I opened my eyes to the bright spring sunlight of the dream forest. Our dream forest. Smiling, I walked through the tall grass and wildflowers. It only took me three steps to reach the clearing in the aspen grove.

Vali was in the meadow. He was naked, of course, and pacing among the wildflowers, his long strides fast and angry. He froze when I stepped into the sunlight.

“That was foolish,” he growled. “And unnecessary.”

“Nice to see you, too,” I muttered.

He crossed the distance between us, grabbing my arms. His grip was so hard it almost hurt.

“You don’t understand,” he snapped. “I’m dangerous!”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Yet you don’t seem to listen!”

Anger flared in my chest. “You know who else is dangerous? The other alpha! Vali, I’ve seen him kill challengers!”

Vali snorted. “So?”

“So he could have killed you!”

“You think that animal could have hurt me?” His fingers tightened, sending a bolt of pain down my arm.

I tried to pull out of his grasp, but his fingers were unyielding. “Oh, you arrogant jerk!”

“I’m arrogant? You put your life in danger, and for nothing!”

God, I wanted to smack his handsome face. “Nothing! You think getting a wolf off your jugular is nothing?” I was screaming now; I couldn’t stop myself. “You’re lucky I was there! He would have killed you!”

Vali barked a sharp, bitter laugh. “I’ve never needed help, and I sure as hell didn’t need it today.”

His golden eyes flashed. I felt the heat of his naked body, inches from my chest. Damn it, did he have to be this handsome? I narrowed my eyes, trying to ignore the heat surging through my body, making me slick between my legs.

“He had you pinned,” I growled. “By the neck.”

Vali growled, deep and low in his throat. “You. Don’t. Understand! I can’t always control myself. Not like that. Not as a wolf!”

His muscles tightened, and he tilted his head, running his cheek along my hair, smelling me. His body hummed with energy. Vali’s dark curls fell back, exposing the tanned length of his neck. There, just above his collarbone, was an angry red oval of shallow puncture wounds.

“Oh, God, Vali!”

His back stiffened and his breath hissed sharply. “Don’t!”

“That’s where he bit you!”

“I said don’t!” Vali shoved me backward. “No help! I’ve never needed help. I don’t need help!”

I took one stumbling step back and hit an aspen tree. Its coarse bark bit into my shoulders as Vali’s chest pressed against my breasts, his golden eyes burning into mine. I felt the wild pounding of his heart through my thin turtleneck. Shit, he was gorgeous. My nipples strained against my shirt and my sex pulsed with hunger.

“You could have been hurt,” he growled. “You could have been killed. I am dangerous!”

His lips pulled back in a snarl. Anger and arousal surged through my body, drowning any remaining rational thought.

“Me!” I barked a laugh, raising my lips until they were almost touching his. “You were the one getting hurt, damn it! I saved your life! Don’t you dare tell me you didn’t need help!” I shifted in his arms, pressing my hips against the heat of his erection.

Vali turned away, releasing my arms.

“I could have killed you,” he hissed, his voice a low rumble.

I ran my fingers up his neck and threaded them in his hair. “But you didn’t,” I said. “I’m right here. I’m not hurt.”

“Karen,” he moaned. His body shuddered. “If you had...If I’d...“

“You’re not so dangerous,” I whispered, pressing his face closer to mine.

His pulse raced under my lips; his hands trembled around my arms. I arched my back, rocking my hips into his and pressing my breasts against the hard muscles of his chest.

“I mean, what are you going to do, Vali? Fuck me to death?”

He moaned, deep and low in his throat. His back stiffened and his hips crashed into mine, slamming me against the tree.

“Damn it, Karen,” he snapped.

The trunk shuddered as he let go of my arms and grabbed my pants, pulling them apart down the middle. The fabric gave way with a loud, long rip. My mind had time to register shock - that wasn’t possible, no one was that strong - before he picked me up by my thighs, wrenched open my legs, and shoved me against the tree. The rough bark dug into my shoulders and hips. His cock pressed against my slick entrance. I moaned.

