Protective rage boiled through me. Jagger stood there, his eyes wide with surprise. Blood poured from a gash above his right ear. In fact, the closer I looked, I noticed half that ear was gone.

My heart thundered inside me. When I blinked, I could see him. Twenty feet from Able Valent, he would have killed him. Part of me had wanted him to. I just couldn’t sort out which part was my own desire and which was his. Everything just tangled together. But, one thing had been crystal clear. Jagger wanted to die in that moment. I felt the Pack through him, and they hungered to oblige.

I did the only thing I could. I peeled Geordie and Dugger away, hoping my hunch was right. The moment he sensed me in danger, Jagger’s focus shifted. It was a risky gambit, but he’d left me no other choice.

“Why do you care?” he finally said, rubbing his reddening cheek. Not one of my better moments, but someone had to slap some sense into this guy.

“Why don’t you?”

He dropped his jaw and took an awkward step back. It was just a brief flash, but I felt his mind open up to me. I saw her again. Flowing red hair, beautiful eyes, soft, white skin. She’d been perfect. Keara. She was all the things I wasn’t. Graceful. Sure of herself. No one had ever asked her what she was or called her a freak. Then, a quick flash of pain seared into my heart. Into Jagger’s heart. I understood. God help me, I understood.

“She wouldn’t want you to die,” I said. “Not like this. Not for her.”

Jagger’s eyes flashed with fury. Rimmed in silver, I felt his wolf simmer. It called to me, stirring an answering heat inside of me. He felt it too and the rage inside him died, replaced with powerful lust.

My throat ran dry. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to feel the edges of the wound he’d suffered and try to get the bleeding to stop. More than anything, I just wanted to pull him away from the edge he seemed to teeter on. In that, it was fitting we stood on a high cliff overlooking the river.

“Don’t talk to me about her. You don’t know anything.”

“Don’t I?” I met the challenge in his words and eyes. “I think I of all people know exactly what it was about her.”

He flinched. “He needs to die. If the price of that is just my life, it’s worth it.”

No. The word slammed through me over and over. I know he felt it too. He stood his ground but his eyes flickered with the dark knowledge we both possessed but wouldn’t yet name.

“If he dies and you die, then what?”

Jagger blinked. “Then what? Then what? Are you...have you...what are you…” He sputtered and started to pace.

“That’s right. Then what? What happens to the Pack if Valent dies? You think he hasn’t thought of that? You think he doesn’t have some contingency plan? I’ve felt those assholes. So have you. There’s real evil in a lot of them. Not all of them. But, enough. And those who have maybe a shred of their humanity left in them, he’s twisted them so much, God knows what they’d become if Valent falls. You assume things would be better around here without Valent. I’m telling you you haven’t thought it all the way through.”

Jagger put a hand on his forehead. It almost looked as if he were trying to keep his head from popping off. I knew I had him though. Whoever he was, wherever he’d come from, his people had never stopped to consider what would happen in the power vacuum if and when Able Valent died.

“He needs to die. That’s all I know. That’s all that matters. For what he’s done to the shifters of Kentucky. For what he’s done to my friends. For what he’s done to Keara.” I thought he would stop there. He didn’t. Instead he closed the distance between us and took me by the wrists.

“For what he’s done to you,” he said, his silver eyes searching my face.

The breath went out of me. His touch burned through me. It was too much. The sensations running through me were too intense. Anger. Fear. Desire. It was all wrapped up in the furious pace of my heart. A pace that matched and joined his.

I wanted.

“We can help you,” he said, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. The chaos of his own emotions worked on him like they did me.

“Stop saying that. I don’t need your help. I’ve been helping you this whole time even if you haven’t been able to see it. You’d have been dead about six times over already.”

“It’s not safe for you here. We have to get underground. The Pack’s in disarray because of the threat to Able, but they’ll rally.”

I let out a sigh. He still didn’t get it. “They won’t track me. They can’t track me. It’s the other way around, Jagger. You’re safe if you’re with me. Haven’t you noticed the lack of shifters chasing you at the moment?”

