“Don’t look at me; I don’t know why.”

“That’s why I’m going to hang around you, to find out why.”

Andrea sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands.

One second later, she sagged against him on the mattress, his thigh against hers, his arm around her shoulder. “We’ll figure this out, love,” he said. “I won’t let you be hurt.”

“That’s not it. I mean, that’s partly it. I thought that when I came here, my troubles would be over. Instead, I’m more confused than ever. I have a Feline who likes to climb through my window and go through my underwear, I have nightmares that scare the shit out of me, and now a Faerie creature pops into existence because I dream his voice. Instead of peace and quiet and shopping with my aunt, I’m shot at by humans and pursued by a Feline who’s on the edge of mating frenzy.”

“Welcome to Shiftertown,” Sean said. “And I don’t want to force you, love, no matter how frenzied I am.”

“You’re a Shifter male. It’s what Shifter males do.”

Sean raised his brows instead of growling in rage, showing her once again that the unreadable Sean wasn’t behaving like he was supposed to. He took away his comforting embrace and rose from the bed. “Those bloody Lupines that raised you must have been right a piece of work.”

“My stepfather is a kind man.” A dart of pain pierced her heart. Her stepfather, Terry, wasn’t strong; Andrea knew that, and yet he’d been simple and loving. She missed his warm smile, his embrace, even the way he liked to put onions on absolutely everything he ate. She’d cried and clung to him when he’d put her on the bus in Colorado, leaving behind the only Shifter who loved her. But Terry hadn’t been allowed to come with her, by both human and Shifter law.

“The fact that you didn’t run to this Jared, tail between your legs, makes you remarkable, love,” Sean was saying.

“Huh. According to my pack, it made me ungrateful, untrustworthy, defiant, and bitchy. They thought my mating with Jared would be good for me, because I’d be moving up. The fact that Jared is a sexist, sadistic pig didn’t matter very much. Except to me.”

“Andrea.”

Andrea looked up in surprise. Usually Sean called her love or lass, and never spoke to her in that quiet voice. “What?”

Sean watched her with a guarded expression. “You shouldn’t have been able to resist Jared at all. Not with you so low in the pack. Not with him so high in the hierarchy and that determined. And you’re not afraid of me, are you?”

Not in the way he meant. Andrea was afraid of the way she reacted to Sean—the wanting that beat through her blood whenever he was near. Sean brought out the playful side of her as no other male ever had. She wanted to tease him, flirt with him, buy him underwear, tumble with him in the woods. She wanted him to chase her; she wanted to turn the tables on him when he caught her and take him down. Then she wanted to make love to him—deep, passionate, longing love, which she would have done in the clearing if they hadn’t been interrupted.

Sean was trying to pin her with his dominant stare, his blue eyes hard and hot. She met that stare, which—he was right—she shouldn’t have been able to. Not according to all Shifter instincts and laws of the pack.

“No,” she said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“And that’s what makes you unusual. And dangerous.”

“I’m not dangerous.” Andrea drew her legs up under her.

“It made you dangerous to them. To all packs in your old Shiftertown.”

“All I know is that I don’t want anything to do with them. Ever again.”

“So you invoked a Shifter law that says a woman can refuse an insistent mate-claim by leaving the pack and heading off on her own. Clever, love.”

“Jared still thinks it’s the old days, when a female didn’t have much chance of making it outside her pack. But these days it just means moving to a different Shiftertown. Jared didn’t think of that.”

“Smart of you.”

“More like desperate.”

Sean sat down beside her again. The bed felt so right with him on it with her, as though it had been missing something until he arrived. “You have no more need to be desperate,” he said. “I wish you’d believe you’re safe here.”

Andrea slanted him a smile. “Except for the second-in-command who is obsessed with my underwear.”

An answering spark lit his eyes. “I’d say you were obsessed with mine, sweetheart.” He cocked a brow. “Smiley faces?”

“Hey, I thought they’d look good on you.”

“And you think my ass is fine, do you?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a reason all those women rub themselves on something when you walk by.”

Sean blinked in surprise. “You’re dreaming that.”

“No, I’m not. I’m jealous and possessive.” She mimed scratching with her claws.

Sean smiled. “I’m liking the sound of that.”

“Of course you do, feral cat.”

Sean pulled her up to him and gave her a deep, heartrending kiss before he got to his feet. “Don’t go anywhere, love. I’m off home to grab my stuff; then I’m coming back here and locking us in.”

“Promise?”

Sean’s next kiss curled her toes. “That’s a definite promise, love.”