She sighed. "Just give up."
"Not yet."
Quinn sank down to his knees next to the bed so he and Barkley were at eye level. "I'm going to assume that you can understand me. So here's what we're going to do. One bark means yes and two barks mean no. Understand?"
"Woof."
Janie crossed her arms. "I don't believe this."
"Do you know where Angela is right now?"
"Woof."
"Is she here at the El Diablo?"
"Woofwoof ."
Quinn turned to Janie and raised an eyebrow. "See?"
"This is like twenty questions only much, much stupider."
"Not much of an optimist, are you?"
"Not even remotely."
He turned back to the wolf. "Is she in a hotel on the strip?"
That earned a positive woof.
He named off about ten casinos that were met with negative responses until he came to theParis casino.
That received a positive woof.
"She's at theParis ," Quinn told Janie.
She shook her head and gave another shaky sigh.
"You don't believe him?" he crossed his arms.
"It's not that I don't believe him," she said. "It's just… just that there's no time to waste on a wild goose chase. Maybe he means that she's actually inParis . As inFrance ."
Suddenly Barkley howled loudly and shot up on all four paws. Janie and Quinn exchanged a concerned look.
She took a step backward. "Is that a yes or a no?"
"Not sure."
Then Barkley collapsed on the bed, and in a matter of seconds his dark, shaggy, wolf-life form morphed into that of a human male.
A very naked human male.
He stretched full length out of the bed and, after a moment, propped himself up on an elbow. "I really wish I could figure out why that's happening. Because it's becoming rather inconvenient."
"So you have no control at all over it?" Quinn asked.
"None." He scratched his chest, which was covered in a fine layer of black hair, then sat up, swung his long legs over the side of the bed, and stood up.
"Uh… Janie," Quinn said. "We should probably go now."
But Janie wasn't looking at Quinn. Even with thoughts of her sister's imminent safety weighing heavy on her mind, she was enjoying the show a little more than she knew she should. She'd never seen a werewolf shift to human before, and Barkley wasn't all that hard on the eyes. She had to say that she preferred him in human form. It was much more… interesting.
"Janie," Quinn said again, louder. "Are you listening to me?"
"Yeah, of course. Go. We should go."
The werewolf had agreat body. Maybe it had been much too long since she'd seen a naked man up close and personal. Everything still seemed to be in the right places. Her gaze traveled down the length of his tall, leanly muscled body.
Yes, very, very nice.
"Janie," Quinn repeated more sharply. "Let's go find your sister."
Janie snapped back to reality and blinked hard. "Right. My sister."
Quinn glared at Barkley. "Put some clothes on."
He shrugged and seemed completely unaffected by being nude in mixed company. "I'm coming with you.
Just give me a minute to find some jeans."
"You want to come?"
"Dude, Angela is my soul mate. The mate of my soul. As soon as she sees me, I know she's going to feel the same way. My psychic connection to her is that strong. That doesn't happen just every day, you know." He turned to look at Janie and raised an eyebrow. "Janie, that dress is smoking. Maybeyou're my soul mate. Damn, you're beautiful." He shook his head. "Sorry. I can't help it. I'm always horny when
I shift back to human form."
Janie raised an eyebrow and glanced at Quinn, who looked utterly annoyed.
"Clothes?" Quinn snapped. "Now?"
"All right, all right."
Barkley ran into the bathroom and was finished dressing in about thirty seconds flat. He held Janie's were-loom necklace out to her.
"Thought you'd like this back." He grinned. "I think it was really helpful."
She took it from him gratefully and put it back on around her neck, where it belonged. It didn't exactly go with the dress—diamonds and gold would have been the more logical choice—but she immediately felt a bit better having it back on.