An hour later, Jordan pulled into a row of parking spaces in front of a rundown apartment building that looked like it had seen better days. Fifty years ago.

“I know it’s not fancy,” he said.

“It’s fine.” I didn’t need fancy, I was just happy to be with him a little longer.

I grabbed my backpack from the back seat, and Jordan took my hand as he led me through the courtyard toward a set of stairs.

Even though it was nearly four in the morning, there was a lot of activity in the courtyard. Groups of people hung out together, talking and smoking. No one seemed to pay much attention to us, but I still hoped no one around here knew me or my parents. I’d really dodged a major bullet tonight, and the last thing I needed was someone here mentioning that they saw me coming home with the new guy in the middle of the night.

I kept my head ducked until we made it up the stairs to the quiet second-floor landing. Jordan unlocked the door to Apartment 2B and motioned for me to step inside.

The apartment was small and mostly bare. The walls looked as though they might have been white at some point, but had faded into a dull off-white color with a tinge of yellow to it. An old couch covered in blankets took up half of the living room, along with a simple wooden coffee table and a single floor lamp.

There was no TV. No dining table. The small kitchen to the left of the entry looked just as bare as the living room.

“Sorry, I know it’s not much,” he said, closing the door behind him.

I honestly couldn’t care less about the way the apartment looked. All I could think about was the fact that I had never spent the night with a guy before, and I was nervous as hell.

“If you want to rest, you’re welcome to lay down in my bedroom,” he said. “I can take the couch.”

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to be separated from him, but I also didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to be near him, but I had no idea if he was feeling the same way. He wanted to keep me safe, but was he only doing that out of loyalty to his brother?

“Do you mind if we stay together?” I said over the pounding of my heart. “I really don’t want to be alone tonight. Is that too weird? I totally understand if you want your own space. I can sleep on the couch.”

The words spilled out of me in a rush of nerves, but he didn’t laugh or avoid my eyes. Instead, he nodded.

“Of course I’ll stay with you,” he said. “Just let me change real quick. I’ll be right back and we can look over those maps before we fall asleep.”

I nodded, my stomach in nervous knots.

He stepped into his bedroom and partially closed the door. I didn’t mean to watch him, but he hadn’t fully closed the door, and before I could turn away, I caught a glimpse of his t-shirt coming over his head, revealing the bare skin on his back.

I hadn’t gotten a chance to see it clearly on the day he’d shown me his wolf, because he had been moving too fast and had been too far away. But now, I caught a glimpse of the tattoo on the side of his torso.

A tattoo I knew I had seen before.

Unable to help myself, I stepped into the room.

Jordan turned in surprise, but as soon as he saw where my eyes were fixed on his side, he moved his arm and let me take a closer look.

My hand trembled as I reached up to touch his skin. I traced the outer circle of the tattoo with my fingertips, wanting more than anything to lean into the warmth of him.

The tattoo was the same as the medallion I now wore around my neck, but in the center was the image of a wolf rather than a bear.

Jordan shivered as I touched his skin, but he didn’t move away.

Instead, he turned toward me slowly, letting my hand skate across the smoothness of his side and across his stomach. His hand encircled my wrist, and he moved my palm up toward his heart.

I looked into his dark eyes and felt the rapid thrum of his heartbeat, and I knew that he was seeing the real me. The person no one else knew.

His lips parted and his head tilted toward mine. He traced the softness of my lips with his thumb, and then his hand moved to the back of my head, inviting me closer.

I closed my eyes and met him there in the space between, his lips finding mine for the first time.

My knees weakened as his other hand slid around my waist and pulled me fully against the solid warmth of his body. I craved him and I surrendered to him at the same time.

My heart opened, and I knew in that moment what the medicine woman had meant when she said I should reach for the light. I had always heard of people wanting to lose themselves in a kiss, but I had found myself in his.

His kiss banished the darkness from my soul for those brief moments, and all I knew was the healing light of true connection.

Of something greater than myself.

Death may have been standing at my back, but in that moment, I had never felt more alive.