Chelsey finished painting the last toenail fire engine red and screwed the cap on. Leaving the wedges of toilet paper stuff between her toes, she waddled into the bathroom to relieve herself.

The mansion was pretty quiet and she liked it that way. The help dad hired to clean up when he was around had been given paid leave since her dad was visiting his business colleagues in the Midwest. Chelsey was more than relieved that they were gone and couldn’t hound her about her GPA any longer. Who cared about a GPA these days? Since when did a GPA measure someone’s ability to survive? The last time she checked, her dad hadn’t been the smartest in either high school or college and he’d somehow managed to co-own and operate one of the biggest private owned banks in the state and get elected to serve as Governor.

All of her life, all she ever wanted to be was a journalist, but of course, her parents tried to steer her away from that to pursue a career in politics. She’d tried to please them. Had even initially entered college as a political science major, but after a year of disinterest in the subject and career paths, she’d changed her program of study to English. And this winter, she’d have her English degree. Plus, she already had a job offer on the table already. One too many job offers.

Chelsey walked back into the room, fell back onto the bed, and glanced up at the ceiling. For the last couple days, all she could think about was one specific stranger’s handsome face and big cock. It had gotten so bad that she had the urge to masturbate a few times a day while thinking of him. She’d never done that after any man. It felt like she’d been given some drug and now she was feigning for another hit. Too bad she’d snuck out of the hotel room the next morning before he could wake up. But that was before she started craving him. Would she have stayed if she’d known that she couldn’t keep her mind off him? She’d made a deal with herself. She had wanted a one-night stand with a shifter and had gotten the best night of her life. If she wanted to find him, she’d visit LIVE again. But a man like him wouldn’t want a boring woman like her. Perhaps, she’d done him a favor by leaving. She almost wondered if all shifter males were that good in bed as the rumors suggested. Or did this one particular stranger just know how to expertly use what he was born with?

While thinking about that night, her hand had wandered up her blouse, kneading her own nipples and remembering how good his mouth felt against her. How she’d tried to, but since that night she could not bring herself to an orgasm as intense as the one she had with the stranger. Maybe if she visited one of those toy shops and bought a dildo as big as the stranger’s cock, it would work. Then again, would she be able to get the exact rhythm and pacing just right? He’d brought her to orgasm so effortlessly over and over again.

Her fingers ventured down inside of her panties where she had gotten wet just thinking about him. God, she wanted him again.

She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. 11:00 P.M.

She nibbled her bottom lip. That darned nightclub was still open. Maybe he was a regular there. She could go again and look for him. Apologize for leaving in the middle of the night and hope he wasn’t mad. Would he still want her? Was she as good to him in bed as he was to her?

Chelsey saw a shadow move across her bedroom wall. She removed her fingers from her nipples and sex and sat up on the bed. The sound of a motorcycle rumbled outside in the distance. Her parents weren’t scheduled to be back for another two days.

She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside to view an unfamiliar van downstairs in the driveway. Figures moved inside the van, but no one had come up to the front door yet. The security gates were wide open, which was odd. They were controlled by user access codes. Either the gates had malfunctioned or someone had rigged the gates.

A male got out of the car and glanced up in the direction of her bedroom window.

“Shit!” she exclaimed. “This isn’t happening.”

She let the curtain fall and backed away from the window. The lamp near her bedside table was on. She thought to turn it off, but then whoever was down there would know that she was up here for sure.

Chelsey’s heart thudded frantically and she prayed to God that the man or men in the van were someone her parents knew. When she heard a loud thud coming front one of the back door’s downstairs, she knew she was wrong. Someone was trying to burglarize the home.

She panicked and clutched at her chest. All she could think to do was hide. Whenever they discussed family security, her dad had always told her to just let them take whatever they wanted while hiding. So that’s what she did. She rushed into the bathroom, turned out the lights, and hid in the utility closet.

It seemed like forever had passed. Maybe if just felt like that as she tried to hold her breath far too many times only to have her lungs burn in protest. What were the burglars going to do? Smell her up here and drop all the money and jewels her parents owned and take her instead? That was absurd. What criminal wouldn’t take the money and run? With this thought in mind, she brought her knees closer to her chest and tried to remain still and quiet.

