Autumn had been scared as heck the first time her dad had taken her riding on his motorcycle. At the time, she was barely a preteen. In his lifetime, he’d had a total of three riding accidents that put him in the hospital and gave everyone a good scare. Well, everyone except for him. Despite the incidents, he rode the motorcycle to work nearly every day. To this day, she was still cautious about bikes—and the bad boys who rode them. While riding with Garrett, her arms wrapped around his waist and her chest pressed against his back, she felt secure. But she hadn't let her guards down completely. She still worried about whether she'd truly be free and clear of Simon and that stupid arranged mating deal. Every day there was a setback, but as soon as she thought she was doomed to give a year of her life to Simon, something happened in her favor that gave her more time to fight the issue. She knew her luck was running out, but she was never the type of woman to give up easily.

Simon had already demonstrated that he was far more dangerous than she had first realized. His threats and hurried attempts to mate on his terms, only proved that she'd have to take extra precautions. Especially if getting the tavern back meant living in the same town with him. Maybe luck was on her side yet again with Garrett’s new plan. Or maybe not.

She sighed and condensation fogged the helmet visor.

Garrett turned his head slightly. "You okay?" he asked, projecting his voice above the furious flow of the wind.

She nodded.

"We're almost there."

She was ready to meet his lawyer, but she wasn't ready to leave Garrett. Not just yet. They had only just met and she wanted to learn more about him and about his life as a wolf shifter. If all that he said was true about his intentions to remain a bachelor because of his profession, she wasn't sure how receptive he'd be to the idea of ever seeing her again. He'd said it himself—he never stuck around long enough for any long-term relationship to develop.

They rode another fifteen minutes before she began to recognize her surroundings. The lake they were approaching flowed between three neighboring counties. When she was younger, her family used to come out here almost monthly to go fishing or swimming. That was before times got rough before mom died in that car accident, and before things went south with the tavern.

Garrett slowed down a bit and snatched off his helmet. He turned off of the main highway down a long winding road and looked off into the distance.

“There,” he said, lifting a chin in the direction of a white sedan parked near the side of the road. “Our driver is here.”

He rolled to a complete stop next to the car, cut the engine, and helped her off the bike. She pulled her own helmet off and gave it back to him.

“Whew. Finally. You’re a good driver and all, but others on the road…not so much,” she joked.

He grinned. “Yeah, you’ve gotta look out for the folks who should’ve never been granted a driver’s license.”

He knocked on the tinted windows of the sedan and then glanced around nervously. The driver had yet to reveal himself.

“So, where’s the driver?” she asked.

Garrett frowned. “He’s supposed to be here.” He sniffed at the air and a look of dread swept over his face. He leaned down and retrieved a handgun from the inside of his boot.

“You were carrying a gun?” she shrieked. It was the first time she’d seen someone, up, close, and personal—clutching one the way he did.

“Something’s not right,” he said. “Stay close to me.”

They circled around the car. When they reached the front, she spotted red smears on the hood and the headlamps. Blood. There wasn’t a lot of it. But still…

“Oh God.”

“Dammit,” Garrett exclaimed.

A dead man lay on the ground in the tall unkempt grass. It appeared that he’d succumbed to his wound—a shot to the chest. His hands looked ice cold, gray, and rigid as he clutched his chest near the point of entry.

Autumn screamed. A blood-curdling scream that rung out across the field. She doubled over in panic and hurled dry air. She tasted the remnants of her breakfast, but nothing came up.

Garrett knelt next to the man and took his pulse. “He’s been dead a while.”

“Who would do this? Was that the lawyer?”

“No. Jack was his driver.” He rose swiftly with the gun still gripped in his hands. “We’ve gotta get out of here. I think we’ve been compromised.”

Not even a split second later, a distant sound caught in Autumn’s ears. The deep rumbling of an engine grew louder as it advanced in their direction. A black pickup truck burst out from the wooded area and across the tall fields of grass and came barreling right at them.

Her mouth went dry. Her chest tightened and heart slammed repeatedly against her breastbone. She swung her attention to Garrett, hoping that he had an explanation for this. Any kind of explanation. She saw a different Garrett than the man that had saved her. His eyes had turned dark, almost black. His lips were pulled taut. The uneasiness on his face changed to a look of horror.

