She was in her wolf form, running in the woods. The sun was warm on her fur, and the air smelled like summer. This was the happiest she’d ever been, the freest she’d ever felt and she didn’t want this moment to end. Things were perfect in this form, in this moment. She had no worries, no cares, she could simply exist when she was in tune with her inner wolf.

She skidded to a halt on the grass as trees loomed in front of her. A dark cloud passed over the sun and it was twilight. The warmth was sucked out of the air and her muscles vibrated under her fur as she trembled. There was something there, in the trees, just beyond her eyesight.

The smell of rot and death came to her as a grey wolf, with a scar that bisected its eye and made it look like it was covered in a white film. If it was possible for a wolf to grin, this one would be doing it. There was evil in those teeth, there was death in that mouth, and she turned away with a swiftness that could only happen in a dream.

She raced across the grass, with the pounding sound of his paws hitting the ground behind her. The trees loomed around her, as if they too were in cahoots with him. It seemed like their branches were reaching for her, trying to grasp her so the she could be held still for his devouring jaws. He got closer and closer, until she could feel his hot breath on her flanks.

With one last burst of energy, she put on as much speed as she could, but it wasn’t enough. The heat of his breath, the drip of his saliva was upon her when his jaws clamped around her flanks, sending shards of pain through her. Her mouth opened wide to scream but no sound came out. She tried again, but the only sound she could hear were his ecstatic growls as he ripped her apart.

Grace’s heart slammed against her rib cage as she bolted upright. The sound of her scream bounced off the walls as sweat bathed her body. She’d kicked the covers away, and it took a moment for her to remember where she was. A part of her mind was still in the woods, still being chased by the grey wolf.

Her bedroom door flew open and a scream escaped her again as a figure loomed in the doorway. She screamed as she shrank back toward the headboard. How had he found her here?

“Grace.”

That wasn’t his voice, and her heart rate slowed when she finally saw through the haze of terror that had her in its grip. It was Mason who was coming into the room, and in the dim light coming from the hallway she could see that there was a look of concern on his face.

She started trembling and couldn’t make herself stop.

“Baby, are you okay?” He came to sit on the edge of the bed, and reached out to push aside the hair that had fallen in her face.

The touch of his hand had her moving toward him. The old nightmare, one she’d thought she’d finally been free of, had reared its ugly head again and she needed something to cling to. He was so warm and solid that she wanted to take some of that inside herself to give her strength, to make the fear go away.

“Hold me, please.” Her voice came out in a hoarse plea as she went over to where he sat on the edge of the bed.

He put his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap. The skin of his upper body was warm and solid against her, and he smelled like the night air. She put her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook. With her eyes squeezed shut, she concentrated on the warm circles his hands were making on her nightgown covered back. God when she was in the grip of that dream, she always wondered if there would come a time when she would wake from it without her sanity in tact. She would give anything, do anything, to make it so that she never had it again.

“You’re okay. I’m here and nothing bad is going to happen.” His soothing words went a long way to helping her fear subside, and eventually the trembling stopped and she was able to allow her body to relax against him.

“I hope I didn’t wake you.” Her voice was quiet in the stillness of the room. She wasn’t ready to be alone, wasn't ready to face the rest of the night without him.

“I couldn’t sleep. I was out for a run, and when I came back I heard you screaming. I thought someone had gotten to you, and I’m sorry for scaring you even more than you already were when I burst in here. If I’d known you were having a nightmare, I would have been a little more gentle in my approach.”

“It’s not your fault. Anyone would have done the same thing.” But even as she said it, she couldn’t help the warm feeling that spread through her. He’d come in here, not knowing what the threat was, determined to protect her no matter what. He’d always been like that, even when they were little more than kids. She’d never doubted that he would die to protect her, and it appeared that this part of him had not changed.

She was not yet ready to be intimate with him, because if she turned to him now it would be for the wrong reasons. She would be using him to blot out the lingering terror that had taken up residence inside her when she’d been in the throes of her nightmare. When they did become mates through the physical act of love making she wanted the only reason for it to be her desire for him and his for her.

