Cole followed Leeza’s tracks easily and was relieved that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Eric was right. She was probably fine, yet he couldn’t settle until he made sure and for some reason those tracks were bugging him. Why would someone leave the road, go to the edge of the woods at the sanctuary property and then backtrack to the road again?

Leeza and Ari’s tracks seemed to end at some thick brush. Glancing around, he saw a small opening big enough for two wolves to fit through. Heading that way, he bent down and peered through, and what he saw almost knocked him on his ass.

Ari lay next to a pond appearing to be sleeping, but he realized that the wolf-dog’s eyes were open, watching his every move. Searching for Leeza, Cole spotted her in the water, floating on her back. The water lapped at her large breasts, her nipples hard and pointing toward the sky. His mouth went completely dry and his cock hardened painfully in his jeans. Relief and lust slammed into him.

Her long black hair surrounded her head like a halo in the water. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. He just knelt there staring; he couldn’t do anything else at that moment other than realize he was one lucky son of a bitch, because that naked woman floating so beautifully was his, all his.

He’d never seen her shift as she always did it away from watchful eyes. The first time he had ever seen her naked was after the attack when they found her and Sherry. With his rage so great at seeing the trauma on her delicate body, the beginnings of bruising and the blood he had been blind to anything else. No, he had not paid attention to her body at that time as he was now. So in truth this was his first glimpse at her body and what he saw he liked… a whole fucking lot. Clothed, she gave him a hard-on. Naked, she about gave him a heart attack. He actually placed his hand on his chest to feel his heart pounding against it, all but moving his shirt. “Jesus.”

Ari’s head popped up, his eyes still on Cole. Knowing his time staring at her perfection was about to end, he climbed through the narrow entrance. He stood and adjusted his jeans, but not so she wouldn’t notice how much he wanted her. No, he didn’t care about that. But he was so damn hard his jeans were cutting off circulation. He also gave himself a hard rub, just because, and about shot his load in his pants when he heard her moan as her legs moved restlessly. Holy hell, he’d give his left nut to know what she was thinking about, and it better be him because if it wasn’t, he’d find the bastard she was thinking about and kill him.

“Enjoying yourself?” Cole knew his voice was husky, but he didn’t care. He almost dove in when he realized he startled her so bad that she went under and took in water. She came up coughing and spluttering.

“What are you doing here?” she finally choked out as she frantically wiped water from her eyes.

“Looking for you.” Cole walked to the edge of the water. He thanked God for clear pond water because he could see her gorgeous body from his vantage point.

“Oh.” She frowned, using her arms to keep herself afloat. “Well, you found me.”

A grin lit his face. “Yes, I did.”

“Okay, you can go now.” Leeza looked around nervously. “Tell Eric and Gemma I’ll be there with Ari in just a minute. I lost track of time.”

“You’re beautiful,” Cole said, and meant it. Her hair floated in the water around her, the water droplets on her face shimmered in the dying sunlight, and her features were pure perfection.

“Thank you,” she whispered after an uncomfortable minute. Well, it seemed uncomfortable for her as she continued to look anywhere but at him. He wasn’t uncomfortable at all; in fact, he was enjoying every single minute of looking at her.

The sound of footsteps had Ari standing up and Cole turning, ready to protect. He heard Leeza curse but held his hand up to her, indicating her to stay put.

“Leeza!” Kile’s voice rang out, and Cole’s guard instantly went down as did Ari’s.

“I’ll be right there,” Leeza called back, then cursed again. “Dammit. What time is it?”

“Eric wanted me to come find you guys,” Kile shouted back. Then the thick brush was moving as if he was going to come through. “And I know you’re there Cole, I smell you.”

Cole rolled his eyes then turned to make sure he was in front of Leeza, who looked panicked. “Kile, stay where you are. I’m sending Ari out. If you can take him back, I’ll make sure Leeza gets back safely.”

A snort and laugh came through the brush. “I’m sure you will, bro,” Kile murmured, but Cole heard him just fine. “All right, send out Ari.”

Cole snapped his fingers, and the wolf-dog obeyed without hesitation. He walked up to Cole, who ushered him through the hole where Kile was waiting.

“You sure you don’t need my help?” Kile said loud enough for Cole to hear him.

“No, I don’t need your fucking help. At least not here, but when you get Ari back, I want you to check out the tracks at the edge of the woods. It leads from the road to the edge of the property, then back to the road again. After you check that out, let Eric know,” Cole informed him. After what had just happened with Foster, he didn’t want to take any chances. They knew very little about the bastard and if someone was out for revenge, they needed to be ready. This was unfortunately their way of life.

“So I get to do this shit and you get the girl?” Kile gave an exaggerated snort. “Seems like a lot of bullshit to me. Why don’t you do that and I’ll…?”

Get the hell out of here,” Cole growled, before turning toward Leeza, who was still in the middle of the pond. He made his way back to the edge.

“Why did you do that?” Leeza threw her hands up, sending a shower of water over her head. “Now Gemma and Eric are going to think I can’t handle Ari on my own.”

“I’ll tell them otherwise,” Cole replied as he toed off his work boots. He decided to wait to tell Leeza about the tracks because they could be nothing and he didn’t want to worry her when it may be nothing at all.

“Ah, what are you doing?” Leeza asked wide-eyed as he tugged his T-shirt over his head.

“It’s a pretty hot day, and that water looks very inviting.” Cole reached for his belt buckle and chuckled when she yelped, turning away.

“Cole, this isn’t funny,” Leeza said, then peeked over her shoulder.

