There was muffled yelling inside of Willa and Matt Barns’ singlewide trailer in the Grayland Mobile Park. Willa was upset about something. Lynn hesitated on knocking and gave Jathan a questioning glance over her shoulder.

“Ma might be a little weirder than usual tonight,” Jathan murmured.

Lynn frowned. “I feel like it’s impossible for Willa to be any weirder.”

Jathan snorted and wrapped his hand around Lynn’s. It was big and strong and covered hers completely. “I already ordered real tacos too, because Ma is the worst at making them. It’s like she tries to suck.” He pushed open the door and barged in.

“That can’t be true—” When the smell of sauerkraut and taco seasoning hit her nose, Lynn nearly gagged.

“Furthermore,” Willa yelled, “I’ll fight all of them. Every single one! Take my worms? I’d like to see them try it!”

Jathan turned to Lynn and snickered silently.

What did you do? she mouthed.

Jathan only winked and pulled her into the living room by the hand. “Ma, I’d like you to meet Lynn.”

“Dumbass, I already know her.”

“I know, I just wanted to annoy you. Smells horrible in here.”

“Boy, tonight isn’t the night to sass my tacos.” Willa held up a handful of letters. There was a huge pile of them on the kitchen table. “Some idiot has formed a group called WANKE. War Against Nerds Killing Earthworms. I thought it had to be some mistake until the government cease and desist letters started arriving this afternoon. And there are three assholes picketing the entrance to Damon’s Mountains, and there was yellow caution tape around my entire worm house today like it was a crime scene! They’re going to take my worms!”

Jathan made his way over to a bowl of cherries on the counter and shrugged. “Maybe you could start up a different business.”

Willa’s mouth plopped open, and the letters fell from her hands like a shower in a rainforest.

Jathan’s giant father, Matt, was leaned back in a chair in the kitchen, staring at his son with narrowed eyes and the smallest quirk to his lips, as if he smelled a rat.

In a shaky voice, Willa whispered, “What else could I possibly do that would bring me as much joy as worms?”

Jathan bit a cherry in half and leveled his mother with a dead-eyed look. “Maybe you could be a dick knitter.”

Willa froze, and her eyes blazed bright green. Three seconds passed before she gritted out, “Boy, you tell me right now if this was your doing.”

Jathan gave her a carefree smile as he smacked loudly on his cherry.

Matt snorted, but pursed his lips against a laugh and wouldn’t meet Willa’s glare when it arched to him. She looked down at the letters on the floor and then to the mountain of letters on the table. She sounded utterly shocked as she murmured, “I just rampaged for three straight hours.”

When Jathan’s smile got bigger, Lynn had to bite her bottom lip to hide her grin.

Louder, Willa repeated, “I just rampaged for three straight hours, Jathan!”

“Well you should stop knitting dicks and putting them in my house! Dick coasters, dick throw rugs, a dick blanket, dick napkins, dick hand towels… Ma! You knitted me dick shoes and hid my work boots! I tried them on. You made them too small, and my big toes hung out of the pee-pee holes.”

“I just started the dick prank last week. This!” She yanked up a handful of letters, her straight red hair twitching in its ponytail. “This took weeks of premeditated planning!”

Matt full-on covered his smile with his hand.

Willa looked from face to face. Her bottom lip quivered, and her bright green eyes rimmed with moisture.

Well, that broke Lynn’s heart, so she stepped forward to give Willa a hug, but Jathan stopped her. “Wait for it,” he muttered, staring at his mom.

“I’m really proud of you,” Willa said in an emotional voice.

Matt barked a laugh and cleared his throat to cover it. Jathan was chuckling too as he made his way to Willa and pulled her into a hug. “I knew you would be, Ma. Now stop making these shitty tacos. I’ve ordered us tacos. You want me to throw all the letters away?”

“No,” Willa said, hugging her son tight. “I want to keep them with your school stuff and trophies. Who did all this?”

“Uuuh, every crew I could get ahold of, and I made the government stamp with a piece of rubber. I really wanted the group to be called WANKER, but I couldn’t figure out any words that made sense and started with an R. I paid three townies forty bucks each to stand out there and picket when you came home. I was the one who put the caution tape on the worm house. Also, seriously…please stop decorating my house with dicks.”

“Okay,” Willa said in a tiny voice, “I’ll knit you vaginas next time instead.”

“That’s all I ask,” Jathan murmured, patting his mom gently on the back.

