If I’d doubted it before, three seconds changed all of that. I’d stayed low and in the shadows along the riverbank. The raging waters helped hide my scent. But, I was drawn to hers. At first, I tried to deny it. I was just keyed up from being so close to Birch Haven and members of the Pack. I was spoiling for something.

Then, Eve’s distress transmitted to me like a thunderbolt straight through my heart. It didn’t matter if they sensed me. It didn’t matter if they tore me limb from limb. It only mattered that I closed the distance between us and held Eve in my arms.

She fell against me, gasping. Terror lit her eyes. Her pupils widened as she looked up and up. She should have been scared. She’d run from the threat of one shifter straight into the arms of another. Eve wasn’t afraid of me though. On a preternatural level, she knew what I was. It was no coincidence that the path she took led straight to me. Her body knew the way.

“Mac!” she cried out. Eve had the presence of mind not to scream. I felt other shifters close by. They were Pack, of course, but they didn’t realize I was there. It meant they were weaker betas. Whoever the Alpha had overseeing Birch Haven, he wasn’t in the park that night.

“Did they hurt you?” My voice didn’t sound familiar to my own ears. My words came out as a growl. My eyes traveled to the delicate bones of Eve’s clavicle beneath the straps of her red tank top where her hoodie opened up. Her breaths came hard and uneven. Without even thinking, I concentrated on slowing my own breathing. Hers calmed to match mine. She didn’t realize it.

“No.” She shook her head. I looked toward the west, over her shoulder. Whoever she’d run from, they hadn’t given chase. Yet.

“Come here,” I said, pulling her out of the clearing and back into the denser part of the woods. We skirted the boundary of Birch Haven here. The brick walls rose just beyond the trees to my left.

Eve followed me, unquestioning. I kept a tight grip on her hand. Heat seared me as I felt her pulse against my fingers. I wanted to feel so much more.

“Tell me what happened,” I said, my tone urgent. She was scared. Adrenaline coursed through her, making her bold. Had she been calmer, she might not have let me touch her. I smoothed a hair out of her eyes and ran my thumb along her cheekbone. Eve’s rosy lips parted as she let a breath out. Little things. Gooseflesh on her upper arms, a tiny bead of sweat on her brow. Her body was already responding to mine. My wolf clamored inside of me, screaming the meaning of it all. Not now. It was far too dangerous for both of us.

“My friend, Nikki,” Eve said, her voice catching. “One of the shifters, Joel. He did something to her. It’s like she’s in a trance around him.”

My heart twisted. “Did he mark her? Do you know?”

If I closed my eyes, I could envision doing the exact same thing to Eve, God help me. I tried to concentrate on keeping my own breathing even. If she saw the instinct flare in my eyes, it would scare her, and rightly so. But I knew what she couldn’t yet. No matter what happened, I would never hurt Eve. I would kill any man or wolf who tried to harm her.

“He bit her, I think,” Eve said. Her hand flew to the nape of her own neck. An answering heat flared within me. I wasn’t sure I could keep my own fangs from dropping if she showed me the back of her neck.

Swallowing hard, I nodded. “That’s his mark,” I said.

“What do you know about it?” she asked. Eve finally came into herself enough to pull away from me. She backed up against a tree. “She’s different. She hated this guy two days ago. He’s a creep. There’s just something...wrong...about him.”

Rage bubbled to the surface. What Eve was describing was abhorrent to me. It went against everything shifters were supposed to stand for. We didn’t force markings on our mates. Doing so was the greatest sin there was.

“Mac,” she said, taking a bold step toward me. “This place. Birch Haven. Do you know what it is?”

She looked at me with pain in her eyes. Eve was trusting me with something. Me. A perfect stranger as far as she was concerned. And yet, she was drawn to me as I was to her. It was the very thing that might get us both killed before the night was through.

“You said you were looking for someone,” she said, taking yet another step toward me. “Tell me who. Tell me what you know. Why are you here?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” I said, though I couldn’t hold back a smirk. Eve. Beautiful. Strong. Defiant. She had no idea what she was walking into with me.

“There’s something wrong about this place. The shifters...they patrol the grounds. No one talks about it, but no one is allowed to leave. Do you know what I think would have happened the other night if I kept on running?”

I couldn’t hold back the protective growl that ripped from my throat. My vision went dark and I knew Eve saw my silver wolf eyes flash pure. It should have scared her. It didn’t. Instead, she took another step toward me. Just a few inches separated us. My fingers quivered with the urge to touch her.

“Everyone here...all the girls... I think we were lured here for a reason. Nikki and me? It’s all the same story. No families. No real money. I came because they offered me a full scholarship. Where else was I going to go? Nikki’s parents were killed in a car crash when she was sixteen. Her uncle mismanaged her money. There’s another girl, Jasmine. She grew up in foster care. The cops, the mayor, everyone in a position of authority behind these walls are men. Shifter men. What is this place? You know, don’t you? Tell me. Dammit, I need to know.”

My heart broke into a thousand pieces as pain etched deep lines in Eve’s forehead. She was just like Lena. Her mother was dead. Our father had been a member of the Pack. Neither of us ever knew him. Until one day, he came back. When he left, he took Lena with him.

“Eve,” I said. What could I tell her that would lessen the fear behind her eyes?