“I’m not laughing, darlin’.”

* * *

“Oh. My. God,” Leeza hissed to herself, then screamed when she heard a loud splash behind her. She turned, but Cole was nowhere in sight. She started to swim backward, her eyes searching everywhere. Okay, in all fairness, she was just saying that if Cole was there at that very moment, she would open her…. Oh, man, she’d made this happen. “Where in the hell did he go?” she whispered to herself, still swimming backward and glancing everywhere.

“Looking for someone?” Cole’s voice said directly behind her.

Turning quickly, a small wave of water hit her in the face. Damn, he looked really good wet. His hair was slicked back, his strong features prominent and his wide, massive shoulders moved slowly in the water as he swam around her.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking today,” Cole said as he lazily swam toward her, then away.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Cole smiled at her. “If you really want to work for Lance Cutter, then I guess I’m okay with it.”

“Oh, I don’t remember asking your permission.” Leeza rolled her eyes, and then splashed him in the face with a spray of water.

Cole splashed her back with a half grin. “But I will warn you, if he even tries anything with you, he’s a dead man.”

Damn, her body responded to his dominant words. “Is that a threat?”

“To you, no.” Cole swam closer. “To him, yes.”

Leeza swam away, putting distance between them. She then glanced to see how close to the bank she was. Not close enough.

“I’ll catch you.” His grin grew, making him look sexy as hell.

“I have no interest in Lance, Cole.” Leeza kept casual, making her way toward the bank, but he was creeping up on her.

“That’s good for him.” He stalked her slowly. “Now what I want to know is if you have interest in me?”

Okay, that stopped her escape. She tilted her head and stared at him. “I don’t kiss every guy I meet behind trailers, Cole.”

Before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her foot under water and pulled her to him quickly. In the next breath, she was in his arms, their naked bodies plastered against each other. Leeza thought about fighting, but did she really want to? No, she didn’t. The feel of his body against hers was right.

“I better be the only guy you’re kissing behind trailers, or anywhere for that matter.” Cole’s breath was warm against her face.

“I don’t want to kiss anyone else,” she replied shyly. “Ever since the day you walked into my brother’s office, I’ve been yours.”

“Yes, you have.” Cole’s voice deepened, his dominant personality coming to the forefront.

“But—”

“But?” Cole frowned, leaning his head back to stare at her. “But what?”

“I want a partner. Not someone who is going to tell me every move I should make.” Leeza stared straight at him, not looking away from his intense gaze, even though she wanted to. But this was important to her, and she wanted him to understand.

“I wouldn’t do that unless it’s for your safety,” Cole responded, sounding believable.

“So you felt earlier that me working for Lance was unsafe?” Leeza cocked her eyebrow and knew she had him.

“Okay, that may have been a little bit of my alpha coming out. I see the way he looks at you, Leeza, and I don’t like it.” His growl rumbled against her breasts, bringing her nipples to tight, sensitive points.

“The only thing you have to worry about is how I look at him and believe me, there is nothing there. I can’t help it if a man looks at me in a certain way, so I shouldn’t be penalized for that.” She noticed he had quickly looked down at her breasts and knew he’d felt her nipples harden. Her core tingled, but she was going to stay strong until she was confident he understood her feelings.

His eyes came up to meet hers. “I can’t change who I am, but I promise to do my best to control myself when it comes to being overbearing.” He peered back down at her breasts before glancing up at her. “Fair enough?”

She nodded, believing him, but she sensed there would be battles ahead. At least he knew her feelings and was acknowledging he needed to work on it. “Fair enough,” she agreed.

“Good, because I’m having one hell of a hard time focusing on our conversation at the moment.” He leaned down and kissed her hard, then lifted his lips from hers.

He touched her face with one hand, his finger tracing the scar on the side of her cheek while holding her against him with the other. Their bodies floated, their feet lazily kicking to keep them up above the water.

“Don’t.” She reached up and moved his hand from her face.

“Honey, I’m going to touch every inch of you.” Cole pulled his hand away and touched her scar again. “This is a part of you. Stop giving it power.”

“It’s ugly, and every time you look at it, you seem angry,” she replied honestly. She actually couldn’t believe she’d forgotten about it until she felt his touch against the marred skin. But in a way, his words were right. Trying to hide it gave it power over her, yet she couldn’t seem to help it. She wasn’t overly vain, but the scar bothered her. Now she wondered if it was because she knew it bothered Cole.

“It does make me angry, but it’s what the scar represents, about what happened to you, and that I couldn’t protect you. That’s my demon, not yours. You are beautiful and should not be ashamed of this scar. It shows your courage, Leeza.” Cole’s words hit her hard, and her tears mingled with the pond water on her face. “I’m so fucking proud of you and what you did. I just haven’t been able to put it into words because as I said, my own demons….”

She grabbed him around the neck and hugged him tightly, his words meaning so much to her. She knew then and there that she wanted him more than she had ever wanted anything. She would deal with his dominant ways when she had to, but for now, at this moment, she wanted him.

The decision to wrap her legs around him was easy. She felt his hardness against her core.

“Are you sure you want this, Leeza?” His voice was rough as he growled the words at her. “Because once I have you, I’m never letting go.”

“I’ve never wanted anything more,” Leeza whispered against his lips.

The kiss was long and sweet. Cole had maneuvered so he had footing. “You are my mate, Leeza.”

Reaching between them, she took his hardness in her hand and slowly lowered herself on him. “I know,” she responded as she moved up and down, loving his groan of pleasure. “And you are mine.”