Roarke glanced at Abby, whose eyes were huge with distress. “It’ll be fine,” he said gently. “Just get some clothes on and we’ll go.”

“Not without Donald.”

“No, not without Donald. We’ll get him out, too.”

“Okay, then.” She scooped up the clothes she’d so recently taken off and hurried into the bathroom.

Roarke rounded on Aidan. “Could you have maybe done that without the drama? You scared her to death.”

“She needs to be scared. Gentry’s sure that she’s cracked the werewolf code and his solution is to put her under permanent house arrest for her protection and ours.”

“The hell with that shit.”

“He’s lining up support, Roarke. He’s consulted with several pack alphas and they all believe that he has no choice. She’s a security risk. Even our own father has reluctantly agreed that something has to be done, and this is the temporary solution until a better one can be found.”

“Gentry couldn’t get away with keeping her prisoner. Her grandfather would move heaven and earth to find her, and he’d start here.”

“He’s already been here.”

“What?”

“He showed up early tonight. Gentry wasn’t here, of course, because he was out collecting Abby and Donald, but the housekeeper reported that Earl was worried that he shouldn’t have been so free with the information about your trip with Abby.”

Roarke blew out a breath. “That was my mistake for not telling him to keep it quiet.”

“What’s done is done, so don’t beat yourself up. Anyway, Gentry called Earl once he returned with Abby. Got the guy out of bed with the news that the two of you had abandoned the Sasquatch hunt and eloped to Vegas.”

Roarke laughed. “Earl’s too smart to believe that.”

“It seems that soon afterward, you sent him an email confirming it.”

“I couldn’t have. My BlackBerry was in the…” Roarke crossed quickly to the pile of camping gear, but after rummaging through it twice he had to conclude that his BlackBerry was in Gentry’s evil clutches. “Okay, so he might be able to fool Earl for awhile, but Abby has a bunch of family members in Phoenix. When she doesn’t get back when she’s supposed to, they’ll start investigating.”

“Not if they get emails from her BlackBerry saying that she’s in love and she’s flying with you to New York to meet her new in-laws. He has her BlackBerry now, too.”

Roarke wanted to throw something. “Doesn’t he know I won’t let him keep her locked up?” Or worse. Roarke could imagine Gentry arranging for an accident to befall Abby while she was under his protection.

“He’s counting on pressure from the rest of the Were community to keep you in line.” Aidan studied him. “Unless you’d like to lay claim to her yourself, and settle this?”

God, that was tempting, but he would never coerce Abby like that. “And then what? Hold her prisoner in New York, instead? That’s still wrong. You fought for Emma’s freedom.”

“Because I knew, from all that I’d learned about her, that she was trustworthy. I’d had her under surveillance for months, remember? You’ve known Abby a matter of days.”

Roarke realized that was true, and yet it seemed he’d known her far longer. Logically, Aidan had a point, but in his gut Roarke knew he could trust Abby. Convincing Aidan wouldn’t be easy, though.

“Couldn’t we just tell Gentry that we’re taking Abby to New York and we’ll accept responsibility for her?”

“Number one, he wouldn’t just let us go because he doesn’t trust us to do the right thing. He doesn’t approve of the freedom the Wallaces have given Emma, let alone an unknown person like Abby. Second of all, if you took Abby back home, our father would put her under lock and key, too. He doesn’t have any more reason to trust her than Gentry does.”

“Except his son’s word that she won’t betray us.”

“In order to get that blessing, you’ll have to take her back there, and I’m telling you, Gentry won’t just let her go. We’ll have to force the issue.”

Roarke gazed at his brother. “So what is going to happen after we bust her out of here?”

Aidan met his gaze. “I’m leaving that up to you.”

Roarke realized that although Aidan didn’t have reason to trust Abby, he was willing to trust him. That was a hell of a lot of responsibility. He took a deep breath. “Thanks, bro.”

“Roarke…” Aidan hesitated. “We could make this escape a lot better as Weres.”

“Yeah, but Abby and Donald couldn’t keep up with us.”

“I’m not thinking of the running part. I’m thinking of the fighting part.”

Roarke glanced at the bathroom doorway. “Don’t tell Abby there might be fighting.”

“I won’t, but we both know it could happen.”

“We can’t shift. I’ve promised Abby we’ll get Donald out, and he can’t see us in wolf form.”

Aidan looked at him. “So we’ll blindfold him.”

“And we’ll tell him we’re doing this because…”

“Because…it’s the only way he’s getting out of here and he has to trust us that it’s the best thing.”

Roarke frowned at him.

“Hey, don’t expect me to come up with all the answers. Maybe Abby will have an idea.”

“For what?” Abby walked out of the bathroom dressed in her rumpled hiking clothes.

Roarke turned to her. “Giving Donald a good reason why we need to blindfold him.”