Turns out she was wrong. The rumbling up the stairs sent her heart into frantic mode again. The moment she realized the rumbling sound came from feet running up the stairs, it was too late. The door to the utility closet was jerked open and a male as wide as a linebacker stood in the doorway. He wore a hood, his face was covered, and she could see nothing but his eyes. They were brown, dark, and feral-looking.

“Don’t think we couldn’t smell you up here,” he growled. “Get up.”

Chelsey screamed. “Please, take what you want. I won’t call the cops. I promise.”

The hooded man laughed and then grabbed her by the arm. She struck him across the face and he uttered a string of curses. While he was rubbing at his eyes, she dashed from the room but slammed head first into another linebacker. She fought against him until she couldn’t fight anymore. The man who she’d struck bounded her arms behind her back, led her out of the bedroom, and down the stairs.

They came to a stop outside where another hooded linebacker was waiting by the car.

“Look here! We got a live hostage,” one of the men informed the third guy.

“Let go of me,” Chelsey screamed. Although the men weren’t hurting her, she didn’t want to be carted away anywhere with them. She wasn’t some object. She was a person.

The third guy turned swiftly and did something no real burglar would have done. He snatched off his face cover and lumbered toward them.

It was the stranger from the nightclub. The third guy was the shifter she’d been daydreaming about. Chelsey would’ve remembered that face anywhere. Same blue eyes, blond hair, and dark stare. It was the stranger. Oh fuck.

“Hands off!” The voice was also sounded the same and it sent chills up her spine.

“Jesus, Brock…are you fucking kidding me?”

The stranger—Brock—growled like an animal. The warning he sent caused the two men that captured her to step a good two feet away from her.

“She’s mine,” Brock stated, and then took her by the hand. “Are you okay?”

“Are. You. Fucking. Kidding me?” the hooded guy to the right bellowed.

“Chill out, alright!” Brock demanded. “I know her.”

“Know her? We’ve just gutted her home and you’re just now telling us that you know her. What the fuck, man?” One of the others paced aggressively in front of them.

“I didn’t know I knew her.”

“Bro…do I need to knock some goddamned sense into you?”

Brock was staring down at her arm extra hard and his thumb was rubbing back and forth over something red on her skin. She must have missed a spot while wiping up the nail polish that she’d smudged on her skin.

“It can’t be.” His expression changed from angry and possessive to troubled. “Where did you get this? How did you know to mark yourself this way?”

“Mark myself?” she asked. “I was painting my toes when you and your posse rudely broke into my home.”

“This isn’t paint, Princess. This is an exact replica of my birthmark.”

“Holy shit!” one of the hooded men exclaimed.

“Are you insane?” Chelsey tugged her arm out of Brock’s grip. She rubbed at the red mark that reminded her of a pair of butterfly wings. Sure enough, it wasn’t smeared fingernail polish. Whatever it was, it appeared to be something under her skin.

“I should have known after I couldn’t get over you…” Brock muttered.

“What?” She stepped back a couple feet. “You’re a real criminal that just tried to kidnap me. How could you come after me?”

Brock shook his head. “I’m not after you. What relations do you have with Governor Canon? Are you…seeing him?”

“No!” I swallowed my disgust. “He’s my dad.”

“Oh man,” the aggravated man started pacing back and forth. “We’ve gotta get out of here.”

“Chill out, Raoulf,” Brock instructed him. “We had sex a few nights ago, all right? That’s how I know her.”

“Why would you do this?” Her throat tightened as she waited for his answer.

“I have no time to explain here. I’m a shifter and an outlaw. I—”

“Stop.” Chelsey held up her hand. “Stop right there. You mean you’re part of that group that runs around causing trouble all over the country.”

Brock shook his head. “You’ve got it all wrong. Your dad wants to seize our property using eminent domain laws. If he does that, our Pack will have nowhere to roam freely. He knows that and so does all of the other lawmakers standing with him on this matter.”

“So your plan was to fuck me hard and then kidnap me to get back at my dad?”

“I had no idea who you were until tonight. We’re here to dig up and get what we can on Governor Canon including the fact that he provided funding for us shifters before he took the Governor’s role. He seems to have switched out on us real fast once we got richer.”

“So you want to blackmail him for doing his job?”

Brock paused, his gaze lowering to the ground.

Raoulf stopped pacing and approached them. “We’re outlaws, woman. Your father and the local government are trying to take almost everything away from our Pack. What do you think? We’re not going to just bow down to be trampled upon when we have a right to be here just like anybody else.”

