I stand up and go to walk toward the door, but Gwen catches my arm. I turn back and see her take a breath.

“It’s Winne. Go puts some pants on. I don’t want her seeing you naked.” She sounds irritated by that thought, and I can’t help but love her possessive nature when it comes to me.

“I want no other. You have no reason to be jealous,” I remind her, wanting her to know I'd never want another.

She gives me a hard look that makes me smile before I run back to the bedroom and pull on a pair of loose shorts. I make it back to the living room as Gwen goes to the door.

Running over, I step in front of her and grab the doorknob. I look at Gwen over my shoulder. “You stay right here. I’ll handle this.”

She rolls her eyes at me but doesn’t move. “You could have least put a shirt on, too.” She eyes my hairy chest and licks her lips.

I need to get this Winnie person out of here as fast as possible. I want to be alone with my mate. I jerk open the door and see a short dark-haired girl in baggy clothes looking down at the ground.

“What do you want?”

“Xavier!” Gwen’s voice is chastising as she pushes me out of the way and opens the door wider. “Come inside, Winne.”

I grab Gwen’s hand and pull her behind me. I want to be able to deal with any threat. She peeks around me as Winnie comes into the living room. She’s still staring at the ground and doesn’t look up at me.

“Winnie, what’s wrong? Why are you out here?”

The little shifter finally looks up and meets my eyes, only to look away again. “He’s coming.”

“Who?” I ask, looking at the front door.

“Stone,” Gwen says from behind me, her voice laced with anger.

“I overheard him talking to Dominic, and he’s on his way. I followed your scent and came to warn you.” Winnie looks up into Gwen’s eyes, and I see tenderness there. “You’re a good friend to me, and I think you deserve happiness with your mate. Not to be broken apart. I can’t believe he’s doing this to you.”

“Thank you. Anyone who is kind to my mate is welcome in our home,” I tell her.

Gwen runs back to the bedroom, leaving Winnie standing in the living room, and I follow behind her. She grabs a pair of my running shorts and slips them on, rolling the waist a dozen times to get them to stay up.

“What are you doing?” I watch her movements, wondering why she’s putting on clothes.

“I just want to be ready for whatever happens.”

I walk over and take her face in my hands and try to rub the worry lines away from her forehead. “Nothing is going to happen. You aren’t going anywhere. This is your home now, and you are my mate. Nothing and no one will change that.”

She reaches up and puts her hand over mine, and we press our foreheads together.

The sound of the front door opening has us both looking up. Grabbing Gwen’s hand, I move towards the living room.

“He’s here,” Winnie says, looking out the open doorway to the clearing in front of the house.

“Stay here,” I order, leaving Gwen inside with Winnie as I walk out onto the porch.

Stone walks from the tree line just as I reach the edge of the porch. He walks through the clearing and stands a few feet away as walk down the steps to meet him.

He’s looking at the house and the surrounding area with a questioning look in his eyes. He doesn’t ask anything, and I can sense he’s one pissed-off alpha.

“What do you want, Stone?” I don’t have time for games. He needs to say what he wants and leave. I have a mate to bond with.

“I needed to check on my sister. I saw you broke out of the cell. Where is she?” His anger is palpable, but I don’t care. He doesn’t intimidate me.

“She’s fine. You can go now.”

“I need to see her, Xavier. I know how you’ve been these past few years. I need to make sure she’s okay.” He spits the words at me as if my sorrow over the loss of my family was something I could control.

“Get off my property. If you don’t, we’ll fight. And I will win.” I clench my fists at my side. I’m not intimidated by his words.

“You’ll have to kill me.”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“Enough!” Gwen’s shout has me turning around. I see her standing on the porch with her hands on her hips. “I’m here, Stone. I’m fine. You can go home and leave my mate and me to our bonding.”

“Gwen, are you okay?”

“What is wrong with you, Stone? You’re acting crazy. Shifters don’t hurt their mates. You locked mine up and tried to keep him from me. You know what that would have done to him. What it would have done to me. Why are you acting this way? You’ve gone crazy!”

I see Winnie step onto the porch behind Gwen, and I feel a shift in Stone. Anyone else wouldn’t feel it, but because I found my mate before she was of age, I know what it is. There’s a longing in Stone, along with the need to hold back. He’s terrified because his heart wants her, but his wolf doesn’t know if she’s the one.

Suddenly, all his talk from when I was in the cell makes sense. He’s angry with himself because he’s doing all the things I did with Gwen when she was young.

