Wild Invitation

Chapter 1

COOPER HAD BEEN good.

Very good.

More good than he’d ever before been in his life.

He’d stayed away from his sexy new systems-maintenance engineer for over six months. Six months. It might as well have been a decade, as far as he was concerned. A dominant predatory changeling male did not do patient when he decided on a woman, but circumstances had forced patience on him, and it was a patience that had worn his wolf’s temper to a feral edge.

With her curvy body and that soft ebony hair he wanted to fist in his hands while he used his mouth, his teeth, to mark her creamy skin, she spoke to his every male instinct. The wolf who was his other half was in full agreement. Both sides of him wanted to claim her until no one had any doubts that she belonged to him.

He’d gritted his teeth and fought the primal urge, however, aware that as the lieutenant in charge of the satellite SnowDancer den located on the northern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains, Grace was under his protection. His status wouldn’t have put the brakes on his pursuit had she been even a moderately strong dominant, but Grace was one of the most submissive wolves in SnowDancer. Cooper knew damn well submissives didn’t automatically obey dominants, but the impulse was a visceral one.

Added to that, Grace had been deeply vulnerable immediately after shifting into a new den. Cooper had known he couldn’t go after her until she’d formed new friendships, created a support system that would give her the strength to reject him if his courtship was unwelcome.

His claws pricked the insides of his skin at the thought, but man and wolf both knew that if she said no, he had to back off. At once. Because where a dominant female might run to incite a man to chase her in a challenge that came from the wild heart of her wolf, if a submissive ran and it wasn’t open play, she was trying to escape.

Don’t run from me, sweetheart, he thought as he took the final steps to her. I only bite a little. Not quite true, but he was planning to be on his best behavior until she trusted him enough to handle the aggressive sensuality that was an integral aspect of his nature. “Grace.”

• • •

GRACE felt her heart kick against her ribs at the sound of that deep masculine voice as darkly delicious as it was dangerous to her senses.

Get a grip, Grace. You’re being ridiculous.

It was the same thing she’d been telling herself over and over since her first day in the San Gabriel den, when Cooper had welcomed her to the region. Big and deadly and gorgeous as he was, it wasn’t hard to see why he’d knocked the breath out of her at first sight. The man was a living, breathing aphrodisiac. If they’d been alone, she wasn’t sure she’d have survived that meeting without doing something very stupid.

Like attempting to claim skin privileges from a male she was certain no one dared touch without his explicit permission.

Yet even in her stunned state, she’d known the attraction to be a wild impossibility. While dominants mated or bonded with submissives often enough that it wasn’t considered unusual, the dominance gap between her and Cooper was too wide. They were literally at opposite ends of the hierarchy—her wolf knew Cooper could chew her up and spit her out without noticing.

And still, every time he came near her, her entire body went taut with expectation.

“Hi,” she said, without looking up from her kneeling position in a corner, beside a heating conduit that needed a minor refit.

Akin to the den in the San Rafael Mountains where she’d spent her teenage years, and on a smaller scale than the central den in the Sierra Nevada mountains, this den had literally been carved into and below a mountain, then reinforced with stone walls. The tunnels were wide and spacious, the rooms generous, but underneath the raw natural beauty of the stone pierced with threads of glittering mineral lay a highly complex technological heartbeat, one that Grace helped maintain.

“Has there been a malfunction in one of the critical systems?” she asked, guessing that was why Cooper had taken the time to personally track her down. With both the chief and deputy chief of her department away at different tech conferences, Grace was currently the one in charge. “I can look at it straight away—this isn’t urgent.”

“No, everything’s fine.” He crouched down beside her, immediately taking up all available air in the vicinity.

Concentrate on the job, she ordered herself, attempting to focus on the digital wrench she was using to remove a fried tube…but her entire body was attuned to his every breath, her muscles strung tight.

“How’s it going in this section?” he asked, his voice pitched at a level she recognized as “careful.”

She fought the suicidal urge to throw a tool at his head. Her place in the hierarchy didn’t determine her entire personality. As with every other dominance level, submissives could be shy or exuberant, cheerful or moody, sensual or reserved. Grace might be quiet and a little shy in comparison to the majority of her packmates, but she could handle loud voices just fine—growing up with two older adoptive siblings, dominants who’d inherited a hair-trigger temper from their father, she’d heard more than her share.

“We’re about halfway through the overhaul,” she said, wishing he’d forget her place in the hierarchy and see her simply as a woman…a woman he wanted.

If he did, what would you do?

Probably run very fast in the other direction.

She twisted the wrench a fraction too hard and almost broke the tube. “Damn.” Cheeks burning, she flexed her fingers, took a deep breath, and completed the extraction with care, hotly conscious of Cooper’s watchful gaze. “There. We can recycle the components.”

