It's bad enough the entire archeology community thinks they're "crackpots," but after her professor suffers a medical emergency, Penny Redfern finds herself alone at the dig with their handsome wilderness guide. Suddenly she has a lot more on her mind than searching for a suspected Viking longship in the Far North of Alaska. Wolf Weiss can't help but lust after the gorgeous Penny, but his sense of professionalism keeps him politely distant. Plus, it's a full moon, that time of the month for Wolf to howl with the pack. Not even the midnight sun will halt his urge to shift. He can't let Penny find out he's a shape-shifter--or can he? Will the free-spirited Penny find Wolf's animal magnetism too strong to resist?
"You can't leave me alone with her. Not for an entire week."
Wolfgang Weiss pulled off his ever-present mirror sunglasses and stared at his best friend and business partner. He felt sorely tempted to throttle Dave, but standing just outside their tent was neither the time nor the place. They had a reputation to uphold. Even in the Far North of Alaska, word got around quickly as to whom could be trusted to escort your scientific team. They had a huge business loan to repay, and Wolf had outstanding college loans as well. Calling an expedition short could ruin their chances of ever making it in the cutthroat world of wilderness guides.
"Wolf, be serious," Dave Rostenkowski said with a smile. "Penny is not a walrus. She's a sweet kid—even if she acts a bit Loony Tunes at times. We'll be back before you know it. Enjoy yourselves."
"But why do you need to accompany the professor to Nome? Surely the paramedics can get her into the chopper and to the hospital in one piece without you?"
Dave shrugged. "They could, but then my uncle would kill me for not being there for Aunt Bev when she woke up from surgery or needed a transfusion or something. She's like what…sixty? She's getting up there, you know. Even if it turns out to be a routine appendectomy, things can go wrong."
Yeah, like this whole ill-fated adventure.
Wolf kept his face composed, but inside he was seething. Dave knew the full moon began this week. Even in the almost twenty-four hours of daylight of an Alaskan summer, the lunar phase would trigger his…change. Being alone with Beverly Rostenkowski's voluptuous blonde undergrad assistant would only make things worse. Living in the wilderness was bad enough at times, but he got super horny during the later part of his cycle—and temptation was sleeping a yurt away…
"I know this isn't what you signed up for, buddy, but them's the breaks." Dave gave Wolf a pat on the back and turned to retrieve his backpack. "I wish Doctors Forrester and Frank hadn't bugged out early for that emergency climate change conference, but what can you say to Nobel prize-nominated climatologists?"
"How about, Pay us in full upfront?"
Dave chuckled. "Yeah, duly noted for next time we're wowed by a big name celebrity scientist. When we agreed to take on Auntie Bev and Penny for their archeological survey in the same period, there was a risk of one or the other group having to leave before the full six weeks contracted was up. We need the money, so let's keep Penny happy so she can finish her survey, get her doctorate, and thank us with great recommendations in the future."
Wolf gritted his teeth and sighed. "I hate it when you act so damn reasonable."
"One of us has to be the adult, right? You should try it sometime." Dave hefted his backpack onto his back and took a step closer to Wolf, lowering his volume. "I'll do my best to return before the full moon. Just hang in there. If you have to…change…go run out onto the beach and howl your head off toward the sea. Penny seems to be a sound sleeper—she hasn't complained about Aunt Bev's snoring."
Wolf laughed. "If we can hear it from our yurt, then it's gotta be deafening in the same tent. Maybe Penny is stone deaf?"
