Liam smiled and it didn’t feel so strange because over the last three days, he had gotten used to it. He smiled harder when Skylar stretched lazily beside him and sighed. He trailed his fingers up her bare thigh and to her hip.

“Tired?” he murmured in her curtain of hair that was spread over his shoulder.

He couldn’t help taking in a deep breath to fill his nostrils with the scent of strawberry, which he had discovered was her favorite fruit and that was why she used strawberry shampoo. Another smile stretched across his lips. Smiling was all he had been doing for days, as if he was making up for all the years he didn’t smile.

Skylar nodded. “Yup, because somebody kept me up all night.”

“I believe it was you who kept me up with round after round of hot, sweaty sex.”

She giggled and he could tell she was blushing without looking at her. “Because you’re insatiable.”

“And you have become a monster,” he countered. “You have sex one time on an office desk and you turn into a nymph.”

She swatted his shoulder playfully. “The average man would fall asleep around, say round three, but not you. So look who’s talking?”

“I never said I was the average man.”

He was actually more beast than man most of the time. His mood dampened at the thought. How long did he think he could hold on to Skylar without her discovering what he was or without putting her in some kind of danger?

“I should get to work,” she murmured, planting a kiss on his chest.

He pulled her back to him before she could scoot off the bed. “Not so fast. I’m not done with you yet.” His hand found its way between her thighs and brushed over her mound, making her moan.

“Liam, you’re going to go broke. You haven’t gotten anything done in days. I can’t allow that to happen. I’m still in charge of efficiently running your life.”

Nuzzling her neck, he murmured, “I think my bank account can survive another day off.”

She sighed and relaxed into his touch, allowing him to sensuously explore her body. Her soft moans filled his bedroom. Suddenly, her phone began to vibrate on the night stand, breaking the erotic spell he had cast. Liam muttered a curse as she surged upward and reached for the wretched device. He had noticed that every time her phone rang or a text came in, she was on edge. With a frown, he watched her closely as she glanced at the screen but didn’t answer. The color seeped from her face and he was tempted to grab the phone from her and throw it out the window.

“Is it that cop? Because if it is, I’m going to drive into town and run him over.”

She rolled her eyes and sent him an annoyed glance. “You need to get over your jealousy, Liam. And no, it wasn’t Cayden so don’t get your briefs in a bunch.”

“I don’t wear briefs,” he growled. “Who was it then?”

“No one important.”

“You’re lying to me.”

She glowered at him. “What is your problem? I don’t know why you’re getting upset. It’s not like you’re Mr. Ready-To-Share either.”

“Damn it, Sky. You will tell me what is going on or-”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you tell me why you’ve been avoiding going to see your family.” She crossed her arms and eyed him challengingly.

His jaw clenched and rage surged through him. “This is about you, not me.”

“Let’s make it about both of us then. I’ll talk if you talk.”

A string of expletives erupted and Liam jumped up. “You know what, don’t tell me a thing. Your business is just that, your business.”

He marched toward the door, not caring that he didn’t have on a stitch of clothes. At least he wouldn’t ruin another good pair of jeans when he shifted.

He heard Skylar shout, “Go ahead and run when things get too emotionally heated for you, Liam. You’re good at that.” She let out a frustrated growl just as he slammed the door.

---

Skylar sat in the living room downstairs and stared out the window. She wasn’t usually one to sit and brood but she didn’t know what else to do. It was getting dark and Liam hadn’t come home yet.

“Sheesh, the man sure can keep a grudge,” she murmured.

She had long gotten over their fight and was presently busy worrying about his safety. Farah wasn’t even there to listen to her complain about how immature Liam had behaved. It was Friday night and she had gone to town to have drinks with Mrs. Porter to catch up on the latest gossip. Mrs. Porter was like a walking, talking Boulder Junction tabloid magazine. Farah claimed to not like her and only entertained the woman because she liked to know what was going on in the town.

So Skylar had been sitting at home alone for hours. She didn’t like it one bit because that left her with plenty of time to stress about her father. It irritated her that she kept getting threatening phone calls when the nameless mob boss - no mob jackass - had agreed to her paying in installments. He had changed his mind and was demanding more money each time. The worst part was she didn’t even know if her father was still alive because she wasn’t allowed to talk to him.

She wiped a tear that seeped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. Maybe she should tell Liam what was going. She didn’t want his money though. She simply wanted to talk to someone and let off some of the burden. Resting her hand on her chest, she fiddled with the pendant her mother had given her. Her finger brushed over the charm Farah had added to it. It was a circle with intricately twisted pieces inside of it. Farah had said it was some family heirloom and she was touched that she had given her such a thing of value. She didn’t have the heart to tell Farah that it was hideous and so she wore it on the chain of her mother’s pendant with pride.

