Nathan knew this was a bad idea the moment he walked into The Bitter End and several pair of eyes zeroed in on him. The name of the bar seemed poetic at the moment.

He told himself over and over again it was a bad idea. He should have said fuck it and gunned it to the police station where they could turn over their evidence to the authorities. That was the right thing to do. But, somehow, he knew Melanie was right. The police didn’t care enough to take Joanne’s disappearance seriously in the first place. This evidence might change their mind, but no way were they going to investigate fast enough. Joanne could be in real danger. And Violet’s determination only made him want to find her more.

But walking into a biker bar by himself? That was probably a stupid move. He wasn’t going to let the girls in here, though.

He motioned for the bartender, a sour-faced man with a large potbelly that stuck out of his leather vest, to bring him another beer. It was his second. He had nursed his first, hoping to keep a low profile and scope out the place. Not that it did any good. He looked down at his flannel work shirt and clean jeans. He looked like a Goddamn Eagle Scout next to the lowlifes around him.

The bartender came closer and placed a bottle in front of him. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

No shit, Sherlock. He bit his tongue but knew this was his chance. Bartenders always knew everything that went on in his or her establishment. This would be his in, a way for him to see if the Kings of Death—

A crash from behind had him wincing. “What the—Motherfucker!” He shot to his feet when he saw what had caused the commotion. Or rather who. After tossing a couple of bills on the bar, he strode angrily across the room.

The man who was backed up against the wall was six feet tall and probably two hundred pounds of pure muscle. He was wearing a black leather vest and matching pants, and his arms were covered in tattoos. Around him were broken pieces of furniture, obviously destroyed as he crashed into them. The biker should have looked fierce, but Nathan saw real fear in the man’s eyes as Violet walked up to him and grabbed him by the throat.

“I said tell me where she is,” she said in a deadly calm voice.

“Violet,” Nathan said. “Baby, you gotta let him go.”

Her eyes blazed with pure fury. “It’s him. I can smell him.” Her hand squeezed tighter, and the man’s face began to turn blue.

He leaned in closer. “Fuck.” She was right. That was the scent on the hair. He reached out to push the man’s head to the side. Right on the backside of his head was a healing wound where a chunk of scalp had been pulled out.

“Violet, he’s about to pass out,” he said. “Just … give him a little air so we can talk to him, yeah?”

She loosened her grip, and the man’s face returned to normal. “Where is she?” Violet said. “Where’s Joanne? Where did your gang stash her?”

The man gurgled out an answer that sounded negative, but that only made Violet seem angrier.

“What’s going on here?”

Oh fuck.

Nathan turned around. Nearly a dozen guys in matching leather vests surrounded them, their expressions fierce. One of them stepped forward. Every inch of exposed skin was covered in tattoos, including his shaved head, and a patch over the right side of his vest read “President.”

“Tell me what’s going on. I’m not gonna ask again,” he began.

“Look, we don’t want to cause trouble—”

“You’re not, but she came in here lookin’ for it.” He walked over to Violet, then looked at Nathan. “This your woman?”

Her light eyes glowed. “I most certainly do not belong to anyone, and you may address me directly.”

The president’s eyes narrowed. “You one of those shifters from that town?”

“We are,” she said. For a brief moment, Violet’s eyes turned to slits. That would have scared a lesser man, but the president didn’t even flinch.

“Look, we don’t go into your town, so I was hoping you’d do us the courtesy of not encroaching in our territory,” he said. “What’s your beef with Ruiz? Did he crash your knitting club or somethin’?” His men jeered and chuckled.

Nathan raised both his hands. “Like I said, we don’t want any trouble—”

“He kidnapped my friend’s sister,” Violet interrupted. “We have proof. Now, tell us where you’re hiding her or we’ll go to the police.”

The president laughed, then turned back to his men. “This chick sure is crazy,” he cackled and the other men began to laugh as well.

“We know you have her,” Violet said. “Where is she?” She gripped Ruiz’s throat tighter, making the man choke again.

The president held his hand up and the room went silent. “Listen here, girly. First of all, I don’t know what you’re talking about. We do a lot of things that aren’t exactly legal, but kidnapping innocent girls ain’t one of them. In fact, I’ve made it a rule in my club that hurting women and children is the one line we won’t cross. Now,” he looked at Ruiz, “if what you say is true, then he’s broken our biggest rule, which means he answers to us.”

