“Winnie? Winnie, darling, wake up.”

The voice came to her from a long, dizzy way off, but it was West’s voice and it was irresistible. Slowly, unsurely, she opened her eyes.

His proud, handsome face swam into view above her.

“West? What . . .”

“You’re in my bed. Easy.” He put a hand on her soft stomach. “Cat said you fainted.”

Winnie shot up, the terrible image of Stone’s transformation coming back to her. She gripped West’s jacketed arm.

“West. West. That man—Stone.”

“She saw him,” Cat said from the doorway. She looked pretty and curvy in a tight brown dress, but when Winnie glanced at her, all she could think was, She wasn’t scared when Stone changed, and she wasn’t surprised, either. Is she a bear too?

And then, horribly, Is West?

“She saw Stone?” West asked impatiently. “Winnie, what happened?”

“Elder Stone happened, I told you,” Cat said, frowning. “He changed right in front of her.”

“What did he do, Winnie?” West ignored Cat and sat on the bedside. “You can tell me.”

“I . . . I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “That man—Stone—came here. He brought a woman. They were both older.” She glanced at Cat, but West put a finger under her chin and turned her back toward him.

“And then?”

“And then . . . I don’t know. He said I wasn’t right for you, because of . . . because of how I smelled, because of the color of my eyes, because I was ‘human.’ It was all so insane, West. The man was definitely named Stone. The woman . . . she was . . .” Winnie struggled to remember. “It was a flower name. Hyacinth?”

“Hyssop,” Cat said.

“That’s right! Hyssop.” Winnie gripped the lapels of West’s coat. “He changed.”

“Changed how?” West asked quietly.

“I . . . it’s going to sound crazy. He–he changed into a . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to say it. What if West thought she was a nutjob? What if he sent her home for being an unstable hysteric? She swallowed. “I don’t know how to say it. But he threatened me.”

“He shifted,” Cat said impatiently. “You’re not crazy, Winnie. I saw it too.”

“Cat, leave,” West said in a firm, cold voice that made Cat vanish.

“West, I’m not sure what I saw,” Winnie whispered when they were alone. “It looked like . . . like he turned into an animal. But that’s not possible, is it?”

“Not usually,” he said, slightly dryly but gently. “Can you tell me more?”

“I don’t know. It’s all a blur. But he said you were crazy for choosing me over Cat. That I wasn’t your ‘kind,’ that I smelled like beeswax, that I—West, he was a grizzly bear.” She bit her lip, forcing herself to look into his gold-ringed eyes. It was the truth, and she had to face the truth—and so did he. He must know something about what had happened. He and Stone were family. “Isn’t that what you asked me when I came here? If I was a bear, too? Did you mean a bear like you? Is that what you people are? Animals just pretending to be people? How?”

West’s mouth thinned. “I’m not pretending to be human, Winnie. That’s insanity. Look.” He held up his gloved hands. “Ten fingers. Human. Just like you.”

“I . . . I know,” she stammered. “But I also know what I saw. And I know what you’ve asked me, and what Cat has asked me. You both wanted to know if I was a bear, if I came from bears, if I understood what a bear was—and when the answer was no, you didn’t know what to say. Tell me the truth, West! What is a bear?”

“You’ve had a shock, Winnie. You don’t know what you’re saying. Stone is a sick man and he scared you.”

“Don’t lie. I know you well enough now to know when you’re lying.”

His eyes flashed. “People can’t turn into animals, Winnie. Children know that.”

She wasn’t deterred by his withering tone. “Don’t lie,” she repeated. “This makes sense to you, I can tell. You know something about what I saw.”

“Winnie—”

“Fine.” She slung herself off the bed and left his room. She could hear him following her. “Cattail!”

Cat appeared down the hall, from out of the receiving room. “What?”

“You said I’m not crazy, that what I saw was real. I bet you can prove it. Can’t you?” Winnie demanded. “Because you’re like Stone. Aren’t you, Cat?”

Cat gazed at Winnie from down the short corridor.

“Cat,” West said warningly. “Don’t indulge this fantasy.”

“It’s not a fantasy,” Cat said coolly. “I thought you loved her. Why do you want her to feel like she’s crazy?”

