Maya knew she should tell him to leave, and that she needed some space to think, but the truth was that she didn’t want him to leave her alone. This gorgeous, sexy, gentle man, who could also take the shape of a wolf, was the most incredible thing to have happened to her for a long time—hell, the whole of her life—and she didn’t want him to go. Not without her anyway.

Plus, she wanted to know what was happening here. She wanted answers. It wasn’t like her to have sex with someone she didn’t even know. If she let him go now, she’d only be left to stew things over in her head, praying for him to come back again. He said she was his mate, but how was such a thing possible? She was human, and he was a shifter. They weren’t supposed to mate.

“Okay, take me with you,” she blurted. “I want to know, too.”

His expression brightened. “You do?”

“Yes. I don’t want to be left here wondering why a wolf shifter picked me out as his mate. I need answers as much as you do.”

“We’ll move faster if I’m a wolf,” he said. “Do you think you’d feel comfortable riding me?”

Maya barely managed to hold herself back from making a quip about her already having ridden him. “Umm, you mean like on your back?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“You don’t think that will be uncomfortable for you?”

“It’ll be fine. You hardly weigh anything. You’ll just need to hold on around my neck and use your knees to keep yourself steady on my back.”

The thought of riding a wolf made her head swim, but at the same time a thrill of excitement raced through her. Only hours earlier, she had been lamenting over how dull her life was and how she never got to go anywhere or do anything, and now here she was about to ride on the back of a wolf to go to the Dark Ridge wolves compound.

She thought of something. “Will we be back before morning? I don’t want my mother to wake up and discover me gone. Plus I have to open up the restaurant first thing, and I can’t let my parents down.”

He nodded. “Yes, I can move quickly. I’ll make sure you’re back before dawn.”

She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to pull an all day shift the following day on no sleep, but this felt too important to pass up.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Her leg felt better now it was strapped up. Even so, she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk far. Chance helped her up, his arm around her waist again. She felt so comfortable with him, like they slotted right together. The idea that they were somehow destined to become mates made her head spin, however. She knew of the folklore about how each wolf shifter had one mate out there for them, and they knew instantly and, once physically mated, they’d mated for life. But she wasn’t a shifter, so how was such a thing possible?

She guessed she was going to find out.

Maya locked up the restaurant for the second time that night.

Together, they crossed the road, back to the forest. Maya stepped between the trees with the half-naked shifter at her side. When they were deep enough between the trees that they couldn’t be seen from the road, Chance left her side and stepped away.

“Don’t be frightened,” he warned her.

She gave her head a slight shake. She wouldn’t be.

His naked shoulders hunched over, his back rounded. There was a strange crunching sound, and then his body began to take shape, his back lengthening, his hips realigning to bring his legs beneath his body. Fur shimmered across his skin, and when he swung his head back around to look at her, he had the face of a wolf. His eyes glowed golden yellow.

The change had been magic right in front of her.

Maya held her breath as the wolf approached. He lowered his great head then nudged her palm, his nose cold and wet against her skin.

Tentatively, she reached out and ran her fingers through his white fur. It was coarse on top, with a softer, thicker layer beneath.

His head swung around and nudged her up. She understood what he was trying to tell her—that she needed to climb on.

This whole thing felt crazy, but this was what she’d agreed to.

He was bigger than a regular wolf, just as most wolf shifters were, or so she’d read. She hoped she wasn’t going to feel heavy to him. She’d be mortified if he thought she weighed too much, even though she was slim with all the running around she did at the restaurant.

Maya looped her arm around the wolf’s neck then pulled herself up, hooking her foot up over his back. He swung his head around again and nosed her, making her squeal, but she managed to sit astride his back. She lay flat, so she was able to loop her arms right around his neck, and held on tight.

With her astride, the wolf got moving. It took Maya a couple of adjustments before she got her balance and didn’t feel like she was going to fall. He seemed to sense when she’d gotten comfortable, as he picked up his speed, breaking from a fast walk, into a trot, and finally a run.

Maya gasped as the wind caused by his movement whipped through her hair. Small branches lashed at her, twigs and leaves catching in her hair. Chance seemed to be able to avoid the bigger branches that would have swiped her right off his back, but the small ones still stung and she found herself burying deeper into his fur to avoid them. The motion of his body, the steady thump of his paws against the ground, the rasping breath in and out of his lungs as he ran, all combined to be almost hypnotic.

She’d lost track of time when he slowed back to a trot then a walk. Finally, he stopped, and sat his haunches so she slid off onto the ground. Her legs—especially the one she’d caught in the snare—were stiff, and she carefully stretched out her muscles, hoping she wouldn’t open the wound again.

Chance moved away from her and began his shift back. In man form again, he reached out and took her hand. She was hugely conscious of the fact he was completely naked once more, and she was fully dressed. It didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest, however.

“My house is on the outskirts of the compound. We’ll cut around this way and hopefully make it back before anyone stops and questions who you are. I’d like to get dressed and figure out what I’m going to say to my alpha before having to face everyone.”

“You live alone?” she asked, using conversation to try to distract herself from the fact she was walking hand in hand with a naked man through a shifter compound.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“What about your family?”