“Why blindfold him at all? That’ll create a serious problem for the poor guy.”

“Because Aidan and I will be most effective for this escape if we operate as wolves. Our senses will be sharper.”

Abby stood with her hands on her hips, her gaze thoughtful. “All right. I’ll tell Donald we’re making our escape with the help of two very large, very protective dogs, which are…part wolf. That way you don’t have to blindfold him.”

Roarke wasn’t crazy about masquerading as a domesticated dog, but losing the blindfold would mean they wouldn’t be leading Donald around all the time. “And where did these dogs come from all of a sudden?”

“They’re mine, but Grandpa Earl’s been keeping them up here for me until I had a place big enough for them in Arizona. They dug under the fence and tracked me here.”

Aidan nodded. “It’s flimsy, but it might work, and I have to admit it’s an improvement over the blindfold. Abby, if you don’t mind turning around, I need to take off my clothes.”

“Wait, bro,” Roarke said. “We don’t have a plan.”

“Sure, we do. We shift, use the tunnels to get Donald, and leave.”

“On foot? Or in our case, on paws?”

“Of course not. I rented a Town Car, which is sitting in the circular drive. We sneak around to that and make our getaway—people in the front, wolves in the back.”

Abby glanced at the dim light filtering through the curtains. “We’re running out of darkness to sneak in.”

“I know,” Aidan said. “But that can’t be helped.”

Roarke stared at her bright red hair. “I wish you had a hat. That hair is like a beacon.”

“Well, I don’t, and borrowing Donald’s neon green hat isn’t going to help matters.” She looked at Aidan. “I’ll drive the Town Car. Donald will be a nervous wreck by then.”

Aidan reached in the pocket of his slacks and handed her the keys. “I hope you’re as cool under fire as you appear to be, Abby Winchell.”

“Don’t worry. I am.”

“She absolutely is.” Roarke took off his watch and gave it to her. “I don’t want to leave this.”

“Good point.” Aidan took off his and handed it to Abby as well.

She looked at Aidan’s watch. “I suppose yours is as pricey as Roarke’s.”

“Not quite, but close.”

“So I’m going to be carrying two timepieces with a combined value of a million and a half smackers?”

Aidan nodded. “Close enough.”

“Cool.” She put one on each wrist and pulled her sleeves down to cover them.

“Oh.” Aidan handed her his BlackBerry. “If you’ll keep this for me, too, I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure thing.” She tucked it in the pocket of her jacket.

“I just thought of another complication,” Roarke said. “There’s the not-so-tiny matter of the Sasquatch. I left them in a cave and they’ll stay there until I come to get them.”

“That’s handled,” Aidan said. “I contacted the Seattle pack and they’re sending a helicopter to the Portland-Hillsboro airport. The pilot will await our instructions.”

Roarke wondered if he’d ever truly appreciated the strategic skills of his older brother before. “I owe you one, Aidan.”

“And never doubt I’ll collect. Okay, we need to move out. Abby, if you wouldn’t mind turning your back, I’m going to strip.”

“Hold it.” Irrational though it was, Roarke rebelled at having Abby in the same room with any naked man other than him. “Go into the bathroom. I’ll shift out here.”

Aidan shrugged. “If you say so.” He went into the bathroom, but didn’t close the door all the way.

Roarke took note. Aidan had more experience at shifting in front of humans than he did. Aidan could teach him some things about conducting human-werewolf love affairs. But that would only be necessary if Roarke pursued such an activity.

Abby stood there watching, obviously waiting to see how he planned to handle this. “Are you going to make me turn my back?” she asked.

Roarke began taking off his clothes. “Maybe, under the circumstances, I should give you the choice.” Anxiety gripped him at the thought of shifting in front of her, but she deserved to make that decision.

“Then I choose to watch. I’ve seen you as a man and a wolf. I want to know what happens when you go from man to wolf. And vice-versa, when it comes to that.”

“All right.” He hesitated in the act of shucking his clothes as he thought of something he needed to say. Soon he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. “I want you to promise me something.”

“Depends on what it is.”

Roarke sighed. She was so damned independent, but then, that was one of the things he lo– Nope, wouldn’t use that word. “Here’s the deal. No matter what happens while we’re trying to escape, just worry about yourself.”

“I can’t promise that.”

He glared at her. “I mean it Abby. Aidan and I will be fine. Donald’s a survivor and Gentry doesn’t want him, anyway. You’re the target. Get away the minute you—” Roarke paused as the bathroom door swung open.

His brother came out, and the look in his golden eyes needed no interpretation. Clearly Roarke was holding up the show. Aidan’s dark, silver-tipped fur seemed to glow in the light from the bedside lamps as he moved toward Abby and Roarke.

Abby’s eyes widened as she stared at Aidan. “Amazing. Truly amazing.”