God, this was the weirdest family. Lynn stood there with a big dumb grin on her face. She loved them.

Willa sniffed and shoved Jathan away. “Remember I gave you life, boy, and I can take it away. No pranks with my worms ever again. That’s sacred.”

Jathan’s phone rang with the Baby Got Back song as his ringtone. “Yeah?” he answered. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” He hung up and shoved his cell in his back pocket, then told them, “The food is here, but the guy is afraid to cross into Damon’s Mountains to deliver. I’m gonna meet him at the main road.”

“Okay,” Willa said in a distracted voice as she sifted through letters one by one on the table.

Jathan looked down at Lynn and parted his lips to say something, but Matt interrupted. “I’ll come with you.” He pushed between them, yanked the front door open, then looked back impatiently at his son.

Jathan gave his dad a what-the-fuck look, and then he did something that shocked Lynn to her bones. He turned to her and dragged her waist close, and then he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. It happened so fast she didn’t even have time to react. He kissed her, and then he squeezed her hips once, dumping warmth into her middle in an instant. He released her and left without another word or a single look back.

Lynn touched her lips with her fingertips and watched the door close behind him.

Holy. Shit. She really liked when he touched her and when he was affectionate. She’d thought she wouldn’t ever want that with a man again. After Brody, she’d deemed men unreliable, untrustworthy, soul-sucking creatures who should be avoided. But Jathan was different. He felt different. He was dangerous, a Bad Bear, a commitment-phobe from birth, and he’d been in trouble since he was a cub. So why did the most dangerous man she could possibly choose…also feel like the safest?

“Jathan has never brought a girl home,” Willa said.

With a slow blink, Lynn ripped her gaze away from the door and looked at Willa. Her eyes were still green and her head was canted like an animal.

Lynn asked, “Really?”

“I would be happy for him, but you have checked out, haven’t you, little kitty? You’ve quit? You’re counting down the days until Creed tells Benson Saber you can’t be saved…aren’t you?”

Chest heaving and head swirling with confusion, Lynn nodded slightly. That was the plan. Before Jathan.

“Surely you can see why his father and I aren’t excited about the prospect of our son getting attached to someone who will disappear. We never worried about Jaxon. He was a rogue, but he attached to friends here. Jathan never attached to anyone. He kept himself distant on purpose. Maybe it’s his animal, or maybe it’s just how he is as a man. But I just watched my boy, who I thought would never pick a girl, kiss you. And from the look on your face, you liked it. You’re encouraging him.”

Anger pulsed through her at being reprimanded by Willa. “I’m not meaning for this to happen,” Lynn growled low.

“Then stop it.”

“I can’t.”

“Then stick around.”

“I. Can’t.”

Willa slammed her open palm on the table so hard the legs screeched across the wooden floor an inch. “Do you realize who you will hurt when you leave? You will cut him, Lynn. You have a daughter too—”

“Stop it.”

“You have a daughter, and do you know how fucking bad I want her?”

“What?” Lynn asked, confused as she backed toward the front door to bolt. No, no, no, she couldn’t talk about this again. Not when she was already emotionally drained.

“I want a granddaughter. I want to spoil Amberlynn. I want to watch my son hold her, and I want to see the kind of dad he could be—”

“She isn’t mine!”

“And she never will be if you quit now! Don’t you take that easy way out, Lynn. You fucking fight. I know you’re tired. I know you are. I can smell how exhausted and sick in the head you are. I can feel it. It makes my bear want to fight. It makes everyone around here want to fight. You think you’re the only one with a problem animal? Beaston put a bear in me without my consent. And not just a bear, a damn alpha. One who is hard to manage on a good day. I want to fight Creed all the time. I want to Change all the time, but do you know what I am?”

Lynn’s face crumpled as her shoulder blades hit the door. “No,” she whispered.

Willa’s lip snarled up. “I’m a fighter. And do you know what you are?”

“Not a fighter,” Lynn whispered.

“Wrong. You have anchors now that you aren’t paying attention to. Jathan is building a bond. Can’t you feel it? I can practically see it. If you go, you’ll destroy him, and he’ll never pick another. If you go, Amberlynn will suffer. If you go, I’ll never have the daughter of my heart that I wanted for my son. You’ll hurt all of us, and you leaving, even if it’s easy on you, will echo through these mountains and Red Havoc mountains for a lifetime. I’m ready for my battle now.”

“W-what?”