“Removed without a scratch. Impressive.” He picked up the burned-out tube. “Did you get the new shipment you wanted?”

She tore her eyes away from his hands, face heating even further at the raw images that had formed unbidden in her mind—of those big hands on her body, on her breasts, his skin exquisitely rough against her own. Never had she responded to a man in such a way, and that it was a man whose mere presence made her wolf acutely uncomfortable? Surely, fate was having a good laugh at Grace’s expense.

“Yes,” she managed to say in response to his question, “I did. They were high quality, as promised.” Hearing a gentle click as he returned the tube to the floor, she put down the wrench and went to pick up a—

“Grace.” Fingers curling around her wrist.

Her pulse spiked as she stared at that strong, dark-skinned hand so warm and gentle, the calluses on his palm a sensual abrasion. She couldn’t speak, the rush of noise inside her head too loud, drowning out all else.

“Grace.” Softer this time. Coaxing. “Look at me.”

Swallowing, she chanced a peek, her wolf at rigid attention. If he’d commanded, she would’ve obeyed at once, her nature such that defiance of an order from a lieutenant stressed her on a primal level. The fact that she was a changeling rather than a wild wolf meant she had the capacity for such defiance, but it would require bone-deep disagreement on her part, enough for the human side of her nature to override the powerful instincts of her wolf.

But Cooper hadn’t commanded. He’d requested…in a way that made everything female in Grace come to trembling attention. Now, her eyes met the intense near black of his and skated away. When he did nothing but wait with a patience she’d never expected from him, she lifted her lashes again, her gaze locking with his.

It sent a thrill through her wolf. To hold the gaze of a lieutenant was a bold move for any wolf, but for a submissive, it went far beyond that. In any other circumstance, it could’ve been dangerous—just as she had her instincts, dominants had theirs. If one interpreted the eye contact as a challenge, it could end badly. The fact that in the majority of cases where such a thing had happened both parties had been in wolf form did nothing to negate the danger of triggering an inadvertent violent response.

Because a submissive would never come out the winner.

Cooper’s thumb brushed over the skittering pulse in her wrist. “There you are.” The low murmur touched her in a caress so intimate, it felt as if she was bare to the skin, exposed and vulnerable.

Inhaling a jerky breath, she broke the shocking eye contact, tugged gently at her wrist. When Cooper’s fingers tightened for an instant, her heart stuttered. He released her before the next beat. Not certain of anything, she fell back on what she knew, picking up another one of her tools to do…something. Except her thoughts were jumbled, a burn of lingering heat around her wrist. She began working on a random nonessential section of the duct, where she could easily fix any errors later.

Beside her, Cooper shifted a fraction, the single inch he closed between them enough to have her wolf quivering and alert, with anticipation, desire, and a good dose of panic all mixed in.

“You don’t ever have to fear anything from me, Grace.” It was a rough murmur, a verbal pet of her senses. “If you want me to stop anytime, anywhere, the only word you ever need to use is ‘No.’ Okay?”

She jerked her head up and down, her throat as dry as the shimmering sands of the Mojave.

“But,” he continued, “I don’t intend to go away until you tell me to do so. I’m planning to court you.”

The tool fell from her nerveless fingers to clatter to the floor. Reaching over, Cooper picked it up, put it back into her toolbox. “I’ll leave you to your work…but Grace? I’ll be seeing you again soon.” With that promise, he rose and was gone, his powerful body moving with a wild strength kept in fierce check as he strode down the relatively narrow access corridor and out into the den proper.

Heart crashing against her ribs hard enough to hurt, her breath jagged in her throat, Grace collapsed against the smooth stone of the wall. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.” Her chest rose and fell in a harsh, uneven rhythm as she attempted to take in air, clear her head.

The effort failed.

Reaching blindly for her water bottle, she swallowed.

The cool liquid wet her throat but did nothing to calm the fever in her blood.

“I’m planning to court you.”

Never in her wildest imaginings had she thought Cooper would speak those words to her. The furthest she’d dared had been improbable erotic fantasies that left her sweat-soaked and aching for completion, fantasies in which they lay skin to skin, her lips on his throat, his hands gripping her hips as he pinned her under him in readiness for his possession. In real life, she’d almost certainly panic if she was ever in that position, her wolf seizing her mind to present quiescent submission to the predator in bed with her, but the hard reality of the hierarchy didn’t matter in her fantasies.

Had Cooper invited her to his bed, those fantasies may have given her some kind of a foundation in which to ground herself, ephemeral though it would’ve been. However a changeling male like Cooper didn’t use the word “court” when he was welcoming a woman to share his body and his bed, whether for the night or longer. No, he was serious.

