I’d lain awake all night as Declan snored beside me. My mind refused to shut down as the ramifications of yesterday’s events rolled through my mind.

My mother attacked the Pack in their own territory. What could she have hoped to gain from it?

The assailant hadn’t targeted any one person specifically, but he hadn’t held back either.

Had he been ordered to kill whoever he could get his hands on? Had she ordered me dead if he could reach me?

The thought brought a chill to my bones.

I still had a hard time reconciling the woman who raised me with the monster she’d become.

My mother was nothing if not calculating, though. I needed to figure out why she’d sent a Psyker to attack the Compound, because I knew she had a reason.

Declan shifted on the bed and pulled me into his arms.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered against my hair.

I snuggled closer into his embrace and released a sigh. “It’s nothing.” I inhaled the masculine scent that was uniquely Declan. Pine and mint.

I rested my head against his chest and focused on the steady beat of his heart as I stroked my fingers along his abdomen, eliciting a deep rumble from his throat.

“Are you purring?” I smiled and tilted my face to look up at him.  

“I like when you pet me,” he said, leaning down to kiss the tip of my nose.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach with the sweet gesture.

“You’re thinking too much about her.”

I frowned. “How can I not? She attacked a room full of Alphas.” I shook my head and sat up, staring down at Declan’s relaxed features.

“How are you not freaking out about this?” I asked.

Declan pulled himself into a sitting position and stroked his hand along my bare thigh, causing goosebumps to break out along my skin. “Brock is doing plenty of freaking out for all of us.”

I snorted. After dropping Inarus off with Frankie, one of the Pack's resident healers, Brock had gone on high alert. If the Pack followed Defcon levels, the Compound would be sitting at Defcon One.

All hands were on deck. Brock had instituted regular sweeps of every level of the Compound and every room, including private quarters. Last night no less than three security patrols popped their heads into our room before Declan snarled at them and threatened to rip them in half if we were disturbed again.

“I know, but—”

Declan put a finger over my lips.

“Let me take you on a date.”

I frowned at him.

“I don’t really think now is the time to go on a date with everything we have going on,” I told him. Though the thought of getting away and doing something entirely normal sounded wonderful.

“That is exactly why we should go on a date.” Declan leaned in closer and cupped the side of my jaw, his thumb stroking over my lower lip.

“Let’s go downtown. We’ll have dinner. We’ll drink. We’ll be normal.”

I snorted. “You’re a weretiger Alpha, and I’m a pyrokinetic with new telekinetic abilities. We’re hardly normal.”

“All the more reason to do something normal.”

His eyes were earnest, and I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips.

“Okay,” I said. It would be nice to put aside my psychotic mother and my new abilities, and simply focus on me and Declan and our relationship.

A boyish grin lit up Declan’s face, and he leaned in, giving me a quick kiss before he jumped from the bed and landed gracefully on his feet.

Heat crept up my cheeks when he pulled away.

“I have some business to take care of this morning, and I need to check in with James,” he said, “Can you be ready in a few hours?”

“A brunch date?” I asked.

Declan grinned. “A brunch date it is.”

I climbed out of bed with a spring in my step and headed for the bathroom to get ready.

“Go do your Alpha stuff. I’ll get ready and meet you here when you’re done.”

Declan eyed my bare legs up and down with a heated look. I pulled at the hem of his oversized T-shirt making sure my rear end was still covered, and cocked a hip in the doorway.

I bit my lower lip and met his gaze.

“I could join you,” he suggested.

I shook my head with a smile. “No sex,” I reminded him.

Declan prowled closer. "I didn't say anything about sex."

Before he reached me, I darted into the bathroom and quickly closed the door. I pressed my back against the wooden surface and fought to slow my racing heart.

I jumped when Declan suddenly knocked on the door.

"Go do your Alpha things," I called out. I locked the door and took several steps back.

Declan chuckled, his voice muffled through the wooden door.

“Oh, come on. I won’t bite.” Sure you won’t. Oh, Mr. Tiger, what big teeth you have.

I turned on the shower to drown him out.

Thoughts of Declan filled my mind. His hands on me, slick and wet as the shower filled with steam.

I shivered and clenched my legs together. “Don’t you dare open that door,” I muttered to myself. There wasn’t a chance in hell we wouldn’t have sex if I let him into this room. Delicious, hot, sex.

“I can’t hear you,” I shouted back as I stripped off his cotton T-shirt and my underwear. I stepped into the glass enclosure. “Have fun at work.”

I heard his groan and smiled to myself as I stood under the spray and let the warm water melt my worries away.

I had a date. I could pretend that that was all I had to worry about today.