Brandy took the bag from Sheriff Olsen and turned the dagger around to inspect it from all sides. She’d never seen anything like it in real life. Sure, she’d seen pictures of blades like this one in the Celtic books she used when naming her wolves, but she’d never actually held one.

“This doesn’t look like anything from around here.” She handed it back to Sheriff Olsen.

“You can get anything on the internet these days.” The sheriff rolled his eyes and passed the dagger to one of his officers.

“Why would someone send a truck into the green like that?” Brandy rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. Though the hot sun still beamed down on her, a chill had seeped under her skin.

I almost died. Worse than that thought was the fact that Dylan almost died. It would have sucked if that had been the last time she’d ever crossed a street, but Dylan? No. That boy had a long and happy life coming to him, and he was going to have it.

Thanks to Reardon.

Brandy looked at him now, standing quietly beside her, his hand wrapped, but not looking any worse for wear after rescuing them. When something grabbed her around the waist and whisked her onto the grass, she’d been ready to put up a fight. She wasn’t used to being manhandled. She wasn’t used to being handled at all. The last man to touch her had been Hank and she was still furious about that.

Hank.

She grabbed Sheriff Olsen’s forearm. “Do you think it was Hank Swift?”

“He was certainly the first suspect to pop into my head, if that truck was targeting you specifically, that is,” the sheriff said. “We’ll check it out, Brandy.” His gaze shifted to Reardon. “How long have you been in town…Reardon, was it?”

Brandy shook her head. “He saved us, Sheriff. Don’t go getting all suspicious of the new guy.”

“Can’t help it. Suspicious is in my nature.” He narrowed his eyes at Reardon.

“Give me a call if you find out anything pertaining to Hank,” Brandy said.

“Will do.” With one more glance at Reardon, Sheriff Olsen joined his officers at the scene.

Brandy turned to Reardon, about to tell him not to worry about Olsen, but Meredith pushed through the crowd of onlookers, a wild look on her face.

“My God, are you all right?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but dropped her bags to the ground and yanked Brandy into the tightest hug ever. “Where’s Dylan? Is he…? He’s not…?” She stepped back from Brandy and swiveled in a circle.

“I’m right here, Gram.” Dylan ran over and burrowed into the embrace. The three of them stood like that for a few moments.

“I only saw your SUV,” Meredith said through tears. “I thought you were both gone. I thought the universe had taken everything from me.”

“Nah,” Brandy said around a tight throat. “The universe says you’re stuck with us.”

Meredith released them and wiped her eyes and cheeks. “Good. I want to be stuck with both of you. For as long as possible.”

“I guess you need to give us a ride home, Gram.” Dylan pointed to their crushed SUV currently being doused with water by some firemen.

“Are you sure neither of you needs medical attention?” Meredith narrowed her eyes at both of them.

“No, we’re fine because of…” She turned around, but Reardon wasn’t where she had last seen him. Where had he gone? She wasn’t done thanking him. She… she owed him. Her life. Dylan’s life. Dinner at least.

“Who are you looking for, honey?” Meredith asked.

“Reardon.” Dylan looked around. “He’s like a superhero!”

“He’s the one who pushed us out of the way.” Brandy got on her tiptoes and scanned the crowd, a hollow feeling coming over her when she didn’t see him. Had he walked away because of the sheriff’s suspicions? That wouldn’t do. She couldn’t have him believing they thought he’d caused the accident.

He was their savior.

When she caught sight of his crop of black hair heading away from the scene, she turned back to Meredith. “Watch Dylan for a minute. I think I see him.”

Meredith nodded and coaxed Dylan toward her car. “We’ll wait for you.”

Brandy took off, pushing her way through the crowd as they all tried to talk to her. She had to get to Reardon. She couldn’t lose sight of him. She was almost desperate to stop him from leaving, which was stupid because she didn’t even know him. He was this stranger who’d prevented their untimely deaths. This beautiful stranger who felt so familiar.

“Reardon!” she called out.

He faltered in his fast gait for a moment then turned around. Dylan was right. The man did have eyes like Alator’s. Inhumanly gorgeous eyes that went with an inhumanly gorgeous body.

She jogged to catch up to him, wanting very much to feel his arm around her waist again, to be in a tangle of limbs with him on the grass again.

What? She shook her head and focused on his face, which didn’t in any way get her thoughts out of the gutter.

“Where are you going?” she asked instead of voicing all the demands circulating in her head. Take off your clothes. Take off my clothes. Kiss me. Touch me. Make me cry your name over and over again.

