Jett was still by the water’s edge. She spun around as she sensed my approach. I took slow, measured steps, letting my paws sink into the sand. Then, I froze, waiting for her. She bit her bottom lip, hesitating. Then, she came to me. I nuzzled her leg. She reached for me. With shaking fingers, she ran her hand over my head, curving them around my ear. Her fingers sank into my soft fur and her breath caught. I’d never let anyone touch me this way. Not when I was in my wolf. I let out a sharp whine then stepped away.

Jett’s breath caught. She held her hand out where she’d touched me, frozen. I turned and loped up the hill to the deeper part of the woods. I wanted nothing more than to stay in my wolf and run until my legs gave out. But, the longer I took to shift, the easier it would be for the Pack to find me. If I could hear them in the distance, soon they’d be able to hear me.

I let out a breath and took a single step. For an instant, I didn’t think the shift would come. It had been so long since I had to think about how to do it, I thought I’d lost my way. But, then my claws retracted and my fingers stretched out before me.

There was movement in the trees behind me as Jett made her way up from the beach. I grabbed my jeans and pulled them back on, buttoning them just as Jett approached. I turned to her.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m okay. Better anyway.”

“You look better,” she said, breathless. She grew bold. She came up to me and lifted her fingers to my face. “Your hair,” she said. “It’s almost gold. It was darker before. And your eyes are clearer too. They’re blue!”

It was as if I’d been viewing the world through a darkened film for weeks. Now, that had been peeled away, revealing bright, vibrant colors. I saw Jett in a different light as well. I’d thought her skin pale. Instead, she had an almost olive complexion. I caught her hand, circling my fingers around her wrist. My pulse quickened and hers did too.

Letting my wolf out cleared my head, but it also made my baser instincts flare even hotter. Jett. This woman. She meant something. I stepped closer to her, keeping her wrist in my hand. She didn’t pull away. A pulse flickered near her throat. Her breasts pebbled beneath the thin cotton of her black t-shirt. What I wouldn’t give to slide my hand beneath the fabric and feel her skin warm beneath mine.

“Gunnar,” she said, her voice catching. “What happened out there? I heard you...howl.”

“It’s the Pack,” I said simply. “The Alpha himself. We’re not going to be safe out here forever.”

“Is there somewhere else we can go?” Jett looked at me with those wide, dark eyes, blinking wildly. It seemed like such an innocent question, but experience made me cautious. Though my heart didn’t want to let me believe it, I still didn’t know who she was or where she came from. Every instinct in me told me what she was to me, but I couldn’t let the words form in my mind. I knew what Liam, Payne, and Mac would say. I couldn’t trust her. Not yet. Her appearance at Camp Hell was too damn convenient. Just when Maestro had given up and was about to turn me over to the Pack she showed up.

“Gunnar?” she said, sensing a shift in my mood. Dammit, all of this could be part of the Alpha’s plan. Get me to tell her where the rest of my men were hiding. Bring down the Mammoth Forest wolves once and for all.

“I can’t,” I said, finally letting go of her. “I’m sorry. I can’t take you back with me. Not yet.”

She shook her head as if she were trying to clear it. She let out a little laugh and brought her arms up, crossing them in front of her. It was a defensive posture and I’d seen her do it a lot. “I suppose you think I’m going to just lead you right to my camp,” she said.

Her words struck me like a blow to the chest. Of course she had the same fears about trusting me as I did her.

“I’m not stopping you,” I said. “Go if you want.” It was a bluff. In this cold, she’d never make it through the night. And I would never let her leave without me. If the Pack found her…I couldn’t even complete the thought before a protective growl erupted from some deep place inside of me. Jett jumped, startled by the sound.

“So you can just follow my trail? I don’t think so. I’m staying right here until I know it’s safe. Or safer.”

I smiled. “Well, then we’re at an impasse. You don’t trust me to take me back to your hideout. I don’t trust you to take me back to mine. Of the two of us, I’m the only one who’s kept my promises. I told you what I knew about Birch Haven. You think that wasn’t a risk?”

Her mouth dropped open, then comically snapped shut. I had her speechless. I think that might have been a first. I took a step toward her. She took one back.

“So why don’t you tell me about Birch Haven? Tell me who you really are.”

She started to pace. “Jett. I told you my name is Jett. Jett Magrum.”

“And you escaped from Birch Haven,” I said. She whirled on me.

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. You knew too much about it to have been on the outside. People on the outside thought it was a nice private college. You probably got a scholarship there that was too good to be true. Then, you found out what it really was. So what I want to know is how. How did you escape? You had to have help. From who?”

Her arms went up again, crossing herself. “And if I tell you that, I put them at risk.”

“From who? What do I need to do to convince you I’m not part of the Pack? You saw me kill one of them. And about that.” I went to her. She had her nine holstered at her hip. She gasped as I reached for it. I didn’t disarm her, but I caught her wrists with one hand and ran my fingers over the stock of the gun with the other.

“Those aren’t regular bullets. What are they? Where did you get them?”

We were so close. I only meant to examine the gun. But now I stood with my chest pressed against Jett’s. The scent of her hair filled my nostrils. Her rapid pulse quickened mine. Her rock hard nipples against my skin did me in. My knees went weak and my vision clouded.

Mine. Mine!

I froze. Jett’s pupils widened and a tiny bead of sweat formed on her upper lip as she brought her chin up and up. It was her move I knew, not mine. When she made it, the earth seemed to shift out of orbit for a moment.

Jett tilted her face toward mine. I took one breath, then another. Then, I leaned in and kissed her. A tiny groan escaped her lips as she sank into it. Her little tongue darted out and I let go of her wrists. Jett slid her arms up, pressing her palms against my chest. I looped an arm around her waist and pulled her to me.

Heat. Light. Electricity. My blood sizzled and my nerve endings lit with fire. Though I couldn’t be sure yet if she was working for the Pack, one thing was clear. She was mine. There could be no doubt.