Cole and his wolf were having an argument.

This wasn’t a new event by any stretch, but it was the first time Cole had ever wondered if his inner wolf was completely sane.

In the first place, the damn beast didn’t seem to understand why they weren’t making a move.

Mate. She’s ours.

No. Cole paused. Well, yes. But only to protect. Not for anything else.

Not for a while. Not for what was going to feel like a million, trillion years. Because he wasn’t going to let her go, let her go, but his hands were tied as surely as if someone had hauled out a big-ass rope and looped him up good.

Mates were to be cherished. Jumping her bones immediately would probably trigger the prophecy, which meant before they did anything, he had to have a long talk with the woman.

Dani drifted around the cabin, pointedly disregarding him as she boiled water and piled foodstuffs on the counter. Slowly, the scent of coffee filled the air. She’d rolled up the sleeves of the oversized sweatshirt, her delicate forearms drawing his attention and forcing as many erotic images as if she’d stripped.

He twisted his chair away to stop from staring at her. Didn’t help, not with the scent of her filling the cabin more than the coffee she was now pouring into two cups.

“Sugar?” Her tone was borderline rude.

“No.”

She eyed him, then sniffed before putting three heaping spoons into her cup and stirring violently.

“Maybe you should stick with hot chocolate,” he muttered.

Dani whirled on the spot and glared evilly. “Look, Mr. Judgey-McJudgey-Pants. How I like my coffee is none of your business.”

“Just saying when your taste buds mature a little—”

A low growl escaped her. She snatched up a cup and stomped the three steps back to his side, slamming it down in front of him. Liquid sloshed over the brim onto the table. “Oh, how surprising. That was another dig at how young you think I am. Buddy, I don’t know where you get off deciding you’re in charge of me, ’cause you’re not. And I’m old enough, so there.”

He kept eye contact, almost certain she was about to blow a raspberry at him as a final punctuation.

Her face contorted a few times. Definitely fighting for control.

Cole reached for his cup and hid his smile by taking a sip. Damn, he wasn’t supposed to like her this fast, other than it made sense because of the mate thing. His wolf paced inside, pleased and content as Cole dragged more of Dani’s scent into his system.

She’d returned to the counter, tipping back her own cup and drinking deeply. Her throat moved rhythmically, her breasts—God, those breasts—rising and falling noticeably as she lowered the cup and sighed with satisfaction.

Cole wiggled in his chair, casually adjusting…things.

Screw this. Nothing about this situation was normal. He rose to his feet and joined her at the counter. “What can I do to help?”

Dani looked him up and down. “Don’t go all nice on me. I’ll get whiplash.”

“I like to keep people on their toes.”

She snorted. “Look, we got off on the wrong foot—”

“What? You mean with you breaking into my shop and stealing one of my sleds? Funny how that might set the wrong precedent for us to be best buds.”

She ignored him and kept on rolling. “—but I’m sure now that you have your sled back, and you can tell I didn’t mean any harm, we should start over. And you should get out of your clothes.”

His spine froze. His skin lit up like an electric field. His cock—

“What?”

Dani waggled a finger up and down at him. “Dude, you’re wet. And not to be indelicate about it, you stink. There’s a shower house behind the cabin and spare clothes in the chest by the bed. If you’re going to hang out here and bother me, I expect a certain level of grooming and personal hygiene from my houseguests.”

She grabbed a full bucket of water off the counter, plopped it at his feet then pointed to the door.

Good grief. Cole lifted an arm and took a sniff. “I do not stink,” he grumbled, but his wolf and his feet were already heading toward the chest. He rummaged through it to find a shirt.

Damn wolf didn’t want to piss off his mate.

I will get even with you for this, he warned the beast.

His wolf gloated, eyeing Dani with pride. She was once again ignoring Cole, working steadily at the counter and slipping something that smelt salty and bacon-y into a pan on the stove.

“And you’re not going to use this opportunity to run away?”

Dani glanced over her shoulder before raising a brow sky high. “I promised not to run. I keep my word.”

A loud hmmph escaped her as she tossed her head then turned her back on him.

Okay, then.

She likes us, his wolf insisted.

Cole was tempted to slam the door on his way out, but the hinges were one step away from being toast. Oh, and you know this from the way she informed us we stink?

Clean means she wants contact. His wolf sent over a rush of images involving Cole and Dani tangled together with nothing between them but hot, wet skin.

The string of curses in his head were long and creative, the icy wind temperature welcome as Cole trudged around the back side of the cabin.

The shower house was a simple setup—he poured the water into the overhead container then let it run out a spigot/showerhead. Cole stripped and got wet before stopping the flow and soaping up. It was cold enough the lather barely rose until he scrubbed harder, steam rising off his shifter body.