Big, dangerous, beautiful Cooper wanted her as his.

Chapter 2

ALMOST READY TO believe she’d imagined the whole thing, Grace lifted the inside of her wrist to her face, drew in the wild earth and dark amber of Cooper’s scent from her skin. The complex notes made her want to nuzzle her nose into his throat and breathe deep, until she could separate out the elements that made up the decadent whole.

Even now, the lingering whisper of it caused her skin to prickle, her mind cascading with sensory memories of the dark heat of his muscled body, the deep bronze of his skin, the black hair he’d taken to shaving so close to his skull that she had to constantly fight the urge to reach up and brush her hand over the bristles. Like those on his jaw.

What would that jaw feel like rubbing against skin she bared only in the privacy of her bedroom?

Groaning, she took another drink of water. It didn’t do much good, adrenaline continuing to pump hard and urgent through her veins until it felt as if her skin was going to burst from the frenetic energy ricocheting within her body, her wolf as dazed as the human side of herself. So when she heard someone else enter the access corridor, her brain seized on the distraction. And when she scented Vivienne a second before the tall, slender woman appeared around the corner, she wanted to sob with joy.

Ice-cold beauty, that’s the initial impression Grace had had of her fellow engineer with her ruler-straight black hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail and almond-shaped eyes of brown, cool against flawless white skin. Then Vivienne had smiled—as she did now—with infectious warmth, revealing the joyous reality of her spirit. “Hey, boss. I’m on my way to begin the rehaul of the comm system in this grid—the issue with the 7B comm line was nothing but a slight glitch.”

Grace touched the space beside her. “Have a break.” Critically for both their working relationship and friendship, while Vivienne was a dominant—albeit on the lower end of the power scale—she had no problem taking orders from a submissive supervisor. The level of such flexibility possessed by each individual, no matter his or her place in the hierarchy, was a fact the “civilian” chiefs in the pack had to keep constantly in mind when they created work teams.

Because when it came down to it, they weren’t human; they were changeling, they were wolf.

“Was Coop here? I love the depth of his scent.” It was a cheerful comment as Vivienne took the seat Grace had offered. “It’s so quintessentially male, you know? If my wolf wasn’t half terrified of him, I’d be tempted to serve myself up to him on a platter.” She sighed. “That scar of his should detract from his looks, but it only adds to his sex appeal. God, can you imagine what he’d be like in bed?”

Grace opened her mouth and the words just fell out, sounding as surreal as the first time she’d heard them. “He says he’s going to court me.”

Vivienne’s head snapped toward her. “I knew it!” Rampant glee. “I told Todd not to flirt with you, but would my dumbass twin listen? No! Hah! I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I tell him he was attempting to make time with the lieutenant’s woman.”

Grace blinked at the unexpected response. “You did not know. And I’m not his woman.” It sounded so strange to say those words, to even consider the idea outside of her fantasies.

Vivienne waved away the qualification. “Okay, fine, I didn’t know know, but I suspected. I grew up in this den, was seventeen when Coop took over, and let me tell you: the man might’ve kept his distance since you arrived, but he’s never looked at a woman the way he looks at you. All kind of intense and protective and ravenous”—a shiver—“like he’s waiting to take a bite.”

The idea of Cooper’s mouth on her skin made Grace squeeze her thighs together, even as another part of her yelled that she’d lost her mind. She did not have the tools to handle a man like that—strong, raw, demanding—in bed. “You’re not helping.”

“I’m sorry.” Voice solicitous, Vivienne patted her thigh. “It’s just that he’s so hot, I lost my marbles for a second.”

Grace snorted a surprised laugh and it was a needed release. “You’re an idiot.”

Vivienne winked, asked, “You don’t like him?”

“Like’s not the word I’d use,” Grace said, her voice husky with remembered emotion. “I…he is hot. Extremely.” The kind of hot that could ruin her for other men even as it burned her to a cinder. “But, he’s a lieutenant.”

“Is he using his position to pressure you?” A frown. “I can’t see Coop—”

“No! No, he’d never do that.” He might be rough around the edges, bad in a way her sensible side warned her put him way out of her sexual league, and definitely dangerous, but he was also honorable to the core.

“If you want me to stop anytime, anywhere, the only word you ever need to use is ‘No.’”

Vivienne nudged her shoulder, one long leg bent at the knee, the foot of the other pressing against the opposite wall. “Then what?”

“I’m a submissive.” An obvious, unalterable fact. “Always have been—and I’m happy with my place in the hierarchy.” She was needed, her role in SnowDancer no less important than any other. For one, the pups were utterly unafraid of her. In an emergency, she could grab any child and run, knowing that child would cling to her rather than fight.