“Just being on my way, lass. You and the boy are fine, aye?” He rubbed a big hand over his beard and the bristly sound made Brandy quake with need. This guy was definitely not like Chella’s cousin, Marshall. He wasn’t like Parker either.

He was different. Sexy different. Mysteriously different.

“We are fine, but we also have manners, and we simply can’t have you go unthanked.”

“But you did thank me. Back there.” He pointed to the scene where the townspeople were disbanding now that the show was over.

“Not properly.” She frowned. “I don’t know that we can ever properly thank you. I mean, you risked your own safety for us, a couple of strangers. Who does that nowadays?”

“I do. Apparently.” He smiled and his face became more of a work of art.

“And you should be rewarded. Let me make you dinner tonight. It doesn’t even begin to make up for what you did for my son and me, but it’s something. You can meet our wolves too.” It scared Brandy how much she wanted him to accept her invitation.

Reardon stared past her for a moment, some internal struggle happening in his mind if his tight jaw was any indication. When his green-gold gaze met hers again, however, another smile graced his lips. “Dinner sounds wonderful.”

Brandy had to remind herself not to jump for joy like a lunatic. Instead she clapped her hands. “Great. Is seven o’clock okay?”

He nodded once.

“Super. You’re not a vegetarian or anything, are you?”

His laugh boomed, deep and melodious. “Most assuredly not. I like meat.” Something flared in his eyes over the word meat, and Brandy had a sudden urge to slather herself in barbecue sauce.

“Okay. Tonight then.” She hunted in her purse for one of her business cards and handed it to Reardon. “The sanctuary’s address is on there.”

“Seven o’clock.” He took the card, glanced at it, then shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans.

“See you then.”

“Aye.”

She knew she should walk away now. Their conversation was done. She’d see him later. Time to get back to the sanctuary. She had stuff to do. Reardon probably did too.

But the two of them stood there for a few quiet seconds just looking at one another.

Then a horn beeped, cutting into the frozen moment. Brandy looked over her shoulder at where Meredith’s car was parked. Her mom and Dylan were seated inside, waiting for her.

She hesitated, wishing seven o’clock wasn’t so far away. Another horn beep knocked her out of the trance.

“Okay. Bye.” She waved and forced herself to head toward Meredith’s car. Not able to resist the urge, she peeked over her shoulder to find Reardon still rooted to his spot. Man, he knew how to make a basic green T-shirt look amazing. His long legs in those jeans didn’t go unnoticed either. The bandage around his knuckles gave him a badass edge too, as if he wasn’t afraid to find some trouble and go up against it.

Shaking her head, she opened the passenger door to Meredith’s car and hopped in. When she looked back to Reardon, he was gone.

But you’ll see him later. If he came. Ugh. What if he didn’t show up tonight? Maybe he’d only agreed to her invitation to get rid of her. Maybe he had no intention of coming to dinner. Maybe she was absolutely ridiculous for suggesting he dine with them.

Maybe she was overreacting.

“Was that him?” Meredith asked.

“Yeah.”

“Wow. I know I’m an old lady, but hubba-hubba.” She fanned herself and winked at Brandy.

“What’s hubba-hubba mean, Gram?” Dylan asked from the back seat.

“It means he looks like a fine young gentleman.” She started the car.

“I invited him to dinner,” Brandy blurted then swiveled in her seat to face Dylan. “You know, to thank him.”

Meredith let out a little snicker while Dylan nodded.

“Good. I want him to meet Alator so he can see what I meant about their eyes being the same.” He settled back in his seat and took out the tire toy. “Maybe he’ll want to play with us.”

“Of course he’ll want to play with you.” Meredith glanced at him in her rearview mirror. “Who wouldn’t want to play with a cool kid like you and a wild wolf?”

Dylan grinned and returned the toy to the bag as Brandy turned back to look out the front window.

“And when he’s done playing with the kid and his wolf,” Meredith whispered, “he can give someone his own age a try.” She elbowed Brandy then said, “Hey, Dylan, how about if you camp out in my cabin tonight? It is the first official day of summer and Mom got to take you out to breakfast. Now it’s my turn to celebrate with you.”

“Okay! We still have two X-Men movies left in our marathon too.”

“That we do.” She raised an eyebrow at Brandy. “So we’ll be very busy tonight. Very busy.”

Brandy’s cheeks blazed. Her mother was greenlighting her to seduce a complete stranger. Granted, he was a hot complete stranger, but she didn’t know the first thing about seduction. She hung out with wolves all day for Christ’s sake. She only knew about getting wolves to like her.