“Garrett…what’s going on?” she asked.

He grabbed her arm and began backing her up in the direction of the motorcycle. “We’ve got company. Bad company. Stay back behind the car and I’ll handle this.” He fished another small handgun from under his shirt and shoved it into her palm. “If anyone or anything comes at you, shoot ‘em.”

“Oh God.” She trembled, nearly dropping the gun.

She did as he said, rushing back to the edge of the highway. She slipped behind the white sedan, the gun shaking in her hand.

Dust billowed up and carried on the wind toward her. Her mouth was already dry as heck and her lungs were burning from exertion. The dust stinging her eyes only made it worst.

The black pickup truck came to an abrupt halt just five feet in front of Garrett. Two men jumped out. One of them was holding a gun. The second man reached into the backseat and pulled out a hostage who had been blindfolded and had his hands tied behind his back.

Autumn shielded her eyes from the blazing hot sun with her hand and almost couldn’t believe her luck when she spotted Simon out in the field, shoving the hostage forward.

Oh, my God. This was all her fault. The driver had died because of her. Someone else was in trouble because of her.

“Well, well, well…” Simon drawled.

“Let Edward go. He did nothing wrong.” Garrett growled.

“Oh, really now?” Simon replied. “Because I know a couple of women back at Mina’s strip joint who beg to differ. He’s a rough one, bruising and manhandling the goods and all that. I take great pride in making sure my broads are presentable, so I can’t have him biting them.”

“Dammit, Edward,” Garrett said, between clenched teeth.

“Get out of here, Garrett. Don’t try to save me. Just go,” Edward told him.

Simon's driver clipped Edward across the face with his gun. The impact of the hit sent spit and blood spewing across the ground.

“We told you not to talk,” Simon said. “You’ve done enough of that.”

“What did you tell them, Edward?” Garrett demanded.

Edward spat blood on the ground. “I—”

Simon retrieved a small knife from his front pocket and shoved the sharp blade in Edward’s shoulder. Edward hollered in pain and then snapped his mouth shut.

“He didn’t have to tell us anything.” Simon threw a small object on the ground in front of Garrett. A cell phone. “It took us a couple hours to break the encryption and decode his messages.”

“You’re Simon, aren’t you?” Garrett inquired. “I’m going to put a bullet in your head if anything happens to him.”

Simon's driver lifted the gun, targeting Garrett’s chest.

“I beg to differ,” Simon said. “You have something that I’ve already laid claim to.” His gaze lifted then traveled the short distance to where Autumn was hiding behind the sedan.

Shit.

“Bullshit. She doesn’t belong to you.” Garrett moved forward toward his intended target—Simon. “Leave her out of this.”

“She’s been promised to me. I have the papers to prove it.”

“Fuck your papers. She’s mine.”

Simon took a step back. “Not so fast. You can’t claim her. There’s already an existing claim on her. I don’t know how it’s done down in the backcountry where you live, but around these parts, the first to claim a bitch gets the bitch.”

“Do you think I give a fuck about your claim?” Garrett replied.

“I’m here to give you a choice. You can take this low-life can’t keep his dick in his pants mutt back with you and get the hell out of this town or you can attempt to steal what I want and I’ll kill him.”

“No deal.”

“A member of your Pack is already lying dead on the ground. Don’t think I won’t have Charlie here put another bullet in both of you. Killing you would be my pleasure, and it’ll definitely serve as a message to your Alpha that you can’t just come running up in our territory uninvited. I’m not as generous as the last Alpha.”

“I take it that you’re aware of the accusations about you concerning the last Alpha,” Garrett pondered.

“Hmmm, yes, I’m aware that members of my own Pack are trying to implicate me, but each incident has been dealt with swiftly. Anyone who has a problem with me can get out or die. The doors are open for them to leave.”

“For them to leave and for you to claim the Alpha position…is that your plan?”

“Haven’t I made my intentions clear enough? I want what’s mine and what I deserve according to the laws of ascension. If you take this bitch over the border, you know very well what that entails, don’t know?” He didn’t give Garrett a chance to respond. “You don’t come onto my territory and cherry-pick what you want.”

