Ryenne and Lucien strolled hand in hand in the Bois de Boulogne. The sun was beginning to set and Ryenne’s body was itching for a run after she’d spent all day inside.

Gavin had been sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a hot bowl of coffee in the old-fashioned French way and talking with Françoise when Ryenne had come downstairs that morning. He’d given her a big smile and she’d run to embrace him.

“You’re okay!”

“I am. And you’re glowing. Being a wolf agrees with you, Ry.”

She slapped his shoulder playfully, settling in with a bowl of coffee from Françoise.

“That or the entire night with your French hottie.”

She snorted coffee, which sprayed across Françoise’s beautiful wooden table. Ryenne rushed to clean it up, full of apologies.

“It’s okay,” Françoise said. “I’m glad you and Lucien are happy.”

She was? Françoise had not been Ryenne’s biggest fan over the past week. What had changed?

Oh right. Ryenne had changed. “Because I’m a shifter now?”

Françoise’s mouth dropped open. “No, of course not. No matter my reservations, you have been good for my son. And I was wrong about you bringing the Fangs to our door. Apparently, I did it all on my own.”

While she appreciated Françoise taking responsibility, Ryenne now knew there was more to the Fangs’ interest, some kind of family interest. She wasn’t prepared to talk about it in front of Françoise until she knew more.

The rest of the day had been filled with plans to go home to New York while talking to all the Malraux to learn more about being a shifter.

So, the prospect of a run in the park with her French hottie was more than welcome.

Lucien swung their hands between them like children and Ryenne laughed.

“Excited?” he asked in a deep rumbling voice that made her tingle between her legs.

There were still too many people around, so they continued walking toward the thickly forested area where Lucien had run last week before they had found Renardin’s body. It felt like ages ago but was only a few days.

“What did Côtard have to say?” she asked. She and Gavin had been upstairs making their flight arrangements when the police inspector called and talked to Françoise and Lucien.

“The kidnapping would have been enough to put Jean and Patrick Grieux away as well as several of their henchmen,” Lucien said. “But then the Saint-Germain-en-Laye police found documentation of embezzlement, tax evasion, and coercion of government officials.”

Ryenne’s eyebrows rose. That was a lot of illegal activity.

“So, it’s the end of Lord Enterprises in France,” he said. “They’re done. Thanks to you pushing us to go after Grieux and convincing Chantal to tell us the truth, we cut off one of Lord’s arms.”

“It will probably grow back stronger somewhere else.”

He shrugged.

“Unless...” she said.

“Unless what?”

“Come to New York and help me hunt them down,” she said, stroking his muscular arm. “I told you what Grieux said about my parents. If my father is alive, he’s become a bad guy and he has put my mother in danger.”

“You don’t know any of that for sure.”

“No, I don’t. Because I lost control and killed my source.” The last three words came out through gritted teeth.

Lucien rubbed her back. “It will take a little time to learn to control your wolf. Don’t keep beating yourself up about it.”

She’d love to ease up on herself, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw herself tearing out Grieux’s throat and it sickened her. She was a killer. There was no putting this genie back in the bottle. She had killed multiple people last night.

“They were all bad guys,” Lucien said. “And they were all attacking you or someone you care about.”

She took a deep breath as they reached the darkening forest. Lucien was right. She hadn’t killed innocents. And she would do anything possible to learn enough control to never hurt an innocent.

Under the relative privacy of the branches of the chestnut and elm trees, Ryenne and Lucien stripped out of their clothes. A memory hit her of the first time she’d seen Lucien naked. It had also been in a forest, among the dark green foliage of Kenya, and he had just shifted back to human and revealed his truth to her.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“That if I don’t run off these feelings and desires, I’m going to explode.”

He laughed. “Spoken like a true shifter. Let’s go.”

His body shook and shimmered and changed. Ryenne took another breath. She hadn’t shifted since the battle last night. Could she do it when the lives of people she loved didn’t depend on her?

There was only one way to find out. As she had last night, she concentrated on what she wanted her body to do. Soon, her body shook with a great vibration and changed. When expected, the pain was less intense and she could imagine getting used to it.

Within minutes, she stood on the forest floor as a wolf, nose to nose with the gray wolf who was her lover and possibly the love of her life. She took off running, stretching her limbs, pushing herself to learn her limits. Lucien kept pace with her and they fell into a rhythm.

Trees whipped past, the grass tickled her belly, and the wind rushed across her fur. Ryenne had never felt so free.

Eventually, Lucien led them back to their clothes, and Ryenne collapsed in a heap. Lucien sat next to her and nudged her. He licked her nose. It was a comforting gesture. He kept licking so she licked him, too. Tension grew between them and they both seemed to need more.

Lucien shifted into human and rubbed Ryenne’s fur.

Ryenne shifted, too, and snuggled closer to Lucien. They kissed and their hands explored each other’s naked bodies.

“By the way,” Lucien whispered, “I will come to New York with you.”

She sat up. “You will? You’ll help me hunt down Lord?”

“I just need a couple of days here to make sure Malraux Frères gets back on its feet and then I’m all yours.”

Ryenne squealed and tackled him. They rolled around on the ground, kissing and licking and nipping each other, surrounded by the dark night and the sounds of nocturnal insects and animals.

If being a shifter meant making love to Lucien in a forest paradise, she was in. She couldn’t wait to explore New York at night with him.

And she’d put down anyone or anything threatening her mother.

THE END