I curled my arms around my knees as I sat at the stern of the trawler and stared up at the golden moon. It was always a relief to be out of the dank, suffocating atmosphere of the underworld. And the navy blue rippling tide that gently rocked the Traveler was a far more inviting body of water than the River of Souls.

It had been twenty-four hours since my secret had been revealed. Of all people it had to be Maximus. Knowing that he would be walking down the planks of the dock in all his big, brawny glory made my already nervous stomach tie up in a pretzel shaped knot. I still couldn't believe that it had happened. After a long shift on the ferry, I'd had time to think about the incident. I was not convinced that the wraith flew toward my boat on a whim. Erratic as they were, I doubted very much that wraiths were even capable of whims. No. Someone or something had sent the creature to find me, and it seemed the goal of the mission was to unmask me. A goal it had easily achieved and right in front of Maximus . . . naturally.

I groaned in frustration. Anyone but Maximus.

A shiver vibrated my body, and I hugged my legs tighter for warmth. After a twenty hour shift in the hot steamy climate of the underworld, the gentle ocean breeze felt glacial. Although, I was sure nerves had something to do with it.

I glanced over at the clock my father had hung over the door of the pilot house. It was well past midnight. Maximus's pack would have left Wynter by now.

A cold jolt of fear struck me. What if he'd decided to tell the others? What if he brought everyone to the boat to prove his story? I needed to keep my identity hidden until I found my dad.

Loud footsteps creaked the brittle wood of the dock. Maximus's tall, imposing silhouette loomed in the shadows of the boats lining the marina. He had pulled his long queue of hair back in a twisted braid, and he'd pulled a shirt on over his powerful torso. I was thankful for that at least, but it didn't stop the rapid rush of my heartbeat as his face came into view.

His expressive brown eyes were busy looking for the names on the three trawlers lined up in front of the Traveler. It gave me a few seconds to gather my courage and stop the damn trembling in my hands. It also gave me a moment to watch and admire him, without him noticing, just like I'd done for the past two months from behind the black veil. Before I allowed my pulse to race out of control, I reminded myself that he was absolutely not for me.

I'd gone over my explanation a million times, each time changing what I was going to say. But I'd decided just to spill the whole damn story. As much as my stubborn confidence had convinced me not to involve anyone else, it was starting to become painfully clear that I was going to need help.

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows to reveal myself in the moonlight. Maximus had been trained to hear the slightest movement, and my light footsteps drew his attention to the Traveler. He stopped in the center of the dock and stared at me as if I had just grown flowers from the top of my head. I'd, of course, left the ferryman's cloak behind and changed into a sweater and jeans.

"It's me, Maximus. You've found the right boat."

"It's you," he repeated as he walked closer to the Traveler. He stared down at me. "But just who the hell are you? Because you sure as hell aren't Trex."

I motioned for him to step onto the deck. The boat shifted side to side with his weight. God, he was massive. I had to crane my neck to look up at his face.

"I'm Rikki. Trex was my great-grandfather."

Maximus didn't take his eyes off me as he leaned back against the railing and crossed his giant arms. Black ink stretched over the contracting muscles of his forearms. "And where is your great-grandfather?"

"Dead. He died about thirty years ago."

"That's impossible."

"No, actually, it's not." I found it easier to tell my story if I was farther away. I could almost feel the heat of his body when I got too close, and it gave me a head rush, thinking about that heat and thinking about his body.

I climbed up on the folded nets and sat down. It brought me closer to being the same height as him. He was exceptional in the murky atmosphere shrouding the river. In fresh air, with the moon and the marina lights casting a glow on him, he stole the breath right out of my lungs.

"I always assumed that Trex was an immortal."

"Nope, we are just plain old mortals. We bleed when cut. We cry when heartbroken. And we die."

"We?" There was something annoyingly appealing about his wry, crooked smile. "So, you are the ferryman? Woman?" He shook his head. "Wait. None of this is making sense. Why you? And why the black veil? You aren't exactly hard to look at."