“My turn. You’ve been working your way through everyone, right? Seeing who you think you can get to lose control on you and end it? I’ll fucking do it. Give me that kill shot, Lynn. Give me your neck, and I’ll break it. I’ll put you out of your misery, but remember what you stand to lose.” Willa jammed her finger at the front door. “Outside. Now.”

“I—I don’t understand.”

“Tonight, right now, you’ll choose to live or die, and you’ll stick with that decision. Get. Out. Side.”

Lynn’s panther snarled inside of her, and her vision blurred. Everything was tinted in red. Red Willa, red hair, red face, red eyes. Monster was clawing at her skin. Finally…a real fight.

“No, I’m not ready,” Lynn whispered to the cat. But her hand reached for the door, and her feet moved jerkily forward until she was on the porch, on the stairs, and then in the front yard.

When she reached the center of the clearing, the popping of bones sounded behind her, and then a challenging roar bellowed out so loud, it shook the earth beneath her feet.

Lynn trembled with terror as her body buckled. Monster wanted this. She was ready.

But I’m not.

Jathan…Amberlynn…Willa…Matt…Red Havoc…her bird…my bird! Her best friend, Eden, would be so sad after tonight. Lynn would always be a disappointment to everyone. Jathan, Jathan, Jathan. He could stop this if he was here. There were glowing eyes all around them. The Gray Backs were gathering to watch her end. Beaston was there with a raven on his arm. He looked so sad. He looked as sad as Lynn had felt for the last year, when she’d housed more ghosts than a damn graveyard. Pain blasted through her as the Change destroyed her human body and transformed her into Monster. All four paws hit the earth, and she spun to the sound of the charging grizzly. Willa’s green eyes glowed with determination. She really would end this. Fuck. Jathan! I’m not ready, I’m not ready. Jathan!

Her body wasn’t her own. Monster controlled her as she ran for the grizzly and slammed into her chest. Time slowed.

There was pain. Lynn fought like hell to hide her neck, but she took a claw to the back as she sank her teeth into Willa’s shoulder. She closed her eyes to chomp down harder, and when she opened them, she could see him. Her Jathan. Matt and Creed were holding him back. He was yelling. Furious Bad Bear. Mad at her. Willa would end her, and he would never forgive his mom. He would never hug her so gently like he had in the house, and it would be all Lynn’s fault for not being strong enough.

Fuck. That.

Pain, pain, pain. She was protecting herself, playing defense, but it was hard. Monster was prepping for her signature move—the one where she hurt the predator just enough to get them angry, and then she gave them her neck. No! Jathan, help!

She was slammed to the ground, her teeth ripping through Willa’s skin. The massive brown bear had death in her eyes as she lifted her paw with six-inch curved claws into the air. Monster jerked her head to the side. Victory.

No, fuck Monster’s victory. Lynn closed her eyes and tried with every ounce of strength to protect her vitals. Willa slammed her paws on either side of her and roared a death warning. When Monster exposed her neck again, Lynn could see the hurt in Jathan’s eyes. One split second in witnessing that pain, and everything Willa had said flashed through her mind. She was going to hurt a man who had been kind to her. Who had tried to make her stronger.

Lynn roared and forced her body to move so that Willa’s paw missed, and hit her on the side instead of the neck. Oh, it hurt, but she was still breathing. Still screaming. And with the most effort she’d ever given, Lynn battled Monster for her body. She tucked that fucking panther into her skin until her roar was a hoarse, human scream.

On her knees, naked and shaking, bleeding, chest heaving, fists clenched. Lynn lifted her infuriated gaze to Willa and said, “I’m. Not. Ready.”

Willa lifted her giant block head high and looked down her snout at her, lips curled back, eyes blazing and narrowed. For a second, Lynn thought it was anger etched on the grizzly’s face, but when Willa began to back away slowly, her expression morphed to one of respect. Good girl, she seemed to say.

Everything hurt, and Lynn couldn’t drag in a breath. She sat there panting for the span of three blinks, and then she rose up and made her way past Creed toward the woods. She was going to fall apart, and she didn’t want anyone to see this.

That had been her chance. That had been her fucking chance, but Jathan was in her head, and so was Willa, and she hated it here. Hated everything. Feeling hurt. It hurt! And everyone here was so damn determined for her to feel this stuff she’d been trying to suppress for all this time.

