Dawn wondered what Garrett was going to tell her as she pulled up and parked at the job site. She knew she’d told the guys they could look into whatever was happening by her home, but she hadn’t expected them to find something so quick.

Not when the police had been willing to just shrug it off.

She opened the door to her car and stepped out, using her hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight.

Garrett’s huge form appeared in front of her, providing shade as well as a spark of excitement for just having her man in front of her eyes.

Her man.

When had she come to think of him like that?

He’d showered recently, as his hair was damp and slightly wavy, and he was wearing a crisp new blue flannel shirt with worn jeans and work boots.

He put out a hand for her. “Want to go for a walk with me?”

She nodded, putting her hand in his.

They wove in between the tall pines, making their way to a clearing a little ways from her house. There was a pond there, and she was looking forward to fishing in it. When she learned how to fish that was.

She was wondering where they were going to sit when she saw Garrett dragging a large, weathered log over to the edge of the reeds surrounding the pond. He sat down and patted the spot next to him for her to join him.

She did so, feeling butterflies jumping in her stomach, not unlike the ones flying in the meadow around her.

He put his hand over hers and kept it there. “I have a lot to tell you, Dawn, and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you haven’t liked my pace. You think I’m rushing things, and you don’t like me taking control. But there’s a reason for it.”

“Garrett, I don’t understand—”

He silenced her with a look. “I really care about you.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t understand. I really care about you.” He squeezed her hand, looking down at the log and then into her eyes. “I love you.”

She pulled back slightly, but he kept her hand in his. “I don’t understand. Why are you saying this now?”

“Because that’s what I feel,” he said, pulling her hand to his chest. “Feel my heart? I can’t hide it anymore. I knew when I saw you. Knew you were meant to be mine.”

She jerked back, and this time he released her, letting her lose her balance slightly on the log before she rebalanced herself. “Um. How could you know that when you had only just met me?”

“Did you feel anything when you first met me?”

She tried to think back to that day, staring at the water and thinking about the time that had passed since then. Though it was a drop in the scheme of things, as she’d hung out with the guys and watched her house being built, it had seemed like forever.

But she could still remember the first time she’d laid eyes on Garrett. How handsome he’d been carrying all those two-by-fours in the sun.

If she really thought about it, she’d never felt as attracted as she had been to him in that moment. Just… connected, almost immediately. So she sort of understood what he meant.

“I did feel something when I met you, and I really think I could be falling for you now,” she said, looking over at him. “But I mean, we need more time together. There’s no rush to figure things out now.”

She glanced at the ground, searching for a skipping rock. When she found one, she got off the log to pick it up and walked right up to the edge of the pond.

The water was crystal clear, rippling thanks to the wind, reflecting the sunlight. She drew back her hand and let the rock go, watching with satisfaction as she skipped it across the water. Then she turned back to smile at Garrett. “I’m sorry if I overreacted this morning, but I’m happy with our current pace.”

“I’m not,” he said finally. “Dawn, I haven’t been honest.”

She froze, stopping her search for another suitable skipping rock. “What?”

He stood up to join her near the water, powerful shoulders bunching as he shoved his hands in his pockets and stared implacably over the water. “I’ve been trying to take things slow with you, but I want so much more. From the first time I saw you, I wanted to marry you. I wanted to live out in the woods with you. Raise kids with you. Protect you from harm.”

Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. “Do you have any idea how crazy you sound?”

“It’s only going to get worse,” he said. “Because you don’t know anything about me, not really.”

“Yes, I do. I—”

“No, you don’t. I’m not a human. I’m not like you, Dawn. And neither are my crew.”

She took a step back, nearly tripping on the reeds behind her. When Garrett put out a hand to steady her, she simply stared at it in shock. “What do you mean?”

“I… Do you know anything about werewolves?”

Her jaw dropped. Of all the directions she’d thought this conversation was going to take, this was the last of them. “As much as anyone else… I guess. I know they aren’t real.”

Garrett took a step toward her. “But they are, Dawn. They are real, and there’s a pack of them nearby. They’re the ones who have been harassing you. And they aren’t going to leave you in peace.”

Her jaw just hung open as her brain tried to process if he was crazy or she was.

He put out his hands in a placating gesture. “I know how much you love this place. How much you want to live here. But after finding out what Grayson told me—he’s also a wolf—I know you would never be safe.”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait.” She put her hand to her temple as her pulse thudded in her ears. “Grayson’s a what?”

“A wolf,” Garrett said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “I’m a bear, and Hunter’s a cougar—”

“Stop it,” she said. “This is crazy. You can’t just say stuff like this. If you don’t want to finish the project, if it isn’t worth your time or you’re scared of the vandals—”

Garrett rose up to his full, intimidating height. “I’m not scared of any vandals. I’m scared of my mate living near a bunch of wolves.”

She shrank back slightly in the face of his anger but knew she had to hold her ground. “So like normal wolves? Can’t we call wildlife control?”

“There are no human organizations that can control these kinds of wolves. Listen, Dawn, there is a whole world outside your comprehension, full of creatures unlike anything you’ve seen.”

She bit her lip. “And you’re one of them?”

He nodded.

“Can you show me?”

“Not yet,” he said quietly.

“Oh, that’s convenient.”

“Our world is secret,” he hissed. “We have to be careful not to show anyone who could tell on us. We only show our mate and only after she’s agreed to it.”

“Agreed to what? What do you mean by mate?”

“Shifters have only one companion, generally. Bears do anyway. And we knew the second we see them, unless we’re particularly dense, which I’m not.”

“Uh…”

“I was pretty sure when I even just heard your voice. But when I met you, I was certain. Love at first sight.”