“It is true,” Nathan said. “Like she said, we have proof.”

“What proof?”

Nathan took out the plastic bag from his pocket. “Here. This is your guy’s hair, pulled right from his scalp. We found it in the living room of our missing friend. She’s a shifter too, and she’s strong enough to do that kind of damage.”

“Yeah? What if they were just having a bit of rough fun and she got a little too excited?”

“Prez,” one of the guys from behind stepped forward. “Ruiz told us his hair got caught in brake rod of his hog while he was fixin’ it.”

“Yeah,” someone else added. “You know if some chick he was bangin’ did that, he woulda made sure we all knew.”

Nathan saw a flicker of doubt in the president’s face. He took out the matchbook. “We found this in her kitchen, kicked under the table. This is how we got here. You know about us shifters, right? We can smell real good and someone else left a clue.”

“So?”

“We picked up another scent from this.” Nathan nodded to the rest of the men. “So, you might have a second rule-breaker in your gang.”

The president’s eyes turned cold. “All right then. Show me what you got.”

Nathan walked toward the group of men. Thank God his nose was sensitive enough so he didn’t have to get too close. Cautiously, he approached the first one, a tall skinny guy with thinning hair and took a sniff. No. The white-haired man next to him was another negative. As neared the third one, a young man with spiked hair, alarm bells went off in his head and he smelled the same trace scent from the matchbook. He looked the kid straight in the eye. “You got anything to say?”

The young man’s eyes widened in surprise, and Nathan could smell the fear coming off him. “N-n-no!”

“You sure?”

“I—” He shoved at Nathan and then tried to get past him. But, with his quick reflexes, Nathan grabbed the kid by his vest collar and slammed him on the ground.

“Motherfucker! Ellis!” The president knelt down and picked him up. “You son of a bitch!” He looked back at Ruiz. “You two been moonlightin’ on me?”

Violet let go of Ruiz, and he collapsed to his knees. “Asshole rat,” he choked at Ellis, his meaty hands rubbing at his throat.

“I-I-I’m sorry, Prez,” Ellis cried. “I was just … he said it was easy money. Those girls … we didn’t hurt them or nothing. Just delivered them.”

“Girls?” Violet’s voice had the fury of an avenging angel. “There were more?”

“J-j-just one more,” Ellis said. “He said no one was gonna find out. Not even you, Prez.”

“Take these pieces of shit away,” Prez said. Four men came forward and dragged Ellis and Ruiz away and disappeared into a door in the back of the bar.

“Hey!” Violet said in an indignant tone. “What about my friend? We need to question your men! Bring them back and—”

Prez laughed in her face. “Question them? Sure, if there’s anything left of them by the time we’re done.”

“But you can’t—”

“Let’s go.” Nathan grabbed Violet by the elbow. He could see Prez growing agitated. He could probably take two or three of the men at a time, but if they were packing heat, which they probably were, that could slow him down even in wolf form.

“But—”

“Violet, let’s go!” He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her across the room, ignoring her protests. When they were outside of The Bitter End, she pulled away from him.

“How could you just let them get away?” Violet accused. “We still have to talk to them!”

“Violet, there was no way those men were going to let us interrogate their members. These clubs have strict codes of conduct, and they deal with problems internally.”

“Are they going to kill those two men?”

“I don’t think so,” Nathan said. “They broke a rule, so I’m sure they’ll be punished or expelled. But we need to get help if we want to find Joanne and any other girls.”

Violet seemed to calm down. “Are we going to the police?”

Nathan shook his head. “No, they won’t be any help. But I know someone who can help us.”

* * *

They explained what happened to Melanie, who had been waiting in her car in the parking lot.

“What do we do now?” she asked, her lower lip trembling.

“We’re gonna head back to Blackstone and talk to the Lennoxes. They can help.”

“We’ll find her,” Violet said.

“Keep me informed and please call me for anything,” Melanie said. “I’ll be taking a few days off from work to hand out flyers. I also … need to tell my mom.”

“Good luck,” Nathan said. “We’ll call you if anything comes up.”

As soon as Melanie’s car was gone, Nathan and Violet walked back to his car.