“Vali...” I pleaded. I couldn’t think anymore, couldn’t speak. My body was burning against his, every part of me aching to be filled.

“Oh, damn, Karen, you can’t—”

His words cut off as his lips found mine, crushing me in a bruising kiss before pulling away to rub his face along my neck. His breath hissing hot and fast over my skin. His body trembled above mine, his stiff cock pulsing against the lips of my pussy, and I moaned a wordless plea, over and over.

With a moan that may have been pain, Vali thrust into me so hard and fast it took my breath away. I gasped, and my body clenched around him as his hips drove me into the tree trunk. The wood groaned in protest, and gentle green aspen leaves fell all around us. I linked my ankles around his back, moaning in rhythm with his thrusts. Electricity sparked and surged through our bodies.

Vali bit me, hard and low on my neck. I yelped and flinched. The sudden burst of pain faded almost as quickly as it had appeared, washed away by the waves of heat surging between my legs. He bent over me and bit me again, lower, almost on my collarbone. This time there was no distinction between the pleasure and the pain, and when I cried out, his name flew from my lips. He pressed his mouth to mine, swallowing my cries as his body surged against me, both of us wild with desire and need.

I came so hard my head crashed against the tree as every nerve in my body fired, my mind obliterated in a red flood of ecstacy. Vali’s body slammed into mine as my head reeled. His breath was shallow and uneven, and his thrusts lost their earlier rhythm. He moaned my name as he came; his cock spasmed deep inside me as his hands clenched my thighs.

My head fell onto his shoulder and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, reluctant to let him go. Slowly and softly, he began kissing my neck. I gasped as I felt his cock twitch inside me, stiffening. I arched my back, ready to offer him more, but the rough aspen bark bit into my shoulders. I hissed in pain and pulled away.

Vali pulled back, his eyes wide. “Are you hurt?”

“No. No, I’m fine. More than fine. Just...the tree is maybe not the most comfortable place.”

He ran his face along my neck once more and sighed as he lowered me to the ground. My legs trembled when my feet touched the grass. Afraid they might give out altogether, I leaned against the hard muscles of his chest.

“You were foolish today,” he said.

I closed my eyes, breathing him in. “Yeah. Probably. But it was my fault you got pinned.”

“What do you mean?”

“You smelled me, right? When you were fighting. You hesitated, and that’s when 457M attacked.”

“Four-fifty... what?”

I smiled and met his eyes. “The other wolf. The male alpha. We call him 457M. Scientists assign the Yellowstone wolves numbers, not names.”

He laughed at that, and my heart surged. He had a beautiful laugh, like clear water flowing over stones. “So, what’s my number?”

“Well, you’re not exactly a wolf, are you?”

Vali’s forehead creased, and his eyes darkened. He turned away, revealing the tight oval of puncture wounds on his neck where 457M bit him this afternoon. His dark hair fell across his high cheekbone, and he looked so sad my heart ached. I stood on my toes, kissing him. He sighed as my lips moved across his chin and down his neck.

“Beautiful Karen,” he said, his voice rough. “I only meant to reprimand you, to warn you to stay away. But I couldn’t—I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I’m not complaining.”

His arms tightened around my waist. “It was not well done. I apologize. It’s... it’s been a long time since I had a lover.”

I laughed, feeling the rise and fall of his chest brush my nipples. “It’s been a long time for me, too.”

Vali’s body relaxed. He kissed me again, running his fingers through my hair. I leaned against him as I watched the distant clouds in the light blue dream-sky. I was leaving Yellowstone in the morning, and damn did I ever want to ignore that fact.

But I had to tell Vali. I owed him that much, at least.

“I leave tomorrow,” I whispered, blinking against the sting of tears welling under my eyelids.

Vali sighed. “That’s probably for the best.”

“Do you think...even if I’m not in the park...could we still..?”

“I don’t know.”

“I want to keep seeing you,” I pressed. “Please, Vali. I lost you once, when the dreams stopped. I don’t want to lose you again.”

