––––––––

Twisting her shoulders to look Cole in the face, Tess waited to see just how much he trusted her. Light from the kitchen cast a gentle glow on his carved features. If she could stay in this cozy cabin, wrapped in his arms forever, she’d do it. But life would get in the way again.

She’d seen two sides of him tonight. The fierce warrior who dove into a van of killers and the man now holding her tenderly.

But she needed to know who he really was now after having been a shifter for seven years.

She understood that he worked with a highly skilled group of shifters.

After seeing the results of his ability tonight, she believed Cole’s claim that he was one of the apex predators.

Thankfully, he was on the good side of the law.

She’d struggled for days trying to decide how to move forward, but after having that conversation with her dad, she realized the truth. Her dad trusted no one, not even her, and she couldn’t live that way. The world was changing and she intended to change with it.

She trusted Cole. At his core, he was still the same man as the one she’d trusted without question when they were in college.

He’d come to her after escaping the transport truck and bared his soul when he could have remained hidden.

He’d faced being put in a hole that had sent other shifters into madness and had still forgiven her.

He’d jumped into a pack of vicious jackals tonight in his human form and faced death to save her.

Her Cole had not changed, only his physical makeup.

In fact, the more she thought on it, the more she was becoming comfortable with what he was, because above all, he was an honorable man.

But she’d asked for the truth of who he was and what was going on. What was his hesitation? “Cole?”

“I’m not avoiding answering, Tess, just trying to figure out how to do right by you, my duty and my team.”

“What’s worrying you?” Now that she was away from SCIS and alone with Cole, Tess sensed an underlying sadness she didn’t understand. She’d missed it the other night in her apartment because she’d been reeling from the shock, and okay, then from a monster orgasm. But she felt it now, though she couldn’t explain how.

The ever-present energy hummed in her and seemed content for the moment, but she had this weird sense that the energy inside her was the reason she was able to pick up on something that was off with Cole.

“I’ve had to make gut decisions since learning I was a shifter, which is what I’m going to do now. I’m going to tell you as much as I can, but please know that I’m going to trust you with information that can’t be shared at SCIS under any circumstances. Can I have your word that you’ll not share it?” 

Tess chewed on that a bit then said, “I accept that condition.” 

“Thank you, because I do want to tell you more. You need it to stay safe. I’ve already told you that your agency has a leak, a bad one. It’s more than that, though, and we’re pretty sure the Power Barons have a hand in all this. One or more might be behind the Black River pack.” 

Scarlett’s words came to mind, but Tess wasn’t entirely sold that a mage intern was wandering around SCIS. It took time just to be cleared for a position with the agency.

She argued, “The Power Barons can’t interfere in our agency. That would be like the Department of Education interfering with Homeland Security. We’re not at all related. The Power Barons have an agreement based on doing their part.” 

Cole huffed a sound that was a cross between a wry chuckle and a scoff. “That sounds good on paper and allowing no interference between agencies works in an ideal world, but it’s the perfect backdrop for a mole. That mole might get my friend killed before I find him.”

“The sick shifter you mentioned?”

“Yes. He’s a close friend, someone who taught me that I had full responsibility for whatever my animal did. He would have submitted to our leader to be put down before harming an innocent human or another shifter.”

“Put down? That’s ... that’s ... ”

“The way our world works,” Cole finished for her. “We live with a dangerous animal inside of us, especially my group. If a shifter is out of control, he or she might kill a lot of humans before someone stops them. If one of my group is out of control, few things can stop us.”

“What could stop you?” Tess asked in all earnestness. She wanted to know how bulletproof Cole was, not that she thought he’d lose control.

He shifted, moving against her until he seemed comfortable. She loved having his body next to hers and so did her energy. Her body wouldn’t say no to Cole’s, but right now they were quietly in tune with each other.

“The only thing that will stop one of ours would be an equivalent shifter, our leader, or maybe a .50-caliber machine gun fired continuously into us until it ripped a body completely apart.”

“Gruesome,” she murmured. “So how did your friend get captured?”

“That’s a tricky one. We think he might have gone willingly, but the only way that would have happened was if magic were involved. If they used it to manipulate him.”  

“We’re back to the Power Barons again?” Tess prompted.

“Yes. I explained that our animal has to be called up, which requires magic.”