He was tempted to curl a hand around his cock and rid himself of the pressure. Desire for his mate pounded through his blood, and he stroked his hard length a couple times, pushing forward into the tight circle of his fist. Another stroke, mind wandering. He could step behind Dani where she stood at the counter, his hands drifting up her torso to cup her breasts, nuzzle against her neck—

Cole forced his fingers open. Every bit of control had to be summoned to stop his imagination from running away with him. Now was not the time to indulge, now was the time to get used to suffering because they were not in the clear yet. He had to take her back to town. He had to make sure she was telling the truth before figuring out how they were going to survive the next step.

It wasn’t going to be simple, whatever it was.

He cranked open the water and let the icy coldness wash away the soap, his hopes, and his erection.

One tipsy-door tangling incident later, Cole was back in the cabin, his “stinky” clothes washed and left hanging in the shower house.

Dani examined him as he dropped into his chair, a smile flitting over her lips.

His heart leapt in a most not-in-control manner. “Happy?” he growled to hide the way his emotions were dancing inside like a goddamn puppy.

“Ecstatic. Ready for breakfast?”

She pushed a plate in front of him, laid one for herself and dug in enthusiastically.

Cole eyed his plate. Salt pork, with perfectly crisped edges. A steaming mound of baked beans, and a stack of pancakes smothered in maple syrup.

Oh, my God, his mate could cook. He was going to cry for joy.

“How did you do this?”

She lifted a brow. “Specifically?”

He gestured at his plate. “I tracked you here after you showed up in Chicken. You got to Chicken from somewhere that was not here, in this cabin. How did you make a meal like this?”

She frowned. “Seriously? What kind of adventure guide are you? All these old cabins have emergency stashes. I’d have thought, with you being so much older and more experienced than little ol’ me, you’d have learned that already.”

Cole growled at her and she smirked. “Smart-ass. Yes, I know what the typical rations are in these cabins, and it’s not this kind of fare.”

“Oh?” She stabbed a piece of pancake and lifted it to her mouth, licking the maple syrup off the tongs. His gaze locked on her tongue. Licking, licking. Licking again, but missing the glistening drip of sweetness clinging to the corner of her lips.

Cole’s brain clouded over. “This isn’t typical— Sweet, fuck.”

She’d wiped her hand over her lips then popped the sticky digits into her mouth, lips closing around her fingers as she sucked and hummed lustily.

He was dying. His heart pounded so hard he was about to fall over and fucking die, right there in that teeny little cabin. He wrenched his gaze off her, fastened it on his plate and concentrated on shoveling in food as fast as possible without choking. Nothing else existed. Just his plate. Just the food.

Just the scent of her whirling around him and soaking into his system as if he were consuming her, one bite at a time.

He was so dead.

Fortunately, Dani stayed quiet enough he could pretend he was all alone as he fought for control.

They were nearly finished breakfast when the wind gusted and the door gave up being a door. It swung open, teetered on the final attached hinge, then crashed to the floor, icy wind and snowflakes whirling into the cabin.

Cole and Dani hit their feet at the same time.

“I saw some tools,” she offered.

“There’s lumber beside the shower house. I’ll grab it.”

They went in two directions, regrouping moments later.

It was awkward work, compounded by the tight space and lack of proper equipment. Cole had to get her help holding things in position, which meant he’d ended up tangled partially around her. Bodies rubbing far too intimately. If he weren’t already numb from frustration, it might have hurt more than he could bear.

Numbness, he decided, was now his best friend.

They fell into an easy rhythm, working side by side. Dani’s petite stature made it easy for her to crawl into the tight places he needed her to hold things as he jimmied the hinges back into working condition.

“You’re good at this.” Her compliment warmed him far too much. “I thought you owned a sporting-goods store, not a fix-it shop.”

He felt a dire need to share. “I work with my brother for now, guiding and the shop, yes, but it’s temporary. We’ve always known this.”

“Ooooh, you’ve got bigger things planned down the road?”

The question seemed sincere. Maybe that was another reason why he didn’t stop himself. It made sense that his wolf instinctively trusted her—mate and all—but on another whole level, Cole should be holding his tongue.

Impossible. Especially since, although she didn’t know it yet, her future would be tangled up in his.

“I have certain life…situations—” mating was a situation, right? “—that need to occur before I get to assume the position.”

“Ahh. Assume the position.”

Didn’t matter that she was just repeating him, the dirty thoughts that rushed him were filthy to the extreme.

“I get it. You’ve got a hereditary job waiting for you, right?”

