“So I’ve got some good news for you,” Uncle Bill greeted her when Mary arrived at the beginning of her shift seven days later.

She felt exhausted from lack of sleep. Without Tyler at her side, she tossed and turned all night, acutely aware of his missing presence. And she hadn’t been able to eat much; thanks to the stress, her stomach felt queasy all the time.

How on earth do Steffi and Evan manage when Evan is gone on one of his summer-long research trips? Mary wondered irritably.

It had been two weeks since Tyler’s arrest, and she felt like she was coming apart. Only their brief daily visits at mealtimes were helping her hold it together.

And she had to hold it together, or she’d never prove Tyler’s innocence.

Everyone in town was talking about Tyler’s arrest. From what Mary could tell, people were divided on the question of Tyler’s guilt. On the one hand, she discovered that he was well-liked because of his generosity and because of his service as a volunteer firefighter. Plus, Mary’s staunch defense of her mate had swayed a few opinions.

On the other hand, there were a number of residents who still remembered Tyler as a young hell-raiser. To make things worse, Zack and Owen Barenkamp were busily pointing out to anyone who’d listen that there hadn’t been any new fires since Tyler’s arrest.

It was painful and difficult to have to listen to Owen lie his ass off about Tyler and not be able to tell anyone that Owen was now the prime arson suspect.

“I received the forensic report on the glove found at the Hawkins Hardware scene,” Uncle Bill continued. “The DNA swabs from the inside of the glove prove that Tyler was wearing them at some point, but the burn patterns were inconsistent with the surrounding items, and the chemical signatures in the burned areas didn’t match the soot samples retrieved from the store’s interior. The report concluded that the glove had most likely been burned elsewhere, perhaps using a blowtorch, and then planted in the bin after the fire had been extinguished.”

Mary felt dizzy with sudden relief. As the room began to spin slowly around her, she grabbed the edge of the service counter to steady herself.

“And how convenient was it that Owen Barenkamp was the person who found that glove?” she asked sarcastically. “That jerk!”

Tear his throat out! Let’s tear him apart! urged her wolf.

No. Let’s take a better revenge. Let’s make sure that he’s convicted of his crimes and locked in a cage for the rest of his life, just like he wanted to do to our mate.

“Since that was the only piece of evidence linking Tyler to any of the fires, I’ll get on the phone with the district attorney right away and see if she’ll drop the charges against him,” Uncle Bill promised.

“And I’ll call Mark to let him know the good news,” Mary said.

And then you’re coming home with me, Tyler my love.

* * *

It was raining on the afternoon that Tyler Swanson was finally released from jail.

As Mark Swanson opened the door of the police station and ushered Tyler outside, Tyler took a deep breath of air fragrant with the scents of wet asphalt, flowers, and green grass.

Mary, still dressed in her police uniform, was clutching his hand hard enough to leave bruises, but Tyler didn’t care. Maybe because he was holding on to her just as hard.

When Mary and Bill Jacobsen had come downstairs to the holding cells a short while ago, he’d been expecting dinner. Not his freedom. He’d almost given up hope of ever getting out of here.

Then he had seen a jubilant Mark Swanson come down the stairs right behind them.

Tyler had listened, stunned, as Bill Jacobsen told him that the charges had been dropped against him and that he was free to go.

He hadn’t believed it until Mary had unlocked his cell and rushed into his arms.

As he buried his face in her hair and drank in her sweet scent along with the welcome feeling of her curves pressing against him, he listened as Mark and the sheriff explained how they had discovered that Tyler had been framed.

He felt stunned. He’d known that Mary and Mark were fighting to clear him…but Bill Jacobsen had come to believe that Tyler was innocent too?

Tyler always thought that the sheriff hated him…and for good cause. But not a trace of dislike showed in his expression now as he extended his hand.

“Tyler, you’re free to go. On behalf of the Bearpaw Ridge Police Department, I want to apologize for any inconvenience your detention has caused you. And I want to extend my personal apology for arresting you. At the time I sincerely believed we had cause.”

Tyler hesitated, then gripped Bill Jacobsen’s hand. “You helped Mary and Mark to clear my name, right?”