Tess had struggled to accept that magic really existed, but when the Power Barons became known and cut a deal with governments in different countries, most realistic people had to accept it. Religious groups didn’t and considered the Power Barons the devil’s spawn.

Based on what little she knew, and what she thought Cole was insinuating, they might have it right.

She waited Cole out. He might never talk about this again and she wanted everything she could squeeze out of him.

He said, “My shifter group has a powerful enemy who goes back many centuries to the beginning of both of our kinds. We suspect that enemy is now aligned with the Power Barons, but we have no proof yet.”

She put a hand on his arm and he stilled. The sizzling energy between them ignited.

“Tess?”

“Mmm?”

“The line between talking and not is a fine one. I love your touch. I crave it, but I can’t give you answers while your hands are on my bare skin.”

Talk about a heady feeling.

He claimed to be an apex predator, among the most dangerous, and she had that kind of power with her touch.

Squeezing his rock-hard bicep a little, she moved her hand back and smiled like the vixen living inside her. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not.” He gave a real chuckle this time and kissed her head. “What did you want?”

If she answered that honestly, all talking would end. She said, “You mentioned the beginning of your kind. Can you tell me about that?”

His chest lifted and lowered over several slow breaths. “I’m sworn to protect my kind. The only people we can tell are our mates, which is why I’m going to tell you.”

“I’m a mate?”

“No, but you’re the closest I’ll ever come to having one. I wanted so much for the two of us, but ... no point in rehashing that. But I believe my leader would approve of my decision to tell you more. I trust you. He trusts me.”

She couldn’t push that word out of her mind. Mate.

But he’d just agreed to tell her what she was dying to know. “I trust you, too. I’m ready and I will always hold your confidence.”

“Back in the fifth century, during the time of Breton, nine virgin druidesses known as the Gallizenae lived on the Isle de Sein. It was offshore from Finistère in western Brittany. Some claimed they called sailors into the dangerous rocks of the pass between them and the mainland. Others believe they watched over those on ships. These women were capable of changing their forms to anything from an animal to a bird.”

Tess listened calmly, but what a tale.

Cole continued in that soothing, deep voice of his. “One of the nine virgin druidesses, known as Vercane, was sad that she would never have a child, so she decided to have many. Vercane snuck away from the Isle of Sein clothed as one of the female workers from the village on the island who went home every few days to see their husbands, since no men were allowed on this island. When Vercane reached the mainland, she shifted into a bird, took flight and found a small pool of water fed by a waterfall. She shifted back to her human form and entered the water naked, calling all the drops of water to touch her body and be infused with her power. She bestowed the first male and female eagles who drank from the pond with the ability to take human form. They were the first Guardians. She charged those two with the duty of protecting her unique children. She wanted only pregnant women who were pure of heart to receive her gifts.”

“So Vercane wanted perfect mothers?”

“No, only those who came to the pond with a heart open to receive her gift. She didn’t want anyone to misuse it. Next, she blessed the pool so that the first five women to drink who were pregnant with boys would become mothers of future male shifters—the Gallize—who would take different animal forms. She then blessed the first five women to imbibe who were pregnant with girls to birth future mates of the Gallize shifters. Those females would receive powers from Vercane.”

Tess felt her heart jump in her chest. Call her insane, but what if the energy she’d fought all her life had a purpose?  “What kind of powers?”

“Not a lot of specifics on that were passed down since our guardian deals specifically with the males. Females had a different guardian who evidently dropped the ball two hundred years ago when she disappeared, so there’s no one to follow those families and watch for the females, or to continue the history.”

“Do you think someone killed their guardian?”

“There’s been a lot of speculation over the years, but no one has figured it out.”

“Well, that sucks. The females have no protector.”

“Not unless they meet a Gallize shifter who becomes their mate.” 

She smiled at his fierce tone but didn’t want him to stop. “What else can you tell me about the women?”

“In the past, some of those females had the gift of foresight. Some had unusual strength. Some had telekinetic powers. Some had telepathic ability. I have no idea just what gifts they’d have, but each woman supposedly has a unique makeup.”

Her analytical mind was in overdrive. “You said your animal had to be called up. Do the women require something similar? Do they have animals?”

“The female Gallize are different from the male shifters. Women always mature earlier.”

“True,” she teased.

