Jessie held Dana’s hand as the two of them walked up the front walkway into the Fate Mountain Lodge. The feeling of her warm palm in his as the last of the summer sun tipped toward the western horizon sent a thrill of desire and longing through his chest.

He wanted Dana more than he’d wanted any woman. More than he’d ever wanted anything. It had only taken a moment to change his entire perspective on mating and love. It still blew his mind that he could change so quickly. All his adult life, he’d been a confirmed bachelor. He’d never wanted it any other way.

After seeing the way his father had fallen apart in front of him and his brothers after their mother’s death, it had made him want to swear off love forever. One flash from Dana’s hazel eyes had changed all of that. The swish of her curves and the flush of her cheeks when she looked up at him, it made his inner bear roar with need.

In all the time he’d spent dating human females, his inner bear had never shown much interest. Yes, he had his needs, like any man. Most shifters avoided entanglements with women who were not their fated mates. But Jessie had jumped in with both feet. Human males didn’t bother themselves with fated mates. Why should he? It had always seemed like a weakness in his race. It was the thing that kept shifters from taking over the world. Mating took huge amounts of energy and in the past, Jessie considered it a waste of time.

His entire world view had shifted in just a few hours and the change was startling and exciting in so many ways. He was just glad he hadn’t been confronted by the entire Kincaid clan. He wouldn’t hear the end of the teasing now that he’d found and fallen for Dana.

They walked through the lobby, finding Kelly Green at the front counter. She smiled at Jessie and he nodded in her direction as he pressed his hand to the small of Dana’s back. They turned to the entrance of the restaurant and met the hostess who greeted them.

“I have a reservation for Kincaid,” he told the pretty young bear shifter.

“Right this way,” the girl said, pulling two menus from the stack and leading them to a table on the patio overlooking the lake.

The sun was moving toward the horizon over the mountains, and the yellow and orange colors streamed across the sky, reflecting in the silver waters of Lake Fate. Jessie smiled as Dana let out a contented sigh. He helped her into her chair and sat across from her under the shade of the umbrella over their table.

The hostess returned with a bottle of champagne on ice, a basket of crusty French bread, and a dish of butter. She poured their glasses and left them to enjoy the beautiful view. The summer evening was warm and a cool breeze blew up from the lake, cooling the air pleasantly.

“This is so lovely,” Dana said, taking in the view and the surroundings.

“You’ve never been here?”

“No. I haven’t seen much of Fate Mountain. Even though I’ve lived here for over two years. I barely left the estate.”

“The Updikes have to pay for what they did to you.”

“They already have,” Dana said under her breath.

“What do you mean?”

“Chuck is already dead.”

“We don’t have to talk about this,” Jessie said, seeing the strained expression on her face.

“It’s okay. It’s what’s happening. It’s normal that we would talk about it.”

“Why don’t you tell me about your parents. What were they like?”

“My parents were wonderful. They never missed a chance to remind me how important I was to them. We had an ideal family, until the car accident. Living with my great uncle and aunt was much worse. She wasn’t his fated mate. Their relationship was… strange. Not like a shifter couple. At least, not the ones I’d known until then. They both drank a lot. It was a good introduction to what it would be like with the hyenas.”

“Did the hyenas ever touch you?” Jessie growled, his inner grizzly suddenly rearing up on his hind legs.

Dana took a long swig of champagne and set her glass on the table.

“Not really. I mean, many of them tried, but the Updikes never expected me to… serve them like that. I was never punished for fighting them off. I might be a fox, but I have claws and fangs of my own. I took care of myself.”

“Good,” Jessie said, his grizzly only slightly less agitated.

“I would have run sooner if they’d expected that. My uncle be damned. I wouldn’t let anyone do that to me. As it was, I just cleaned, served drinks, and answered the door. I had to wear that dumb costume, but I never had to put out. I survived.”

“I can’t say how sorry I am, Dana,” Jessie said, grasping her hand. “If I hadn’t been so convinced that mating was a waste of time, I could have helped you a lot sooner.”

