Blood dribbled down his chin from a split in his lip. A split that should have healed already, but he’d never had the chance to eat that burger at Rosie’s so he was at zero in the energy department. Fighting all six of Senclair’s men hadn’t done him any favors either. That was how he’d ended up with a gun pointed at the back of his head.

To say he’d never been in a similar situation would be a lie. Though guns weren’t around in his time back in Ireland, he’d had every manner of other weapon trained on him at some point or another. Spears, swords, axes… they’d all left their mark on him somewhere.

A gun, however, was a different problem. Reardon had explained the weapon to him, and if the man standing behind him pulled the trigger, his survival was in jeopardy.

What does it matter anyway?

He’d lost Nika. What else did he have? His old life didn’t exist anymore, and the one he’d been hoping to have with Nika was nothing but a daydream now.

Pull the trigger.

At least he’d had the satisfaction of beating the shit out of the six men. Easily. He’d used the last reserves of energy to knock them all unconscious. He would have gladly killed them, but the rules of the battlefield didn’t apply to Canville, Vermont. That much he knew. He’d be arrested by the sheriff if he killed the men. Still, he gained a measure of retribution knowing he’d avenged the burning of Nika’s trading post to some degree.

Until Robert Senclair himself showed up in his fancy shoes and fancy car… with his fancy gun.

“You’ve taken out my best men, Wolfman.” Senclair had advanced on Jaemus with the gun held out. Edged him toward the river. Ordered him to his knees.

“One of them started the fires at Nika’s.”

“Of course. They do what I tell them to. Nika should take a lesson from them.”

“Nika isn’t yours. She’s free to do what she wants.”

“Perhaps. But that will change once you’re gone.”

“Robert! Please, don’t! I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t kill him.” Nika’s voice sounded real, but she couldn’t be there.

Could she?

Jaemus risked turning his head slightly to see his sprite running toward them. Conflicting emotions welled in his chest. Elation at seeing her again. Desperation at not wanting her anywhere near Senclair or his gun. Total depression at knowing she wasn’t his anymore.

“You don’t have to kill him, Robert!”

“I gave you a chance to choose me, Nika.” Robert pushed the nose of the gun more firmly into the back of Jaemus’s skull, forcing Jaemus to look at the river again instead of at Nika.

His beautiful sprite. How would he live without her? Fortunately, he wouldn’t have to.

But if he died today, he’d be leaving Nika with Robert Senclair. He didn’t like that notion one bit. He had no doubts that Nika could take care of herself, but Robert had already burned her business down. What other lengths would he go to in order to get what he wanted?

Gods be damned.

Jaemus couldn’t leave her in Senclair’s clutches. Even if she didn’t want to be with him, Jaemus wanted her to be happy. He wasn’t the one to make her happy, but Robert Senclair wasn’t worthy of a woman like Nika. He wouldn’t take care of her the way she deserved. He wouldn’t love her.

Not like I do.

He had to keep that love to himself now, but he could ensure that Nika got the chance to find the love she needed in her life. He could at least do that for her.

What are you doing, warrior wolf? Flidae’s voice echoed in his head, but he was beyond caring what Celtic goddesses thought.

With a low growl, claws exploded from Jaemus’s fingertips. He reached back and grabbed Senclair’s wrist, snapping it as if it were no more than a twig.

Robert let out a howl of pain and dropped the gun as Jaemus stood and wrapped his wolfman hands around the other man’s neck. He squeezed until Robert’s mouth opened and closed, choking sounds escaping now and then.

One flick of Jaemus’s wrist and Senclair would be no more. One flick of the wrist and Jaemus could remove the man from Nika’s life forever. One flick of the wrist…

“Jaemus, don’t.” Nika stood right next to him now, her delicate hand on his gnarled, inhuman one. “The police are on their way. Let them handle this.”

He couldn’t look at anything but her hand on his. She’d touched him. Still. Though he was a beast, she’d touched him.

“Please. I know you’re doing this for me, but don’t. A long jail sentence for Robert will be just as good.” She didn’t let go of his hand.

And gods be damned, he didn’t want her to. Ever.

Robert passed out in his grip, but the man was still breathing, and Nika released a breath of her own. Jaemus let Robert drop to the ground at their feet and his eyes widened when Nika stepped over the man. She wrapped her arms around Jaemus’s shoulders and pushed her nose into the curve of his neck. Inhaling deeply, she settled against his chest.

“Thank God you’re all right.” She squeezed him closer. “I thought he was going to shoot you.” She slid her hands down his arms and grabbed his hands—his wolfman hands.

He tried to take a step back and shrug out of her hold, but she tightened her grip and shook her head. “Don’t. Let me see them.”