Man. How to explain this without mentioning the prophecy that he still didn’t think was explainable. “Sort of?”

She patted his arm in sympathy. “Me too. Which is part of the reason why I need to find out for sure if that was my sister with you. Right now, if she returns to Kodiak Island, I’m off the hook. If she’s not able to return, I’m next in line to rule.”

Her entire body shuddered.

Uh-oh. “Not interested in being part of the ruling elite?”

“I am part of the ruling elite. Have been since birth, but I really hate the spotlight-bullshit-snootery.” She made a face. “All that bowing and scraping is terrible no matter which way it’s aimed, at me or by me.”

His wolf rumbled for a second. Trouble?

Of course, trouble. Not that Cole knew exactly what his true future held, but chances were good that it would involve a bunch of that bowing and scraping she’d mentioned. Or maybe groveling from bad guys once they’d been overcome. Or maybe…

Damn unclear prophets and their prophetic gibberish.

He rubbed his temples and wondered for the millionth time if there was an escape clause. Something that didn’t say, “Now that you’ve found your mate, the legacy will rapidly overtake you.”

Except…he didn’t want there to be an escape clause, because he was growing to like her. Except he didn’t want to want her until he figured out how to soften the blow that he was about to shove her back into that spotlight-bullshit-snootery again—

Man, he was so fucked.

“What’s your fate that’s worse than death?” she asked again.

“Don’t want to talk about it.”

The words came out with more heat than he’d intended, and she looked hurt. Damn it if Cole didn’t want to pick her up and wrap her in a million layers of protection so that no one, especially not him, could ever put that expression on her face again.

He reached out and touched her arm gently in a silent apology. “I don’t want to talk about it because it’s complicated, and it makes me frustrated,” he offered.

As if he’d shared all the secrets of the universe, Dani’s expression flowered. Soft and kind as she patted his hand on her arm.

And when she got up, brushing past him, she ghosted her lips over the top of his head, and he felt as if he were a king. A completely confused and throne-less king who had nothing but trouble ahead of him.

Yay, king.

Dani was going hunting.

As the morning had slipped into afternoon and the storm outside had thickened, a new source of entertainment had become her obsession. A new game to play, the only game on her mind.

Torment the wolf.

She’d enjoyed their little chat time far more than she’d expected, although he was most certainly keeping secrets from her. Which—duh. Of course he was. She was keeping plenty from him, as well.

But time was running out on the extension Charlene had given her. Michele must have returned to headquarters, so Dani was on her own. If she wanted to finally get hold of her sister, she needed a new plan.

Access to her goal: one wolf.

Besides, it was going to be fun. Fun was always a bonus.

“Let’s make a deal,” Dani proposed.

Cole glared. He’d just come in from outside and was covered with a fine layer of ice crystals.

She waggled her brows as she slipped beside him and ran a finger along his arm. “Hmm, do that again. You looking all stern and dominant makes chills run up and down my spine.”

The wolf sputtered on air, turning his gasp into a cough as he attempted to keep up the illusion he was in control. “Don’t touch me, and what kind of a deal?”

Dani turned the chair around and straddled it, resting her arms on the low back. The position made her breasts settle on her forearms, showing off the curves she was pretty proud of.

Hey, she might be small in size everywhere else, but she had great boobs. “I’m not sure why you’re being this way. Am I that unattractive?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out she leaned forward, pressing her arms against her body. Which accidentally, definitely by chance, levered her already ample bosom up and plumped it like a prime roast turkey ready for devouring on Thanksgiving evening.

Cole’s jaw swung open for an instant before he hauled it back into place, his gaze dropping involuntarily to slip over her curves as he sat in the other chair. Then he militantly forced his attention back to her face. “You’re a very attractive female. I don’t need to tell you that.”

“But of course you do. Holy cow, what women have you been hanging around with?” Dani demanded. “Because I don’t know any chicks who don’t like to be told they’re good-looking. I mean, some don’t want to be told you’re one step away from jumping their bones, but me? I’m on the end of the spectrum that enjoys that kind of information.” She batted her lashes in what she hoped was a seductive manner.

Damn having book knowledge and nothing else.

His eyes seemed a trifle more bloodshot than they’d been even a second ago, his grip on the table firm and going nowhere fast, unless he accidentally crumbled the wood to toothpicks. “I meant I’m pretty sure you’ve been told you’re attractive. You don’t need my opinion on the matter.”

He swallowed. The only visible concession she was getting to him.

“Of course I do. Because, you know…” Dani rose from her chair and stepped closer to him, drifting a finger along his broad forearm. “All those other men, they’re not here right now. And you are.”

He swallowed again, his entire body shaking.