The second the first tear hit the pine needles, Lynn bolted. She ran like demons were chasing her, and maybe they were. Her demons. They’d tried to eat her alive but failed, and now she was caught in the in-between. Life and death, except the life part was pretend. She hadn’t been living for a long time. She’d been walking this earth a ghost, and now too many people were trying to do the impossible. They were trying to revive her.

“Lynn, stop!” Jathan yelled as his hand ripped her arm back. He spun her and gripped her shoulders when she balked.

“Not everyone is redeemable!” she screamed.

“You’re wrong! You’re wrong about you, Lynn.”

She jerked out of his grasp, gripped her hair and screamed in agony as she tried to keep her body. Monster wanted to go back for Willa. With a sob, she turned away from Jathan and made her way across a deer trail. Brush and thorns scraped her bare legs, but she didn’t care. She shook so bad, every muscle in her body was twitching, but it wasn’t from the cold. She was in a war to keep her body. She was in a war for Jathan, and he didn’t even know it.

He grabbed her from behind and wrapped his arms around her. In her ear, between her agonized screams, he said, “Bond to me. Let it happen. I’m not Brody. I’m telling you right now…listen to my voice…listen for lies, and you’ll find none. I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere. Do what you have to do, Lynn. Fucking break. I’ll watch after you, watch you fall apart, and I’ll be right here to put you back together again.”

“Sin number three,” she sobbed, sagging in his arms.

“Tell me.”

“I took Barret into a war with the lions because I was scared to die alone. I couldn’t think straight at the end of my time with Red Havoc. I couldn’t keep my panther from Changing. My body hurt so bad, and he was broken, too. In some fucked-up corner of my mind, I thought it would be easier on both of us if we just went to war and disappeared.” Lynn turned and hugged Jathan as hard as she could. “I almost got one of my friends killed because I wasn’t strong enough to think straight. Do you still think I’m redeemable?”

Jathan let off a long sigh and stroked her hair back from her face. He cupped her cheeks, lifted her gaze to his, and searched her eyes. “Yes.”

That one word shattered what she thought of the world. It shattered her bitterness like mirror glass under a sledge hammer. Yes. One person thought she was redeemable when she didn’t see it in herself, and it made all the difference.

“Love is fire,” she whispered.

“Yes,” Jathan murmured.

“Love can burn you to the ground.”

“Yes. And now it’s time to get up out of the ashes. I’ll tell you something. Something vulnerable like you’re doing with me. I’ve always loved watching fragile things break. I thought anything fragile deserved to be broken. Glass shattering was my favorite sound in the world. Now I’ll hate it. There is nothing worse than watching something break. You’ve ruined everything, Lynn. Maybe I was the weak one all along, because look at me now. Big Bad Bear begging something fragile not to shatter, or I’ll shatter right along with you.”

“I don’t want that. I want to protect you.”

He winced like it hurt him to admit. “Same. You scared me tonight. I watched you give my mom your neck, watched you fight it, then give it again, over and over, and I didn’t want to let you go. Tell me how you got here, Lynn. To this moment, here in the woods, with me.”

She waited for her vision to cloud and for her panther to scratch at her skin, but neither happened. She’d been hiding the dark parts of herself from the world for so long, it was terrifying to trust someone with it all. But…Jathan saw her—really saw her—and he hadn’t run.

Fucking break. I’ll watch after you, watch you fall apart, and I’ll be right here to put you back together again.

He’d dared her to show him her worst, and then he promised to lock his legs against Hurricane Lynn. She’d thought no one on Earth would’ve been strong enough, but Jathan was.

And so she trusted him. “With every decision I made, whether it was a bad one or a good one that went wrong, this hole inside of me grew and grew until I was just…emptiness. And one day I woke up and I wasn’t standing anymore. Maybe I hadn’t been for a long time. Maybe I had always been on my knees and hadn’t realized it.” Lynn swallowed hard and gripped the fabric of his T-shirt, right over his hips. And then she admitted the most terrifying combination of words that had ever come from her lips because she could really fail badly at this and let him down. “I want to learn how to stand again.”

Slowly, the corners of Jathan’s lips curved up with pride. “I think you just did.”

Her throat hurt from screaming, her head hurt from fighting Monster, and every muscle in her body ached. She was shaking and cold, like her body still couldn’t regulate its temperature well. She had damp cheeks, and her hair flew wildly around her face. She probably looked like hell, but Jathan was moving in closer and brushing his fingertips down her arm softly, lifting gooseflesh from her skin where he touched her. And when he pulled her waist against his, she could feel it. His erection pressed against her belly.

