Read Online Alaskan Sanctuary by Teri Wilson - Free Book Online

bring him onstage, on a lead, near the end of the dance.
    It would be adorable. The townspeople would love it.
    Best of all, it would draw a huge amount of attention to both the ballet school and the wolf sanctuary. Posy had just mentioned that the school was struggling. She could use some new students. And the rescued wolves could use all the positive attention they could get.
    It would be perfect.
    Wouldn’t it?
    Of course Piper thought it was a precious idea. But Posy might think she’d lost her mind. Ethan most certainly would.
    This has nothing whatsoever to do with that man.
    With one notable exception. Along with being a great public relations opportunity for the ballet school and the wolf sanctuary, helping out with Posy’s recital would give Piper something to think about other than Ethan Hale.
    Her gaze met Posy’s and held. “I might have an idea.”
    * * *
    Ethan didn’t intend to get to the wolf sanctuary a full hour before Piper expected him. He didn’t aim to get there early at all, lest she mistakenly think her reprimand for his tardiness the day before carried any weight whatsoever. He’d planned on arriving right at eight-thirty. No earlier, no later.
    But at six in the morning, the very minute the early edition of the Yukon Reporter hit newsstands, his cell phone had begun ringing. An hour and a half later, it still hadn’t stopped.
    He’d resorted to putting it on vibrate so he could have a moment of peace as he drove to the wolf sanctuary. He needed a minute—or ten—to collect himself before he embarked on another day as Piper Quinn’s assistant.
    Assistant. Right. Slave labor was a more accurate description. He’d tossed and turned more than once during the night, wondering what delightful task she had in store for him today. Worry. Anxiety. Dread. Those had to be the reasons for his sleeplessness. He refused to believe it had anything to do with the fact that every time he closed his eyes, he saw Piper’s exquisite face, sapphire eyes sparkling with life, her flaxen hair whipping in the wind. She had such an animated spirit that even the air around her refused to stand still. Snow flurries danced. The boughs of the evergreens waved as she walked past. It was as if nature were every bit as enamored with her as she was with it.
    Not Ethan. He was irritated, not enamored. Not by any stretch. Definitely irritated. Possibly intrigued. But that’s where his feelings stopped, sleepless nights notwithstanding.
    He scowled at his phone buzzing away in the cup holder of his SUV. Lou had already called three times, as had pretty much every columnist and reporter at the office. Ethan had never been on the receiving end of so much effusive praise.
    He should be happy. His work was getting the sort of attention he’d wanted since he’d given up his park ranger days for a cubicle in a newsroom. Correction: this was the amount of attention he’d wished for. The nature of the accolades was another story.
    His column wasn’t newsworthy. It was scandalous. The feud between the “reporter and the wolf lady” was suddenly all that the people of Aurora were talking about it. According to Lou, it was on the tip of every tongue in the Land of the Midnight Sun, from the frozen shores of the Chukchi Sea to Sitka, near the southernmost tip of the state. Ethan’s newspaper account of his first day on the job had only added fuel to the fire.
    Readers were thrilled. Lou was thrilled. Ethan should have been thrilled.
    He wasn’t. Not quite. Because it had suddenly occurred to him that he was no longer writing the news. He was the news. And that didn’t sit well.
    Even worse, he should have seen this coming. He should have realized that instead of signing on to write a series of articles about a dangerous situation that posed a threat to the community, he’d actually agreed to pen what amounted to a gossip column. About himself, no less.
    All the red flags had been there. They still were. When he’d sat down