Penelope woke to the sound of loud beeps of machinery and voices she didn’t recognize. She tried to lift her hands to cover her ears and found one of them tethered to her side. What the hell?

Why the hell was it so loud in here? And where exactly was here?

Her eyelids didn’t want to cooperate either. She didn’t like the dark so she needed to open her eyes now. With what felt like all the strength she could muster, she finally managed to open them only to be blinded by bright, white lights staring her in the face.

“Jesus. Someone turn off the blinders. And for God’s sake turn the noise down about fourteen levels. What the heck?”

“Agent Bishop?”

Penelope slowly moved her head around to see one of her co-workers standing just inside the door. As her vision focused from the sudden move she began to realize what her surroundings meant. She was in a hospital. That thought triggered the memory of her getting shot. The pain had been so white hot and intense it had seemed like her body would combust long before she bled out.

And she remembered the blood. Oh God, the acrid odor and the warm liquid flowing over her fingers…

Her stomach tumbled with unease at the memories. How had she gotten here and what did it all mean? She struggled to lean up on her elbows so she could get a look at her abdomen.

“You probably shouldn’t move around too much. You were lucky that the bullet missed all your vital organs, but they still had to go in and remove the bullet. It was lodged inside.”

While Carl rambled on about her injury and subsequent surgery, Penelope wondered why she felt no real pain while leaning forward.

She gingerly reached for the bandage and pressed her fingers lightly to where she remembered the wound. And again felt nothing. Drugs. They had to have pumped her full of painkillers. She eased back onto the pillow.

Except if that were the case then why the hell did her head hurt so much and why did the sound of Agent Phillips’ voice feel like he was yelling at her?

“Do you remember what happened?”

She looked up and met his gaze. She did remember. Every vivid detail. Including the moment when two of the men in that clearing had clearly stated that she couldn’t be allowed to leave. Beyond that however, became a little fuzzy.

Sawyer had argued with her would be captors, demanding that she would be taken to a hospital. There’d been more. She strained for the memory that eluded her. There had been something that he’d said that seemed important at the time and now she couldn’t remember what it was.

“Where is Sawyer?” she demanded while holding her aching head.

“The victim from the Club Diablo fire?”

Penelope winced at his tone. He clearly seemed surprised that she’d asked about his whereabouts. She took a deep breath, knowing that if she did anything outside of normal protocols she would be reported and subsequently grilled. The Bureau had little tolerance for their field agents allowing personal feelings to interfere in an ongoing investigation.

Still. She had to know. “Yes. He was with me when I was shot. Is he okay?”

Agent Phillips frowned. “Depends on what you consider okay. If you mean surly and downright mean over the fact that your father wouldn’t allow him to stay in your room, then yeah he’s okay. But if you ask me, there’s something not quite right with him. He’s been pacing these halls and the waiting room growling. Literally growling. I think he’s dangerous.”

Oh boy. For a minute she’d forgotten about the rest. Or she’d hoped it had all been a dream. She dropped her head back to her pillow and blew out a hard breath. Why couldn’t it be a dream?

The life-like technicolor memory of the wolf who’d first approached her and put his snout between her legs filled her head. But it was the painful sounding pops and crunches of his bones breaking and reshaping into the man she’d become enamored with over drinks in a waterfront bar that stood out above all else.

Her senses had told her something was off the minute she’d arrived at Devils Point, but damn. She’d never expected anything that preposterous.

“Is he still here?” she asked, almost afraid of the answer. If yes, then she would have questions to answer from her father. If no, she feared her heart might break. Which of course sounded ridiculous even in her mind.

“Oh yeah. That scarred up brute refuses to leave. Even after your father ordered him escorted out by security, he sweet talked his way back in. Apparently, the nurses here feel sorry for him and only want to help him anyway they can. Your father is pissed.”

She chose to ignore the snide remarks about Sawyer. Agent Phillips was a tool who worked for her father more than he worked for her. “And where exactly is my father?”

The agent glanced away from her. “He couldn’t get away. Urgent Bureau business.”

“Of course.” Work always came first. Even when his only disappointing child got shot. Penelope ground her teeth and pushed thoughts of the man she was related to away. Nothing would ever change. She knew this and had already come to terms with it. Her father was who her father was and now would expect her to fall back in line…

Her thoughts halted.

And what if she didn’t? What would she do instead? Something different? Or would she once again toe the line and do what the job asked her to do? She loved her job, but life had changed overnight in this case. Learning about men who could change into wolves and oh my God—had she seen a bear man? Well, there was certainly no going back from that.

If she shared this sensational and scary news with anyone at the Bureau what would happen? She almost laughed. Who the hell would even believe it?

She wouldn’t if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. She blinked and stared across the room unseeing. The machines next to her bed still beeped loudly and all the noises outside her room seemed to roar around her at a deafening level. She needed some quiet and a darker room to think through everything that had happened. In short, she needed to go home.

“Go and get Sawyer. I need to talk to him.”

“I don’t think that is a great idea, your father—”

She lifted her head and pinned Carl with a stern stare. She was not in the mood for her father via Carl. “Just get him.”

“What about your statement? Everyone back at the office is waiting to hear what happened. Or at least your story. The Devils Point Islanders have given us their version, but we need to hear it from you. Your father has been threatening to arrest them for interfering in your investigation and for withholding information. Getting your version of the facts is paramount at this point.”

“I don’t know much about the people who kidnapped me yet. Fanatical anti-government types apparently in some sort of turf war. Now, go get Sawyer and arrange for someone to get my formal statement after. And can you ask the nurse for some headache medicine? It’s so loud in here it’s making my head pound.”