Would the same strategies work on a man like Reardon?

****

Reardon walked at a brisk pace, knowing he had to get away from town, shift, and return to the sanctuary before Brandy, Dylan, and Meredith got there. He’d planned to run into Brandy in town, but he hadn’t planned on needing to save her life or Dylan’s.

I know it was you, Flidae.

“Do you now?”

Reardon jumped when a beautiful, raven-haired woman appeared in front of him. Her form was transparent, so he knew she wasn’t really there, but her ghostly presence still unsettled him.

“It is one thing to punish me for what I’ve done,” he said through clenched teeth. “It is something else entirely to endanger innocent people.”

“Innocent people who mean something to you, wolf.” Flidae pointed to him. “I wanted to see how far you were willing to go for them. You scored high marks on my little test.”

“You could have just asked me. I would have told you how much Brandy and Dylan mean to me. They’ve taken me in. They’ve cared for me. Made me part of their family.”

“Which is a great deal better than how some of your men have fared.” Flidae ran her slender fingers through her dark hair, fiddling with the ends. The smirk on her face let him know she enjoyed toying with him.

Reardon took a step closer, his fists clenching, which hurt his still healing knuckles. “What does that mean? Are my men in trouble?”

“Some of them are. Not everyone landed upon such fortunate circumstances as you, wolf.”

“But trying to kill Brandy and Dylan is not a fair way to get back at me, Flidae. Leave them out of this. They have nothing to do with what I did to my men or how I disrespected you.”

Flidae clapped her hands. “At least you now recognize what you did to deserve my banishment. You make progress, wolf. There is hope for you yet. And tests like this one entertain me. Being an eternal goddess does get tiresome. I must find ways to amuse myself.”

Before Reardon could remind her again to stay away from Brandy and Dylan, something flickered in Flidae’s violet eyes. Something like loneliness.

Reardon opened his mouth to question her, but her apparition dissipated into a mist that coiled around him then disappeared altogether.

What if she hurt Brandy and Dylan again with her tests? What if he wasn’t around to offer protection?

“I’ll be around.” He wouldn’t leave their sides. Starting right now.

After purchasing more clothes for this evening, a bottle of wine to take to dinner, and the tennis ball launcher he’d seen Dylan pick up in the pet store, Reardon darted into the woods that bordered town. Sprinting toward the sanctuary, he toted the goods with him, wishing he could shift and move faster. He had to make it back to Silver Moon before the Wendons did, but he also needed to stow these purchases close by so he could get to them for tonight.

When he was at the perimeter of the sanctuary, he navigated through the woods—carefully so as to avoid any traps—until he found a rocky outcropping. He hid his wares then peeled off the clothes he wore and stuffed them under the rocks too. Completely naked, he approached the entrance gates, unlatched them, and slipped back inside. He shifted back to wolf form and heard the crunch of tires on gravel only moments later.

Meredith’s car pulled up to the gates, and Dylan hopped out of the back seat to unlatch them. The car rolled in, and the boy closed and latched the gates again.

Reardon sat on his haunches as if he’d been waiting for their return. He didn’t go unnoticed by the boy.

“Hey, buddy.” Dylan held out his hand, summoning Reardon to his side.

Reardon didn’t have to be asked twice. He trotted over and immediately pushed his head into the boy’s legs, doing exactly what he’d wanted to do when he’d seen Dylan in town. He couldn’t stop his tail from wagging now that he could freely show his affection for the boy.

“Whoa. Easy, buddy. You’re going to knock me over. Did you miss us, Alator?” Dylan kneeled and cupped Reardon’s head in his hands. “You’re such a good boy. I got you a present. Want to see?”

Reardon let out a short bark, feeding off the boy’s excitement and his own joy at knowing he’d helped keep Dylan alive. And he’d keep doing so. Flidae would not succeed in hurting this boy or his mother for her own entertainment. Reardon would make sure of it.

Because they did mean something to him.

He followed Dylan to the car where Brandy and Meredith were getting out and grabbing their bags. While Dylan buzzed around looking for the tire toy, Reardon took the opportunity to check on Brandy. He sidled up next to her, pushing his side into her thigh and looking up at her. If only he could shift and hold her as he wanted to.

Soon.

“Hey, Alator.” She ran her hand along his spine and the sensation made the man inside rage to get out. “Sorry we took so long getting back. We found a little excitement in town.” She rubbed his jagged ear then let her fingers trail down between his eyes and to his nose. Gods, he craved her touch.

