Did he mind if she went with him?

Mind? Mind? Range couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do than take her with him.

He nodded. “That’s fine.”

A glimmer of an expression crossed her face. He wished he knew what it meant. He wished he knew her a lot better than he did.

In so many ways.

In his mind, his wolf howled.

He slipped his pants and shoes on and grabbed the keys.

The drive there, his mind was preoccupied. He didn’t say a word and she spent the time looking out the passenger window.

The night was still early, traffic dotted I-10 as he headed west toward a hotel he’d snagged not too far from her apartment.

So, what was his mind preoccupied with during the drive?

Mostly his wolf, and the reactions his wolf was having to her.

Oddly, a conversation Range had with Mae a few years ago came to his mind.

They’d been talking about love and relationships and being a shifter. Of course, Mae wasn’t a shifter, but she’d been bonded to one, couplebonded, for life. That’s what shifters did. One bite, at just the right time during that moment when a couple climaxed, and the bitten one was securely marked with a couplebond, which was like an aura, though not visible, that designated the couple was bonded. And interestingly, it also showed in the aura of the one who did the biting.

That mark was forever, she had said, or until one of them died. Which was why she didn’t have one, since her mate Brad was dead. Of course, now she had a mate. Doc Evans. And she was happier than Range had ever seen her. But back then, Mae had tried to talk to a teenaged Range, telling him how shifters would find that right mate. Their fated mate. And how there would be no other. And that their animal would know.

Range had laughed at that. He’d had a good laugh.

Mae had smiled indulgingly, and said, “You’ll see. One day, you’ll see. Your wolf will speak to you, and you’ll know.”

He’d contained his mirth and asked if there was ever a time when a shifter animal didn’t know.

She’d said, “I don’t think so. Maybe sometimes the animal doesn’t reveal it to the human until they’re ready to.”

Range realized he was leaning on the accelerator a bit heavily and raised his foot.

And now his wolf was telling him something. And Range wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it. He didn’t need the wolf endorsing the attraction he already felt for this woman, a woman he’d just met—and not under the best of circumstances.

“Well?” Eira said.

He glanced at her. “What?”

“What’s your name?”

Damn. He hadn’t told her his name. “Do you make it a habit to get into vehicles and go to hotel rooms with men whose name you don’t know?”

“Only those I’m supposed to kill.”

He did a double take. What the fuck?

Her lips curved into a smile.

He shook his head. “I’ve seen your skills. That’s not a joking matter.”

“I’m not going to kill you while I still have unanswered questions.” Her smile grew larger. Her violet indigo eyes crinkled.

And Range fell deeper.

And his wolf howled in delight at the predicament Range was in.

Fuck off, Range told his wolf, knowing full well that the wolf would take it lightly. Luckily, they got along fairly well, else his wolf might get testy.

And Range had seen what having a testy shifter animal inside could be like.

Of all the experimental testing, that seemed to be something that Asa had to deal with. Range’s issues from the testing had been different.

She was frowning now. “I’m kidding. I don’t plan to kill you.”

“I don’t think I’d be easy to kill,” Range informed her.

“I didn’t think so. But I’m still waiting.”

Oh yeah, my name.

“Range.”

“Is that like a title? Or a position? Like ranger? Or something?”

He frowned. “No. That’s the name on my birth certificate.”

“Is it the only name?”

He pulled into his hotel parking lot. “No. Wulfsen.” He spelled it out for her.

She laughed. “It sounds like wolf’s son.”

He shrugged. “That’s my legal name.”

“Why does it seem like there’s more to this story.”

He snorted a laugh. “That’s damned rich, coming from you.”

She nodded in acknowledgment. “You’re right.”

He grabbed the spare key card from the console—who knew where the first one was, it had been in his pocket earlier. He opened the door for her and led her to a side entrance where the key card gave them access.

In the room, he snagged a beer from the small refrigerator and popped the top, handing it to her.

She nodded her thanks.

He took one for himself, popped it open, and took a long drink, downing half while he took long strides to the closet, yanked out a T-shirt, and opened the door to the veranda.

Twelve stories high, the view was as good as it could get, considering.

The moon was high, beautiful and full, and the night was young.

And I’m here with this beautiful woman I don’t know shit about, who I set up to be abducted by a bunch of douches.

And I’m flying out tomorrow.

And this would be his last—and his one and only—night with her.

“Out here okay?”

She nodded.

He pulled out one of the two chairs next to the table for her.

She took a seat as he did, this time taking a smaller gulp of his drink. Then he dove right in. “Why did you want to come here?”

She studied the moon, the horizon, the city lights, her beer. Hell, it seemed she studied everything, but made it a point not to look at him.

“I’m not sure.”

Seriously?

“Well, you asked to go with me. Where did you want to go?”