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a quick look at her to see her framed in her
    doorway. She looked so fragile and beautiful. He wanted to kiss her so badly that he could
    already taste those full, tempting lips. But more than that, he wanted to taste the rest of her
    body. He wanted to know every scent and curve of her flesh...
    His hormones were playing havoc with him. His entire body felt as if it were on fire and
    alive. He wasn't sure how to cope with this. In truth, it frightened him. If he were to lose
    control, he could easily hurt or even kill her.
    In his mind, he could envision her naked. See her underneath him as he claimed her not
    as an animal, but as a man…
    Leave!
    He had no choice. He didn't belong here and he didn't belong with her.
    There was no place where he did belong. No matter how much he might want
    otherwise, there never would be. His life had to be spent alone.
    Marguerite forced herself not to react to Wren's hot, devouring stare. She'd never been
    so interested in any man, especially not one who she really had no idea what he looked like.
    It was ludicrous and yet there was no denying the way her body felt. She should have at
    least asked for his number or e-mail.
    He got into the taxi and slammed the door shut with a finality that echoed through her.
    Marguerite watched the cab drive away as she felt an inexplicable urge to call Wren
     
    back. There was something so lonely about him that it had reached out and touched her
    deeply.
    But it was too late now. He was gone. And she would most likely never see him again.
    As Wren paid the driver only a block away from Maggie's condo, he was starting to
    sweat from the effort of remaining in human form. He had to get out of here and back
    home ASAP. If he lost consciousness as a human, he would immediately turn into his true
    state. And the last thing he needed was to be passed out in large-cat form.
    That would be a one-way ticket to a government lab somewhere. He'd seen enough
    episodes ofX-FilesandBuffyto know that was the last place he wanted to be.
    Ducking into a dark shadow behind a garage, he flashed himself back to Peltier House
    and into Carson Whitethunder's examination room.
    A Were-Hawk,Carson was the resident vet and doctor for all the nonhuman inhabitants
    of Nicolette Peltier's Sanctuary—of which there were many. Sanctuary had been set up a
    little over a hundred years ago to be a haven for any and all species. The Peltiers
    themselves were Were-Bears, while the rest of the inhabitants were leopards, panthers,
    wolves, and even a dragon. The only species missing from their ranks was the jackal, but
    then jackals were even more peculiar than the normal oddballs that made up their race. And
    as such, jackals usually stayed away from the other Were-Hunter branches.
    As was typical,Carson was in his office, reading a medical text Native American in
    human form, which was due to his human father, Carson had long black hair that was
    always worn pulled back with a western tie. His black brows slashed above eyes that were
    a peculiar hazel green. Tonight he was dressed in a dark green turtleneck, blazer, and jeans.
    Wren walked over and tapped on the door's glass before he pushed it open.
    Carsonglanced up. "Hang on a sec, Wren."
    Wren tried, but his legs buckled. An instant later, he flashed to his true form of half
     
    white tiger, half snow leopard. It was something that disgusted him. Normally, he picked
    one form or the other, but wounded…
    This was all he could manage.
    Carsongot up with a curse and rushed over to Wren. "What happened?"
    Wren couldn't respond. He was trying to stay conscious, but the instantCarson
    touched his wound and pain shot through him, everything went black.
    Carsoncursed again as he saw the blood that completely coated the underside of
    Wren's chest. He grabbed the Nextel phone off his desk and paged his assistant "Margie,
    get up here to the lab. It looks like Wren's been shot."
    Carsonalso paged a couple of the bears from downstairs to