She took a step toward her house, but Reardon got in front of her, not ready for her to leave yet. Was she truly fine? Had she gotten hurt when he’d brought them all to the grassy ground? His knuckles had healed on the run back to the sanctuary, but was she still rattled by the day’s events? What could he do to comfort her?

He licked her hand. It was all he could think of doing right now. He’d make use of his human form to comfort her later… if she’d let him.

Oh, how he hoped she’d let him.

“Love you too, Alator.” Brandy let out a little laugh that was music to Reardon’s ears. “I’ve got some things to do now though so why don’t you go see what Dylan has for you.” She nudged him away toward Dylan. “Go on. We’ll catch up later.”

She took a few steps toward the house then Dylan appeared, the tire toy triumphantly held aloft in his hands.

“Check it out, buddy!” He waved it in front of Reardon’s nose. “You want to play with me? Do you? Huh?” Dylan danced around the driveway then took off toward the field behind the clinic. “C’mon, Alator!”

Torn between following Brandy and chasing after Dylan, Reardon hesitated until Meredith came around the car.

“If you don’t run after that boy, he’ll be crushed. I’ll make sure Brandy’s okay. I am her mama after all.” Meredith gently pushed Reardon toward the direction Dylan had taken. “I’ve seen you moving around here. That leg of yours is healed. Go on. Go play.”

With one final look at Brandy now climbing her front steps, he took off toward Dylan. Play now, cuddle later. Sounded like a good plan. Besides, he needed to do something to burn off the energy—the sexual energy—swirling around inside him. Having his human form close to Brandy’s had brought his physical needs to the surface. If he didn’t tire himself out, he’d end up coming on way too strong at dinner.

And he couldn’t mess up dinner. It was the chance he wanted—to be with the Wendons as a human. He’d made them like him in wolf form. He could do the same for his human form. He had to because he didn’t think he could be without them. Brandy and Dylan were his something worthy, and though he didn’t care much about returning to his Ireland anymore, he did care about being exactly what they needed. He had to show them he was worthy of them. He’d made so many mistakes leading the fierce and brutal life he led as a warrior-for-hire.

Brandy and Dylan were his redemption. Even Flidae knew it.

He spent the afternoon running around the field with Dylan and the new tire toy. He wasn’t a common dog. He knew that, but seeing the delight on the boy’s face each time he chased after the toy and brought it back made him want to do absolutely anything Dylan suggested. Knowing the boy had bought the toy with his own money as a gift only made it that much better.

Finally, Brandy called for Dylan to come inside and wash up for dinner. Reardon took that as his reminder as well. He checked in with the other wolves, and finding them all to be fine and enjoying sanctuary life as they always did, he slipped to the gates. It wasn’t quite dark enough yet to shift so he glanced around. Finding no one but other wolves nearby, he backed up a few steps, broke into a run, and leaped over the gates.

A few barks sounded from the wolves, but one look back from Reardon silenced them. There were some perks to being the nominated Alpha.

With them settled, he dashed to the rocky outcropping and his hidden supplies. He shifted, bathed in a nearby pond, and put on the clothes he’d bought, hoping he didn’t look too rough around the edges. Grabbing the bottle of wine and the tennis ball launcher, he walked back toward the gates, wondering if he should open them and approach the house or wait for someone to come out to him. He wasn’t one for etiquette. Wolves and warriors didn’t worry about such things.

As he contemplated his next course of action, the sound of tires on gravel behind him made him turn around. Parker’s truck rolled to a stop at the gates and before Reardon could hide, Parker was climbing out of the driver’s seat.

“Hey, man,” he said in the friendly tone Reardon had heard him use almost all the time. “You must be Reardon. I’m Parker. Brandy gave me the lowdown on what you did for her and Dylan. Thank God you were there. Brandy’s the sister I never wanted, but I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her or Dylan, so thanks.” He shook Reardon’s hand with a firm grip and his sincerity nearly knocked Reardon off his feet. “Where’s your car?”

“I… had someone drop me off. New in town. Don’t have a car with me at the moment.” He was a bastard for lying to Parker, but what choice did he have?

“Oh, well, hop in and we’ll drive you up to the house. We’re joining you all for dinner.”

Reardon regarded the truck and the woman sitting in the passenger seat. He assumed that was Chella. He’d heard Brandy and Parker talk about her and always picked up the subtle disapproving tone in Brandy’s voice when they did mention her. Looked as if he’d get to make his own decision about the woman tonight.

But with all this company would he get a moment alone with Brandy? Did he have the patience to wait? Was he crazy for wanting her to know exactly who he was, what he was?

Most definitely.