Dawn knew she was staring at him with a mixture of shock and anger, but she really couldn’t believe the turn things had just taken.

As if she wasn’t stressed enough, trying to navigate a new relationship and deal with vandalism and trespassing near her new house.

Now Garrett wanted to tell her he was a monster, that the world was full of monsters, and that some of them were threatening her home.

Which she supposed made as much sense as a hot guy like Garrett being instantly smitten with her in the first place.

As he stared at her, clearly expecting her to just run with the whole “bear” thing, she felt her heart slowly cracking.

She should have known it was too good to be true. The only person who’d ever been good to her was gone, and she should have known anyone who could get involved with her as quickly as Garrett had would have something wrong with him

Like thinking he was a bear.

Ever since she was little, the world had taught her not to trust. First her parents, who’d abandoned her, then her relatives, who’d tried to plunder her grandpa’s grave.

But Garrett had seemed different, and it was ironic that now that things were falling apart, she could finally realize how much she was hoping for things to be different with him.

How much she had fallen for him, even if it seemed too good to be true.

Looking into those amber eyes, wanting to rub her cheek on that perfect beard, she felt totally lost about what to do next.

“So you want me to give up on my house,” she said softly, wondering what she would do next.

“We all do,” Garrett said. “The whole crew.”

And suddenly she was angry. At Garrett for either hiding something huge for her or lying to her right now or being absolutely insane.

At everyone who tried to take what was hers from her.

This time, she wouldn’t be driven away. She owned this land. That had to mean something.

“Then go,” she said sharply, folding her arms and lowering her head.

Garrett tried to take a step toward her.

“Go!” She avoided his gaze and his touch. “You and your crew. I want you off my property. What you’re saying… it’s more than crazy. I need to consult with some other people.” She looked up at him, hating that he could see the tears in her eyes. “Dammit, Garrett, I thought you were someone I could trust.”

“I love you, Dawn. Doesn’t that mean anything?” The frustration in his tone couldn’t reach her because her brain was too overwhelmed by all the talk of wolves and bears.

The fact that no one would help her keep what was hers.

“Go. Go!”

Garrett took a hesitant step backward. “It doesn’t make me any different. I may be a bear, but—”

“It makes you crazy!” Dawn snapped, knowing that when she sent him away, a part of her heart would go with him.

But she wasn’t someone who could stay in denial, no matter how much she wanted to.

Garrett actually thought he and his crew were animals.

The thought was weirder every time her brain tried to dredge it up.

“You don’t understand. You’re in danger here, and—”

She shook her head, walking back to the site and forcing him to follow. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here. If you think this kind of crazy lie—”

“It’s not a lie. It’s not crazy!”

“Then prove it!” She whirled on him, and he just stood there, breaking her heart with the expression he wore. One of trapped indignation.

“I can’t. Not when you clearly don’t trust me.”

“Garrett, we’ve had sex two times.” Even if she knew there was more between them than that. “It doesn’t give you the right to control me, even if you make up some story about being a bear!”

“But—”

She ignored him, her heart beating hard as she stormed back to her car, opening the door and stepping inside it. “I’m staying here until you and the guys get off my property. If no one is going to help me, I’m going to sit here alone.”

“The last thing the guys want is to leave you,” Garrett said, standing at her window, his voice muffled. “Just because we’re shifters, it doesn’t mean—”

She covered her ears, blocking him out. It was too hard to hear that much crazy. She half hoped she’d wake up and find out this all was a dream. That none of this had happened and she could just go back to dating the man she’d been falling in love with.

And still dream of a beautiful life together in her house in the clearing.

He stopped knocking on her window, and she slowly raised her head to look at him.

“Dawn, you’re breaking my heart.”

He was so handsome and looked so broken that she almost opened the door for him. But she’d reached her limit on how far she could take a leap of faith with him.

He and his friends needed to go while she calmed down, while she thought about this.

She needed space to figure things out inside her own heart.

She watched as Garrett walked over to Hunter and Grayson, and both of them looked over at her in shock, probably upon learning she’d asked them to leave.

A slight bit of hesitation pricked her, and guilt, because these were her friends, but if they weren’t human and they’d been hiding here, that was a betrayal.

But the more likely thing was they were human and were just crazy, imagining they weren’t.

Either way, she needed them off her land. Needed to feel like just one thing her grandfather left her was hers. Needed to feel independent and strong, not utterly attacked or caught off guard.

But she could still hear Garrett.

I love you, Dawn.

No, she couldn’t think about that.

You’re breaking my heart.

Hers was breaking, too, but that didn’t change anything.

She leaned back her chair and waited for the guys to pack up everything. A few minutes later, she heard a knock on her window. Garrett was there.

She rolled the window down. “Yes?”

“Is it all right if we leave our equipment? We don’t want to take it to town, and this way, if you change your mind…”

She nodded. “Fine. I just need you all out. This is my place, and I mean to have peace.”

Garrett gave a sad nod and turned to go, and she almost stopped him.

Call her crazy, but she almost wanted to get out, say she didn’t care if he thought he was a bear, and grab and pull him into her, saying they would work everything else out.

Part of her heart called her to do just that.

The other part was frozen, unwilling to extend that much faith in something that clearly sounded crazy.

But at least they were leaving their equipment, so there was some hope there. After a day of careful contemplation and keeping an eye on her land, safe in her car, maybe she would feel different.

All she knew as Garrett and the others loaded up and took off, Hunter waving at her sadly from the back of the line, was that she hated everything that had just happened.

As they disappeared down the road, a slight feeling of regret waved through her, making her wish she could call them all back.

But not yet. Not until she was ready.