Roarke chickened out and headed for the bathroom now that it was available. This wasn’t the time to put on a demonstration for Abby, especially with Aidan there. She might freak out and they didn’t need that. Or more precisely, he didn’t need that. His nerves were stretched thin as it was, because he wasn’t convinced Abby would do everything possible to save herself. Lying on the bathroom floor, he initiated the shift.

* * *

Aidan led the way through the tunnels, pausing every few feet to sniff the air. Abby buried her fingers in Roarke’s thick pelt and held on as they navigated the dark passageway. Touching his warm fur helped ground her and reminded her that this wasn’t a crazy dream.

She’d wanted to watch Roarke change into his wolf form, but maybe that was best left to a more private moment, assuming they had another one of those. If she had anything to say about it, they would. Two people—or rather, a person and a werewolf—who shared such intense experiences couldn’t just break off the relationship and go on as if they were nothing to each other.

Roarke might not want to mate with her because of her handicap of being human, but she thought that was a highly prejudiced viewpoint. If she could overlook his shape-shifting, he could overlook her lack of the ability to grow fur at will. She was prepared to tell him exactly that once he was in a form that allowed for proper discussion.

For now she was grateful for his strong, calming presence in this subterranean maze. The tunnels were cold and damp, but the wolf padding next to her radiated warmth and protection. She figured that he and Aidan were using telepathy to communicate, because Aidan seemed to know where to find Donald’s room.

Aidan sniffed the floor, too, as if retracing Roarke’s earlier trail. When Aidan stopped and sat, Abby figured they’d reached the right set of stairs.

She could barely make them out in the darkness, so she used her hands to feel her way up as she had the first time. As she climbed, she rehearsed the big fat lie she was about to tell Donald. She was counting on his fear to make him willing to believe anything that would promise him a way out of this spooky place.

Rapping softly on the revolving panel, she heard a little yelp of fear from inside the bedroom. She pushed the panel open a couple of inches. “Donald, it’s me. Can I come in?”

“Abby!” The panel flew open and Donald dragged her into the room. “How’s your leg? I should have asked that before.”

“Much better. The antibiotics really helped. The bleeding’s stopped and the swelling’s down. I can walk fine.”

“Good, good.” Donald was fully dressed and every light in the room was on. “Abby, I have a theory about the people living in this place. Gentry and the rest.”

Her pulse skittered. Now was not the time for Donald to get smart. “You do?”

“Yeah. You may have figured it out, since Gentry seems to think you know something you’re not supposed to.”

“Yes, but I really don’t know anything.” Abby groaned inwardly. She hadn’t anticipated Donald stumbling onto the truth.

“Okay, then I’ll tell you what we’re dealing with, so you’re prepared.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They’re vampires.”

“Vampires?” Abby almost laughed, she was so relieved.

“Keep your voice down. You don’t want them to think we suspect. But it all fits, with Gentry being so secretive and staying up until all hours of the night. I’ll bet the tunnels are filled with coffins.” He looked very proud of himself for coming up with that.

“I don’t know if you’re right or not,” Abby said, “but I think I can get us out of here, if you want to make a run for it.”

“God, yes! I don’t want to be their next meal, do you? I mean, snakes are scary, but vampires are worse.”

“Just so you know, I haven’t encountered a single snake in my travels through the tunnels.”

“That’s good to know, but I’ll go, anyway.”

“Okay.” Abby reviewed her story quickly in her head. “I’m not sure if you realize that the Gentrys and my grandfather are neighbors.”

Donald’s color started returning. “You mean we could escape to your grandfather’s place?”

“Maybe.

“Would we be safe there?”

“Temporarily, at least, until we decide what to do. Anyway, here’s my idea. We use my dogs to help us get out of here.”

“You have dogs?”

“Yes. I’ve been keeping them at Grandpa Earl’s until I had a place for them in Phoenix. They dug out of their enclosure and tracked me over here. They got into my room through the tunnels.”

“Wow. Smart dogs.”

Abby nodded. “Big dogs. They’re part wolf and they’re very protective. With those two dogs to guard us, I think we can find our way out of here and make a getaway.”

“On foot? I’m not a very fast runner.”

She realized this was where the story got really dicey. “I managed to get the keys to a Town Car that’s sitting out in front of the house.”

Donald didn’t bat an eye. “Excellent.”

She relaxed a little. Donald was scared shitless and wouldn’t question anything she told him. “So, let’s go.”

“Wait. What about Roarke? Is he still here? We can’t leave him. I know he’s a big strong guy, but vampires have superhuman strength. He’d be no match for them if they decided to sink their fangs into his neck.”

She admired Donald’s loyalty, but wished he hadn’t started thinking again. “Uh…Roarke’s going ahead, to clear the way for us. He told me to take the Town Car, you, and the dogs. He’s meeting up with us later.” She gazed at Donald hopefully. Please don’t question that unlikely scenario.