“Stone.” I say his name low, and his eyes shoot to mine. “Do you see what I have built for Gwen? Do you see that I pulled myself through the grief so I could be a worthy mate for her?” He looks around at the house and then back to me. I’m sure I look a sight better after the trim she gave my long hair and beard. “Do you see that what happened before happened for a reason?”

His eyes come back to me, and I can see a slight nod. He understands my meaning, and I feel some of the tension between us fade.

He looks at Gwen and raises his chin. “You’re the only family I have left. I’m sorry, but I just needed to make sure you were okay.”

Gwen steps off the porch and goes to walk past me, but I grab her wrist. She turns to look into my eyes, then reaches up to touch my face.

“You said you would do anything for me. I’m not going anywhere, Xavier.”

I take a breath and nod, releasing her wrist. She turns towards Stone and goes to him, giving him a hug. He wraps his arms around her, and I can see he is relieved she is okay, and also that she is in a safe place. I can only imagine how I would have been with my sister. If I tried to put myself in his position, I may have acted the same. I would have only wanted what was best for her.

She releases her hold and immediately comes back to my side, nearly wrapping her entire body around me. It comforts me that she needs my touch just as much as I need hers.

“Give us a few weeks. We’d like to have you over for dinner after the full moon.” I look down at Gwen and raise my eyebrow. I guess we’re hosting a dinner party. I will always give her whatever she wants.

Stone just nods and looks over my shoulder at Winnie. I see it again, and I feel what’s happening between them. I have no doubt they’ll be mated together. I don’t know why he’s too blinded by his own self-hatred to see it. I can’t really see much of Winnie under her long hair and baggy clothes, but she smells nice. I’m sure she’ll make him a good mate and bear lots of cubs.

I look over at Stone and his eyes come back to mine. “Do you see it yet?”

The movement nearly imperceptible, but I see he nods his head.

“What?” Gwen asks, and I just lean down, kissing the top of her head.

“Later, my love,” is all I say.

I turn us back towards the house, and Gwen reaches out, hugging Winnie as we go inside. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’ll have X bring me into town to get the rest of my things.

“I’ll escort you back to town,” Stone says to Winnie.

A small blush blossoms across her cheeks as she follows the alpha out of the clearing and to the line of trees where the forest begins.

I pick up Gwen and toss her over my shoulder, hurriedly taking her back into the house and to our bedroom. She giggles as I toss her onto the bed and climb on top of her, and she pulls at my clothes.

“I need to be inside you.”

She giggles again as the material rips, and I bare her breasts to my hungry eyes. “You got so worked up from the confrontation. Maybe I should have more people come challenge you. I kind of like this.”

Leaning down, I growl against her skin as I pull out my hard cock and thrust inside her. She moans at being filled, my cock nearly too big for her small channel.

“I will win every challenge. I would fight to the death for you.”

“Xavier,” she moans as I thrust harder and deeper. “Just make love to me.”

Pulling out of her heat, I lean back on my heels and turn her body over. Gwen whines and protests at the loss of my cock, but once she’s on all fours with her ass presented to me, I thrust back inside her again.

“I need you like this, Gwen. My wolf wants to mount you, but I’m still in control. I think after I cum inside you, we should go for a run in the woods as our wolves. I want to mate you in wolf form, too.”

She moans at my words and pushes her ass back against me harder. Lowering her chest to the bed, she spreads her legs wider, baring her body to me and letting me know I can have her however I want.

I reach down and take a handful of her hair while I grip her hip and thrust harder. I bend down and place my teeth on her shoulder, and she moans loudly.

“Mark me, Xavier.”

My teeth begin to ache, and I bite down, sending her over the edge into an orgasm that is fierce and fast. She grips me harder, her pulses pulling the semen from me. I have no choice but to bathe her womb in my seed, breeding her and binding her to me.

Once we’re both coming down from our rabid pleasure, I lick the wound, healing it for her. There will always be a faint scar anywhere I mark her, but we both like the idea of our ownership showing.

“I love you, Gwen,” I whisper against her skin. I’m still inside her, bent over her body, blanketing hers with mine. “I know we are mated, and it goes so far beyond the realm of love, but I love you. I needed to say that.”

She lowers her ass, letting me slip from her body, and turns over underneath me. She holds my face, smiling at me with tears in her eyes, and nods. “I understand. I love you, too, Xavier.”

“Now let me feed you.”

I pull Gwen from the bed, and we go to the kitchen and dive into the food she has prepared. It warms my heart that she made a meal for me. I should do everything for her, but I understand that we are partners in this. Having her care for me too makes me feel treasured.