He teased her back with a groan. “Like I said, this is information that has been passed down for many years so I’m not entirely sure about all of it. As I understand it, the female Gallize come into their powers slowly. When they’re ready to take ownership, they open their heart to the powers. They aren’t thought to be shifters, but since their guardian was lost with no one to guide future generations, it’s certainly possible a Gallize female might be born of a shifter and human union. Without their guardian around to intervene like mine did when the time came, my guardian thinks the Gallize females must be able to gain their full powers another way.”

“Like how?”

“If a Gallize shifter found one such woman and mated with her, accepting the mating bond would open the gates to the energy inside both of them.”

Energy? Like hers?

Project much, Tess?

She was grabbing at the first answer she could find to explain her weird energy. But she was on a fact-hunting mission, too. “Is that the only trait of a Gallize female? I mean, how would your group of shifters recognize a woman like that as a mate? Or do you just automatically find each other.”

“No, that would be too easy. For us to take a mate, it’s no different than a human finding that perfect person. You find that person who you know you can spend forever with.” Cole sounded wistful. He cleared his throat and said, “There are specific traits that identify a Gallize female. From what I understand, they normally possess at least two of those traits in addition to their unusual power or gift.”

“What are some of the traits?” Okay, that sounded anxious. Call her foolish, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t hoping to have two of them.

“The women have mismatched eye colors.”

Nope, not her.

Cole went on. “They have all been born in what is known as a true blue moon month from way back, which is a year, or basically four seasons, with a thirteenth full moon. Scholars began noting it in the sixteenth century, but those who were Gallize paid attention to it much earlier.”

“How many of those type years are there in recent history?”

“Are you trying to figure out if you were born during one?”

Busted. “Yes. I know it sounds silly, but you remember the way I screwed up watches?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve stopped other electronics. Is there any chance I might have enough energy to be one?” There. She got it off her chest and wanted to know one way or another.

Cole’s breathing slowed and his voice quieted. “You were born during a blue moon month, but you would be special even if you weren’t.”

That was the man she’d wanted forever. “Thank you. Now what’s the third trait?” She held her breath.

“This one is key, because I’ve never heard of a mate who didn’t have this marker. A Gallize woman is the second-born child in a family.”

Her hopes crashed, falling as low as Cole sounded.

So much for energy making her special.

She squeezed her eyes to stop a tear from escaping. Had she really been thinking she was a Gallize female? Her parents had been married for four years when they had her, their only child.

To lighten the air, she joked, “Guess that leaves me out.”

Cole didn’t reply.

She arched around to look at him and caught the tail end of devastation in his gaze. Clearly, she hadn’t been the only one wishing for a match.

What about other traits? Would it matter based on what he’d just told her? No.

He said, “Ready for another toddy?”

She recalled how he’d do a redirect to avoid being asked something he didn’t want to answer.

Shaking her head and turning around to lean back against his solid chest, she said, “Nope. You promised to talk. That’s what we’re doing. Where did your enemies come from?”

“A woman who was turned away from the pond.”

“Why?”

“There have always been guardians over our kind. They live for a long time.”

“What’s a long time?”

“Our current guardian is over three-hundred-years old.”

That didn’t even compute in her mind.

She started to ask how that was possible when Cole told her, “I know some things sound fantastical, but you now live in a world with shifters. Just remember that.”

“Okay, back to your enemy.” She still had to process three hundred years.

He continued, “The woman the first guardian turned away was a dark witch known as Cadellus whose heart was blacker than a tar pit, or so the story goes. She argued her male child’s right to the pond, but the eagle guardian still refused her from where he perched on a limb overhanging the water. In the end, she had to leave without drinking any of the water.”

“So what has she got to do with your enemies?”

“She became the mother of the Cadells.”

“Never heard of them.”

He explained, “You won’t unless they tell you or an informed Gallize does. Cadellus lost her son in childbirth and blamed the Gallize. She swore she’d rid the world of male Gallize offspring, leaving the females to mate with males she created. She made a deal with a demon who then killed the mother of a Gallize male and ate her heart while it pulsed. He received some of the Gallize power, but he could not shift into an animal as he and Cadellus had hoped.”

“Ugh, what woman would do that to a mother?”

“You’d be surprised at what the Cadells are capable of. The demon took the bodies of three different males who practiced magic, impregnating Cadellus each time. She birthed three different bloodlines of children who lived to a great age, breeding their own sons and daughters. Those that bred with humans were not as powerful as the original three, but those men who found a Gallize female to breed with, voluntarily or not, received powerful children who are known today as Cadells. The men still force themselves on women or steal a Gallize mate to keep or kill, which is devastating to a male shifter or female who is bonded.”