Agent Philips gave her one last strange look before he turned and left the room. Penelope closed her eyes and braced herself for what would come next. She would have to find out what Sawyer and the others had to say before she could give her statement. If their stories didn’t match up they’d have a problem. Even so, there were still going to be a lot of questions she couldn’t answer.

She smelled him before he spoke. It wasn’t hard to identify the layers that made up his unique scent. Ocean air, pine, the fresh clean scent of soap and that final and indescribably something extra that made him irresistible.

“Penelope,” he said, his voice low and thick with emotion.

She opened her eyes and met his gaze. All the turmoil and desire from the last few days rushed through her mind, flooding her with feelings she wasn’t quite sure how to cope with.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He barked a quick laugh. “Am I okay? I’m not the one lying in a hospital bed having just had surgery.”

The small smile quickly died as his brain obviously went back to the shooting and all that entailed.

“What happened to them?” She didn’t have to specify more than that. She could see on his face that he knew exactly who she referred to.

Thankfully, he didn’t hesitate. “Most of them are dead. Their bodies already disposed of. You don’t have to worry.”

Her heart sank at his words. That wasn’t exactly the news she’d been hoping for. How exactly would she explain this to the Bureau?

“And what exactly did you say in your statement, then? Did you explain that men were killed in self defense?” Although she already knew the answer would be no, she asked anyway.

“Nooo,” he said, drawing out his answer. “Only Damien and I were questioned since we showed up here with you at the hospital and the cops were called immediately. Something about gun shot wounds having to be reported.”

She nodded. “Standard operating procedure.”

He continued. “We didn’t give them much, without straying too far from the truth. Told them some illegal hunters were on the island that we’ve had trouble with lately and that you got caught in the crosshairs.”

“What about the kidnapping?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Told them we knew nothing about your disappearance and reappearance other than the scuffle with the hunters and the resulting gunshot. So they’ll be looking to you to fill in your missing time.”

Penelope sighed. “You’ve put me in a really bad position. I can’t tell the truth because one, no one would believe me and two, I’d have a problem with your people if I did.”

He reached for her hand and wrapped his fingers around hers. “Under normal circumstances our alphas might have taken drastic measures to keep you from divulging any details about us. It isn’t easy keeping our secrets. And it’s tiring. However, in this case, they owed me big time and I cashed in on that.”

A couple of new memories popped into her head at his mention of them owing him, which resulted in more questions she needed answered.

“Why did they owe you?”

He lifted his hand and gently pressed his lips to their intertwined fingers, eliciting a tingle up and down her spine. “We don’t need to get into that now. I’m more worried about how you’re feeling.”

She shifted restlessly on the bed. His proximity alone fired her blood, but him touching her sent the heat filling her off the charts. One thing hadn’t changed and that was her reaction to him. She was also beginning to wonder why she kept fighting it.

“Trying to distract me will only get so far. I might lose my head for a minute, but I’m not going to forget you are avoiding answering my questions.”

A wide grin spread across his face. “The idea that I can distract you, even temporarily, makes me hot.”

Penelope rolled her eyes. “I can see your ego is still well intact. You might need someone to take you down a peg or two.”

“Are you offering yourself for the job?”

She took a deep breath, letting the sexual innuendo smooth some of her frazzled nerves. However inappropriate their attraction might be, she couldn’t deny it existed. And if she dug a little deeper, she realized she didn’t want to deny it.

After a few more minutes of relishing their connection, she took a deep breath and pulled her hand free. “Now tell me why those men owed you.” She held up her hand before he could object. “I know you’re trying to deflect, but considering what you are expecting from me, the least you can do is tell me more about you. Make me understand all of this. Please.”

It was his turn to take a deep breath. But she could see in his eyes that he was about to give in. That thought comforted her—a little. She still had a lot of compromising to do. There were explosive secrets she was expected to keep. In fact, she’d have to examine a little deeper to determine where her priorities still lie.

“My father was our pack alpha before he was brutally murdered. By birthright that would have made me the alpha after his and my mother’s death. Except I was young and barely an adult and definitely not mature. I was—I am carrying around a lot of anger. It makes me impulsive and at that time, even I knew I wouldn’t make the right decisions for the pack. All I cared about was revenge.”

Her heart ached over the pain in his voice as he explained in plain detail what had to been an enormous tragedy in his life. His matter of fact delivery didn’t hide all the emotions hidden underneath his story.

“But you aren’t the alpha, right? That is one of the men from yesterday?”

He nodded. “I abdicated so to say. Damien, Diego and Dante were the next in line, but deciding between them proved difficult at best so the pack decided they would share the leadership role temporarily. It’s a little unorthodox, but it has served us well for many years.”

“That doesn’t sound temporary.”

Laughter rumbled through his chest. “Time moves a little differently for us. We don’t age at the same rate humans do, so we see and feel time in a different way.”

It still startled her to hear him refer to her as human, a stark reminder that while he looked like a gorgeous man sitting on the edge of her bed. Underneath that façade there was a lot more to deal with.

That niggling sensation in the back of her mind flared to life again, sending her back into the woods as she tried to fight the darkness encroaching on her as her blood seeped away. She remembered him holding her. The men talking more and him leaning over her, his words comforting her in an instinctual way. He’d pleaded with her to not die. Said he needed her. Something no one had ever said to her before…

And then—

She jerked her head back up and stared into his enthralling warm eyes. “What do I need to forgive you for?”