The sheriff nodded. “Yeah.”

It was more than Tyler had ever expected from the sheriff. Even now, he couldn’t believe that Bill had actually helped Mark and Mary free him.

But one huge question remained: Who hates me enough to try to get me sent to prison?

Right off the top of his head, Tyler could think of at least one person: Zack. And Zack had been working at Hawkins Hardware just before the fire started…

Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see who the sheriff arrests next.

“Then thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you were willing to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“You’re welcome. I was only doing my job.” Bill Jacobsen smiled at him with genuine good humor. “And now, I think you should let your lovely mate take you home. Mary, I’m giving you the rest of the day off.”

* * *

Mary drove him home in her police cruiser. He sat in the front passenger seat and held her hand during the short drive.

As soon as she pulled up in front of his house, he scrambled out of the car and vaulted over the hood to open the driver’s side for her.

He couldn’t wait to kiss her, not even for the few steps it would take to get from the car to the front door. So he pinned her against the side of the cruiser and kissed her hungrily.

Her arms slid around his neck and pulled him closer as she enthusiastically returned the kiss.

“I thought I’d never get you out of there,” she whispered between nibbling caresses of his lips.

He swung her easily up into arms. She made the cutest squeak and clung to him as he strode to his door, carrying her.

When he set her down inside the living room, she was smiling at him with her heart in her shining eyes. “You know the neighbors are going to be telling everyone about how you literally just swept me off my feet.”

“Let them,” he said and bent to kiss her again, a slow, sensual exploration that involved a lot of tongue.

God, I missed being able to do this!

He reached for her hair tie and loosened her ponytail, letting her hair tumble to her shoulders, and combed his fingers through the soft, glossy strands.

Meanwhile, she was pulling his T-shirt up from his jeans with frantic haste, laughing between kisses.

“We’re not going to make it to the bedroom, are we?” he asked as she yanked his shirt down over his shoulders.

“Nope,” she said. “But there’s a nice soft couch over there.”

Not sorry about that at all. I’ll move us into bed later…maybe after I’ve made her scream my name a couple of times. And fixed us both a snack for round three or maybe round four.

“Hello, asshole!” Bogey shrieked, clinging to bars of his cage as Tyler carried his mate over to the sofa that she’d indicated.

“Hey Bogey,” Tyler called, waving at his bird. “I’ll let you out in a little while…”

He turned back to his mate to see that she’d already divested herself of her duty belt and was busily unbuttoning the front of her uniform shirt.

“Hey, I want to do that,” he said, capturing her hands in his. “I enjoy unwrapping you like a present.”

He raised each hand to his lips in turn and softly kissed every knuckle before turning her hands over and kissing the center of each palm. He felt her shiver with pleasure at the caress and grinned.

He hadn’t been lying to her when he’d told her that he’d used the long, lonely hours and days in his cell to plan out every single thing he wanted to do with her once he was freed.

Tyler kissed his way up insides of her wrists, then higher to the tender crook of her elbow, where her pulse fluttered against his lips. He savored her response to each caress, even when she began squirming impatiently.

“Good things come to those wait,” he whispered, pinning her hands against the soft cushions along the back of the sofa.

He dipped his head and licked the hollow of her throat, then gave her a light nip.

She gasped, and the scent of her arousal intensified. He’d missed that sensual perfume, and now he noticed a note that hadn’t been there before.

Tyler had planned to take his time undressing Mary, teasing her until she was begging for his cock, but he was quickly losing the battle against his bear’s impatience to reclaim their mate after their long separation.

As he worked his way down his mate’s long, lovely body, stripping her and kissing each inch of newly revealed soft skin, the new note in her scent grew stronger the closer he got to his goal.

He tore away her panties and parted her thighs, then bent to blow a breath against the sweet, glistening folds between her legs.

She moaned, a desperate noise that made his cock throb with painful hunger, and she tried to arch up to his mouth. He closed his hands over her thighs and pinned her in place, exposed to his eager gaze.

“So you’ve been keeping secrets from me,” he murmured, inhaling the perfume of her arousal.