He turned her slightly and winced at the long claw marks that curved from her ribs to her hip. She didn’t like when he worried over nothing.

“If I don’t look, I can make it not hurt.”

His gaze twitched to hers, and his soft brown eyes stirred with concern. “How?”

Uncomfortable, she shrugged up one shoulder. “Somewhere along the way, I wanted to stop feeling the hurt. I’ve fought so much I can just put the pain away where it doesn’t touch me. I can flip a switch and not feel anymore.” Or maybe was already partly dead. Where that thought would’ve made her feel relief before, now it only made her feel sick. She didn’t want to be dead anymore.

He ran his fingertip softly down the side of one of her healing claw marks. “I hope you know how beautiful you are.”

“Me?” she asked.

Jathan gave her a wicked grin and pulled her hand to his jeans, pressed it against his bulging erection.

Equal parts elated and baffled, she asked, “You want me like this? Like a mess?”

He leaned down and kissed her fast, sucked her lip hard, and then released her. He nodded. “I don’t mind your mess. It was sexy as fuck watching you stand up just now, little monster. What a hellion you’ll be when you get through this. You realize no one has fight experience like you do…right? You just went after a mother-fucking grizzly shifter, Second in the Gray Back Crew, and you held your own. And you fought to live. No more counting down days, Lynn. You’re stuck here with me. I saw that fight in your eyes tonight so yeah, I want to give you another anchor.”

“What anchor?” she whispered.

Jathan slid his hand between her legs and pushed his finger inside of her until she gasped at how good it felt.

He rubbed his cheek against hers, rough beard against her soft skin, until his lips brushed her earlobe. “Me.”

“You’re bribing me to stay here with sex?”

Jathan chuckled. “Not just sex, Lynn. Not a one night stand. I’m gonna get you addicted to me. You won’t ever want to go.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” She needed to do it quick because he was pushing his finger into her in a slow rhythm that had her rocking against his hand and clutching onto his shirt.

“You can tell me anything.” The conviction in his voice made her smile. She really could, and he wouldn’t run. There was triumph in that.

“I already don’t want to go,” she admitted softly.

A rumble sounded from his chest. He pulled his shirt over his head and pressed it to the claw marks on her ribs, and then he backed her toward a clearing between the pines. When his right foot moved forward, her left moved back at the same time, gracefully, smoothly, keeping the same distance between them as he guided her backward. She didn’t get nervous about tripping on something, because she trusted him. He would catch her before she fell. That’s just how Jathan was with her. When she was the faller, he was the catcher. Their movement through the woods was like a dance. Her body reacted and countered his as if they’d moved like this a hundred times before.

The intensity of his eyes burned right through her as he murmured, “Every time I imagined what it would be like to be with you, I wanted to take you rough. I wanted to fuck you. I wanted to own you. I wanted to take you fast and hard, until you screamed my name.”

“And now?”

“Now I want to ruin you for any other man. I want tonight to be all you crave. When you touch yourself from here on, I want you to only think about me. I want you addicted to my touch. Addicted to me.”

She reached for his jeans and hooked her fingers in the waist. And then she slid them inward, brushing the top of his swollen shaft. Jathan stopped stalking her and softly dragged his fingers down her neck, then cupped it and kissed her. It was slow sips that melted her, calmed her twitching, aching muscles. It was a strange feeling, having someone else have such an impact on her body. This is what Jathan was talking about at that party all those years ago. This is what had scared him—having someone else affect him so deeply. It was the loss of control to someone who could crush her heart with a squeeze of his hand. How terrifying and exhilarating to trust him with her heart after all she’d been through.

She unfastened his jeans as he angled her head back to suck on her neck. When his teeth scraped her skin, she swayed forward against him with a tiny, needy sound. He felt so good touching her. Intimidating man. Brave man. People called him Bad Bear but he was a good man. He was good for her. Good to her. He’d held her baby. He’d visited her parents to try to understand her better. He’d watched her all these weeks and made sure no one put her down. He’d been protecting her, and she was only just realizing how much.

Good Bear. My Bear.

He was sucking on her neck harder now and she pushed his pants down by inches, unsheathing him. Jathan was a big man everywhere. His size was intimidating, but she knew he would be gentle until her body got used to him. That’s the kind of man he was. Patient, caring, and put her needs first. Maybe he hadn’t attached to other people, but he was really good at attaching to her. She didn’t know why they worked, only that they did.