“What happened to Cadellus?”

“Basically, she rocked along, happily sending her prodigies after Gallize shifters, until one of her descendants killed a child born of the Greek god Atlas and his human mistress. Cadellus was given an option of killing all of her descendants to end her lineage or live eternity in a cave which she can leave only during a total lunar eclipse.”

“Is anything easy in your world?” Tess mumbled, amazed at how much she didn’t know about all shifter history. That Cadellus woman deserved what she got, though. “So your people and these Cadells are waging a secret war none of us know about?”

“Pretty much. It’s been secret until now.” 

“Are the Cadells involved with the Black River pack?”

“We think there’s a possibility. Hard to tell until we know more.”

“I’m hearing hesitation in your voice, Cole. What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighed. “I saw someone at SCIS I believe is a Cadell, but I don’t want to identify him and risk you confronting him without me present.”

“Don’t you think I need to know?”

“Not until I can get it confirmed. At that point, you won’t have to deal with him. We will.”

“That’s not a good plan,” she argued. “I could do the wrong thing just because I didn’t know.”

Cole said, “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”

“No. I can’t. It’s too important. I had questions earlier and no way to reach you.”

“You’ll be able to reach me twenty-four-seven after tonight.”

Tess shook her head. “Tell me. Who do you think the Cadell is at SCIS?”

“First I want your promise to continue acting normal around him.” Then he muttered, “If I ever let you out of here.”

She was not staying in a cabin forever, so he was definitely letting her out. “I promise.”

“I think Brantley is a Cadell.”

Okay, she hadn’t expected that. She was thinking a lower level staff. “Brantley? But he’s so ... ”

“Human?”

“Yes.”

“He hides his trail with magic, but I saw something unnatural in his eyes. It was killing me to leave you around him when I was trucked away.”

She had a lot to digest later, but hearing about that truck, she said, “It was killing me to watch the truck drive off.”

Cole snuggled her closer to him and just held her for a bit until she returned to the Black River pack. “I hate to say this, but do you think they’ve killed your friend Sammy?”

“I doubt it.”

“Why?”

Cole had started rubbing his fingers slowly up and down her arm, which was covered by his soft T-shirt sleeve. She didn’t think he even realized it as he continued answering questions she knew he’d never told another who was not a Gallize.

He said, “We believe they used magic to convince him to join the pack.”

“What enticement do they have for a shifter like one of you?”

“Sammy may not live much longer.” 

“Why?”

“He’s suffering from what we call the mating curse, for lack of a better reason.”

Tess crossed her arms, thinking. “He can’t divorce his mate?”

Cole laughed softly. “That’s not what I mean, but that’s a no on divorce. Our shifters mate once, and only once, for a lifetime. Upon losing her child, Cadellus cast the curse on Gallize shifters. Many believed it was only a myth until it actually happened to one of ours.”

“Why question that when it’s not stranger than the rest of the story?”

“Because many generations back, couples chose mates much earlier in life. The myth indicated that Gallize males had to bond with a mate by ten years after meeting their animal, or face the curse of their animal turning against them. Basically, the animal took over and left the shifter’s humanity in the dust.”

She couldn’t move. The fear of Cole being cursed spread through her body. The current of energy she lived with hummed a little stronger, but then it slowed, feeling content.

“Tess, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been a shifter for seven years, but ...” She couldn’t finish that thought. Cole said he’d never have another mate besides her, but she wasn’t a Gallize.

“Our people are doing extensive research to determine if there really is a curse or if it’s a genetic issue.”

“Huh. Okay.” But it wasn’t okay. “What about Sammy? Why would he go to the Black River pack for help with the curse?”

“Sammy is in love with a human he won’t bond with, so he may have been manipulated with magic to believe the Black River pack has a cure, which is bogus. They don’t.”

“Why doesn’t he want to bond with her if he loves her?” Now Tess was getting riled up on the woman’s behalf.

“She’s not a Gallize female. Sammy would know if she was. Being a human, when she opened herself to accept the bond, the power would most likely kill her on contact. Sammy loves her too much to risk that.”

Damn it all. Now Tess was heartbroken for Sammy and worried even more about Cole. “Why didn’t Sammy pick a Gallize woman?”