But she didn’t want to be alone for the rest of the night. She didn’t want the nightmare to come back and she knew that she would be afraid to close her eyes and go to sleep if she didn’t have the comfort of his huge body beside her.

“Do you think you can stay with me? I’ll feel better about going to sleep if you’re here with me. But I should tell you that I’m not ready for anything other than sleep, so if you don’t want to lay with me I’ll understand.”

He tightened his arms around her, and the hair on the top of her head moved as he pressed his lips to it. This was the most affection he’d shown her since she’d come back to town, and perhaps seeing her need of him had loosened some of the anger that had been holding him back from her.

“I’ll stay. When we make love it will be because it is something we both want.” He shifted her off her lap and got up off the bed.

She scooted under the covers and waited while he walked out to the hall on silent feet and shut off the light. Once he’d done that, he came back into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. The room was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing, and she suspected that it was a good thing too, since she could hear the rustle of his clothing as he removed his jeans.

If she’d been able to see his bare body, in all his muscled glory, she was certain that she would have changed her mind about being intimate with him. But it was too soon for that. There was still so much baggage between them, and having him comfort her after a nightmare would not change that.

She shifted over on the bed to make room for him, and he got under the covers with her. He pulled her to him, and settled her head on his chest as he put his arms around her. The beat of his heart was steady under her cheek, and it lulled her into relaxing against him. He had the strength to keep her demons at bay, at least for tonight, and she knew that once she finally fell asleep her nightmares would no longer plague her.

“Do you want to talk about it?” His voice was a low rumble under her ear and she didn’t try to pretend that she didn’t know what he was talking about.

“It’s just an old nightmare, one I’ve had off and on for years. You know the ones. You’re being chased by something and you don’t know who or what it is. I don’t really want to rehash it, otherwise I’ll never sleep.”

There was a lot more to it than that. She didn’t want to talk about it because she knew what had been chasing her, or rather, who. Titus Parr had stalked her in her nightmares for fifteen years, and if she told Mason that, he would want to know why. That would only open a painful and ugly can of worms that she was not equipped to deal with. She hoped that her answer would satisfy him.

“Well you don’t have to talk about it then.” He stroked his hand over her hair and she brought her hand up to rest on the hard muscle of his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” It wasn’t his fault she’d had a nightmare, and if he hadn’t come in when he did, she would most likely still be terrified. And trying to sleep with the light on, as she had for so many years when the old nightmare had flared up.

“For the way I acted when we got here. I shouldn’t have implied that you were untrustworthy. I’m trying to put the past behind me, I am. It’s just going to take me some time. So if I act like a jealous, possessive idiot, just remind me that I’m being stupid. I don’t want to spend the next year fighting with you.”

“I don’t want that either.” She rubbed a soothing hand over his skin. “We just have to focus on each moment as it comes. And don’t worry, you know I have no problem telling you when you’re being an idiot.”

Her words lightened the mood in the room and drew a chuckle from him.

“That I know.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and settled her tighter against him. “Go to sleep. Just remember that you’re here with me and as long as we’re together I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

She closed her eyes, and for the first time in years, she wasn’t afraid that the nightmare would come back. It was like his words had cast a protective cocoon around her, that nothing could penetrate. As long as he was holding her, he could keep the monsters at bay.

* * *

It was a few days later, and Mason was still no closer to finding out who had been watching his home on the night of Grace’s nightmare. It was someone he knew he would recognize by scent, but was also someone he’d never met before. There were no strangers in town, and as he went about his day to day business, he never caught the scent again. He was certain that he hadn’t imagined it.

And although he and Grace shared a bed every night they were still no closer to each other. Holding her was what she appeared to need, and he wanted to give that to her without condition. But she stirred up an ache inside him, one that would only be satisfied by possessing her completely. He knew that he needed to be patient with her, that although they’d slept together in the past didn’t mean that she was necessarily ready to do so again.