“Yup. It’s just you and little old me. It’s going to get really cold out, Mr. Mouse. I’d appreciate it if you’d—” she waggled her brows suggestively as she spoke “—keep me warm tonight.”

A muscle in Cole’s cheek twitched. “There’s a woodstove.”

“There is,” she agreed, “but the temperature is supposed to go way down. Nearly minus forty.” She was back in front of him now, leaning on the table as she wrapped her arms around her torso and gave an exaggerated shiver. Boobs back in prime position. “Brrrrrr.”

She twirled toward him, letting herself fall so he had to catch her or let her drop to the floor. He was too much of the gentlemen to let that happen—

Which meant she ended up lying across his lap staring at him. His dark face set like carved stone.

She wiggled until she could nuzzle him, curving a hand around his neck. She took a deep breath before relaxing completely. “I’m getting sleepy. Aren’t you?”

His jaw was iron. “No.”

She was tempted to lick his neck. It was right there, licking distance away.

With amazing restraint, she held back. “Here’s the deal. I’ll come with you peacefully to Chicken, and we can solve all the troublesome mysteries you’ve been stewing about all day.”

His entire body tightened under her. “Good.”

He made a movement as if he were about to stand when she let her tongue rasp over his stubble. “Tomorrow.”

His resulting quiver went from head to toe, his arms around her gripping tightly. “Dani,” he warned.

“It’s late,” she protested. “And cold.”

“We’re shifters. Cold means nothing.”

She turned her snort into a huff.

“I’m delicate.” Dani wiggled in his lap, fighting to keep a smile from escaping as her hip rubbed his very apparent erection. “That’s my deal. I won’t run away. I’ll be very, very good…tomorrow. If you try to take me back tonight, I will vanish into the snowstorm and we’ll start this whole rigmarole all over again.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I’m a ghost bear. White bear in a snowstorm? That’s all I’m going to say, dude.”

He growled. “Fine. Have it your way.”

But there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

Dani debated for a long time, nearly three seconds, before wrapping her hands around his neck and trapping him in place. “Well, then. I’m going to bed. Good night.”

He’d thought he was off the hook. She saw relief and frustration in his eyes the split second before she pulled their mouths together.

His grip on her hips tightened as if he intended to peel them apart, but Dani was more than determined. Whatever his issue was, he liked her plenty. A kiss—what’s so bad about a kiss? She wanted one, and she was pretty sure he wanted one too.

Time to get them both a treat.

She licked over the seam of his lips, humming as his taste skittered into her system. That first shot was glorious. Strong, masculine. Wild and wicked.

Very, very wicked. She’d thought he’d resist her advances, but an instant after she’d made contact, he took control. His lips on hers caught fire as he consumed her greedily. Nothing held back, Cole pulled her body tight to his, the firm grip keeping her exactly where he wanted her. He nipped at her lower lip, and a sting rushed her system. Her nipples snapped to attention, and she threaded her fingers in the hair at the back of his head as he tangled their tongues.

Breathless, consumed by need, what had started as a curiosity was now an urgent fire. Her core ached, and she wanted to strip him and ride him like her own personal pony. The first ride of many that night, and the first in a long chain of sweaty, body-sating, pleasure-filled months and years.

Whoa. That was weird.

Cole scrabbled at her, fingers catching her hair and pulling as he jerked them apart. He gasped, huge sucks of air, and Dani wondered if this was what they meant by “drowning in someone’s eyes” because she was holding her breath and going over her head in a damn hurry.

Cole lifted her as if she was a feather, carrying her toward the bed, and for one agonizingly beautiful moment she thought he was going to lay her out on the bed and take her like a captured damsel.

Yes, yes, oh, pretty please, yes.

He dropped her from two feet up, stepping back before she even stopped bouncing. “Get under the covers. We leave at seven in the morning whether you’ve had your beauty sleep or not.”

Dani shot upright, slightly dazed from the change in plans. The intimate plans she’d been feverishly plotting that finally involved lots and lots of sex. “Wait. You promised to keep me warm.”

He tilted a brow upward. “I did. I’ll be over here, keeping the fire stoked all night long. You’ll be snug as a bug in a rug.”

Huh. Dani collapsed back on the pillows, tugging the quilt over herself and wondering how she’d slipped up that badly. Tomorrow they’d head into Chicken, and she’d achieve her mission and get to see her sister again for the first time in forever. Why did that great accomplishment seem to have faded into something grey and flat in light of her current lonely-shifter-in-the-bed situation?

Cold sheets wrapped around her instead of hot wolf. It was a poor substitute, and the first chance she had to get even?

She was taking it. Damn him, anyway.