“You’ve seen them before,” he said. “You just didn’t realize they were really me.”

Her soft fingertips running over his oversized knuckles and along his rough palm made him close his eyes. Her touch did so many things to him. So many things no one else had ever done to him.

When her gaze met his, he was surprised at what he found in her pale green eyes.

Love.

She wasn’t looking at him with repulsion or anger. She looked at him as she had over the weeks they’d been together.

How can this be?

Shouldn’t she be running away? Shouldn’t she be furious with him for letting her believe he was a normal human? Shouldn’t she hate him for his lies?

“I love you, Jaemus. This,” she held up his clawed hands between them, “doesn’t change anything.”

He shook his head, but she grabbed his chin to stop him.

“I mean it. You’ve brought so much joy to my life.” She flattened her palm against his cheek and slowly his claws retracted, his hands returning to normal. “I want you. I still want you.”

His eyes stung with tears—the first time in his entire life that Jaemus McAlator almost cried. Her words, the love he saw on her face, for him… it warmed him all over.

And he believed her. He did. His sprite wouldn’t lie. This much he knew. If she said she loved him and she wanted him, she did. Besides, he could still smell her attraction to him. It hadn’t faded. Not even a little bit.

“Oh, sprite…” He folded her into a hug, never wanting to let her go, refusing to. “I love you too.” He kissed the top of her head, relishing the scent of her hair though it smelled vaguely smoky from the fire at the post. “I don’t know why you still love me, but I’m so happy you do.”

“Brandy and Reardon explained how you came to be a… a werewolf.” She whispered the word, her gaze darting to Robert still passed out at their feet.

“It wasn’t my choice. No one would choose this.”

“But being what you are doesn’t make you less, Jaemus. It makes you more. It makes you special. More special than I’d already thought you were.” She looked over her shoulder as two cop cars squealed into the library parking lot. “Let me do the talking so we can get out of here, check the damage at the post,” she cringed here, “and then maybe you could help me forget that my recently booming business is nothing but ash.”

“Aye. I’d be happy to take your mind off your troubles, sprite.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and they both walked toward Sheriff Olsen.

“Somebody call for the police?” he asked.

“I did,” Nika said. “I’ve needed you twice in one night, Sheriff, and I don’t like it one bit. Robert Senclair is passed out over there.” She pointed to the man’s body. “Along with his gun that he had aimed at Jaemus when I arrived.”

“Always knew he was bad news,” the sheriff said, “but I could never catch him in the act.”

“Well, Jaemus and I have plenty to tell you about him.” Nika folded her arms across her chest. “Starting with how he had his henchmen set my trading post on fire.”

“You know it was him?” Sheriff Olsen’s eyebrows rose.

“Aye,” Jaemus said. “He was on the scene. I saw his shoe inside the post while it was burning and his men—six of them—were boasting about setting Nika’s business on fire at Rosie’s tonight. I heard it all.”

“Know where I might find these men so I can send my officers after them?” The sheriff motioned to two police officers walking toward them.

“They’re on the other side of this building.” Jaemus gestured to the library. “They wanted to kick my ass when I confronted them.”

Olsen looked Jaemus up and down, his gaze resting on the split in his lip. “Looks as if they got in a couple of shots.”

“Aye, but I got in more.”

“Good. Never liked any of those guys either.” The sheriff nodded at his two officers who went off in search of Senclair’s men. “I’ll need you two to come to the police station and make official statements.”

“Of course,” Nika said. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Jaemus pointed back to Senclair’s body. “He may need an ambulance.”

Sheriff Olsen didn’t attempt to contain his grin. “What goes around, comes around, don’t it?” Chuckling, he meandered over to Robert’s location while Nika nudged Jaemus toward Brandy’s SUV.

Stopping shy of the vehicle, she turned to him and ran a gentle finger over his lip. Her brow crinkled as she felt the dried blood. “Do you need an ambulance?”

Jaemus squeezed Nika to his body. “No. It should be healed by the time we get to the police station.”

She frowned. “Which could be a problem.”

Right. The sheriff was an observant man. He’d specifically referenced that split in Jaemus’s lip. “I’ll split it again before we go into the station.”

“I don’t want you to purposely hurt yourself, Jaemus.” She cupped his cheek and he was having trouble not shouting his elation over having her there with him.

He’d been talking himself into living without her. Actually, that’s not true. More specifically, he’d been preparing to let Robert Senclair shoot a hole in his head to end the pain burning in his chest over the belief that Nika didn’t want him.

Everything was different now. She wanted him. She loved him.