He let go of me. Again, he took that awkward sidestep as if his body couldn’t absorb the truth bomb I’d just set off.

“How?” he asked. I took it as progress. At least he wasn’t arguing with me.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t. And it hasn’t always been like this. But, ever since I...since...ugh...I started...uh...stopped being a little girl? Can you spare me from having to get more specific?”

He put a hand up in surrender. “Okay, I get the gist. But you’re still better off far away from here. You think that shit they’re giving you is helping you. I’m telling you, if Valent is behind it, it’s probably what’s making you like...like you…”

He couldn’t say it. His eyes narrowed into a look of pity I knew well. No. I wouldn’t take it. Not from him.

“Stop it. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you think I’m some...freak.”

Jagger reared back as if I’d just slapped him again. In an instant, I realized I’d misjudged him. I wanted to take back my harsh words. But, just for an instant. Because he came at me, grabbing me by the wrists again.

“They are making you sick. Can’t you see that? I don’t know why. I don’t know how. But what you are...what you go through...I’ve never seen anything like it. So, let me help you. You’ve helped me. I’m grateful. Let me pay you back. Our people can do something for you. I know it.”

I jerked away. “Your people will fail. I have what I need right here.”

I was scared. I couldn’t deny it. Jagger had a way of peeling off every defensive layer I’d built up over the years. He didn’t stare at me. He saw straight through me.

Wolves howled in the distance. They’d rallied around Valent and were beginning to regroup. Though they couldn’t track my scent, it didn’t mean they couldn’t find Jagger and me by dumb luck.

“Rowan,” he said, eyes flashing. The sound of my name on his lips sent shivers of pleasure through me. Something was building inside me. “I won’t let you stay here.”

“Let me?” Everything started to jumble up in my brain and in my heart. Heat. Desire. Fear. Anger. “Let me? You don’t own me.”

I’d just thrown the words out, practically spat them in his face. For as mixed up as I felt, Jagger’s eyes reflected similar turmoil. His lips curled into a snarl and his fangs dropped.

“Rowan.” My name ripped out of him with a growl. You don’t own me. My words seemed to echo and swirl around us, triggering Jagger’s baser instincts. In turn, my own flared hot.

My own growl bubbled up. We stood just inches apart. Every heartbeat, every action I took caused a primal reaction in him which bounced back to me.

I snarled. His eyes flashed. I snapped my jaw. He grabbed my upper arms and jerked me closer. Heat speared through me, settling between my legs. Jagger threw his head back and growled, stifling the howl I knew he wanted to let out.

Primal fire. Explosive desire.

You don’t own me. You don’t own me. You don’t own me.

But, it was a damn lie.

Two heartbeats. Then, only one. Mine. Jagger’s. Ours.

“Rowan,” he whispered.

I ached for him. I wanted to shake sense into him. I wanted to throttle him for coming so close to letting the Pack kill him.

Oh, God.

I don’t know who moved first. Maybe we moved together. We clawed at each other. Fueled by different sources of rage. Mine for his death wish. His for who I was. That rage flipped to passion.

His lips pressed to mine and my fingers found their way up his chest. I threaded them through his hair and pulled him down to me. We tumbled to the ground together. I landed on top of Jagger, straddling him.

We broke for an instant. Jagger’s wolf eyes blazed hot. I knew my own flared back. Silver on silver. Like mercury. A perfect match.

Rage melted away and became molten desire. My sex throbbed and I felt his rigid cock against it. He was naked from his shift. Until this moment, I hadn’t even paid attention. Now, I couldn’t get enough of him. I couldn’t get close enough to him.

Jagger tore at my bra, casting it aside. His fingers were everywhere, dragging down my panties, the last thin barrier between us. God. I was so hot. Moisture pooled between my legs. Jagger felt it. He dipped his fingers inside me. I opened for him as if I’d been trained for this.

Jagger’s body vibrated with a lustful growl that nearly sent me over the edge. Our feral need for each other matching and rising with each new touch. With his free hand, he laced his fingers at the nape of my neck and pulled me back to a kiss. He flipped me with dizzying strength, putting me flat on my back.