Vali’s eyes darkened again, and he turned away. His heart hammered under my cheek.

“I don’t care if you’re dangerous,” I said. “I mean, you can’t be dangerous here, right? Not in our dreams?”

Vali brought his hand to my cheek, caressing me softly, almost like a child. “I would very much like to keep seeing you,” he whispered. “Here. Where I can be sure you’re safe.”

“Good,” I said. Despite my frantic blinking, a tear escaped my eye and slid down the curve of my cheek.

“But, Karen, please. You must promise me you won’t seek me out, not outside of dreams. Not as a wolf. If I hurt you—”

I kissed him, cutting him off. “I promise,” I whispered.

He gasped as my fingers traced the inside of his thighs.

“Now, let’s stop talking,” I said.

****

“SOMEONE IS CALLING you,” Vali said, as we lay curled together in the crushed grass of the meadow.

I wrapped my arms tighter around Vali’s strong chest, burying my head in the curve of his neck. “Ignore them,” I muttered.

“You can’t,” he said. His voice was sad, and already distant...

My eyes snapped open and I shot up. The tent was shaking around me.

“Boss Lady!” Zeke called. “You alive in there?”

Shit!

“Jesus H. Christ,” I yelled, squinting against in the bright sunlight filtering through my tent’s fabric. “What the fuck are you—”

I blinked. Bright sunlight?

“Well, it’s past eight in the morning,” Zeke drawled from outside the tent. “Seeing as how you usually wake us up at ass-crack-o’clock, Colin and I thought you might have died in there.”

I heard the two of them laughing as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

I was naked. Shit again. I did not sleep naked. Not in the backcountry. Not even in my own bedroom. What the fuck happened to my clothes? I reached across the tent and rummaged in my backpack until I found underwear, a pair of shorts, and another polypro shirt. I got dressed as subtly as I could. Then I brought my fingers to my neck, pressing gently. Ouch. There was definitely a sore spot where Vali had bitten me. In my dream.

“That’s not possible,” I muttered.

“What’s that, Boss?” Zeke called.

“Nothing!” I yelled. “Pack up the equipment!”

I tied a bandana around my neck and hoped to hell it would cover the bruise, because there was no possible way I could explain waking up with a hickey. Once I felt at least halfway presentable, I slowly unzipped the tent door. Colin and Zeke stared at me, looking quite amused.

“I’m really sorry about that,” I said, running my fingers through my greasy hair.

“Pleasant dreams?” asked Zeke, with just enough of a smile to worry me.

“Hey, I’m still your boss,” I said. “And besides, what happens in the backcountry of Yellowstone...”

Colin and Zeke laughed, and the world began to feel slightly normal again.

“Pack up,” I said. “We’re headed back to civilization this morning.”

None of us, I noticed, looked particularly happy about that fact.

****

“LET’S STOP FOR WATER,” Zeke said.

He stepped to the side of the trail and slipped off his pack. He didn’t even sound winded, which was totally not fair. My shoulders and back throbbed, and my feet sang with blisters. I felt completely exhausted, as if I really had spent all of last night fucking Vali. And maybe I had. I shook my head to stop that train of thought. These past four days had been crazy enough.

“Here?” I asked. “We’re almost to the parking lot.”

Colin nodded. “Here’s good,” he agreed, taking off his pack.

I was too tired to put up much of an argument, so I just nodded. I worried that if I took off my backpack I’d never be able to force myself to put it on again, so I leaned against a lodgepole pine instead of sitting down with the boys. The air was still and warm, filled with the buzz and hum of grasshoppers and the smell of sun-warmed sagebrush in the valley.

“That was a weird trip,” said Zeke.

I suddenly understood why he’d wanted to stop. Colin nodded, looking back over the trail, almost as if he expected to see Vali following us. Of course, I’d been looking back over the trail all morning.

“We’re going to leave it here,” Zeke said, handing me his water bottle. “Right, Boss Lady?”

I drained the water bottle and nodded.

“Yup,” I said. “We’re going to leave it here.”