He teased her lips with soft kisses, loving how her body melted against his. “Nothing can hurt me know, sprite. Not now that I have you again.”

****

Nika guided Brandy’s SUV onto a dirt side road and cut the engine. The woods were dark around them, no streetlights in the immediate vicinity.

“What are you doing, sprite?” Jaemus asked, but the rasp in his voice told her he absolutely knew what she was doing and he absolutely wanted her to do it.

“I can’t possibly walk into that police station and give any statements that make sense when wanting you is taking up every square inch of my brain right now. I’m just so relieved Robert didn’t kill you, that you’re here. With me.”

She didn’t wait for him to respond. Instead, she removed her seatbelt and climbed onto his lap, grinning brilliantly when she discovered what was hard and so ready for her beneath his jeans.

“See what you do to me?” He smiled, the split in his lip totally gone now.

“Aye.” She purred the word deep in her throat and Jaemus’s hands immediately dove into her hair, which had to be a total and complete mess by this point in the evening. He didn’t seem to care though.

When their lips met, Nika couldn’t contain the satisfied sigh that buzzed against his mouth. This. She needed this. Always this.

Jaemus’s seatbelt clicked, and she backed up a fraction of an inch so it could slide between their bodies. He pulled the seat back as far as it would go, then reclined it slightly, pulling her up against him like a blanket. His body was solid beneath her, solid and safe and sexy.

She slid her hand below his T-shirt and rolled the soft cotton up until he removed the shirt. Tracing a fingertip over his chest and abs, she let herself memorize every muscle, every curve, every expanse of sexy male skin.

And there’s a wolf under there too.

“Will you show me your wolf later tonight?” She nibbled his ear, loving the low rumble vibrating from him.

“You don’t want to see that, sprite.” He eased her tank top and bra off so he could give her breasts some attention.

She angled her head so he could trail a line from her breasts up to her ears, making her hot for him. So hot. “Yes, I do. I want to know all of you, Jaemus. Every. Last. Whisker.” She pushed up on her arms, her hair dangling in between them. “Promise you’ll show me later.”

Emotions warred on his face, but she wasn’t going to back down on this one. If he wanted her in his life, he’d have to learn to trust her and her love. He had to be willing to share all of himself with her. Just as she was willing to share all of herself with him.

“Promise.” He cupped her cheeks and coaxed her toward him. “Later.” His voice was barely audible and sent shivers throughout Nika’s body. “Much later.”

He descended on her lips again, bringing her to the breaking point with only his kiss. His strong hands gripped her hips, holding her close. He scraped his fingers along her thigh, bunching up her skirt, and nudged her panties aside. When he found her wet, he growled in her ear.

“Say you’re mine, sprite. Please.”

Nika had been on her own for a while. She and Daisy had survived after Tato’s death. She’d done the best she could, never needing to belong to anyone. Never imagining the day she’d want to give herself over so completely.

That day was here. Right now. Tonight.

She moaned when he tested her depths with his fingers. “I’m yours, Wolfman. For as long as you want me.”

“Forever then?”

She unzipped his jeans, needing his length inside her. “Forever.”

“Good.” He devoured her mouth, his tongue caressing hers as she closed her hand over his arousal, drawing a deep moan out of him.

When she sat up a bit, ready to accept him, she gazed down at his beautiful face, loving the light in his golden brown eyes. She traced his scruff-covered jaw with her index finger, circling around his cheek, hooking his hair behind his ear.

“I could look at you for hours and keep noticing something new I love about your face.” Her fingertip lingered on the scar cutting through his beard.

“It’s not a perfect face.”

“Depends on your definition of perfect.” She pressed a kiss to that scar, her forward motion causing his erection to rub against her ready heat. “I have to have you now, Jaemus.”

“I wouldn’t dream of arguing with you, sprite.”

With a sexy grin, he pushed himself into her folds, every inch making her lose her grip on reality.

Because surely this man is a dream. A wonderful dream. A dream she didn’t ever want to wake up from. Especially if waking meant having to deal with giving statements about Robert to the police. With acknowledging that her trading post was toast. With accepting that her financial future was officially in the shitter.

None of that mattered in this moment. This moment in the strong embrace of the man she loved. The werewolf she loved.

Jaemus went still inside her and she met his gaze.

“What’s the matter?” Everything felt wonderful to her, but was he not comfortable in the passenger seat with her body draped over his? Were they not far enough from the main road? Would someone find them?

“That protection… the condom thing. We don’t have one.”

Nika gyrated slightly on his lap, loving that his face went slack, his eyes rolling up slightly in ecstasy. “I’m on the pill. Medication to keep me from getting pregnant. The condom was extra protection. Besides…” She bit her lip.