And there was something lurking beneath the surface with her, a shadow that lurked behind her eyes. He knew it was tied up in the nightmare that she had somehow, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it was. He wanted to ask her about it, but she seemed reluctant to talk about what scared her and he didn’t want to push her. They were slowly building a fragile peace between them and he didn’t want to do anything that would set them back.

He prowled around his office with restless energy. The full moon was tonight, so that certainly didn’t help the tension that was churning inside him. It would only get worse until the need to change consumed him and he let it rip by running through the woods as a wolf.

He walked out of his office, and noticed that the gym was a little busier than usual. It was always like this on the full moon, as the male members of the pack needed to do something to get rid of the aggression that always stirred itself up with the fullness of the moon.

He had a word with Don, asking him to hold down the fort for a while and left the gym.

Something nagged at him, about the night of the binding. Logan had said something to Grace, something other than to ask her if she wanted to go through with the ceremony. He was certain of it. There was nothing going on between them, he knew that but something had been said. Could that have been what had caused her to be frightened enough to have an old nightmare? When they were together before, she’d never told him about having bad dreams, so it had to be something that had cropped up in the past fifteen years.

Maybe he was just chasing his tail over this, but he wanted to talk to Logan just to be sure. It could be nothing but him getting gun shy about getting close to her again. He could be looking for a reason for there to be a problem, but he wouldn’t know for sure unless he knew exactly what Logan had said to her that night.

He walked into Logan’s bar and unlike the gym, there wasn’t a wolf in sight, just a few of the human residence having a late lunch. Wolves steered clear of this place until after they’d had their run on this one night a month. It was better for everyone in town if the hairier citizens weren’t mixing alcohol and extreme aggression. When Logan had taken over as alpha he’d instituted a ban on wolves being served alcohol on the day leading up to the full moon.

Alex was behind the bar, scowling at the wooden surface. Apparently Mason wasn’t the only one who was feeling the moon’s pull. Alex looked up.

“Hope you aren’t looking for booze. You know the rules.” Alex put the cloth he was holding over the hook behind the bar as Mason approached.

“I’m not here to drink. Is the alpha in his office?”

Alex nodded and Mason turned away to walk to Logan’s office. He knocked on the door and when Logan bid him to enter he walked in. Logan looked surprised to see him.

“I would think your place would be too busy today to think about leaving it.” Logan shoved aside the papers he was working on and motioned for Mason to take a seat. “Are you running with the pack tonight?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Mason sat down across from Logan, and frowned at him. He always ran with the pack on the night of the full moon.

“I don’t know. I thought maybe you might want to run with your mate alone tonight.”

Mason suppressed the urge to flinch when Logan referred to Grace as his mate. It was all still too new and a little unreal to him to think of her that way.

“We hadn’t discussed what we are doing tonight, so I assumed that we would be running with the pack.”

“And how are things going between you two? You haven’t gotten in any fights with anyone, so I had assumed that things were better, but if you aren’t even talking about where you’re running tonight, maybe I’m wrong.”

“We are slowly coming around. At least we aren’t fighting with each other anymore. There is a reason I came here.” Logan assuming that he and Grace would be running alone tonight, with him not knowing what they were doing, told him just how much of a distance they had left to breach.

“What is it?”

“What did you tell her before the binding ceremony?” Mason watched Logan closely as he asked his question and if he hadn’t been he wouldn’t have seen the brief hesitation in his eyes. He was more certain than ever that something was being hidden from him, some sort of secret that Grace and Logan shared.

“I asked her if she wanted to go through with it. Don’t tell me that my talking to her has put a bug up your ass. You of all people should know that I have no designs on Grace, and she has none on me.”

“I know that. Grace told me that’s what you said when I confronted her about it on the night of the binding. Did you say anything else to her? I’m not accusing you or her of anything, but there has to be more to it than just you asking her if she wanted to go through with it.”

Logan closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his hand over his lower jaw. “There was one other thing. I told her that Titus Parr was out of prison.”

