^“You wait out here.”

I pushed Aidan out of the bathroom into the hallway, and shut the door playfully in his face. He’d been spying on me in the tub without my permission. That scoundrel. I knew I’d heard something outside the window. Maybe he was being protective and watching out for me. But still. So embarrassing.

I slipped on my robe, pulled my hair up into a neat chignon, and checked my reflection in the mirror. My face, scrubbed clean of makeup, wasn’t glamorous. I had a light dusting of freckles across my nose that stood out when I blushed. And I blushed a lot since I met Aidan.

After I pulled myself together, I came out of the bathroom and found Aidan sitting at the top of the stairwell, hunched over in pain. He pressed the washcloth to his tender wound. I could tell it hurt him more than he let on.

I still felt shaky and my mind spun in circles. That bear shifter had broken into my home and tried to kill me. Why me? It made no logical sense. I sat down next to Aidan on the top of the stairs and leaned into the smooth oak railing.

“I don’t know what I did to piss that guy off. What did I ever do to him?”

Aidan drew in a deep breath. “Shifters know that the fastest way to injure someone is to hurt the ones they love.”

“Love?” My eyes widened. We’d just met. I knew about insta-love, but that was taking things a little too far.

“Or want to protect,” he corrected himself quickly. “When that shifter smelled your pheromones on me, it was like you’d marked me sexually with your scent. He was going to have you one way or another. I’m just glad I got here in time.”

“Me, too,” I swallowed hard, and tried not to look at him. Aidan looked so handsome in the glow of the moonlight coming in through the hallway skylight. And his smell, oh goodness me. He smelled sexy, like a mixture of light cologne and his masculine scent all rolled into one. Being so close to him made it hard for me to form a coherent sentence.

“I know you want to take care of things yourself, vigilante justice and all. But this is not the pioneer days. We have laws for a reason. Seems like there should be some kind of protocol for dealing with guys like that,” I said evenly.

Aidan shook his head. “You mean put him in a cage.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“What do you think your prisons are?”

I smirked at him. I’d spent a lot of years in school and dug myself deep into student loan debt so I could be an attorney. I didn’t like the lack of respect he showed my profession. If I wasn’t so damn scared after that crazy bear shifter attack, I might have shown him the door. But the truth was, Aidan made me feel safe in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.

“Are you hungry?” I said, changing the subject. “I made a stew in the crockpot this morning, and I can’t eat it all.”

“Does it have vegetables in it?”

“Yes,” I laughed. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“I’m a carnivore, sweetheart. Yes, I have a problem with vegetables.”

“You’ll live.”

I led him downstairs to my small eat-in kitchen on the first floor. It was an efficiency, with a tiny apartment-sized stove, a half-sized fridge, and a few folding chairs placed around a card table in place of a dining table. In the corner of the space, a stack of banker boxes stretched almost to the ceiling. I’d had so much work since I got to Alaska, I hadn’t had time to unpack, let alone decorate.

“I like your place,” he smiled.

I laughed. I couldn’t tell if he was lying or if he was just being polite. I’d heard shifters were honest, to a fault, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

“Thanks.”

I heated up two bowls of stew in the microwave, and made some hot cocoa for myself. It was almost midnight now, but I felt more awake than ever. The way he looked at me sent a tingle up my spine. How did he do that?

He excited me, and at the same time, he made me feel so protected. When the bear shifter came up the stairs, I immediately hoped Aidan would save me. How was it possible I’d only known Aidan one fricking day?

“What are you thinking about?” he smiled. His icy blue eyes sparkled in the soft light of the overhead pendant lamp. I considered lighting the tapered candle in the center of the table, but that gesture seemed a little too forward.

“I was just replaying the events of the day in my head. I can’t help but wonder if this bear shifter was the one who killed Charlotte Smith. I mean, he could have been, right? If I could establish that he did it, I could exonerate Chase Reynolds.”