Thankfully, Donald nodded. “Just so you two have it all worked out. Roarke’s a good guy, and I would hate to see him drained by a blood-sucker, or worse yet, be turned into one.”

“We won’t let that happen. Ready to go?”

Donald straightened his shoulders. “Let’s blow this taco stand, kid.”

“Follow me. My dogs are waiting at the foot of the stairs. And close the revolving panel after you. We need to be as secretive as possible.” She started down the narrow stairs backwards, so that she could feel for each step with the toe of her hiking boot.

Donald came after her, his feet slipping on the stone. “Vampires don’t have trouble with these stairs because they can see in the dark.”

“Guess so.”

“What are your dogs’ names?”

Her brain stalled. Of course her cherished pets would have names, and she couldn’t very well call them Roarke and Aidan. Whatever lame choice she made, the Weres at the bottom of the steps would hear and probably hate whatever she picked.

No point in agonizing over it. “Spot and Rover.”

Muffled groans came from the two wolves waiting for her.

“I hear them down there.” Donald edged down the stairs on his hands and knees. “This is like those old Lassie movies, you know? Where the dog saves little Timmy who’s trapped in the well.”

“Uh-huh.” When she reached the bottom of the steps, the tunnel seemed very dark after being in Donald’s room. That might be a good thing, because she couldn’t see the look Roarke probably was giving her as he stood and shook. She took hold of his ruff. “Hey, Rover, how’re you doing, boy? Ready to lead us out of here?”

Roarke let out a martyred sigh, and despite the desperate situation they were in, Abby wanted to laugh. She didn’t, because Donald wouldn’t get the joke.

Donald reached the bottom of the stairs and fumbled around until he made contact with Aidan. I’ve found one of your dogs. Which one is this?”

“That would be Spot.”

“He feels pretty big. How much does he weigh?”

“I, ah, haven’t taken him to the vet recently. Maybe around two-twenty, two-thirty.”

“They’re really serious dogs, huh?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, I’m holding onto Spot, and he’s very quiet, even when I scratch behind his ears. I don’t think he’s even wagging his tail.”

Abby doubted that Roarke or Aidan would oblige with some doggie tail wagging. “It’s the wolf part of their breeding. They’re too cool to do that.”

“I can’t feel a collar or tag, either.”

“I keep telling Grandpa Earl to put those on, but he knows they don’t like them.”

“Dogs should wear collars and tags, in case they get lost.”

“Yes, I know.” Abby tried not to be impatient. Obviously dogs that had found her locked up in Gentry’s house weren’t going to get lost. But since the whole thing was made-up, it wasn’t worth pointing that out to Donald. They were legitimate comments and she had to keep up the dog charade or risk Donald finding out he was in the tunnel with two werewolves. “But since these dogs don’t have collars on, just grab Spot’s ruff and he’ll lead you toward the exit. If he stops to sniff the floor or the air, let him do that.”

“O-kay. Spot has a really nice coat.” Aidan started off towing Donald with Roarke and Abby following behind.

She wondered what Aidan and Roarke were saying to each other telepathically. No doubt they were griping about being called Spot and Rover. Maybe they would have preferred Thor and Hercules, but it was too late now.

Thinking about dog names helped keep her from giving way to panic, because this was damned scary, walking slowly through the dank tunnels. Although she’d only seen movies about night patrols during war, this felt like those moments in the film where soldiers crept along, knowing the enemy was all around them, and at any moment a flash of light would—

Aidan growled.

Abby’s knees trembled as Roarke pulled away from her and moved up beside Aidan, shouldering Donald out of the way.

Donald retreated to stand very close to Abby, and his voice shook. “What is it?”

“Don’t know.”

“They sense something they don’t like.”

“Yeah.”

She strained to see into the darkness ahead of them. A grinding, squeaking sound made her jump, and then light filtered into the tunnel from some sort of doorway. It was pale, early morning light, and the air that blew in was scented with mint and rain.

But the door hadn’t opened by itself. Roarke and Aidan stood, shoulder to shoulder, hackles raised, growls rumbling low in their throats. Slowly they advanced, stiff-legged, heads down, ears back.

Abby followed, but a quick glance to her left told her Donald was still back there. She turned around and motioned him forward.

“Maybe we should wait,” he said.

“That’s the way out, Donald. The dogs are going to help us get through it.” She didn’t know how they’d make it, but if Roarke and Aidan were advancing, so was she.

The escape route beckoned them, but when they were almost there, a shadow moved across the opening. A wolf stood silhouetted against the early morning light.

Donald pulled back with a moan of fright. “It’s…another…d-dog.”

Abby didn’t answer. Instead she focused all her attention on Roarke and Aidan. She could almost feel their hindquarters bunch. Snarling, they leapt in unison.

“Now!” Grabbing Donald’s arm, she hurtled after them.