"Backhanded as that compliment was, I'll take it. I'll start back with my great-grandfather, but everything I tell you has to stay between us. We've kept the family business a secret for well over a century, and I don't need some arrogant Wynter guard like you telling the world about us."

"I'm not arrogant."

"Yes, you are. Now, do I have your promise?"

Maximus uncrossed his arms and leaned his hands back on the railing, reminding me of just how big his shoulders and chest were. "I don't keep secrets from my pack."

"Fine then, we're done here." I hopped down off the pile of nets and headed past him to climb off the boat. His big fingers wrapped around my arm. I stared down at his hand and thought about how often I'd imagined him holding me. He slowly released his grasp on me.

"I won't tell them. Explain why the heck someone like you, someone whose beauty could put to shame the finest rose, is spending any time at all in a place like the underworld."

I cautioned myself to remember that he was a notorious player and that he no doubt had hundreds of well-crafted compliments in his arsenal to throw a woman off her guard. Although, he was so uncommonly handsome, he hardly needed an arsenal. Just his annoyingly confident smile was enough to do the trick. I wondered just how many hearts he'd broken in his lifetime. His masculine appeal was irrefutable, but could I trust the man with my family's secret? The truth was, a large part of the secret was already out. Trex was not one ancient immortal ferryman but a long line of mortals. And I needed Maximus.

I walked to the bow and Maximus followed. I stared out at the endless black ocean. A row of lit cottages lined the beach past the cliffs. "You live over there on Whitecrest Beach, don't you? I see you guys surfing sometimes when we're taking the trawler out for the morning catch."

Maximus stared over at me. "You've been out here all this time. Why have I never seen you before?"

I smiled up at him. "Maybe you haven't been looking. Besides, I rarely go into Cliffmoor or the Seven Sins."

He turned to lean against the railing of the bow, waiting for me to tell my story.

"My great-grandfather took the job of ferryman when he was a young man. He'd survived a horrible case of smallpox, but it had left him so disfigured he couldn't find work. No one wanted to hire him. His wife and son were starving, and he couldn't bear to see them suffer. He rarely left the house in daylight. He couldn't stand to see people look away in revulsion. One late night, he was out collecting fallen branches for kindling and he saw four men riding through the forest. They were huge, savage looking men armed with crudely hammered blades and axes. He hid behind a tree and watched to see what they were hunting with their fierce armory. Their horses thundered through the forest and then, suddenly, they disappeared. He raced to the place where he’d seen them vanish, but only a trace of bitter smelling smoke lingered in the air."

"Boys of Wynter," Maximus said quietly. "He spotted them going into the underworld."

"Yes. The next night he waited for the men again. But this time they reappeared. They had returned. He watched for several nights and then one night he decided to follow them. He was caught, of course, and taken straight to Feenix. As fate would have it, Feenix was in need of a ferryman. The ghouls had been running the ferry up to that point, and, as you can imagine, they were really bad at it. My great-grandfather Trex couldn't pass up the offer. As horrid as his new workplace would be, it paid well. As you know, when death brings the souls, they've been given two gold coins. Most of the gold goes to Feenix to pay his workers, Vapour and Cashel”—I looked pointedly at Maximus—"The Boys of Wynter. But one in every fifth coin goes directly to the ferryman. It was an alarmingly good income for a man who could not even get a farmer to hire him to scythe his fields. My grandfather took over when Trex grew too old. They decided then that it was best to keep the ferryman's true identity hidden. So my grandfather still called himself Trex, and he kept his face concealed. His real name was Walt and when he's in the mortal world, my dad is Walt Jr.."

"But why keep his identity hidden? I don't understand."

I waved my arm around to highlight the boat we were standing on. "We are mortals. Our family lives in the human world. When the ferry is docked, we go about our normal lives. My father has three men working for him who run this fishing trawler when he's on the ferry. Even those men know nothing about where my father disappears to for long stretches of time. Besides, it wouldn't be right to show our faces in the underworld. Neighbors and acquaintances often show up on the ferry. Although, it is tempting sometimes to rip the veil off and yell, 'surprise! I guess you should have done a little better job at being human'."