“I’m trying to protect her,” West said, and Winnie heard the faintest note of pleading in his voice.

Cat wasn’t moved. She slid her dress off her shoulders and let it pool on the parquet floor. Then, before Winnie could blink, she was changing, growing, becoming an animal. One moment, there was a fresh-faced young woman at the other end of the hall. The next, there was a high-shouldered grizzly sow with a wide, heart-shaped, muscular face and enormous clawed feet. The sow snorted and swayed, clawing at the wooden flooring.

“Cat!” West said, and Winnie realized this was the first time she had heard him truly angry. “What did you think this would solve? What? This is fucking thoughtless! Thoughtless!”

“Are you like her, West?” Winnie asked, watching the sow sniff the air. “Like that?”

His powerful hand closed on Winnie’s wrist and he dragged her back into his bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

“That’s enough of Cat for one lifetime,” he growled, ripping off his gloves and jacket. “Stupid girl.”

“She’s not!” Winnie said, her heart thrumming.

“She is! For this, she is! Winnie.” He gently put his hands on her waist. “You didn’t have to know. She didn’t have to prove it to you.”

“I wanted to know.”

“It’s dangerous to know.” He sighed. “I’m not an animal.”

“Well, obviously, you are sometimes. Like her,” she said stiffly. “Who are you people? What are you?”

He didn’t answer immediately. She stared into his gold-shimmering eyes, demanding an answer.

“We’re called shifters,” he said heavily. “We’re born into clans, into packs. There are different bloodlines—bears, wolves, foxes—but we keep away from you people.”

“Us people?” Winnie asked, her brows drawing together.

“Humans. Full humans, real humans, like you,” he said, sighing. “History has shown you don’t like us very much. There were persecutions in antiquity, in the Middle Ages . . . so we hide. Generally speaking, we’re just not very compatible. Sit.” He guided her to the bed and gently pressed her down, so she sat. “A shifter is half an animal. They have needs, abilities, and instincts that humans don’t. Do you understand?”

“No,” Winnie said. Her skin felt cold. “Explain.”

“I smell better than you, I see better than you, and I hear better than you. I’m stronger than a human man. Does that make more sense?”

“Yes.” Her skin felt even colder.

“Because we’re animals, we . . . how do I explain?” He shook his head. “We fold into natural ranks—elders, Alphas, betas—it changes a little depending on the clan and the bloodline, but we all observe some kind of hierarchy. We crave it. Our animal natures demand it. Stone is an elder in my clan. Elder Stone.”

“An Elder?” She considered that, frowning. “So you have to listen to him?”

“It’s not like that, exactly. You’re supposed to. But you don’t have to.” He loosened and pulled off his tie with more force than was really needed. “The one you have to listen to is your Alpha. Your leader.”

“Who’s your Alpha? He’s not coming here, is he?” Winnie asked, making a paranoid sweep of the room with her eyes. “Because if a thousand-pound grizzly bear comes for me, I don’t have any defenses, West!”

“You have me,” he said seriously. “But he won’t come. There isn’t one.”

“What?”

“Our Alpha died a couple of months ago. Drowned. They want me to fill his place.”

“You?” Winnie was amazed . . . but it did make a certain kind of sense. West radiated confidence. He was assertive, intelligent, authoritative. Altogether, he cut a powerful figure as a man. As a bear . . . “What would it mean to be an Alpha? Would you have to go home?”

“I’d have to go home and fight for it. That’s how an Alpha is decided. There are other young men, and they would challenge me for leadership. Truthfully, Winnie, I’m sure I would win.” He unbuttoned the top of his shirt, sighing. “But I’m not interested. My life is here. I have status here. I have responsibilities here.” He reached for her, and his finger traced the curve of her ear. “And you’re here, too. You’re in the human world, and I want to stay with you. I have no desire to go back to Clallam Bay anytime soon.”

“So Cat was . . .”

“Cat was an attempt to lure me back. I was honest with you about that.” He sat next to her on the bed. Without thinking, she slid a comforting hand onto his hard thigh. “But I already had you, Tam. I’m not going back.”

“Things make sense now,” Winnie murmured. “Things Cat told me . . . things you told me. I understand why she didn’t go to school. Why she doesn’t work.”