“I know the Lennoxes consider themselves the protectors of the shifters of Blackstone,” Violet said as they drove back. “But why would Matthew or Jason Lennox bother themselves with one missing shifter?”

Nathan looked straight ahead at the dark highway. “We’re not going to ask for help from Matthew or Jason.”

“Then who?”

“I can’t tell you yet. But trust me.”

The ride back was silent, and Nathan was glad Violet didn’t ask him anymore questions. It would be difficult enough to explain what they were doing, let alone tell Violet about how he was going to help find Joanne.

He drove to the newer development on the south side of Blackstone. The town had expanded a lot over the years, but the Main Street area was preserved because of its quaint small-town charm that tourists loved. The Lennox Corporation developed South Blackstone as a trendy and hip neighborhood to attract younger people to come and work and live in the town. He pulled into the group of low-rise loft buildings and eased his car into an empty parking spot.

Nathan led Violet into the first building, pressing the button for the top floor. Each floor only had one apartment, so he rang the bell of the lone door outside the elevator.

“Nathan? Dr. Robichaux?” Jason Lennox stood in the doorway, a perplexed look on his face. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Where's Christina?”

“She’s kinda busy right now,” Jason said. “What’s this about?”

“We need her help. Specifically, The Agency’s help.”

Jason’s gaze flickered at Violet. “You know you can’t just say that out loud, man.”

“This is an emergency.”

His friend let out a sigh. “Well, we actually were going to sit down and work on a few things. There’s someone else here, too.”

Jason opened the door to reveal his adopted brother, Luke Lennox, sitting on the couch. “Luke?” Nathan said.

Luke nodded his head at him. “Nathan.” His gaze landed briefly on Violet, but he didn’t say anything.

“Come on in,” Jason said. Nathan entered first, followed by Violet. “Luke, this is Dr. Violet Robichaux. She’s replacing Dr. Philipps at the mines.”

“Temporarily,” Violet added. “How do you do?”

Luke raised a blond brow at her. “Temporarily?”

“It’s a long story,” she sighed, then turned to Nathan. “I still don’t understand what we’re doing here.”

“Jason,” Nathan began. “We really have to talk to Christina.”

“She’s in her office on a conference call with her father. He’s in Fiji. Or Indonesia, I forget. Anyway, we were going to discuss, uh, business with Luke. He’s eager to get on with his night, so why don’t we go in and interrupt her?”

The four of them walked down the hallway off the living room of the loft. Jason opened the last door on the right and ushered them inside.

“Really, Papa?” Christina Lennox sat behind the desk, staring at a computer screen. She was wearing a headset and when she saw them walk in, she waved them to come over. “All right then. If you’re sure he’s the one you want to send. You really can’t spare Angel? Fine. I’ll settle for Petros.” She laughed. “No, I don’t have a problem with him. But, well you know how he is. I don’t see him meshing well with the people here, but I’ll trust your judgement. All right. Love you Papa; say hi to Cordy.” She waved at the screen, then put her headset down.

“We have more visitors,” Jason said.

Christina stood up and walked around the desk. Despite the late hour, she was dressed elegantly in a white blouse, black trousers, and stiletto-heeled shoes. “Violet! How nice to see you again.”

“Same here,” she said.

“So is this a social visit? I’m afraid we have a meeting but—”

“Christina, we need your help,” Nathan interrupted. He hated to be rude, but he didn’t want to waste her time either. “Rather, The Agency’s help.”

“Nathan,” Christina hissed. “You know you can't say anything about that to just anyone!” She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. “No offense, Violet. But tell me, how am I supposed to run a secret shifter protection agency when no one can keep it a secret?”

“She’s my mate,” Nathan blurted out. “So she’s not just anyone.” Well, that was it. The cat was out of the bag.

“Your mate?” Jason looked back and forth between Nathan and Violet. “Congrats, man!” He grabbed Nathan’s hand and slapped him on the shoulder. Luke said nothing as usual and stood there, arms crossed at his chest, his tawny gold eyes observing what was happening.

“Er …” He waited for Violet to deny it, but to his surprise she didn’t say anything.

“Oh my Lord!” Christina hopped over to Violet and drew her into a hug. “That’s wonderful! Tell me, have you experienced the bond yet?”