It was dizzying. Intoxicating. Irresistible. It called to his bear, urging it to claim her with fierce passion.

Mary was adorably clueless.

 “What?” she gasped, straining against his hold. “You know I can’t tell you anything about the investi—”

“I meant the baby.”

“The what?” Mary squeaked and sat up.

Tyler laid his hand over her still-flat belly. “You’re pregnant. I can smell it.”

She froze. “Oh.”

He waited as she processed the news, hoping desperately that she still wanted to have a child with him.

Then her eyes widened, and her expression became radiant.

“Wow. Oh, wow,” Mary breathed. She reached for him, cradling his face between her hands. “How—how do you feel about it?”

Her uncertainty felt like a spike through his chest. He cursed all the lost weeks when they should have been getting to know one another. Instead, he’d been sitting in a jail cell, and she’d been working her ass off to clear his name.

“I’m…” A phrase came to him. It was one that Grandma Betty used. And it perfectly described his feelings right now. “I’m over the moon with joy, Mary.”

And he was. The realization that she was going to have their child had driven away all his uncertainty.

I’m going to be a better dad than my father was, he vowed.

“Oh good. Because I really want to have your baby, Tyler.” Mary’s smile felt as bright and warm as sunlight as she drew him up and kissed him.

To hell with his plan. He needed her. Now.

And she was just as desperate for him, if the way she was kissing him and pressing herself against him was any sign.

Tyler positioned himself between her legs and thrust inside her, where her hot, slick flesh welcomed him home.

Thanks to his slow tease while undressing her, Mary was ready…more than ready for him. His bear rose up, and together, they showed their mate exactly how much they had missed her.

Mary came first, gasping, her internal muscles squeezing him and rippling in a caress that pushed him over the edge too.

A spine-melting torrent of exquisite pleasure mixed with joy poured out of him as he went deep.

Afterwards, spooned together on the sofa, their bare bodies pressed against each other, Tyler asked, “Do you know who tried to frame me for setting that fire?”

He felt rather than heard Mary’s sigh. “Look, I know it’s hard for you right now. If it was me, I’d be desperate to find out. But I can’t discuss the investigation.”

“I need to find out,” Tyler insisted. “What if they try to frame me again? I want to be around to see our kid grow up. I can’t do that if I’m sitting in a cell.”

“That’s not going to happen. We’re working on some promising leads, and that is really all I can tell you.”

“I want to help,” Tyler insisted. “This guy wants to ruin my life. I’m just going to stand by and—”

“You’re going to do exactly that,” Mary said firmly. He felt her go tense in his arms. “Do you trust me, Tyler?”

“Of course I do,” he answered immediately.

He didn’t even have to think about it. She was his mate, and she had proven herself loyal to him over and over again over the past couple of weeks. It had been the only bright spot in the nightmare of his arrest and incarceration.

“Then stay out of the arson investigation. I’m a cop, and this is my job. Trust me to do it right.” She reached back and put her hand on his hip. “In the meanwhile, finish up your work on your mom’s house, so that you can start building our new home. The insurance payment has been sitting in my account, waiting for you to download those house plans. I’m hoping that we can move in before the baby is born.”

Tyler had to admit that it was a nice attempt at distracting him.

“And what if the arsonist tries to come after you again?” he pressed. That scenario had popped up frequently in his nightmares. “Now that you’re pregnant, you can’t shapeshift. Not without losing the baby.” His arms tightened around her. “As your mate, it’s my duty to protect you.”

In his head, his bear rumbled silent agreement. Ours. We protect our own.

“I’ll be careful,” Mary promised. “And I won’t be alone. Now that we know these fires are the result of arson, I’ve got back-up from Uncle Bill, Roy, Annika, my little brother Kenny, and the other wolf shifters in my pack.” She laughed. “And believe me, they’ll be every bit as protective of me as you are.”

Tyler was silent. He could see that Mary wasn’t going to relent, but he was determined not to lie to her and tell her that he wasn’t going to be guarding her as well.

He was a bear shifter, after all. Every instinct compelled him to guard his pregnant mate.

He’d just have to make sure she didn’t notice him shadowing her while she was at work.