He nodded. “Shifters like to live in the wilderness with their clans. They crave the wilderness, Winnie.” He put his hand over hers. “They love and need wild places—remote places—for their hunting and their fighting and their denning. They’re safe in the forest, too, safe from humans. And humans are safe from them. It’s perfect.” He held her eyes. “It just wasn’t perfect for me. I’m different, and I can’t tell you why. I knew what I wanted to do and I did it. I built this life instead.”

“You really built it from nothing,” she said, amazed.

“I refused to fail,” he said, and there was a flicker of hot gold in his eyes. “Can you accept me, Winnie? I would never hurt you. I’m not a monster. I’m just . . . different.”

“How many of you are there?” she asked slowly.

“Thousands. I don’t know how many. We’re everywhere, all over the planet. But you outnumber us by many powers of ten.”

“How did you come to be?”

“No one knows. But we were always like this. Always. And we’ve always lived apart, if we could.”

She chewed her lip. “Why would you choose me, and not one of your own women? A . . . a bear, like Cat?”

He gazed at her so intently that her chest burned.

“Because I want you, Winnie. And I always go for what I want, no matter what people say or do.” He ran a hand through her hair. “You’re so, so beautiful and so, so special. You’re an open, authentic girl, and brilliant, although I don’t know if you know it. Having you with me . . .” He pulled on her hair, which made her scalp tingle wonderfully. “It’s incredible. You soothe me, you inflame me. You light up my world. What you do to me is addictive, Winnie, and I need your body—your shape, your scent, the color of your eyes, the sound of your voice. I need your sweetness, your support, your common sense. I want you with me. Always.”

“West! You can’t mean that. We’ve barely—”

“It’s different for shifters, Winnie. We bond quickly, decisively. I know you’re mine. I hope you feel that I’m yours.”

Her heartbeat was loud and fast in her ears. Her mouth tasted like salt. It was hard to think.

She did feel like they belonged together. She did feel like he was her man. It was so fast, so dizzying, but so . . . so undeniable.

“I do feel that way,” she whispered, flushing. “I love you. But it’s been so quick.”

“I know it’s confusing for you,” he said softly, pulling her hair again and making her sigh with pleasure. “This isn’t how humans do things. But I’m sure of us. I know we belong together. A shifter’s instinct is never wrong, Winnie. You’re my mate.”

“MeetYourMate is for shifters, isn’t it? The website,” she asked, trying to ignore the sudden, demanding heat between her legs. “I was a mistake, somehow.”

“It’s for shifters, yes. They must have had a security failure. You can’t usually find them through a browser. But it doesn’t matter, Winnie. You’re not a mistake. You were meant for me.” He tugged her head back by her hair and gave her a deep, dominant kiss. It was pure bliss. “You’re mine.”

“How can we live together if your people hate me?” she breathed against his mouth. “God, West, I want you to take me.”

“I’ll make them see that I’ve made my decision,” he growled, and then he kissed her again, harder this time. “And no one changes my decisions.”

There was a knock on the door. Winnie sat up, and West got out of the bed where the two of them had melted together like caramel.

It was Annika. “There is a visitor, Mr. Croft. It is Miss Hyssop.”

“Thank you, Annika,” West said evenly. When Annika left, he turned to Winnie. “I’ll take care of this. Stay here.”

As he rose to leave, she grabbed his arm. “No,” she said. He looked puzzled when she stood beside him. Fear had made her mouth mothy, but she swallowed back the feeling and looked him straight in the eyes as she made her decision. “Whatever you do now, we do together.”

Then she wound her hand into his. The edges of his mouth lifted in a smile, and he lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a small kiss to the backs of her fingers. “Yes,” he repeated. “Together.”

They left the bedroom as one. Hyssop was standing in front of the lift. Winnie guessed she must be a shifter too, but just for confirmation, she tugged West’s shirt sleeve.

“Is she a shifter?” she asked softly while Annika asked Hyssop if she wanted a refreshment from the kitchen.

“She’s a wolf,” West said evenly.

Annika turned to the kitchen, and West said, “Tell Amy to lay another place setting. Hyssop, won’t you join us?”

“I will,” Hyssop said unblinkingly.

