She stared hard at the place from which she thought she heard the noise. The sound came again, barely a whisper of movement against grass.

Then a huge gray wolf stepped out of the woods into the clearing. Moonlight brushed his fur with silver, outlining his large, lithe body and pricked ears. He turned his face to her, his eyes as silver as the moonlight, then he looked away, scanning the woods as Maria had done.

The wolf turned his steps to the trailer, picking his way in silence across the ground, blending into the shadows. He halted when he reached Maria and sank to his haunches beside the narrow steps.

He was huge even sitting down, his body nearly twice the size of a wild wolf’s. Maria wasn’t afraid. The wolf was beautiful, though she knew he was deadly, but all that deadliness now protected her.

Maria stroked his back, shivering at the wild strength of him. His fur was wiry and soft at the same time, and held heat and comfort.

“Everything all right out there?” she whispered.

Ellison turned from scanning the woods and nuzzled her, rubbing his furry face against hers. Then he licked her.

“Ay,” she said, laughing softly. “No wolf spit.”

He made a rumble like laughter. Ellison scanned the woods again, nose working as he tested for scent. Then he rose to his feet and transformed himself with a crackle of bone and flesh to Ellison.

Naked Ellison, towering above Maria, his scent full of spice. The night was warm, sultry, back here in the woods near the lake, the air heavy and damp. It seemed right to be here, alone in this strange place, with only a Shifter to protect her, because that Shifter was Ellison.

Her friend. Her champion. And now, her lover.

Ellison sank down to sit next to Maria on the edge of the step, unworried about his nakedness. He braced his hand behind her, a well-muscled arm against her shoulder.

“We should go.” His paused. “Damn, you don’t know how much I did not want to say that.”

“I don’t want to leave either.”

They sat in silence a moment, a cool breeze brushing the clearing. Crickets and frogs took that as a cue to start singing for the night.

Ellison let out a sigh. “You got your test tomorrow, right? And I’m not easy about Bradley and his goons. I want you safe.”

“He’s abducting Shifter cubs, not small human women,” Maria said.

“Yeah, but he knows you take care of Shifter cubs,” Ellison countered. “His guys were waiting for Olaf today, knowing you’d go that way. That wasn’t coincidence. They were following you.”

Maria shivered. “I figured that. You’re right, we should go.”

Ellison’s eyes flashed in what was left of the firelight. They were Shifter eyes, the lightest gray, full of wildness. “Like I said, I don’t really want to.” His voice held a growl. “I want to stay here, kick out Granger, and hole up with you for as long as I can. I want to claim you, and mate with you, and keep you away from all others. That’s the Shifter in me—don’t matter about Collars and being civilized and all the rest of it.”

The declaration should frighten her. Miguel had captured females then sequestered them and used them when he saw fit, telling the other males in the pack to do the same.

But Maria understood, after living in Austin these past months, that Luis and Miguel had been anomalies. Most Shifter males cherished their mates. She’d seen the women in Shiftertown happy—deliriously so—smiling at their mates, slow-dancing with them at the bar, loving how enclosed they were in their families.

Luis should have taken Maria away and protected her instead of subjecting her to the danger of Miguel and the other the feral Shifters. Miguel too should have made sure his mates were well taken care of, not miserable prisoners.

Maria had seen how Ellison cared for his sister, keeping her from harm, and how stridently he prevented Maria from being harassed by Broderick and other Shifters who called her fair game. Ellison had protected Maria at every turn, and asked for nothing from her.

Maria put her hand in his broad one. She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. “I’ll go back with you.”

Ellison closed a hard hand over hers. He said nothing, only looked at her, his chest rising with a sharp breath.

Maria rose and kissed him, letting the kiss linger on his mouth. “With you,” she repeated. “It’s only ever been you.”

Ellison tightened his grip on her hand, fingers biting down, and exhaled. “Thank you.”

***

Maria expected to slip unnoticed into the dark and silent house across from Ellison’s after kissing him goodnight, but she walked into her bedroom to find Andrea sitting on her bed, waiting for her.

Andrea had Kenny in her arms, the boy with his tuft of unruly black hair sleeping soundly in the crook of Andrea’s arm.

“Worried sick, I think, is the term,” Andrea said, her gray eyes watchful in the light Maria turned on. Those eyes narrowed as Andrea inhaled. “Ah.”

Andrea’s Shifter nose would smell Ellison all over Maria. Maria slipped off her shoes. “You didn’t need to worry at all.”

Andrea gave her a nod. “You go well together. Ellison is one of the good guys.” She said it with confidence, no doubts that the mating would go through.

“Was everything all right here?” Maria asked. She came to Andrea and brushed her hand over the sleeping Kenny’s hair. “No threats to cubs?”

“No.” Andrea rocked her son, who slept the limp sleep of an infant secure in his mother’s arms. “The cubs are safe in Shiftertown. No one gets in that we don’t know about. No one will take them from here.”