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Cole let out the breath that had backed up in his lungs until Tess left the living room.

He leaned back, then dropped his head back against the couch. In one corner of the peeling ceiling, a spider was busy perfecting its web for the unsuspecting tiny moth flitting around up there. The moth kept bouncing up and down against the ceiling as if it expected an attic door to open for escape.

Then the moth fluttered toward the corner as if drawn by some invisible light.

Wings hit the sticky web and panic set in. Fragile wings beat harder. The moth twisted back and forth until it had trapped itself good.

The spider raced out from where it had been hiding and put the final screws in the moth, wrapping it up like a web mummy.

While Cole admired the spider’s skill of spinning a damn good trap, he sympathized with the moth facing its end.

One minute a creature was moving along, thinking its life was perfect, then out of nowhere it slammed into a death sentence with no way out.

Cole had experienced that same panic the first time he found out he was a shifter. He’d thought that was the end of his life, because his wolf scared the devil out of him. It wanted to fight everything and he was forced to observe the vicious attacks with no idea how to stop them.

But Sammy had shifted into his massive bear the first time Cole worked with him, and had shown Gray Wolf that he wasn’t the only one with jaws and claws.

Cole had gained control slowly, in small steps. It took months and months of getting his ass kicked until he’d had enough, before he finally started paying attention to the Gallize shifters trying to teach him, the human, how to be a shifter.

That’s when Sammy decided to spend day and night with Cole for two months of misery.

Gray Wolf didn’t like the grizzly sleeping in the same room.  

Early on, Cole would wake up in wolf form with a giant grizzly towering over him. Cole’s wolf was a beast, but Sammy’s grizzly was a monster that stood over ten feet tall and sounded like someone had released it from the depths of hell.

Gray Wolf learned respect and Cole finally got a grip on his control.

Later, Cole found out that Sammy had come in to keep the Guardian from putting Cole down. Everyone had run out of patience with Cole and his out-of-control wolf, especially since Cole had been doing little to help.

But Sammy believed every shifter deserved a chance.

Now with Sammy suffering from the mating curse and possibly under the magical control of the Black River pack, Cole felt useless.

This was his chance to save his friend and he was failing.

At the rate the mating curse was moving through Cole’s body, Cole hoped he had ten days, but worried it would probably be less, before he’d have to submit to the Guardian. There was no exact time period to depend upon because there had been so few incidents over past centuries, and many had not attributed the problems to the mating curse.

The Gallize lacked information their shifters desperately needed to survive.

The only person who could stop Cole’s downfall had just walked out of the room.

Tess was never going to be his mate.

Our mate, Gray Wolfe snarled.

Quiet down or we’ll be sleeping outside to keep her safe.

Gray Wolfe lunged, giving Cole a pain in his side, but Cole ordered him to stand down or not see her again.

Gray Wolf quieted and pulled back deep inside. That’s how much the wolf wanted her as their mate.

Cole now understood exactly what the Guardian had been saying. That Gray Wolf had likely come to life sooner than he should’ve back in college, because Cole had chosen a mate. His wolf had wanted to be part of the bonding.

Maybe down the road if Cole had been given enough time to let Tess get used to the idea, and understand that he might not live more than a few years, she would have considered marrying. Cole would have taken that and been a happy man until his time ran out, but he didn’t have that option now. Also, he didn’t want to burden her with his impending death.

She could do nothing about it and that knowledge wouldn’t change the outcome, only put a dark blanket over the time they had left together.

He’d take whatever she would give him for now.

Like the change in her scent he picked up on when she’d hinted about him spending a night with her.

In plain words, she wanted to have sex.

Part of that was the reaction to almost dying, and he had no doubt that she’d thought she was going to die tonight.

Another part of her flirting might just be curiosity.

Give her more credit than that, asshole.

Okay, no way would she treat him that way. Likely, she just needed someone to make her feel safe. Once she got to sleep, he’d sit in the wooden chair by the window where she’d find him if she woke up.

He had to go meet with Katelyn tomorrow and he still had to find Sammy.

How was he going to do that and keep Tess away from SCIS and any other threat?

The Guardian was allowing Cole room to work right now because the Guardian understood that Cole had chosen a mate years ago.

Saving Sammy came before saving himself.

Katelyn had told Isabella she loved Sammy. Tomorrow Cole would find out if she would come in with him to be available for when they found Sammy. Then they’d see what happened once the two were together again.

Cole’s plan was simple.

Sammy had a chance to survive and Cole would make it happen if that was possible.