“For the same reason humans can’t just pick a spouse based on a shopping list of perfect traits. All the magic in the world doesn’t equal the feeling of falling in love. The heart wants what the heart wants.”

Her energy spun up with a noticeable buzz.

Was Cole talking about her and him?

She was not the mate for Cole, but how she wished her freaky body fit the Gallize criteria. She’d been trying to convince herself that she couldn’t be with Cole when the truth was that she couldn’t face being without him.

Almost afraid to talk in the stillness, she asked, “What will happen to Sammy if you find him and he’s still having issues?”

“That’s why we have a Guardian who is more powerful than any of our shifters. If a Gallize loses control of his animal, the Guardian will do his duty to end the shifter’s life.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Trust me when I say by that point, it’s an act of mercy for the shifter. None of us want to leave a raging animal lose to kill innocent people.”

She had a hard time agreeing, because she kept picturing that happening to Cole.

Could he mate with another woman?

Why did that send her stomach into turmoil? She couldn’t be with him. Tess did not want him with anyone else. She also didn’t want Cole to face that curse.

Maybe it didn’t exist.

She had a bad feeling it did. She asked, “So you’re hunting Sammy to deliver him to your guardian?”

“Not exactly. Sammy has one more option, but the woman he loves would have to ask him for it and he’d have to believe she wanted it.”

“What’s that?”

“To change her into a shifter, because that would give her the best chance at surviving the bonding.”

Tess tensed.

“Relax. I would never ask that of any woman, Tess, and neither would Sammy. Now you see the dilemma he’s in. He kept it secret that he was seeing someone special, because she was human. He knew he screwed up by not telling her he was a shifter first. He fell in love, asked her to marry him, which she accepted, then told her he was a shifter. She panicked and ran.”

“Where is she?”

“I hope to know soon. We have a lead on her and if it pans out I’ll be able to talk to her in person.”

Tess worried her lip between her teeth. “Are your people going to force this woman to come in to be with Sammy?”

“Hell, no. None of our shifters would do such a thing. Even as bad a shape as Sammy was in, he wouldn’t go after her. He was afraid he’d frighten her more. I just want to talk to her to find out if I can answer questions and maybe get her to talk to Sammy on the phone if we can find him. I want to see if she feels a bond toward Sammy. If she does, then maybe she is as worried about him as he has to be about her. If she wants nothing to do with any of us, we’ll protect her for Sammy until he can ... or if he isn’t able to in the future.” 

That sounded ominous. Tess asked, “Why would she need protecting?”

“If the Black River pack has plans to use Sammy, they would want his fiancée to use as leverage to make him do horrible things. If his bear wasn’t out of control yet, that would do it. He’d snap and everyone would face death by teeth and claws.”

“I don’t see a good ending on any of this, Cole.”

“There isn’t one other than if his fiancée is willing to allow Sammy to spend his last days with her. To have Sammy back and give him that, would be ... would make losing him easier.”

The awful sound she heard in her head was the crack of her heart breaking for Sammy and his woman.

“That’s all I can share—”

“Oh, come on, Cole. It’s me. I’m not going to screw you over and blab what you tell me, so no holding back.”

His deep voice rumbled with a chuckle. “If you were a shifter, you’d be a tiger. A tigress.”

That was the second time someone had said that to Tess. Her heart thudded at what he was saying. Did he wish she was a shifter? She couldn’t do that.

Cole’s face fell. “I was teasing. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Lie.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “So you can tell a lie from the truth?”

“Pretty much, but it has to do with physiological change.”

“What about the jackal shifters? Can they tell?”

“They should be able to tell if you’re lying, too, but you can’t trust anything they tell you. I’m not being prejudiced against a different shifter group. I’m just telling you how it works in our world. So what were you upset about?”

Her mind had gone back to SCIS and wondering how much the jackal shifters had figured out with the unaware humans.

Cole nudged her shoulder.

“I’m just thinking,” she groused. “I wasn’t upset, but when you said if I was a shifter I’d be a tiger, it made me wonder if you’re disappointed I’m not ... like you.”

Moving slowly, Cole turned her to face him. His eyes were solemn and his voice held a longing that hurt to hear. “I would never wish this on you or anyone. It’s my destiny, but not something for you. I wish ... I wish we didn’t have this between us, but you’re perfect the way you are and I’ll hurt anyone who tries to change you.”