I spread my knees for him. Jagger reared up. He took a beat to look at me. What must he have seen? He had me splayed wide for him on the grass, wanton, wild, dripping, pulsing with lust.

“Jagger!” I cried. I reached for him, closing my fingers around his steel shaft. He was huge, hard and ready. I stroked him, loving the way his eyes flashed. His wolf hovered just below the surface. Oh. I wanted him too.

I’d been asked a thousand times what I was. As I held Jagger’s manhood in my grasp, I finally knew. I had no mother. No father. But, I was born for him.

Jagger took my knees and pushed them flat, displaying me. The heated throbbing of my sex drove me mad with need. A tiny bead formed at the tip of his cock. I wanted it. I wanted all of him. When I tried to lean forward and reach him, Jagger moved. He stroked his cock and angled it at my entrance.

“Yes! Please!” Oh, I would beg. I would crawl for him if that’s what it took. The Alpha didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. I saw the same need in his eyes and felt it in the pulse we shared.

I pulled him toward me, digging my fingernails into Jagger’s back. He reared up at the last, then plunged inside me. A rainbow of colors streaked behind my eyes. I opened for him, guiding him even deeper as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

Jagger moved in me and my heart exploded. He was everything. So deep. So hard. Yes! He pushed past the tiny band of resistance. I felt a flash of pain, but I was so slick, so ready, it blossomed instantly to deep pleasure. Jagger faltered for just a moment as he realized what had happened...what he’d just taken.

I clawed him, drawing blood. It spurred him on and he reared back. Fangs out, he fucked me. Each thrust seemed to punctuate the truth we both held.

He did own me. And I owned him.

My pleasure crescendoed. The rainbows of color burst into white light. I clawed the ground as my orgasm tore through me. I felt it everywhere from my sex to the tips of my toes. I coated Jagger with my slick juices as he matched my pace. I could feel his own need rising.

“Yes!” I cried out. Oh, yes.

Jagger went up on his elbows. He held my eyes as I crested down. I kept my legs locked around his waist and gave him a quick nod. I was ready. His inner wolf rumbled as he dug his knees into the ground to get better traction Oh, he was so deep. He filled me. Then, he filled me a different way.

I gripped his rock hard ass as Jagger redoubled his efforts and brought himself home. His hot seed poured into me, igniting a new craving inside of me. I wanted him. I wanted all of him. He arched his back and gave it to me.

So much. My nerve endings tingled with wave after wave of pleasure. Only one need hadn’t been sated. At the base of my neck, I felt a new, throbbing pulse. When I closed my eyes, I envisioned Jagger biting me there, marking me.

Instead, he collapsed against me. I curled my body around his and kissed him. He kissed me back. His cheeks were wet with tears. I felt his grief and took it in.

I wished I had the right words to ease his pain. We were connected on a preternatural level I didn’t fully understand.

“Rowan,” he whispered. Just that one word, my name on his lips and I realized I was wrong. I’d been thinking with my head, not my heart. His tears weren’t of grief, but of wonder.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that. Hours, I think. Until the light of a new day dawned. I hungered for this man now. But, ordinary hunger rumbled through me too. I laughed, embarrassed as my stomach growled.

“Come on,” he said, his voice groggy. “Let’s get you back.”

With the blush of passion waning, I came back into myself. It made me awkward, and I fumbled for what little clothing I still had. Jagger helped me, reaching for my bra and helping me thread my arms through it.

He gently pushed my hair away from my face and smiled at me. I touched his cheek. His name was on my lips, but I didn’t get the chance to say it. One heartbeat. Two. And the grief came back into his eyes.

I got to my feet and held a hand out to him. “Come on. It’s better if you go underground. When the patrols die down, I can show you…”

My words died on my lips as a scream echoed across the valley below. My heart tore in half as I knew instantly where it came from.

Stupid. Oh, God. I’d been so stupid.

“Rowan?” Jagger said. He’d acted on instinct, putting his body between me and the sound.

“Jagger.” My throat was dry. “Help me. It’s Aunt Grace. Oh, God. It’s Aunt Grace!”