Violet stood stiffly in Christina’s hug. “Well, actually—”

“Never mind. That’s a personal question! But—”

“Please, Christina,” Nathan said. “We really do need The Agency’s help. There's a missing shifter, and she might be in danger. We have to help her.”

“Oh, of course,” Christina said. “That’s what we do, after all. Or what we’re trying to do. Let’s go out into the living room. As you can see, I’m trying to set up my office here until we move into the new HQ. That should be soon as things are moving along.”

Christina seemed excited talking about how they were setting up a branch of The Shifter Protection Agency in Blackstone. The Agency was the brainchild of Ari Stavros, her step-father and Alpha of the Lykos clan. He started it to help shifters in trouble all over the world.

They settled in the living room with Jason and Christina in the love seat, Nathan and Violet on the couch across from them, and Luke in the arm chair in the corner.

Christina turned to Violet. “So, tell me what’s wrong. Who’s missing?”

“It’s Nathan’s date’s sister,” she began.

“Excuse me?” Christina shot daggers at the wolf shifter.

Nathan put his hands up. “I swear, she wasn’t my date! She was a chick I met at The Den—”

“Even worse,” Christina said.

Nathan groaned. “Nothing happened. I swear. Melanie told you, I told you—”

“Can we just get on with it?” Jason asked, putting an arm around his wife.

“Right,” Violet said, and she relayed the story of Melanie and Joanne to the rest of them.

“Holy shit,” Jason exclaimed. “You walked into a biker bar by yourself and grabbed that man by the throat? You’re one ballsy lady.” He frowned and wrinkled his nose at her. “What are you anyway? A jaguar? Leopard?”

Violet seemed to ignore him. “There might be others kidnapped along with her.”

“Could they be working with some kind of trafficking ring?” Nathan said. “They probably saw Joanne as a vulnerable college student, away from home where no one would check on her. Maybe they didn’t even know she was a shifter, hence the struggle in her apartment.”

“Will you help us?" Violet asked.

Christina’s face grew serious. “Of course I want to help. And we will.” She stood up. “I don’t have The Agency’s full resources with me right now, but I’ll see what I can do. We’ll think of something and by morning—”

“Morning?” Violet shot to her feet. “What do you mean morning?”

“Baby,” Nathan stood up. “Christina is an expert on these things. She’ll have a plan tomorrow, and we can get some rest for now.”

“Rest?” Violet stood back. “Rest? How can I rest when Joanne and probably those other girls are out there in the hands of those men! God knows what’s happening to them—”

“I’m sorry Violet,” Christina began. “I know how you feel. But even when I was just a field agent, I was taught we had to plan these things. Do some recon and then figure out what to do so as few people as possible get hurt. I have analysts and computer experts all over the world I can deploy, but I have to be smart about how I use our resources.”

Violet turned to Jason. “You’re a dragon. Please, can’t you help them? Just … fly over there and scare those bikers into telling us where the girls are.”

Jason shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. And I’m already in enough trouble for my last public outing.”

Violet cried in frustration. “Why won’t any of you do something about this?”

“Baby—”

She swiped Nathan’s hand away. “No! You said we would find her and make sure she’s safe.”

“Be reasonable, Violet. We can’t do everything tonight.” Nathan sighed. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing,” she growled.

Her face was twisted in anguish, and Nathan could see how pain much she was in. He could practically feel the animal inside of her, confused and suffering. Gone was the cold and calculated Dr. Robichaux. He didn’t know how, but he knew there was something else going on here.

“Violet!” he called as she turned around and ran toward the door. “Sorry,” he said to Christina and Jason. “And thanks for helping out.”

He didn’t wait for them to say anything. He wanted to make sure Violet didn’t get too far. Sure, he drove them there in his car, but she was a shifter; she could turn into her animal and run away and he’d never catch up with her.

The elevator doors closed as he reached the hallway. “Fuck!” He took the stairs, praying to God he would make it down before she did.

As he got to the ground floor, he heard the ding of the elevator signaling its arrival. “Violet!” he called as she ran out of the lobby door.

He chased after her, catching her in the middle of the parking lot. “Violet, stop. Please. Tell me what’s the matter.”

She whirled around. “What’s the matter?” Her eyes blazed like blue fire. “Your friends are sitting there doing nothing when they could help find Joanne!”

