Alison was supposed to stay inside, but she couldn’t stand it anymore. After an hour sitting alone in the house, on one of the sofas, trying not to think about what was happening miles away, she finally got up and went outside.

It was cold at night. She pulled on a zip-up sweatshirt over her t-shirt and put boots on before sliding open the glass door and stepping out behind the house. The stars were like sparks in the crystal clear night sky, the moon high and sharp. The trees waved in the brush of cold wind, and other than that, there was no other sound.

Brody, where are you?

Had it gone according to plan? They’d worked it out so carefully. What if there was a problem along the way? What if Brody hadn’t escaped in time, or they recaptured him? What if they hurt him or killed him? What if one of the other brothers was caught doing his own part of the plan? She felt so useless—so weak and impossibly human. She couldn’t change into an animal or climb a fence or knock a man unconscious. She was slow and made too much noise. She was also pregnant, and the Donovan brothers were adamant she should take no risks. So she had to stay here and wait.

It was awful. She was getting used to being an alpha now—making decisions, taking action. Even though it was hard, the waiting was harder. She wanted to be doing something, right now.

She walked out into the trees, going west. He would come from this direction, she thought. If everything went all right. Soon she was in the woods, the trees arching above her like a cathedral. The air was sharp and cold and tasted good. Alison was a Shifter Falls girl—she would never leave this place. Colorado was in her blood. Shifter Falls was in her blood. And now, Brody Donovan was in her blood.

She paused and looked back to see the house behind her. It sat dark and beautiful, the angles of the roof mimicking the angles of the mountains. There was a yellow light in the living room she’d just left, beyond the big windows. It was the perfect place, except someone was missing. Alison shivered and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Alison,” Brody said.

She whirled and he came out of the darkness. He was wearing only jeans and a t-shirt, his feet bare. He had a beard, dark and wild, changing the shape and the look of his face. But it was him.

He stepped forward and pulled her to him. She ran her hands over the bare skin of his arms, feeling the cold on him, even though he couldn’t feel it. He cupped her face in his big hands and kissed her.

He was back.

Alison kissed him, long and hard, like he belonged to her. She kissed him like he was hers. She wound her arms around his neck as he slid his hands down her back, his touch taking her in. His beard was strange against her skin, rough and very, very masculine.

Brody broke the kiss. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said. She ran her hands over his jaw, his shoulders. “Did they hurt you?”

He smiled a little in the dark, one of his rare smiles that made her knees weak. “They tried. But no, I’m fine.”

She shivered. She didn’t know what they tried meant, but she would get him to tell her later. She wanted to know all of it, even the hard parts. “Did everything else go all right?”

“Perfect,” he said, and he kissed her again. This kiss quickly went deeper, and Alison felt the insistent pulse between her legs that she always got in Brody’s presence. She opened her mouth and licked him, and in response he bent his knees and hefted her up, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck, and started to walk back toward the house.

She pressed her cheek to his neck as he walked. She could feel his body move like this, just like she had the day he’d carried her up the ridge. It was the best thing, feeling Brody’s amazing body move. Like this, and in bed, where she knew they were going. Thank God.

“You’re crying,” he said.

“I’m just happy,” she said, blinking the tears back. Was she going to be a waterworks for nine months? Well, that was too bad. The Donovans were going to have a weepy alpha until this baby was born.

He walked her to the house, opened the sliding door, and stepped inside. Without putting her down, he closed the door again and carried her up the stairs. She remembered that he’d just been locked up in God knew what conditions for weeks. “Are you hungry?” she asked him. “Do you need a shower?”

“Be quiet,” he said. “We’re going to bed.”

She smiled against his neck.

He took her to the bedroom and put her on her back on the bed. He moved to take her clothes off, but she was first. She pulled up the t-shirt and took it off him, running her hands over his neck and chest, looking for scars. He was protective of her, she knew, but she was also protective of him. If anyone had hurt him, they would have her to answer to.

He was thinner than before, but he was still powerful and strong, packed with muscle. He had such a gorgeous body, she hadn’t had time to get enough of it. He leaned down and kissed her again, interrupting her inspection. “Sorry about the beard,” he said when he broke off. “I hate it. I’ll shave it as soon as I can.”

“It’s sexy,” she teased, brushing it with her fingertips. “Wolfish.”

In response, he leaned down and nipped the side of her neck, making her squeal. While she was distracted, he pulled her shirt up and off, then reached behind her and unclasped her bra. He ran his hands over her breasts, which had already started to feel different, oddly sensitive. “Are you healthy?” he asked seriously. “You and the baby?”

“You’re robbing me of my fun,” she teased again, arching up into his touch and trying not to sigh. “By the way, Brody, I’m pregnant.”

“Thanks for telling me,” he said, bending to kiss her nipple, which just about shot her off the bed. Yes, her breasts were definitely sensitive. “Is everything okay?” he asked again.

“Everything is fine,” Alison said. “I take more naps, and I’ve only thrown up once so far. I’m emotional, though. Your brothers have been nice about it, but it makes them uncomfortable.”

“I bet,” Brody said. He kissed down her body, brushing his hands and his lips on her stomach, and then undid her jeans. “They’re off duty now, though. I’m here to look after you.” He slid her jeans and underwear down her legs, pulled off her boots, then pulled off everything else. He was intent now, serious as always. “I’ve been thinking about this for weeks,” he said, kissing his way up the inside of her knee, her thigh, pushing her legs apart. “Every minute.”

She touched his hair. “Me too,” she said, and then, when he kissed her there, “Oh, my God. My God.”

In minutes, he had her begging. He pushed off his own jeans, then kissed his way up her body again, using his hands to firmly wrap her legs around him. When he pushed inside her, it felt like the best thing in the world. She held on and let him do what he wanted, which turned out to be sweet and hard and incredibly pleasurable, and then she came, just like that. She should probably play hard to get with Brody one of these days, but today was not that day.

He moved swifter, harder, taking her now, and then he came, too. Then he pulled the covers around them and lay next to her, spent and resting, as the wind tossed the trees outside.

Alison rolled on her back. “I love you,” she said.

He kissed her jaw, her shoulder. “I love you more than life itself,” he said simply, and her heart twisted in her chest.

“I had to tell your brothers about Charlie,” she said. “About the house. I’m sorry, but I had to.”

“I know,” he said, stroking her arm. “You did fine.”

“I burned the house down.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate that. It saves me from having to do it.”

She tried not to sigh in relief. “There was money in it. A big stash of it. We didn’t burn the money, but we don’t know what to do with it.”

Brody was quiet for a second, still stroking her arm. “I can think of a few things,” he said. “Carson Dunne left a daughter he was trying to help. That’s why he was selling drugs. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

But she wasn’t done. “I didn’t tell anyone about the way the letters jumble,” she said. “No one knows.”

“Then I’ll tell them myself,” Brody said simply. “It’s time. Things are different now. I have nothing to hide anymore.”

Alison rolled over and pressed her cheek against his bare chest. “It’s really over?” she asked him. “They won’t come after you?”

Brody was quiet for a minute. “I think I convinced them it would be a bad idea,” he said. “We all did. So, yes. It’s over.”

“So now we start new,” she said. “You and me, and your brothers, and the pack. Now we go forward instead of looking back.”

He stroked her hair, and she felt his heart beating beneath her cheek. “Yeah,” he said in his low rumble of a voice. “Now we start new. Tomorrow is a new day.”