Jaemus brought his thumb up to press the pad of it against where she’d bitten. “Besides what?”

“What would happen if I… you know… got pregnant with your child? Would it be a werewolf?” And why did carrying Jaemus’s child send a thrill through her?

He cocked his head to the side, the way Brandy and Reardon had earlier in the night, as if he were listening to a conversation she couldn’t hear. Slowly, he shook his head.

“No. I don’t have the ability to pass the shifting to an offspring. The babe would be a normal human.” Something flared in his glowing gaze. Something like… yearning.

“Do you want children, Jaemus?”

“Aye.”

“With me?”

“I want everything with you, sprite. Everything.”

Those words filled her. Filled her with something she never knew she wanted. Filled her with a new sense of purpose.

We could have it all. Together.

Fueled by these thoughts, she moved atop him, coaxing him into a steady rhythm that tugged her closer and closer to the edge. An edge daring her to leap, soar, fly, fall. Her breathing reached a pant-like level as he drove into her with powerful thrusts that made her forget the horrible events of the evening. None of that mattered in this instant.

There was only him. Her. Their joining.

Nika had no idea what tomorrow would bring and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t care. She planned to enjoy now and let tomorrow unfold as it would.

Jaemus’s hold on her tightened as he neared his release, and Nika took a moment to study his face. His golden brown eyes were half-lidded, but a light still shined in them. His cheeks were pinked from their lovemaking, a light sheen of sweat dotting his brow. His blond hair was pushed away from his face, revealing those chiseled features Nika had come to love.

She traced his jaw until his fingers clamped on her hips and he shuddered beneath her. Following right behind him, she cried out his name, spasming through a bliss she could easily become addicted to then collapsing against his muscled body. When his arms came around her, pulling her close, she couldn’t think of anywhere else she wanted to be.

They stayed like that for a few moments, each of them catching their breaths. Nika listened to Jaemus’s heart beating, the sound bringing her such comfort. She was no longer alone in this world.

“Let’s get this police business over so we can do more of this.” He arched his hips up slightly, pressing himself against her.

“More. Yes. I’d love that.” She pushed up, still straddling him and glancing to the driver’s seat. “Too bad that seat is waaay over there.”

He caressed her cheek, grinning as he handed her shirt and bra to her. “You might need these in order to drive.”

“Says who?”

“Society, I believe.”

Pouting as he laughed, she took the clothes and slid back to the driver’s side. When they were both properly clothed again, she started Brandy’s SUV.

“We totally don’t tell Brandy what we did in here. Pinky swear.” Nika held out her hand, pinky finger extended toward him.

Jaemus blinked those lovely eyes—no longer glowing—at her. “Pinky swear?”

As she eased the SUV back onto the main road heading for the police station, she glanced at him. “What, your Ireland of the past doesn’t pinky swear?”

He shook his head, some of his hair falling against his cheeks. God, he’s beautiful. And wolf-like. She’d always considered him wolf-like because of the phenomenal job he’d done playing the Wolfman in her show. Now that she knew he was an actual wolf, she realized it was much more than that silly role. The way he looked at her was predatory, tracking her movements. The way he smelled the air. The way his lithe body moved. Of course he had something extra. Something amazing.

“Pinky swearing is like making a promise… taking an oath,” she said.

“Aye, pledging allegiance so to speak?”

“Exactly. By pinky swearing with me right now, you pledge allegiance to me and promise never to tell Brandy that we defiled her SUV.”

When his rough pinky finger curled around hers, she shot him another glance. He brought their joined hands up to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“I don’t mind this pinky swearing, but I have ideas on much better ways to seal our deals, sprite. Much better.” He trailed light kisses over the inside of her wrist up to her elbow and along her shoulder.

“We should definitely explore those ideas. Like, all of them.”

His raspy chuckle did things to her insides a laugh shouldn’t do, and she pressed her foot down harder on the accelerator. They had to get the police statements against Robert out of the way so they could spend the rest of the night on his ideas. The sun would rise soon enough tomorrow morning, and Nika was certain her trading post wouldn’t look any better in the light of day.

Her heart ached over the post, but she boxed that up for now. If she let it free, she wouldn’t be able to make it through giving statements. She’d fall apart thinking of Tato and how what he’d built had been destroyed by a self-centered asswaffle. An asswaffle that had nearly killed the one man who had managed to steal her heart.

“What’s that?” Jaemus’s voice pulled her out of her growing anger over Robert.

Squinting out the windshield of the SUV, she saw it too. Red, flashing ambulance lights, but not at the top of a vehicle as one would expect. These were at the side.

As if the ambulance had tipped.