Addison stepped off a plane and straight into a waiting car with Reid following closely behind. The flight had been long and the seats cramped, not to mention she still wasn’t sure leaving Chicago was the right call. Wouldn’t hiding away just fuel the rumor mills? What happened to not running?

Then again, after she had found a couple of very determined journalists loitering around her apartment building, there didn’t seem to be many options left. It was only a matter of time before more of them found out where she lived, and the same went for Reid.

Her boss was sitting on the backseat beside her, looking at something on his tablet. He had been quiet the whole flight over, and had been tight-lipped about their destination even before that. All he had given her was a name – Black Oak – and said he had friends there.

So Addison had done some research of her own. From what she had been able to gather, Black Oak was a small, rural town with a tight-knit community and a prominent shifter population. That didn’t surprise her. She was aware her boss was a werebear.

But that was his business, and knowing shifters didn’t really like talking about their genetic differences, Addison hadn’t asked Reid about that part of his life. So he could turn into a bear. Didn’t make him any better or worse of a boss, or an attorney, as far as she could figure.

“Do you come back home often?” Addison asked.

The silence had dragged on too long, and she was curious. Why Black Oak of all places? She hadn’t even heard him mention it before. Not that she and Reid were that close, but they had shared a business dinner or two. He knew that she was a Chicago native, for example, and that she was an only child. What did she know about him?

“Not really,” Reid replied, not looking up from his screen.

“Then why now?” Addison couldn’t help but ask.

Reid’s tone was casual, or at least it tried to be. But there was something there, an emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She studied him closely as he replied.

“I can be sure the people there won’t tip off the press. And I know of a place where we can stay completely off the radar,” he said. “The townspeople might gossip among themselves if they get a whiff of me coming back, sure, but that will be it.”

“So we’re staying with friends of yours?” she questioned.

Making a point of scrolling something on his screen, Reid continued to avoid her gaze.

“Something like that,” he said, in a tone that implied this particular conversation was over.

Addison was left to entertain herself as she stared out the window. The driver already had the GPS coordinates to wherever she and Reid were going to be staying, so silence took hold again.

The town of Black Oak popped into view not long after. As they drove straight through it, Addison had to admit it looked charming. She was a big city girl, but the allure of all the little shops, colorful houses and general easygoing vibe of the place was not lost on her.

Looking over at Reid, though, in his expensive suit and perfectly shined Italian shoes, she was having trouble picturing him growing up here. Had he been eager to leave, and that was why he didn’t visit his old hometown?

But as they left the town behind, heading for someplace even more off the map, Addison’s imagination started to run wild. Had Reid, the same Reid that kept a fancy bottle of hand lotion in his briefcase and got his hair cut every two weeks, grown up on a farm? She almost laughed out loud at the mere idea of it.

“This place is out of town?” Addison couldn’t help but ask, stating the obvious.

“It’s a ranch,” was all that Reid said, keeping with the tight-lipped thing he had going on.

Suddenly, Addison regretted every packing choice she had made. Not that her wardrobe contained many ranch-appropriate items in the first place, but had she known, she would have at least ditched the heels.

A ranch, though? How could she have known to be prepared for that? Even now, as the road ribboning before them gave way to a sprawling estate with a grassland in the distance, she was having a hard time picturing Reid setting foot on anything but solid pavement.

The driver pulled up the winding driveway to the main house, with several smaller buildings dotted around. An old truck was parked out front, with a set of tools rolled out nearby. No one seemed to be around, though, and no one came to greet them.

The driver got out first, taking their luggage out of the back. Reid sighed, finally tucking his tablet away, and looked to be taking his sweet time opening the passenger door. Addison got the distinct feeling something was off.

“Your friends do know to expect us, right?” she asked, just as Reid swung his door open.

She scrambled out to follow, meeting him at the front of the car.

“That’s not entirely accurate,” he hedged.

“What?” Addison blurted out.

That was attorney speak for ‘no’. Dumbfounded, she looked out at the property, anxiously eyeing it for signs of life while her heels slowly sank into the dirt. Finally, the door to the main house creaked open, almost making her jump.

The man who appeared eyed them both, his dark brow knitting together. Freakishly tall with broad, bulging shoulders, he looked like he could have built the whole ranch singlehandedly without even breaking a sweat.

The sleeves of his flannel shirt were rolled up, exposing muscular forearms. The fronts of his jeans were dusty, with a smear of what she guessed to be motor oil near one of the pockets.

And he was handsome. Damn, was he handsome. Addison knew she had to be staring, but she couldn’t look away. His dark eyes were focused on Reid, so she was probably getting away with it, at least.

His square jaw covered in thick stubble, his dark brown hair disheveled and his cheekbones looking like they had been carved from stone, the stranger looked none too pleased to have unexpected visitors on his front lawn.

Reid turned away from his glare to thank the driver and say they had it from there. Addison almost called out, unsure that sending the man away was the right move. What if the stranger slammed the door in their faces? He looked angry enough to do so, for sure. And she hadn’t packed for sleeping under the stars.

But before she could get any words out, the car they had arrived in was already speeding off, leaving her, Reid and their considerable luggage standing awkwardly in the middle of nowhere.

The stranger was the first one to speak.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Reid.

“Nice to see you, too, Gage,” Reid replied.

Gage, Addison thought to herself, still unable to peel her eyes away from the man.

When Gage’s eyes swung to her, she felt downright paralyzed. He held her gaze for a curiously long moment, making a shiver run down her spine, before turning back to Reid.

“I asked you a question,” Gage stated, folding his arms in front of him.

“Look, I know you’re probably pissed at me, but I am still your brother and…” Reid started, his words nearly knocking Addison on her ass.

Brother?

She hadn’t even known Reid had a brother. Yet here he was, looking like he was ready to strangle Reid to death at a moment’s notice. Gage didn’t let Reid finish his sentence as he stomped down the front steps, his hands falling to his sides.

“Pissed at you?” he asked, letting out a harsh bark of laughter. “Are you fucking serious? That doesn’t even begin to cover it. And now you just show up here with… suitcases?”

Reid huffed out a breath, clearly more frustrated at being interrupted than afraid of what his brother might do. Strangely, Addison wasn’t scared either.

“We need a place to stay, just for a little while,” Reid explained. “This is my associate, Addison, she…”

But Gage cut him off again.

“You’re a piece of work, you know that,” he shook his head, now only feet away from his brother.

“Look, I’ve had a long flight. We can discuss how you hate my guts later. Now are you going to let us stay or not?” Reid asked.

Gage glanced over at Addison again as she stood back next to her luggage, not wanting any part of this family drama, yet at the same time also being fascinated by it. Then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, Gage swung his arm back, and clocked Reid straight in the jaw. The man went stumbling back, blood spilling from his busted lip.

“Yeah, you can stay,” was all that Gage said as he stomped back inside the house.