“I don’t care who you are. I want you off my property and my land. I will call the cops on each and every one of you…including you…Brock. How’s that for blackmailing?”

The guy who hadn’t said anything since the whole exchanged laughed. “It’s three to one.”

“Listen…both of you,” Brock said. “If either of you lay a hand on her again, you will answer to me. I said that she is mine.”

His statement sent a surge of arousal straight through her. She didn’t understand it. Why was she so affected by this man?

“We’re getting the hell out of here,” one of them said. “You can stay behind.”

The two men started for the van leaving Chelsey and Brock standing there.

“Chelsey…is that your name?” Brock whispered, picking up a few locks of her hair and bringing it to his nose. “You smell like cherry pie.”

She chuckled nervously. “I’m so freaking confused and you’re talking about pies. Why are you doing this?”

“Your father hates shifters, Chelsey.”

She shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. That’s not my dad.”

“Then why is he hell-bent on stripping us of our ancestral lands?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just about bringing in money into the town. That’s what governors do. But he’s not against shifters. I know that.”

“Aren’t you aware that he plans to take our lands?” Brock asked.

“Take? Doesn’t there have to be an agreement between both parties?”

“Not entirely. And when you’re a shifter fighting for equal rights for your people, that answer is likely not. This is why I do what I do, Chelsey. So in answer to your question, yes, I’m part of that group that runs around, but it’s not trouble we’re trying to cause. We fight for the rights of shifters when they’re not strong enough to fight for themselves?”

“I’m sure my dad doesn’t want to fight you,” she said.

“We don’t want to lose our land and we need him to understand that. We’ve tried talking and sending letters, but everything has been returned unopened.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. I hate politics, but maybe I can get him to understand,” she said. “Your friends look like they’re ready to go, by the way.”

“My brothers will continue to do what’s necessary as part of our mission. We work as a team. Regardless of how far off the path I travel, they’ll stay the course. I meant what I said, Chelsey. I won’t let anything happen to you now that I know how irresistible you are.”

“You’re a charmer.”

“It’s all truth, but trust me, my wolf wants you more than you know.”

Her core heated as a vision of him pumping between her legs flashed through her mind. “He does?” she muttered.

“I can smell your heat, Princess,” he added.

“There’s nothing we can do about it here in front of your friends,” she said.

One brow quirked and he tossed her a challenging stare. “Says who? I’ll fuck you in front of anyone, anywhere if you ask me to.”

Chelsey fanned herself as heat rose up her neck. “Jesus you’re blunt.”

“How much time do we have?” she asked.

“To fuck? All the time in the world.”

She swatted him. “That’s not what I meant.”

He laughed. “I know what you meant. The proceedings begin next week.”

Chelsey placed her hands on her hips. “Here’s my ultimatum. You tell your arrogant ass brothers to bring back what they took from my dad’s home and I’ll call him promptly tomorrow morning.”

“How will you convince him to stop the orders?”

She smiled. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“I’m gonna need collateral until tomorrow morning,” Brock said, grinning. “Who knows…you might just up and leave the State without a word, kind of like you did the other night.”

“What about my body for use as collateral? I’m feeling a bit neglected and could use another one night stand.”

Brock closed up the distance between them and took her mouth in a full kiss despite his crew still waiting in the van behind them.

Chelsey pulled back, her lips tingling from the warmth of his kiss. “Is that your answer?”

“That’s more than an answer.” He picked up her arm again, turning it over to view the red mark that hadn’t gone away. “And there’s a reason you’re wearing my birthmark. You probably don’t quite understand yet what’s happening to your body and what’s happening between us.”

“What’s happening? Did you slip some shifter magic into my drink or something because I can’t seem to stop thinking about you? Is that what your kind does to women? The rumors must be true.”

Brock gently stroked the underside of her chin with his fingers. “Let’s finish what we started the other night, Princess. I have a lot to explain to you and we’ll have our entire lives to understand it together. There’s a pretty good reason why both of us have been thinking about the other day and night.”

“You too?”

He nodded. “I drove to LIVE the following night hoping you would show.”

She smiled. “I didn’t think you would be there. We did agree on just the one night, so…I didn’t bother. I thought it would pass.”

“It won’t pass, nor will I let you out of my sight again. Go back inside and pack a bag, Princess. You’re coming with me.”