Aidan sighed. “That’s what Jameson thought, too. But, I say probably not. The bear shifter was skinny, hungry, and weak when I saw him. Looked like he’d just come out of hibernation within the last week or two. Charlotte was killed a month ago. I’m sure that bear shifter was asleep when the girl was murdered.”

“That was him weak? He looked pretty damn strong to me.”

Aidan’s eyes softened and he laughed. I liked the way they crinkled when he smiled. “If he’d been at full strength, I wouldn’t have been able to kill him, no matter how hard I tried. A wolf shifter alone can’t take down a bear. That’s why we travel in packs.”

“But you came alone tonight?” I took a sip of my still warm hot cocoa. The chocolate tasted smooth and delicious as it slid down my throat.

Aidan sighed. “Not all shifters approve of us fraternizing with humans. They think it exposes us to too much danger. They think we should keep to ourselves.” He rubbed his temples. “I could get a lot of flak coming to your rescue like this, especially since I have the pack to protect.”

“What’s the point of being alpha if you can’t make your own decisions?”

“It’s not that simple. Yes, I’m the only alpha of our pack. But Alaska is divided into regions, and there are as many types of shifters as you can imagine. Bears, obviously…” his voice trailed.

“Obviously,” I said.

“Let me think of how to explain it in human terms.” He paused thoughtfully. “I’m like the mayor of my little town. That’s what a pack leader is. But there are lots of packs, and then above us is the Governor. And the above that…”

“I get the picture.” I took another sip of my cocoa. It’d gotten cold, but I didn’t want to stop the flow of my conversation with Aidan to go warm it up. “So, what you’re saying is that the higher-ups wouldn’t approve of…us.”

Silence lingered between our bodies as he looked at me thoughtfully.

“Yes, they would be upset if they knew I came to protect you while the pack was vulnerable.” He bit his lip. “They were upset with Chase for his involvement with Charlotte Smith. They said he brought trouble to the pack by dating her, and it put us all in danger.”

It was finally sinking in. Aidan had risked so much to protect me. I didn’t know how to thank him, or if he knew what it meant to me. I wasn’t used to men coming to my rescue. This shifter was more sensitive and romantic than any human I’d ever known.

Talking to him like this over a meal felt so easy. I laid my hand on the table, and played with my soup spoon for a moment. His strong hand settled over the top of mine and he brushed my skin smoothly with his fingertips. Being here with him made me forget about the loneliness, and how long it had been since a man had satisfied me. My feelings for Aidan were fast, but they felt so right.

I stretched my arms lazily over my head. My belly was overly full from the late-night meal, and I suddenly felt very drowsy.

“I have to work in the morning. I should probably go to bed now. So…”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Aidan smiled at me.

“Excuse me?” I laughed. Damn, he was sexy. And persistent, too. Not that I minded. He scooted his chair closer to mine, so that our sides almost touched. His arm settled around my waist and he pulled me towards him. My heart pounded quickly in my chest and my throat suddenly went dry. I’d never kissed a shifter before. Was it the same as kissing a human?

Aidan stroked my cheek with his fingertips, and gently lifted my chin upwards towards his chiseled jaw. I licked my lips before he dipped his head towards me and brushed his mouth against mine. His kiss felt so smooth and silky. He kissed me with a tenderness I hadn’t anticipated, and I leaned in for more. I sighed and his mouth sealed against my trembling lip, his tongue dancing along the seam. His kiss was assertive and passionate, yet also tender. It was the kind of kiss that left me quivering, turning me on wildly and making me forget everything that had happened upstairs.

He tenderly pushed back the fine hairs framing my face and cupped my cheeks gently in his hands. He sealed his lips over mine again, and I couldn’t help notice the taste of mint laced with his sweet, hot breath. His lips felt so good; I wanted nothing more than to kiss him back.

I was right. Kissing a shifter was nothing like kissing a human. It was so much better…