom buzzed and buzzed, but no one picked up. She couldn’t wait. She had to find a way to contact Gray before his meeting was over, a cell phone or pager number-something.

She ran full-out down the long halls, her footfalls echoing off the high ceilings and paneled walls. She found the enormous staircase leading to the foyer and took the steps three at a time. Tall entry doors in front of her, archway to parlors and living rooms to the right, Maizie turned to the wide double wood doors at her left.

She’d seen Annette emerge from this room the first day Gray had brought her to the mansion. She’d glimpsed bookshelves and thick carpeting behind her through the open door and a large oak desk. Had to be his home office.

She knocked first. No answer. She knocked harder, pounded, still no answer. Maizie tried the door. It clicked open and she slipped inside.

The desk she’d seen through the open door was the smaller of the two. Stacks of papers, open file folders and sticky notes covered the top, chaotic organization. Maizie guessed the desk belonged to Annette. There was a large flat-screen monitor in one corner that matched the one in the corner of the other, larger desk.

Maizie glanced at the larger sleek wood desk, neat and tidy with its dark leather desk set. She could almost see Gray sitting behind it, scowling as he scribbled notes or sent out important emails to one of his high-powered connections.

Her belly quivered, a smile pinching her cheeks. She tore her thoughts from silvery hair and hard muscles with decided effort. She circled around Annette’s desk and searched for an address book or a speed-dial button on the phone. There had to be some quick easy way for Annette to contact Gray.

Maizie reached for the phone in the opposite corner from the computer monitor when something on the desk caught her eye. An open letter, paper clipped to its envelope, the golden letterhead glinting in a stream of sunlight. She recognized the name, Judge Charles Woodsmen, from Granny’s Green Acres phone bill. The nursing home tracked both incoming and outgoing calls for security reasons.

She hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, figuring the guy was humping for reelection votes or something. Was it just a coincidence he knew Gray? She scanned the letter.

Gray,

Enclosed are the papers and procedures we discussed for gaining guardianship of Ester Hood. I spoke with her over the phone and I don’t foresee a problem supporting an argument for mental incompetence, provided there are no family members to protest your filing. Should such a dispute arise, I will of course fully examine their argument. In the meantime, as you surmised, you will retain full control of the holdings. All sales and transfers undertaken during this time will not be easily overturned. I hope this information is of use to you.

I look forward to our game on Sunday. I’ve got a new seven-iron I’m dying to try out.

Sincerely,

Chuck

Judge Charles Woodsmen

District Judge

Pittsburgh County Courts

Maizie couldn’t breathe. She swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her ears. She’d been right all along. Gray was after Granny’s land.

“What’s this?” Anthony Cadwick took the stack of papers from Gray, glancing every few minutes back to the crowd of reporters milling around the spot of his soon-to-be riverside restaurant.

“A copy of an amendment from the township zoning board, stating that the sale of property will be kept to a two-acre maximum for residential, eight acres for commercial. Passed at last night’s meeting. Unanimously.”