Jesus! First the pack leader—Michael—knocked up a human, and now Alec Kilcurt. Didn’t any of her fellow werewolves marry werewolves anymore?

“Dance, Jane?”

“I’d rather eat my own eyeballs,” she said moodily, not even looking to see who asked. Why was she going to her table, anyway? The reception wasn’t mandatory. Neither was the wedding. She’d just gone to be polite. And the time for that was done.

She turned on her heel and marched out. The goon at the door obligingly held it open. Which was just as well, ’cuz otherwise she’d have kicked it down.

Janet vastly preferred Boston in the spring, and as cities went, Boston was not awful. Parts of it—the harbor, the aquarium—were actually kind of cool.

Thinking of the New England Aquarium—all those fish, lobsters, squid, and sharks—made her stomach growl. She’d been too annoyed to eat lunch, and when she had walked out of the reception, she had also walked out on her supper.

She turned onto a side street, taking a shortcut to Legal Sea Foods, a restaurant that did not suck. She’d have a big bowl of clam chowder some raw oysters, a steak, and a lobster. And maybe something for dessert. And a drink. Maybe three.

A scent caught her attention, forcing a split-second decision. She turned onto another street, one much less crowded, curious to see if the men were going to keep following her.

They were. She hadn’t seen their faces, just caught their scents as they swung around to follow her on Park Street. They smelled like desperation and stale coffee grounds. She was well dressed and probably looked prosperous to them. Prime pickings.

She turned again, this time down a deserted alley. If the two would-be robbers thought they were keeping her from supper, they were out of their teeny, tiny minds. She could easily outrun them, but that would mean kicking off her high heels. The stupid pinchy shoes cost almost thirty bucks! She wasn’t leaving them in a Boston alley. If push came to shove, she’d bounce her stalkers off the bricks. Possibly more than once, the mood she was in.

“Halt, gentlemen.”

Janet jumped. A man was standing at the end of the alley, and she hadn’t known he was there until he spoke up. She hadn’t smelled him, even though he was upwind. When was the last time that had happened?