The silence had gone on too long and it was getting to her so she reached for the TV remote. Before she could switch on the TV, she heard footsteps on the porch. Letting out a relived breath, she threw down the remote. It sounded like either Liam or Farah had come home.

“It’s about time.”

Minutes ticked by and no one came through the door. She frowned and walked to open the door. Stepping outside, she glanced around.

“Liam, are you out here? Look, let’s just forget about what happened this morning? Come inside and let’s talk. I won’t pry into your family business again, I swear.”

No one answered. Maybe she hadn’t heard footsteps after all. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her. With a sigh, she turned and headed back inside. Before she made it through the door, someone appeared in the living room. She gasped and jumped back. The man stared at her with malicious content.

Skylar stood frozen but her mind raced. The stranger almost looked like Liam. He even had similar green eyes. She opened her mouth to scream but he asked, “Where is he?”

“Who? And who are you? How did you get in?” She took retreating steps as he advanced.

He looked her up and down. “His scent is all over you.”

“W-what?”

The stranger laughed. “Well, well, things just got even more fun.”

Skylar knew it was time to run. She knew danger when she saw it and the man smiling wickedly at her meant to do her harm. Immediately, she turned and ran down the steps. She considered running to her car but remembered that the keys were in the house. There was nowhere else to run but into the woods and she wasn’t thrilled about that. Nothing good ever happened in the woods.

Looking back, she let out a scream when instead of the man, she saw a huge furry creature dashing toward her. “What the f-” She stumbled over a tree root and quickly turned her eyes forward and steadied herself.

What was she running from? A wolf? Wolves didn’t grow to be that big, did they? It wasn’t humanly possible to outrun it, she knew, but she was never one to give up. Skylar shrieked when something heavy hit her in the back and she went flying forward. Landing on the ground, she realized that the gigantic animal had knocked her down with a paw. She rolled over and scrambled backward, staring up at the animal with wide eyes. Well, this was it. Her life was about to end.

To her surprise, the wolf growled and stepped back. It was staring at her chest and shaking its head from side to side wildly. She took a second to glance down. It was staring at her necklace. The animal tilted its head to the side as if confused. It advanced on her again but stopped abruptly and whimpered, ducking it’s head.

Skylar wasted no more time. Taking advantage of the animal’s distress, she set off again. To her dismay, footsteps pounded behind her again. “Shit, shit, shit!” She could only keep running for so long. She forced her terrified mind to think. “A tree!” She headed to the tree in front of her and began climbing. Thank God she had experience with climbing up and down fire escapes, walls, and fences to evade mob henchmen so climbing a tree wasn’t so hard.

Feeling like she was high enough, she glanced down to see the monster of a wolf circling the tree. It started up at her and she could swear she saw his eyes flash from yellow to green, reminding her of the man that broke into Liam’s house. But when she blinked, its eyes were glowing yellow. The animal growled.

“Ha! See if you can get me from up here, you filthy beast. You’re going home hungry tonight,” Skylar goaded.

She gasped when the animal stood on hind legs and began using its lethal looking claws to climb. Okay, if she survived she decided she would Google if such large wolves could climb trees or if such large wolves even existed. She shook with fear as she wondered what to do. There was no escape that she could see. The only thing she could do was step out onto a limb that felt like it was about to give under her weight.

Her eyes were glued to the animal as it stopped, realizing that it too would fall out of the tree if it continued to stalk her. Its claws lengthened right before her eyes and Skylar’s mouth fell open. What in the hell kind of wolf was it? Claws slashed toward her and she screamed and jumped back, missing her step and falling. Her hands grabbed onto the limb and she was left dangling. She shut her eyes tightly as her weak arms began to shake from holding herself up. Regret that she never exercised more presented itself and she let out a hysterical laugh.

“This is just freaking awesome,” she hissed.

If the fall didn’t kill her, she would break something. If by some miracle she didn’t break anything, the wolf would make its way down and make her dinner. Any way she looked at it, she was screwed.

Her hands finally gave way and she began her fall. She tried to use her hands to catch her fall and hit the ground with a loud thud. The sickening sound of bone cracking reached her ears. Dazed, Skylar rolled onto her back and pain zipped through her skull and her left wrist. So she hadn’t died. But she had hit her head and her wrist was definitely broken. Her vision was blurred as she looked up in the tree, searching for sign of the predator. She heard when it landed next to her and she closed her eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.