A month ago, I found solace underground. Now, it felt like the tomb it was. The tons of rock separating me from Molly weighed on my soul. Each night, I woke in a cold sweat, half man, half wolf, clawing at the stone walls until my fingers bled.

I told no one. Mac, Gunnar, and Payne knew something was off with me, but they didn’t question it. We all had our own shit to deal with. Jagger was different. I caught him lurking near the tunnel closest to the alcove where I slept. His silvery wolf eyes flashed a warning.

I sat up, hiding my hands behind me. It was no use though. Jagger could smell the blood.

“You plan on doing something about that, or are you just going to drive yourself insane underground?”

I bristled. He’d caught me in the midst of a fever dream. Above me, the rock seemed to pulse. I knew in my heart it wasn’t the rock itself though. Weeks ago, before I’d even laid eyes on Molly, I’d found this cavern. It was a good distance away from the main passageways and antechambers we used. Something drew me to it. Now I knew. It was situated directly beneath the trailer park where Molly lived. Even before I laid eyes on her, her nature had called to mine.

“Why don’t you worry about yourself?” I snapped my answer. The wolf was still mostly in control.

Jagger moved into the cavern. “I do worry about myself. I worry about you. I worry about Keara. I worry about all of it. She went to Molly yesterday. But, you knew that. You were up there too. Keara said you tried to be sneaky, but she can pick you out from a mile away almost as well as I can.”

“You prefer Keara just waltzes through town unguarded? You were busy.”

Jagger drew a hand across his face. He was hanging on by the same thin thread as the rest of us. I was being an asshole and I knew it. I also didn’t care.

“It was stupid, Liam, and you know it. Keara’s safer without us near her. And you know it fucking kills me that that’s true. It tears my guts out. What the hell were you planning to do if the Chief Pack scented you?”

I punched my fist against the wall. The blood beneath my fingernails heated like the rest of me. “You think I don’t know how to stay clear of them by now? Jesus, Jagger. I’ve been doing it for more than a year. A hell of a lot more than you have.”

“Maybe so, but you’ve been taking chances you shouldn’t. Don’t deny it.”

I didn’t. I sat as still as the stone encasing us. I couldn’t meet Jagger’s eyes. How could he of all people confront me on any of this? He’d taken his mate. In the two years since he’d found Keara, I’d never once begrudged him of it. That changed the instant I met Molly. Jealousy burned a path through my heart. I hated myself for it. But, I just...wanted.

“It’s killing you,” Jagger said. He took a softer tone and came further into the cavern. He sat beside me.

“I can handle it,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ve been handling it.”

“I know. And I also know you’re stronger than I was. By a lot. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

A heavy silence hung between us. God, it hurt to blink. The bond Jagger and I shared had been among the strongest I’d ever shared with another person. Until Molly. Only I could never act on it without putting her life at risk.

“She’s mine,” I said, quietly. Admitting it to Jagger as much as myself. “I can’t breathe when she’s not near.”

“I know.” Jagger put a hand on my back. I flinched, but then exhaled, settling myself.

“She doesn’t,” I said.

Jagger let out a bitter laugh. “You really believe that? Come on, man. She knew you for, what, a day? You steal meds from her clinic and yet she turns around and trusts you with her life? She was all in the minute she saw you. She just didn’t understand why.”

I couldn’t sit still. I rose and started to pace near the mouth of the cavern. God, if I could just go topside. If I could let my wolf out and run free through Mammoth Forest. I knew I could ease the ache burning through me. It wouldn’t fix all of it. But maybe I could take the edge off the yearning I had for Molly. Maybe I could feel more like myself.

“So what the hell do I do with this?”

Jagger leaned back, resting one booted foot on the rocky ledge. “Hell if I know. I think we’ve already established I’m the last person to ask. I did everything wrong as far as Keara was concerned. I should have been stronger and just got her the hell out of Kentucky. At least then she’d be safe.”

“Is that what I should do? Should I ask Molly to run?”

Jagger shook his head. His eyes glistened in the dark. “I don’t know. I know what I’d like to have you do. I’d like to have you forget about her and go back to the way things were. But, I know that’s not an option. All I can do is beg you, man. For her sake and for yours. This isn’t the life for her. Things being what they are, the best thing for Molly is to get gone.”

I wanted to rip his throat out even though I knew he was right.

“I don’t know if I can. Hell, you’ve met her. I don’t know if she will.”

Jagger stood up. “She’s feisty. If it weren’t for the fact her very existence could bring this whole thing crashing down...well...I think I’d love her a little bit too. Familial, obviously.”

“You’re a dick.”

“Obviously.”

The air changed in the passageway to the east. Gunnar came to the mouth of the cavern.

“Don’t tell me you have bad news,” Jagger said.

Gunnar grinned. “Is there ever any other kind these days? No, man. Nothing dire. It’s just Keara’s back. She said your girl Molly has another shipment. Keara says Liam should pick it up. She also said you’d know why.”

Gunnar was also, apparently, a dick. He ran a hand through his light brown, surfer-style hair. I was beyond fucking with him though. All I could think about was seeing Molly again.

---

Jagger was right. I hated him a little for it, but there it was. I stayed in the shadows as I always did. She’d put in a long day at the clinic. I watched Dr. Kennedy and four other techs leave the building. Each time the back door opened, my heart tripped a little even though I knew it wasn’t Molly. She was deeper inside the building. Her sweet scent reached my pores and filled me with calming peace. Beneath that, desire simmered.