“Titus Parr? Why the hell does that name sound so familiar?” He’d heard that name and recently, but couldn’t put his finger on it.

“He’s the reason you are bound to Grace now. He was the one objector to the packs merging.”

Mason remembered now, and he remembered Grace’s reaction to hearing his name. She’d been scared, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen her that frightened of anything before. Could the knowledge that Titus was out of prison be the source of her nightmare? Could learning that he was free on the night of the binding ceremony be what had triggered her bad dreams?

“Would she have any reason to be afraid of him?” He didn’t know if Logan would even know the answer to that, but thought he’d ask.

“I think a lot of East Brook members would have a reason to be afraid of Titus Parr. He was the East Brook enforcer when Grace’s stepfather was alpha. And he took a little too much enjoyment out of meting out punishment to those who needed it. Even my father knew better than to tangle with him.”

If Mike Sawyer, who wasn’t exactly right in the head, knew enough to stay out of Parr’s way, then he must be a seriously bad dude. No wonder Grace had been frightened when she’d heard his name. Could that be why she’d been scared enough to have a nightmare? If this Titus dude was as bad as Logan seemed to believe he was, then he might be the source of Grace’s nightmares.

“Do you know where he is? Is there any chance he’s come back home now that he isn’t in jail?” He didn't think he'd imagined the feeling of eyes watching him when he’d been out for his run. And he was certain that he’d smelled wolf, tucked out of sight behind the trees. Could that have been Titus Parr, and if it was, why the hell was he watching his house?

“All I know is that he’s out of jail. If he was back in the area I would know it. Pack law requires that he check in with me when he gets back into town.”

“And do you think he’s the type to obey pack law?”

Logan’s brows drew together, and he leaned forward in his chair. “What’s going on Mason? Why all these questions about Titus Parr?”

“She’s scared, Logan. When we were meeting here surely you saw it, how scared she was? And she’s having nightmares, ones that leave her screaming in a cold sweat. I want to protect her, but I can’t do that unless I know what the threat is against her. I really wish you’d told me that Parr was out of jail. How the hell am I supposed to protect my mate if I don’t have all the information?” He watched Logan closely, to see if there was anything else that he wasn’t telling him, but all he could see on his face was concern.

“Is that all? Is that the only reason you’re here asking questions about Parr, because she’s having nightmares or is there something else?”

“I couldn’t swear to it, but I think he’s in the area. I was out for a run on the night of the ceremony, and I smelled something. It was a wolf whose scent I didn’t recognize, and whoever it was he didn’t show himself. I haven’t smelled it since, but if there was someone watching my house, I’d lay odds that it was him.”

Logan shot out of his chair, and it crashed back agains the wall. “Why the hell am I just hearing about this now? You should have come to me the second you suspected that someone was watching your house?”

Mason stood, and the aggression that was below the surface today flared to life. “How the fuck was I supposed to know to come to you when you didn’t keep me in the loop? You gave information to my mate, which apparently she didn’t feel it was necessary to share with me and now you’re pissed because I didn’t tell you that this prick might have been watching my house? Anything you have to say to her you can say to me.”

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just get out to Grace’s house.”

It occurred to Mason that Grace was out at her house alone, packing things up to get ready to put it on the market. Damn her for not telling him that Parr was out of jail. If he’d known there would be no way in hell he would have let her go out to East Brook by herself. But why the hell was Logan so hot to get out there?

“I know why I’m going out to Grace’s place to check up on her, but why are you going?”

“Because Faith volunteered to help Grace out at her place, and Grace accepted. My mate and yours are out there alone, and if I’d known that you thought someone was watching you I would never have let them go out there without Rafe or someone to watch out for them. If Parr is in the area, he wouldn’t be watching your house because of you.”

Mason didn’t need to hear any more and he cursed himself for not coming to talk to Logan sooner, or for not insisting that Grace tell him everything that Logan had said to her that night. He hadn’t wanted to rock the boat, to put more resentment between them, but by doing so he’d put his mate in danger.