Inhaling deeply, he picked her up suddenly and held her tightly against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She closed her eyes. This was like flying. Being with him wasn’t a cage like with Brody. Being with Jathan was freedom. Freedom from the ache in her heart, freedom from her demons, freedom from having time lost.

He didn’t realize it yet…be he was already her anchor.

Lynn’s stomach dipped, and then her back rested gently on the grass. Jathan’s pants were still hanging halfway down his hips, but he shoved them down farther in one graceful motion.

When the head of his swollen cock slid into her by an inch, she tossed her head back and moaned. His body was silk and steel under her hands. Powerful chest, covered in tattoos, but smooth. When she ran her hands along his top two abs, he twitched and huffed a breath as though her touch was ecstasy. His arms were locked on either side of her face, triceps bulging, the epitome of power and dominance, but he was keeping his weight off her, keeping her comfortable. His hips rolled against her slowly as he pushed into her deeper. God, he was big, but perfect. No pain, just pleasure. Deeper, then deeper again, and finally he slid into her fully, filling and stretching her.

He lowered himself to his elbows, one hand gripping the back of her head as he pulled her close and kissed her, hips never pausing against hers. So slow. Beautiful agony since he’d created such a fire in her middle. Every thrust built this tingling sensation inside of her that she was desperate for more of. It had been so long since she felt like this. So long since she felt anything. So long. Fuuuuck, he was good. Faster now, so graceful, hitting her clit just right every time he buried himself inside of her. His muscles tensed. His kisses grew more urgent, tongue thrusting against hers in a rhythm with his hips. He bit her bottom lip, harder and harder, until she begged with little mewling sounds. Fucking do it. Bite me.

So close. The pressure was so intense her entire body was trembling with how good he felt inside her. He slowed again, three strokes, and then sped up, toying with her, building the heat between them. Jathan knew exactly how to touch her.

He let more of his weight rest on her but it wasn’t uncomfortable. She felt safe. Safe? God, this was everything. Sooo close. Sooo deep. Lynn gripped the back of his hair once, then lost her mind and clawed him…just raked her nails down his back. He arched so beautifully and snarled, but he didn’t flinch away. He slammed into her hard. More weight on her.

Scratch.

“Fuck,” Jathan whispered in a shaky breath. “Again.”

Scratch.

She nuzzled his bicep, testing him. Fast as she could, she turned her face and bit him lightly, right over a tapestry of geometric tattoos that covered most of his arm. He didn’t run. He snarled up his lips in a devilish smile and dared her with his blazing green eyes.

“One,” he counted, bucking into her deep.

He pulled out slowly and rested his lips where her neck and shoulder met. “Two,” he murmured against her skin, slamming into her again.

“I’m there,” she whispered desperately.

Another deep rumble sounded from him as he growled out, “Three.”

And as he thrust into her hard, he bit down on her skin. She gasped at the pain of it, because this one did hurt. It wasn’t like battle wounds. She’d given her mind to this—to him. One second of pain, but then she was distracted by the orgasm that blasted through her. He didn’t release her like she thought he would. He sustained the pain and the pleasure as he slammed into her faster and faster. And as his cock pulsed deep within her, she repaid him. She gripped the back of his arm and bit his bicep as hard as she could. She was lost in waves of ecstasy, barely able to think as she claimed him back. He was throbbing so deep within her, filling her up until warmth trickled out of her. His hand was tight on the back of her hair, and with his other, he yanked her knee up with a fierce grip and rolled his hips against her, slammed into her even deeper. She released her bite just so she could gasp his name as her release intensified. The pleasure consumed her, and she arched her back against the ground just to be closer to him. Just to feel his skin on hers.

Jathan eased back and just stared at her as their aftershocks pulsed on together, as their chests heaved and their claiming marks bled. She was completely and happily trapped in his gaze because the green had faded. He didn’t look wild anymore. His soft brown eyes were filled with awe as he searched her face.

He gently stroked her hair back. “Stay,” he demanded in a hoarse whisper. “Now you have to stay.”

She was too full of emotion to answer without conjuring tears, so she stroked her knuckles against his short, dark beard and smiled. And then she made the first promise that she had in a long time. A promise she was determined to keep because Jathan had made life a little more beautiful.

Lynn nodded. She was going to stay.

For Jathan, because he deserved the effort.

For Amberlynn, because she deserved a strong mother.

For Red Havoc and the Gray Backs.

But most of all…

Lynn was going to stay for herself.