“Baby, calm down! They’re not doing nothing; they’re trying to help!” He gripped her shoulders to keep her steady. “Please. Tell what’s really wrong.”

The expression on Violet’s beautiful face turned from angry to agony. Her eyes filled with tears threatening to spill over. “I’m not doing this again. I’m not going to sit back and wait and let another innocent girl die. Not again!”

“Again?” Nathan could feel the pain radiating off her. “Oh God. Violet.” He pulled her to him, crushing her in his arms in a fierce hug. He buried his nose in her hair. “Tell me, Violet. Tell me why you’re hurting. I need to know.” Because he couldn’t stand seeing her like this and being unable to do anything about it.

“I …” She took deep, calming breaths. “It was back in Eritana, when I was doing my research. We were based in this remote village, and I was staying at the girl’s orphanage. They had nothing, you know? And yet they gave me a place to stay. I’m not good around kids, and they were wary of me. But, later on ... they made me … not so lonely.” She rubbed her face against his shirt, the moisture of her tears soaking the fabric. “Then, I got this job with Blackstone and it was the chance of a lifetime. I took it and resigned from the research team. The girls threw me a party the night before I was going to leave.” Violet looked up at him, her cheeks streaked with dried tears. “Then the men came in the middle of the night.”

Nathan’s jaw set into a hard line. “Men?”

“Insurgents. Rebels. Or possibly the military themselves. I don’t recall. They wanted the girls. All twenty-three of them. The oldest one was barely thirteen years old.”

He wanted to ask what for, but at the same time he didn’t want to know. The news was filled with stories about what happened to unprotected girls in war-torn countries. “And then what?”

“I woke up and got out of my tent. There were a dozen of them. All armed. They were pointing their guns at the girls and lining them up to place them in their truck.”

“Did they …?”

“I don’t remember much, but I do remember how angry I was. How angry my tiger was. You see to us, the girls were our cubs. Ours to protect. I shifted, and then there was so much blood … I killed most of them.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “You saved them.”

“I saved twenty-two of them.” She swallowed. “The truck drove away with one girl. Nadia.”

“Did the authorities go after her?”

She gave a bitter laugh. “No, of course not. The village elders didn’t have time to look for a girl, much less an orphaned one. And they … they said I was a monster, and they locked me up in a cage.”

“No!” Those bastards.

“Few people had heard of shifters there, so they didn’t know what I was. My team had been driven away too. I didn’t want to agitate the villagers, so I waited. My university has protocols in place, and I trusted the system would work.”

“They got you out?”

She nodded. “Yes. But three days had passed. As soon as I was out, I hunted those men down. It only took me twenty-four hours.”

He dreaded her next words, but he knew she had to say them. And he had to hear them. “Nadia?”

“G-g-gone. By the time I tracked them down to their camp … oh God!” She sobbed. “They didn’t … touch her, but I think they didn't know what to do with her. Nadia cried a lot and maybe they got pissed off and ….”

“Sshhh … Baby, it’s okay. You don’t have to say any more.”

“I killed as many of them as I could. I left one so they would know who I was and made sure no one messed with the girls again. They called me the Golden Demon. They said I was a monster. And I am.”

“You’re not,” Nathan said. “You saved those girls. They’re alive because of you.”

She hiccupped but remained silent.

“Violet, baby … I’m sorry. So sorry for what happened to you and for Nadia. You got your revenge. And I know you want to find Joanne too, but lashing out like this won’t help. Tiring yourself out won’t help, either. We need to get some rest and start fresh in the morning.”

“But—”

He planted a quick kiss on her lips. “I promise you, we will find her.”

“I want to believe that,” she said, laying her head on his chest. “But I want to do something now.”

“We are doing—”

Someone clearing their throat interrupted him. When Nathan looked up, he saw Luke standing a few feet away from them.

“For what it’s worth,” he began, “I completely disagree with Jason and Christina’s plan.”

“You do?”

He nodded. “And I told them that. That’s why I’m here.”

Violet pulled away from Nathan. “I don’t understand.”

“Christina wants to recruit me to be part of The Agency,” Luke explained. “I thought, why the hell not? Especially if it means we get to catch the bastards who tried to do us in during the wedding. I already do my patrols every night. She only asked that I do a more organized approach, move in grids, and report back any unusual activity.”