“Are you one of them?” She finally took a step back. “Is this another trick to lure me into doing something I don’t want?”

I reared back. Her words hit me like a blow to the gut.

“No,” I said. “I am nothing like the men who run this town. I swear it on my life.”

“Your life? What does that mean to me? I don’t even know you.” She was bold, rebellious, standing before me with her chin up and her hazel eyes locked with mine.

I straightened my back and bared my teeth, letting the wolf out just a little bit. Eve’s eyes flickered, but she didn’t back down.

“Don’t know me? You know enough. You know what I am. You know that if I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t even see it coming.”

It was my turn to take a step toward her. If she knew the strength it took for me to hold back, she might not have held her ground. She did though. She knew me, knew what I was. Just as I knew what she was.

Mine.

“What is this place?” she said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

I dropped my shoulders and looked toward the high brick wall. How could I explain? Birch Haven made me ashamed to be a shifter. When I told her what we believed, what was to stop her from hating me?

“Not all shifters are like the ones in Kentucky,” I said. It seemed as good enough a place as any to start.

“You’re a Kentucky shifter,” she said.

“I mean the Pack. The Chief Pack. The Alpha rules absolutely. In other places, far away, shifter packs form naturally. There are many Alphas and we don’t...at least...I’ve heard...they’re free to choose their own mates. Here, the Alpha chooses for the members of his pack as he sees fit.”

“Chooses.” Eve’s voice broke. “Forces, you mean.”

She was truly scared now. The color drained from her face. I wanted to go to her, take her in my arms, kiss the pain away.

“That’s what Chris meant. That’s what Joel meant.” She took a step away, pressing herself against the tree again.

“What they meant by what?” My growl came back. I didn’t want to scare her. But, the terror in her eyes called to my darkest nature. I knew with absolute certainty that I would kill for her tonight if it came to it.

“That bite. That marking on Nikki. Joel did it to her. He said something about the Alpha letting him have her. Chris was jealous. He said...he wanted…”

She didn’t have to finish her thought. It poured off of her in the fear in her eyes and the sweat between her breasts. “You,” I said, my voice dropping low. My nostrils flared with the heavy breaths I took.

“Yes,” she said. “That’s what I was running from. I heard it all.”

“No,” I said.

Eve shook her head. “That’s what this place is, isn’t it? It’s a breeding farm for Kentucky shifters. Oh, God. I won’t. I can’t. I’d rather die than…”

I went to her. To hell with scaring her. To hell with being gentle. I would never do to her what the Pack intended, but I would put my body between her and danger. I pounded my fist into the tree bark above her head.

“No,” I said. “You won’t. I won’t allow it.”

Eve didn’t flinch. She seemed to know my heart, impossible as it was. “You said you were looking for someone. The other night. That’s why you came. Is it your mate? Did they take her from you?”

I hovered above her, my arm resting against the tree. We were so close, just inches apart. I knew she could see the truth in my eyes even if neither of us was brave enough to give voice to it.

“No,” I said, barely above a whisper. “Not my mate. I believe they have my sister in there.”

Eve cocked her head. “What’s her name? Who is she?”

My throat ran dry. Eve had put her trust in me just by standing here. Now, I put my trust in her.

“Lena Morris. She has auburn hair like I do. She’d be twenty-two now. Five years younger than me. I think she would have fought it. And I think it might already be too late.”

Eve reached up. She let her fingers trace a line along my jaw. I clenched my teeth and dug my own fingers into the bark. Anything to hold back the urge to kiss this woman. I had no right.

A howl rose in the air. My spine stiffened and my heart turned to stone.

“Did they see you?” I asked her.

Eve shook her head. “No. I’m sure they didn’t.”

“Fuck,” I said pushing myself off the tree. Deep in my belly, I felt the pull. The Pack was getting close. Oh, how easy it would be to just give over to it. No more fighting. No more pain.

“Mac!” Eve slapped me. I staggered back, letting out a primal growl.

“Don’t you dare,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare let them pull you over.”

How did she know? I’d been an idiot. I swore I’d protect her with my life, but then what? If those Pack members found us, I wouldn’t be strong enough to hold them all back. Then, they’d take Eve anyway. I couldn’t do this alone.

“You have to go back,” I said, swaying on my feet. I hated myself for it.

But, Eve came to me, nodding with understanding. “You have friends? A place you can go?”

“Yes,” I said.

She looked over her shoulders. “They’re coming. Can you help me over the wall?”

“What?” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the lowest point.

“Can you lift me over? They’ll do something to you if they find you. Is that it? God help me, but I can feel it too. You’re losing your grip, Mac.”

She cupped my face in her hands. Her eyes seared through me. Electricity sparked where our skin touched.

“You have to remember what I told you,” I said. “You have to be careful. Don’t let any of those shifters get you alone. Not until I can…”

“Right,” she said. “Not planning on it.”

A chorus of howls reached me and I dropped to my knees. There were too many of them. They were coming too fast. The command to shift burned strong through me. Oh, God. If I let my wolf out now, they’d scent me. They’d pull me back in.

“Mac!” Eve dropped to her knees in front of me and cupped my face again.

She saw something in my eyes. Her own instincts burned strong. Then, Eve did the one thing powerful enough to help me fight off the pull of the Pack and keep my wolf at bay.

She kissed me.