Finally, about twenty minutes after the last employee left the building, I heard Molly’s slow footsteps on the tile floor as she approached the back door. She opened it slowly. Her pulse quickened. I let out a deep breath, slowing my own. In another instant, she’d feel the calm I projected. It was fake, of course. This close to he every nerve ending in my body felt raw, exposed. Animal lust coursed through me.

A sliver of light fell across the alley. I stayed tucked in the shadows, my back pressed against the brick wall.

“You might as well come in,” Molly whispered. Her voice shot through me, quickening my pulse.

God, Jagger was right. This was dangerous. As Molly filled my senses, it got harder to listen for the sounds and smells of the Chief Pack. I moved quickly, joining Molly inside.

I towered over her. It took everything in me not to reach for her and pull her close. I wanted to run my hands along her bare shoulders. She wore a tank top again, her heavy breasts nearly spilling over the top. She covered them with scrubs when she was working, but now she’d cast them aside. Her own heat pricked.

“I thought you’d come yesterday,” she said, her voice raw. She looked up at me, those luminous brown eyes blinking.

“It’s better...safer…if Keara comes sometimes.”

Molly nodded and closed the door. We stood frozen in the hallway for a moment. Both of us afraid to move, afraid of what might happen if her skin brushed mine. Except, I knew exactly what would happen. My body craved it. I curled my fists to my sides to keep her from seeing me tremble with the effort of staying away.

“How’s Brady?” she asked. “When Keara brought him in he was...he wasn’t well.”

I didn’t know how to answer her. Brady would probably never get better. At best, we’d bring him underground where he could live in hiding. His shift would always be agony. At worst, the Chief Pack would see how weak he was and exterminate him. He was on borrowed time. Both Bernie and Ellie knew it.

“I haven’t seen him. He’s probably spending most of his time with his grandparents now.”

“But you have a plan for him, right?” Molly’s eyes searched my face. She wanted pretty answers that I couldn’t give. God, I hated this. I just wanted to hold her close. I wanted to feel the press of her breasts against me. My wolf stirred. I turned away so she wouldn’t see my eyes.

“Liam,” she said. It was my eyes she wanted most. Molly reached for me. Her fingers brushed against my jaw. An electric current shot through me. My vision tunneled and I could barely stay upright. My wolf’s passion raged within me.

“Don’t!” My voice ripped from me and I staggered away from her. Jagger had been right about all of it. Damn him. Just days ago, I’d been able to control this so much better.

“Don’t,” I said again, forcing myself calm. “It’s better if you don’t…”

“Don’t what? Don’t touch you?”

I pressed a palm flat against the wall, seeking the cool hardness. Anything to draw my mind away from the heat in front of me.

Molly came to me. She was bold. Curious. Fueled by a powerful passion she hadn’t yet named. “I dreamed about you,” she said. “It felt so real, Liam. It felt like you were in the room with me. But, I know that’s not possible. I went outside. I was barefoot. I may be losing my mind, but you felt so close. What is this? You have to tell me. I have to know what I’m getting into.”

I barked out a bitter laugh. How the hell could I answer that? What was she getting into? Just a thousand of years of instinct, nature, and magic. Again, I cursed Jagger for being so fucking right all the time.

“I think you already know.” I hadn’t meant to say it like that. I hadn’t meant to say anything. I dug my fingers into the grout in the tile wall. Molly advanced.

“Liam...I want…”

She took yet another step toward me. Only a few inches separated us. My heartbeat became her heartbeat. My need, her need.

“Molly.”

I should have been stronger. I knew what this was, or at least I should have. I should have listened to Jagger and never come at all. But, she was so close. She was mine. She was mine!

Molly went up on her tiptoes. Her hair fell away from her eyes. They darted over my face, searching for answers, searching for release. I wasn’t strong enough. I ran my hands up over her bare arms, loving the way her skin turned to gooseflesh. Her breath caught and her breasts heaved.

There was a moment. A fraction of a second, really. Just a tiny separation between before and after. I kissed her. Desire poured through me. My wolf ignited. A lustful growl ripped from my throat as my tongue found hers.

God, she tasted so good. Thousands of years of instinct, nature, and magic. It all came spooling out of me. It drove the reason from my mind, the breath from my lungs. In its place was Molly. This was more than lust. More than everything.

She was mine.

Molly sank into the kiss. Her hands went up. Her fingertips trailed along my biceps then laced behind my head as she drew me even further down into her. I was unbearably hard. My fangs came out and the urge to bite her, to mark her raged through me. I knew she felt it too. I could sense it in the urgency of her kiss. All she’d have to do was turn, exposing the back of her neck. My eyes snapped open and that’s exactly what she did.

Then, she gasped and drew away. The moment passed the instant she realized what it was.

“Liam,” she said. She took two clumsy steps backward.

“It’s okay,” I said, amazed I could even form words.

“I’m scared.” Her voice was so small. She shrank against the wall.

“It’s okay,” I said again. “So am I. I should go.”

Swallowing hard, she nodded. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have...tempted…”

There was a small cardboard box against the floor. Molly’s eyes went to it. She pressed herself against the wall as I passed her. She knew as well as I did neither of us could resist it if we touched again.