The sun beamed as I pushed open the employee exit door at the Shepard Natural History Museum and stepped out into the summer heat that had been unrelenting, but apparently normal, for Washington, D.C. I wasn’t complaining, though. I’d had enough of the dreary Pacific Northwest rain and gloom to last me a lifetime, so I’d happily take the heat if it meant blue skies and a daily dose of vitamin D.

“Hey, Jesse! You comin’ out with everyone to Dante’s later?” one of my coworkers, Will, said, as he jogged up alongside me and threw on his shades.

I squinted at him and grinned. With his wavy sandy-brown hair, infectious charm, and a smile that made my stomach flip every time he shot one my way, Will was a huge perk to joining the museum staff. Not one I’d ever act on, but there was no harm in looking. Or…flirting.

“That depends,” I said, unscrewing the top of my water bottle. “Will you be there in case I need backup?”

Will laughed. “You know it. Gotta keep the wolves at bay.”

I almost choked on my water at his word choice, but I recovered quickly and nodded. “Guess I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“Looking forward to it.” Will gave me one of those brilliant white smiles as he walked backward, and then he pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed off to his car.

My stomach did another one of those flipping things, and I tried to calm it by taking another swig of water. It had been a year since anyone had that kind of effect on me, and though I didn’t feel ready to date or get involved with anyone, it was a relief to feel interest for someone other than he-who-shall-not-be-named.

There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of him. Some days, those thoughts were of the missing him variety, which was crazy, considering what he’d done. And other days, all I could think about was how blind I’d been and how he’d preyed on my vulnerabilities, and those were the days I knew I’d made the right choice in leaving Westport. I hadn’t known it at the time, but moving had been the best thing that had ever happened to me. I thought leaving the NMNH before my internship was up would be ending my career before it fully began, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Dr. Marks had put in such a good word for me with a former colleague at Shepard that I’d been hired on the spot as a junior research analyst for an upcoming exhibit that focused on the similarities between modern-day birds and those from the Cretaceous period.

Though I missed Brayden, he’d already come to visit a handful of times, and I had a feeling he was thisclose to relocating. There was, in his words, “so much uncharted territory,” which I knew he meant in reference to his dick. Such a classy guy, that Bray.

After unlocking my reliable Honda, the one I’d be making payments on for a couple more years to come but was totally worth it, I put the air on full blast and put the car in drive. I’d scored an apartment a ten-minute drive away with a killer view of the Washington Monument, thanks to a tip from my new boss. No more living on the bad side of town, no more cars that died more than they started, and no more bad-for-me men—it was like I was a new man.

Well, almost.

As I looked in the rearview mirror, I scanned the cars and trees behind me, but like always, there was nothing and no one there. It was such a habit now that I didn’t know if or when there’d come a time when I wasn’t on guard. Even though it’d been a year, I could still feel his eyes on me, like he was there watching in the shadows. It was an absurd thought; the man I’d left behind was on the other side of the country, but the line was so blurred now that I constantly felt the heat of his stare, though I knew it was my mind remembering. The prickling sensation on the back of my neck would probably never go away, but I was okay with that. It made me smarter, less trusting, more self-aware, and maybe that was the lesson I’d take away from my time with him. At twenty-three, I’d already lived a lifetime’s worth of mistakes, but I’d come through the other side of them stronger—and I was alive to tell the tale.

* * *

He should’ve known that if he ran from me, I’d follow. It was part of my nature, who I was—something Jesse had conveniently pushed aside the night he fled my den and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.

As his little white Honda pulled out up ahead and merged into the traffic, I waited for several cars to fall in behind him before I maneuvered my unassuming sedan into line. The drive back to his apartment was a short one—approximately ten minutes by car and thirty by foot when it wasn’t so hot outside. We’d done that all last month until the temperatures had skyrocketed and it was more important for him to arrive to work at the Shepard Museum put together than to have his daily exercise. Not that he needed it.

Jesse remained stunning as ever. His lean frame filled out his work slacks, shirt, and tie in ways that I had enjoyed many times over, both from my imagination and the photos I kept on my laptop. His golden hair had become lighter with all the sunshine that kissed it, and it was a little longer now than it had been when he’d been mine.

No. Not when, never when. He will always be mine.

When he reached the major intersection up ahead, he pulled his car to a stop, and even four cars back, I knew he had his left-hand indicator on, and I followed suit. He’d been talking to that brunette fucker he’d made nice with since starting this new job of his, and I had a feeling tonight he would be meeting up with him somewhere, judging by the smile that prick had flashed at my Jesse.

I white-knuckled the steering wheel as I watched Jesse’s car make the turn, and I continued on the same path we followed every night of the week. The routine was an easy one, and really, Jesse should’ve known better than to fall into such a pattern. That is how people are able to track you, my dear, dear boy… Didn’t I teach you anything? And, like clockwork, he pulled his Honda, number plate 873XKI, into his designated parking spot outside his apartment building.

I pulled up to the curb and let my car idle at the far end of the street, a safe enough distance away that I knew Jesse wouldn’t be able to see me should he look back here, and then I waited for the moment I lived for each and every evening.

The street he lived on wasn’t a busy one. It was also relatively new, so there were no large trees to hamper my view, no people milling about to get the fuck in my way. I shifted down in my seat and unfastened my seatbelt as I waited for and then spotted Jesse pushing open his car door and getting out.

This was our time. Each night when we were alone like this, it all made such perfect sense to me. This was how it was meant to be. Him and me. Forever.

Jesse shut the car door behind him and then jogged up onto the curb, fishing in his pocket for his keys. God, he was beautiful. And from where I was sitting, I could make out his features. His hair flopped down into his face a little as he worried his bottom lip in a way that made me remember biting it, and it had me reaching between my legs to palm myself.

I wanted to go to him. I wanted to touch him. And I knew he would want it too. I just had to wait for the right moment. I had to wait until he was ready. And he would be. Of that I was sure.

Jesse must have located his keys, because he smiled to himself and then pulled them free, and as they dangled from his fingers, he took a few steps forward, heading for the doors of his building’s lobby, but just before he reached them, he stopped in his tracks and then slowly turned.

I didn’t move a muscle. I even ceased breathing. Jesse was looking straight down the street in my direction as if he sensed me, just as I’d known he would. Yes. Whether he knew it yet or not, my little wolf belonged to me. What we had, it would never be over, because one thing about us wolves…we mated for life.