“Wow.” Nathan had to admit that was a genius plan.

“Anyway, like I said, if someone’s got your friend, then we shouldn’t be sitting on our hands doing nothing.”

“Wait. Are you saying you want to help?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Sounds like you two have been running around the whole day. Get some rest, and I'll take over from here.” He rubbed his jaw with his fingers. “So, that bar. The Bitter End?”

Violet nodded. “Off Highway 54, north of Verona Mills. What are you going to do?”

“I’ll head there and keep watch. Follow them and tell you what I find.”

Violet seemed satisfied with his answer. “Thank you, Luke. That would help me sleep better.”

He shrugged. “I’ll call you if I find anything.” Without another word, he walked away.

“Your friend is … different,” Violet said.

Nathan chuckled. “Yeah, that describes Luke all right. But, like he said, let’s get some rest.” He took her elbow and walked her back toward Jason and Christina's apartment building.

“Your car is over there.” Violet pointed to the Mustang as they walked past it.

“I know,” he said as he led her to the building next to Jason’s. “We’re not going to my car.” He fished for his keys and opened the door to the lobby. “We’re going to my loft.”

“Your loft? You live here too?” she asked. “But—”

“Violet, it’s late. And we’re both tired. I don’t want to drive you all the way back to the hotel.” He gently guided her into the elevator.

“I can get a cab—”

“And Luke doesn’t have your number, he has mine. He’s going to call me when he finds something. Do you want to waste precious time driving back and forth from here to your hotel when he does?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

They were already in front of his apartment door. “Don’t worry; I’ve got three bedrooms. I’ll lend you some clothes, you can have a hot bath, and then sleep.”

She sighed in defeat. “That sounds good, actually.”

He kissed the top of her head. For a second he thought she’d recoil, but she leaned into him. “Okay, bedroom’s on the right, same place as Christina’s office. You’ll find everything you need in the closet.”

“Thank you,” she said, pulling away from him.

Nathan watched her disappear down the hallway. When he heard the door close, he walked back to the living room, sank down on the couch, and placed his face in his hands.

“Christ.” This morning seemed like a million years ago. He’d been hurt by her words in the trailer, but now … he couldn’t even recall the feeling.

Violet. She was so strong. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. After what happened to her, a lesser man would have crumbled. But she didn’t. She picked up the pieces and went on with her life. It must be hard to compartmentalize like that.

It all clicked into place. Why Violet was the way she was. She had to keep her emotions packed away, or, he guessed, the survivor’s guilt would consume her. He saw her crack today. Before this whole mess, he wanted to see her show some emotion but not like this. He was glad she had the cold and calculated Dr. Robichaux persona to protect her.

“Nathan?”

“Huh?” How long had he been sitting there? A while probably. Violet was standing in the doorway. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing one of his spare shirts which came down to her knees. “Everything okay? Do you need some water or anything?”

She shook her head. “It’s too quiet in the room.”

“Oh.”

“Can I stay out here? With you? Maybe we can watch TV or something?”

“Of course.” He gestured to the spot beside him on the sofa, then reached for the TV remote. “Anything in particular you want to watch?”

She sat down, bringing her knees up to her chest. “It doesn’t matter.”

He scrolled through the channels, then settled on an old movie musical starring the actress from The Wizard of Oz singing a song about a trolley.

Violet watched the movie quietly, not saying a thing. He tried to glance at her once in a while, unable to concentrate. How could he when she was so close to him that her scent was driving him wild? Or rather, it was her scent mixed in with his body wash. It made him think of getting her into his bathroom and using the detachable shower head in creative ways.

Get a grip. She’d already been through so much today. They both had. She didn’t need him getting all horny around her. It had riled him up, knowing what happened to her. Sure, that was before they knew each other, but he had the instinct to protect her from everything. She was far away from those people who caged her. That was the past, and she’d never have to see them again.

As the credits started to roll, Nathan felt something brush up against him. It was Violet. She had fallen asleep and slumped over on him, her thick damp hair tickling his skin. With a resigned sigh, he put an arm around her, pulled her close, and switched the TV to the sports channel, turning the volume low so as not to disturb Violet. She snuggled against him, burying her face into his side. His wolf sighed in contentment, happy that Violet was comfortable enough to let her guard down around them.

Yeah buddy, he thought. Me too.