“It’s not your fault, Jessie. I don’t blame you for anything. I appreciate that you feel that way, but it’s not your problem. You had your life, and I had mine. You couldn’t protect me for every second of it. There’s no reason to beat yourself up over things beyond your control. Besides, I wouldn’t have wanted you to come into the Updikes' estate, guns blazing, trying to save me. They would have retaliated. They probably still will. It’s just that I no longer care what they have over me. I’m done with them.”

“You saved yourself,” he said, in a low growl. He couldn’t believe how sexy her strength was.

In all this years of dating countless women, he’d never met someone so humble, so strong, so capable of doing what needed to be done, so willing to sacrifice for those she loved. And ready to turn around and walk away when she’d had enough. Dana didn’t blame anyone. She didn’t let anyone have that power over her.

Jessie had to tell himself to calm down as his cock twitched between his legs and his grizzly growled with need. Dana had just been through a lot of trauma, and he had to give her space, no matter how hard it was to keep his hands off her in that dress.

The waiter came and took their orders and brought their plates a while later. Jessie ordered a big steak and Dana ordered the lobster. They chatted about their childhoods and their dreams for the future. He told her about how his mother had died, a story he’d never shared with a woman until that moment.

“My mother was human. I’d been dirt bike racing without a helmet, and she came out to check on me. She tripped and her fragile human body broke on the jagged rocks at the bottom of the ravine. I’ve always known it was my fault.”

“How could it be your fault?” Dana asked, softly, looking him in the eye.

“She came out to check on me even though I was so much stronger than her, even at ten. I’ll never understand why she thought she had to protect me. I should have protected her.”

“She was your mother. There is nothing stronger than a mother’s love. Besides maybe the love a man has for his woman,” Dana said.

He looked deeply into her hazel eyes, marveling at the golden and yellow flecks that mixed with the deep brown. His heart swelled and burst and he let out a long sigh.

“My father let his love destroy him. I never wanted to feel love that deep. I avoided it. Now, I wish I’d run at love the way I run at everything else.”

“You can do that now,” she said, color rising in her cheeks.

“Yes,” he said, reaching across the table to thread his fingers through hers.

The waiter came back and asked if they’d like any desert and they ordered a raspberry chocolate torte to share. When the waiter set the desert in front of them, with two small forks, Dana licked her lips.

“I haven’t had a meal this delicious in I don’t know how long,” she said, taking her fork and letting it hover over the plate.

“Dig in,” he said, taking in her smile.

It was strange how her happiness filled his heart with contentment. It was like he could feel her positive emotions inside him, and it gave him a kind of self-confidence he’d never experienced before. The depth of their connection was exactly what he’d been so afraid of all these years. Now, it felt like something he never wanted to live without.

She took a small bite of the desert and moaned, her eyes rolling back in her head with the pleasure of sweetness in her mouth. A thrill ran through him, hearing the pleasure sounds through her lips. He could almost hear her fox purring behind the human voice.

“This is so freaking good,” she groaned.

“Shane’s food is legendary. Not only in Fate Mountain either.”

“I heard something about that. He’s supposed to be famous or something. The hyenas were talking shit about him once after pigging out at the diner. All I remember thinking was how nice it would have been to eat a hamburger from a restaurant rather than the cheap ramen servants like me were expected to eat.”

“You can have whatever you want from now on. No one is going to keep anything from you ever again. I’ll make it my life’s mission to make sure of that.”

Dana giggled and took a sip of her champagne. “I think you’re drunk. I’ve heard plenty of gossip about you too,” she said, forking another portion of the torte.

“Definitely not drunk.”

“Jessie Kincaid, notorious ladies’ man is now eternally devoted to none other than… me. Dana Myers. The Updikes’ French maid. I never understood why they wanted me to dress in that costume. I’m from Sacramento, not France!”

Jessie snorted.

“We belong together. If not for Brandon’s bite, we would have known a long time ago.”

She picked up the last bite of dessert and moved it toward his mouth like an airplane for a child. He opened his mouth and closed his eyes as the chocolate hit his tongue. He closed his lips over the fork.

Savoring the flavor of the chocolate, heightened by her feeding it to him, he let out a sighing moan.

“How about we get out of here,” he finally said.

“I thought you’d never ask.”