She knew by the way he said change that he meant if someone tried to turn her into a shifter.

Her emotions went on a roller coaster ride. She was happy to know he didn’t wish for her to be a shifter, but did that mean he didn’t want to be with her as a human? What about him finding a mate?

The selfish bitch inside Tess, who loved Cole, raised her ugly head and said, “Mine.”

Then there was a third hurdle.

If Tess met him halfway and tried to make this work to have time and figure a way they could stay together, what would she tell her dad?

It would be a catastrophic nightmare.

“Where’d you go, Tess?”

Into Fantasy Land, the only place where they ended up together.

Lying to Cole was out of the question now. Not when they were in the same room anyway.

This was a man who’d gone up against three mercenary jackal shifters who had kidnapped her. She didn’t want to think about how much more risk he’d be in if she said what she was thinking.

“You all sound like a bunch of badass men.” She glanced back at him.

He winked. “We are, but we’re marshmallows around our women.”

Returning to face forward, she smiled, glowing under his attention. “Confidence is clearly not an issue.”

“Not when we know we’re the most powerful beast in a fight, but the enemies we have aren’t the garden variety. They even the odds with magic and now synthetic drugs.”

“You said you were overseas. Are you back here for good?”

“Pretty much. We had to come back to the US because the Black River Wolf Pack criminal operations had turned into a cancer that was spreading too quickly.”

“Why is that?” she asked. “SCIS was formed last year to get a handle on the problem, but it seems the more we do the worse it gets.”

“You can’t win a war if some of your people are helping the other side.” He held up a finger in front of her face to stave off her objections. “The jackals were brought over from Asia and Africa. From what my people have determined, the decent ones who want to live in harmony and help their neighbors stayed in their home country. The Black River wolf pack located the ones who wanted to leave home and trained them to fight. A jackal we captured in a bloody wolf shifter territorial battle admitted the final step in being accepted by the Black River pack was to kill any shifter not a wolf in front of the pack.”

“Just murder someone? Sounds like some of our really bad human gangs.”   

“It is, but worse.”

She dropped her head back. “I have years of studying behind me and feel like there’s so much more for me to learn.”

“You can’t know all the dark side and politics of shifters without a tour guide.”

Sitting up, she asked, “Are you offering to be my guide?”

“Not on your life. I don’t want to ever come between you and your father. Nor do I want you anywhere around my world.”

Just like that, her heart fell to her feet.

He’d never consider having her around his shifter life even if she could figure out her end. She shouldn’t feel hurt, but if she was willing to take a step forward, why couldn’t he?

Maybe because he doesn’t know I’m willing to take that step. Would telling him make a difference?

The day was catching up with her and she needed a clear brain to figure out anything else.

She pulled out of his arms and stood, stifling a yawn as she turned to face him. “I need a bed.”

Heat deepened the blue of his eyes.

A sizzle of vibration whipped through her, pooling down south. She didn’t dare look at herself and draw attention to the tips of her hard nipples pressing against his shirt.

She stood there, unsure what to do next, but she wanted the same thing he wanted if she was reading his gaze right.

Glancing away, he said, “The bedroom attached to the bathroom should be warm now.”

She looked around. “Where are you going to sleep, and don’t say out here because I would be stiff sleeping on this thing.”  She dipped her head to look down around the bottom. “Unless it’s a fold out.”

“No fold out. I don’t sleep a lot. I’ll find somewhere if I get tired.”

Turning back to him, she debated on putting words to her thoughts.

What the hell?

Would this moment ever happen again?

Probably not.

She gave him her best smoldering look and hoped he didn’t think she was having a brain seizure. “Are you saying you won’t sleep with me?”

His surprise was so sudden and honest she laughed and asked, “Is that such an awful idea?”

“Hell no, I just didn’t think you’d want, you know, me in there.”

“Oh, but I do.”

His eyes were full of calculations in progress. After a few seconds he said, “Go ahead. I’ll come in a bit later.”

Damn. That didn’t sound like a man excited about being in bed with her.

I deserve that subtle rejection.

Cole had changed, a lot, since she last saw him.

He didn’t realize she’d changed a bit herself, but she guessed he hadn’t noticed.

She didn’t have to be a shifter to sense that he had no intention of coming near her unless he was stepping into danger to protect her.