“My parents were older when they had me. They’re still alive, but they’ve chosen not to stay in the pack. They wanted to travel and see some of the world before they died.” He gave a laugh. “At least that’s what they told me. I’m sure they’ll be back once they’ve decided they’ve had enough and want to return to the protection of the pack.”

“It must have been hard for you, being left alone.”

He shrugged. “I have the rest of the pack, and I’m twenty-five years old. It’s not as though I’m a child.”

“Sometimes we all need our families. It doesn’t matter how old we get.”

He gave her a rueful smile, and she didn’t push the topic any further, though she couldn’t help the way her mind automatically went to her mother and sick father. However much she complained about the work and having to shoulder such responsibility, she couldn’t imagine them not being around.

They passed between a couple of buildings—single story, wooden frame homes.

“Most shifters are still out on the run,” he said. “When the moon is full like tonight, we like to make the most of the time when it’s easy to shift.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted your run,” she said.

He looked at her and smiled then used the hand he was holding to pull her in close. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. She melted against him, suddenly wishing she didn’t have her clothes either. A thrill ran through her, but he broke the kiss.

“Not out here. We don’t want someone to see us and report back. Not yet, anyway.”

Another couple of minutes walking and they reached his house. The place had a well maintained exterior, and was simply decorated inside, but definitely lacking any kind of female touch.

“I’m going to shower and change quickly,” Chance said.

“Oh, right. Of course. I’ll just wait here.”

“Really?” He had a glint in his eye. He pulled her in again and kissed her then murmured in her ear, “I’d hoped you might join me.”

She suppressed her smile, but she didn’t need to as he covered her mouth with his lips and set to work ridding her of her clothes. There was no need for her to do the same to him—he’d been naked since he’d turned back to a man. The lack of clothes meant his erection pressed hard between their bodies. She wasn’t going to say no to him with that on offer. He broke the kiss long enough to pull her dress up over her head and drop it to the floor. Then his fingers flicked the back of her bra, and that, too, fell from her body, so all she wore were her panties.

Chance caught up her hand and tugged her down the hallway and into the bathroom. He switched on the shower, letting the water run hot. She was glad for it, not wanting to meet all of his shifter friends while she still had his cum sticky between her thighs. With the shifters’ sense of smell, she knew they’d be able to pick up on it.

“Oh, my leg,” she remembered, as she stepped beneath the showerhead and water streamed down her body.

He stepped in with her and kissed her shoulder and neck, his lips teasing with nips to her skin. “Don’t worry, I’ll change the bandage again afterward.”

Chance reached for the soap and emptied a dollop into his palm. Within seconds, the small space was filled with fragrant steam, and he quickly soaped his body, before moving on to hers. With this, he took far more time and attention. Starting at her shoulders, his hands slipped down over her breasts, her nipples tightening at the attention, despite the heat. His thumbs ran over their peaks, sending sparks of electricity between her thighs. His hands ran further down, over the top of the patch of curls at the juncture of her thighs, and then between them, cleaning every inch of her.

Maya gasped at his touch, pleasure making her heady.

“Turn around,” he growled in her ear.

She did as he instructed, twisting to face the tiled wall. His palms started at her shoulders again, as though he was learning every inch of her skin. But as he moved down, she realized he had gotten to his knees behind her. His hands on her ass cheeks, his tongue skating down between them, then lower, to dip into her pussy from behind, penetrating her with his tongue.

Her legs went weak. “Oh, God.”

His finger pressed against the pucker of her ass, and she pushed back on him, telling him it was all right. He seemed to know her body as though they’d been together for years instead of only meeting a couple of hours ago. Perhaps this was all wrong, but it felt completely right. His tongue speared her over and over, as his finger pushed inside her ass. She let out a mewl, wishing she had something to hold onto other than the slippery tiled wall.

“I want you,” she gasped, reaching behind to grab at his shoulder. “Please, now.”

He removed his face from her pussy, but kept his finger in place. Getting to his feet behind her, he bent his knees slightly, positioned his cock at her entrance, and drove deep. With his finger in her ass, he filled her completely, the movement thrusting her up against the cool tiles. His other hand sneaked to the front of her body and moved between her thighs to strum her clit. The pressure sky-rocketed her pleasure, and her cries sounded impossibly loud in the bathroom. She was thankful he lived alone.

His hand pressed hard between her thighs and he grunted in her ear as he shafted hard inside her. The finger plugging her ass only heightened the stimulation. He thrust faster, deeper, water flowing around their bodies, skin slapping together. Her orgasm unraveled through her, sending pulses of pleasure expanding out through her entire body, leaving her weak-kneed and trembling.

“Ah, fuck, Maya,” he groaned. “I’m going to come.” He held himself deep as he came, his mouth lowered to her shoulder, teeth pressing into her skin, but not quite biting enough to hurt.

They stayed that way for a moment then he pulled out of her and twisted her back around to face him. He wrapped her in his arms, his nose buried in her wet hair.

“Jesus, Maya. How the hell have I gone the last twenty-five years without you?”

She looked up at him, this scarred, beautiful man, and wondered how she’d gone as long as she had, too.