“Nothing’s stopping me from ending you right now,” Garrett snarled. “I’d be in my best interests to do so.” He raised the gun.

Simon shoved Edward roughly into the ground. “Shoot him,” he ordered Charlie, the man with the gun.

Not even a second passed before Charlie put a bullet in Edward’s side.

“No,” Autumn screamed.

Edward writhed on the ground for a moment before rolling over onto his hands and knees. Then he began to shift. At least, that’s what it looked like he was doing from Autumn’s position.

A full-grown wolf pounced out from the same spot where Edward once knelt. The wolf rushed the shooter and chaos ensued.

Garrett turned and growled at her, “Get out of here.”

She didn’t bother responding or resisting when she witnessed him dropping to his knees and tearing off his shirt.

Bones cracked and shifted, limbs lengthened and reformed, fur appeared where there was once cloth and skin. The second half of the transformation happened swiftly and rapidly, as if by magic. The only human on the field was Autumn and the dead man on the ground. But was he really human or was he wolf like the rest of them? Either way, he was dead.

Autumn held up her gun and shot a few rounds in the air in an attempt to stop the chaos. The wolves didn’t care. They were too busy trying to tear out each other’s throats out. While she was standing there, yelling for them to stop the fighting or she’d call the police, one of the wolves with auburn-colored fur came charging at her. At this point, she couldn’t tell who was who. She released a blood-curdling scream and raced in the other direction, but the wolf mowed her down.

Its claws were on the ground and she was between its legs. Its fangs were bared and he snapped and growled at her. Spit and sweat flew into her face and she shielded herself, trying to shove the wolf off of her. The animal was heavy as hell and had to have weighed at least two hundred pounds, maybe more.

She stretched her arms outward, trying to reach the gun that had fallen on the ground next to her. She was too far away to reach it and she scratched at the ground, only bringing up grass and dirt.

Suddenly, a load of weight lifted off of her and she saw blue skies and clouds again. When she regained her focus, she spotted the wolf that had been on top of her being tackled by another. The wolf who’d saved her had deep brown fur with hints of white at the throat. The eyes somehow reminded her of Garrett, and in that instant, she knew he’d saved her. Again.

As the wolves fought in the middle of the field, Autumn acted quickly. She raced back to the front of the car and yanked the door open. The keys were on the floor mat as if someone had dropped them while they were getting out. There was blood on the inside of the car. On the doorknob. On the steering wheel.

Autumn managed to get the keys in the ignition and started the engine. She slammed her foot on the gas and the car lurched forward. When she glanced in the rearview mirror, she spotted a wolf chasing the car. It was the wolf with the auburn colored fur who’d jumped her.

“Oh God, please.” Don’t let it catch up to me.

But her plea wasn’t answered in that moment. These wolves were big, fast, and not like any other regular animal. She’d heard they could run up to speeds of sixty miles an hour. The loose gravel on the road made it difficult for the little sedan to catch any real traction or speed.

The wolf had caught up to the driver’s side window. Suddenly, it lunged upward at the car. She jolted to the right in an effort to prevent contact with its gaping jaws but lost control of the wheel. The car jerked and flew off of the highway into a ditch. The impact was more painful than she anticipated. She bit down forcefully and tasted blood. Her blood. A ringing sound resonated in her head and her eardrums pulsed wildly. She was stuck in the car between the ditch and the doorframe. Her leg hurt like hell. Something was holding it down. Still, she wasn’t prepared for what was to come next. She felt the lick of a cold tongue on her forearm and then canines sinking deep into her flesh, causing the most excruciating pain ever.

“Ahhh,” she screamed, immediately jerking her arm away, but it was too late. The wolf had already bitten her.

A few gunshots rang out in the distance and then there was silence.

The next face she saw brought back a shred of hope. It was Garrett.

Her voice was too hoarse and dry to form words, her tongue felt too heavy to lift, and she was too weak to get up. She lifted her arm slowly and tried to reach out to him…

The pain was too much for her and her head was spinning out of control.

Autumn never remained conscious long enough to experience what happened next.