Maximus's laugh was a low, deep rumble that rolled smoothly over the deck. "That would be cool."

"My dad was really put to the test one day. Growing up, he had this wretched aunt. Her name was Aurel, and as he liked to say, she was as vile as a viper. She would babysit him during the week, and she beat him constantly. She also had an irrational fear of germs. She would make my father wash his hands in boiling water. They would blister and crack from the heat. She also made him wash his face with turpentine before and after meals. It got to a point where he couldn't even eat anything without smelling turpentine. His parents didn't believe him at first, but his blistered hands proved that he wasn't lying. So when vile Aunt Aurel showed up on the ferry, petrified in fear and heading to an eternity in a place that was the very essence of filth, Dad came dangerously close to lifting the veil so he could laugh in her terrified dead face. But he never revealed himself. And until yesterday, when that damn wraith screwed up everything, the family secret had remained just that . . . secret. That's why you must keep this to yourself. Please." I hadn't even thought about what I was doing until my fingers curled around Maximus's hard forearm. The transfer of heat between us was inexplicably intense. It seemed he felt it too. I pulled my hand away.

"Is your father dead? Is that why you stepped in to run the ferry?"

"No, that's where I could use your help. Two months ago, my dad left for his shift on the ferry, like always, but he never came home. For two days, my mother and I waited for him to return, but there was no sign of him. So, I pulled on one of his cloaks and covered my face and I walked through the portal that Feenix had set up for my great-grandfather and his successors to enter the underworld. There was no sign of my dad, but the souls had begun to pile up. The river was clogged with souls waiting to be taken to their eternity. I had no idea where my dad was, but I wanted to make sure he didn't lose his position or his income. Running the ferry has allowed me to keep my eyes and ears open for clues about my dad's disappearance. I mean it's not like I can tell the police or hire a detective. I'm on my own."

"Have you told Feenix? Maybe he knows where your dad is."

"I can't stand to go near him. He thinks my dad is still running the ferry, so I don't think he knows anything. No one knows it's me under that veil except you. Will you help me?"

Maximus looked out at the ocean and the coastline with its array of lights. "I'll help you. I can start prying some information out of the wraiths and the banshees. They might be pests, but they always know what's going on. They are like the world's nosiest neighbors." He turned to look at me. "One more question."

"What's that?"

He crossed his arms and gazed down at me. "I couldn't figure out why the hell Trex had started to bust my chops about everything lately and now I discover that it wasn't Trex at all. It was you. Why is that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. I treat all of you Boys the same." I knew damn well that was a lie.

"Uh no, no you don't." He lowered his chin to make his voice hoarse. "Don't sit down there, Max. You're tipping the ferry. Don't bring your wolf stink on my vessel. You walk too heavy, you're going to put a hole in my deck." He tilted his head and his voice returned to normal. "Should I go on?"

"First, that's a terrible imitation of the Trex voice. Maybe you're right." I had to quickly come up with a plausible reason, and it was standing right in front of me. "It's just because you're so damn big." I circled my arms. Not that a visual was needed, but the turn in topic had brought back a case of nerves. "It's just annoying. You take up too much space on the ferry. That's all."

He squinted a brown eye, letting me know he wasn't buying any of my hasty, slightly frantic sounding explanation. "I'll try to take up less space then."

"And I'll try to be more cordial." I flashed him a forced smile.

He turned to leave but then looked back at me. "Are you sure it's not because deep down—" He circled his arms mimicking my silly gesture. "You want some of this?"

Even in the cool ocean air, I could feel my cheeks warm. I only hoped it was too dark for him to notice the blush. I laughed a bit louder than I'd expected. "I see you have just the right amount of arrogance to go with that massive build. I assure you that is not the case." If lies meant a longer nose, then mine would have grown two inches with the last statement.

"Too bad. I guess I'll be on my way then. I'm back on my shift in a day. I'll see if I can find out what happened to your dad." The deck rose up a good inch when Maximus climbed out of the boat.

He stopped to look down at me. "Sure as hell would never have guessed that your face was behind the veil." His broad back nearly spanned the width of the dock as he walked back to his motorcycle.