Hyssop did look a bit like a wolf, now that Winnie was looking for it. She had lovely long hair that was turning the same silver as a wolf’s fur. She also had the calm, dignified face of a she-wolf, with piercing eyes, a straight mouth, and a narrow chin.

Winnie realized with surprise that she would actually like to see her shift. What would she look like as a full wolf? Shifting was . . . fascinating. Maybe she could ask Cat to shift again.

Or West. She forced down a shiver.

Everyone filed into the dining room. Amy had prepared a dinner of grilled lamb chops made with a rosemary balsamic reduction, served on beds of avocado salad with duck meatballs as a side. There was sparkling water and an expensive merlot to drink. Winnie wondered if West had told Amy to make the dinner meat-heavy. There were so many shifters coming in and out of the apartment that it would make sense.

“Elder Stone is very angry,” Hyssop said coolly. She ate a duck meatball with her fingers. “He’s sent for another man to come and fight you.”

“He has?” West asked, but without much concern. “From Clallam Bay? Who?”

“A man named Kiefer.”

“Hmm.” West considered that over his prime rib. Winnie, who was across from Cat, traded a glance with her. “When does he arrive?”

“Tonight. He’ll be here.”

“No. Not here.” West shook his head. “In the park. I’ll meet him late at night in the Ramble. It’s dark and overgrown there, and tonight is going to be the coldest of the year. We’ll have privacy. Three AM will be the best hour. Can you tell him that’s where I expect him to be?”

“West, are you seriously going to fight this man?” Winnie asked quietly.

“Yes,” he said, unafraid. “It’s how things are done, darling.”

“He’s right,” Cat said, drinking Merlot. “Let them fight.”

“I want to come,” Winnie insisted.

“No,” West said automatically.

“But—” Together, she wanted to remind him.

His eyes softened as though he could read her mind. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you,” he explained.

“You think they would do that?” Winnie asked, appalled.

“You know our secret, child,” Hyssop said, holding the bone of a lamb chop like a lollipop stick, eating the meat off it. “Some would say you should die for that knowledge. There are old laws that demand just that, in fact.”

“I could come,” Cat offered. “I’d keep Winnie safe if she really wants to watch.”

“No,” West said again, more forcefully. “I won’t risk her.”

“I’m a big sow, West. I’m not a pushover,” Cat said firmly. “And anyway, it’s a woman’s right to watch her man duel. It’s Winnie’s right.”

“That is true,” Hyssop said. “And Asher and I could come. We would help protect her, too. I don’t think the human girl should die for your sins, West.”

From that remark, Winnie understood that Hyssop took a dim view of mating with humans. But at least she wasn’t going to rip Winnie apart like her plate of prime rib.

“Let her go,” Cat cajoled.

“No.” West was immovable.

But Winnie needed to go. She needed to see. She needed to be with him tonight.

So she needed to convince him.

“I want to see you win,” Winnie said, leaning close to West and whispering the words hotly in his ear. “I want to see how strong you are. I want to be there.”

She could tell those words had an effect on him. “Tam . . .”

“It’s my right to see you fight, West. Bring me with you. Show me how powerful you are.” She stared into his eyes. “And prove that you really see me as a mate, like you say. I love you.”

“All right,” he said slowly. “But only if Asher and Cattail come as your guard. Hyssop, make sure Ash is there. I’ll call him, too.”

“Don’t worry. He will come. He loves you,” Hyssop said, finishing off her plate. “You’re like a pack brother to him.” She stood up. “I’m leaving now. Excuse me.”

“I’ll see you tonight. At two, let’s say,” West said, sipping wine.

“Yes,” Hyssop agreed, and then she disappeared. They heard the lift open and close.

“Wolves are odd, aren’t they?” Cat asked Winnie, pouring herself more wine. “The older they get, the odder they get. That’s what my mother always said. Bears are more straightforward, Tam. You’re lucky you’re mating with a bear and not a wolf.”

“Don’t get drunk,” West cautioned, watching Cat start a second glass. “I need you fierce and sober for the fight.”

“I will be,” Cat said, waving his words away. “I drink washtubs of beer back home.”

Winnie leaned her cheek on West’s shoulder. “Will you be all right? Is this really the only way?”

“Trust me,” he said, kissing her hair. “It is. And I will be.”