On a day-to-day basis, and without throwing the dynamite of passion into the mix, Grace and those like her helped their stronger brethren maintain control of their aggressive natures by inciting an intense and often unconscious protectiveness.

Though, from the submissive end, the effect wasn’t always by chance.

More than once, Grace had asked an angry and frustrated dominant to assist her in some task she could just as well do herself, aware the influence of her wolf would calm theirs. Such things were part of the rhythm of a healthy pack. Those packs that lost their natural complement of submissives—whether through accidents or a lack of care and respect—and didn’t redress the imbalance eventually splintered, the energy in the den turning violent.

“Always remember”—a warm hand stroking over her hair—“as we need their strength to make us feel safe deep inside, the soldiers and other dominants need us to retain their humanity. That’s why SnowDancer is such a powerful pack. Because one is not considered more or less than the other.”

“But,” she continued, heart clenching at the echo of her lost father’s gentle voice, “wolves like me don’t date packmates as strong as Cooper.” Desire altered the rules on a fundamental level, changed the effect her wolf had on his, his on hers, until she could no longer predict how either one of them might react in any given situation.

Vivienne’s next words were solemn. “He makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t he?”

On the most basic female level. “He’s just so overwhelming.” So masculine, so primal, so harshly beautiful. Just…so.

“I get that. Coop’s not a man who’d ever be an easy kind of lover.”

Grace’s throat went dry again at the thought of calling Cooper her lover. “It’s not only that,” she rasped, having to take a sip of water before she could continue. “You remember what I told you? About how part of the reason I accepted the promotion and moved here was because of how overprotective my family was being?” Until wolf and woman both knew it wasn’t good for her.

Though she loved her adoptive parents and siblings with all her heart, and knew she was cherished in turn, at times such as this she missed her long-gone “Papa” and “Mama” so much it hurt. Her father had been a submissive, had understood her on a fundamental level, her mother a dominant soldier who’d mated and loved a submissive long enough to have gained an inherent understanding of what her daughter needed to flourish. They’d both recognized that Grace’s need to feel safe and secure didn’t equal a rigid wall of protection.

“I see your point.” Vivienne’s voice penetrated the bittersweet memories of the happy, content child she’d been before the pack was drenched bloodred. “As a lieutenant, Coop’s pretty much built to protect.” Twisting her body, she faced Grace. “If you tell him to back off, he will. I guess everything else aside, the question is—is that what you want?”

“No.” An instant and categorical repudiation. Grace couldn’t bear the thought of never again feeling the abrasive warmth of Cooper’s touch, hearing that caressing note of promise in his voice.

Vivienne’s lips curved in a wicked smile. “Then you’d better find a way to deal with the big, bad wolf who wants to have you for his own very personal snack.”

A thousand butterflies took flight in Grace’s stomach.

• • •

HE’D scared her.

The soldier in front of Cooper paled under the tanned gold of his skin. “Sir?”

And now he was scaring everyone else. Rubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to dislodge his scowl, his thumb brushing over the jagged scar along his left cheek, he said, “The perimeter incursion, you’re certain it was just a couple of human kids necking?” Wolf territory was clearly marked, but juveniles the world over had a mysterious ability to see only what they wanted to see.

Daniel nodded, his sandy hair sliding over his forehead. “I caught them myself. Made sure they knew they were trespassing on SnowDancer land, and told them it was the single warning they’d get before we took action.” A flash of teeth. “They couldn’t get out fast enough.”

“Good.” Cooper didn’t enjoy putting fear in the eyes of teenagers with more hormones than brains, but it had to be done.

SnowDancer’s vicious reputation was its first line of defense.

The pack hadn’t always been so outwardly aggressive. Their discipline and focus on family, however, had made their enemies believe SnowDancer weak; the ensuing bloodshed had devastated the pack. So many had been lost in the carnage—including Grace’s parents.

Never again, thought Cooper.

“Keep an eye out for them,” he said to Daniel. “Sometimes kids like to play chicken.” Youthful stupidity knew no boundaries, regardless of whether the young were changeling or human.

“I’ll alert the other sentries. What should we do if one of us catches them again?”

“Disable their vehicle and call me.” SnowDancer had sole jurisdiction on its land. Maybe Enforcement would’ve challenged that claim once upon a time, but not anymore—not with the world shuddering under the violent weight of a change that was redefining power itself. “I’ll walk them out personally.”

If the human pups were old enough to neck, they were old enough to know better than to dare a predatory changeling pack. Cooper intended to give the two misbehaving teens the same dressing-down he’d give one of the juveniles under his command should they pull a stupid stunt. “No one’s ever come back a third time.”

Daniel grinned.

Shoving his hands over the bristling roughness of his scalp after the soldier left, Cooper stared moodily at the view outside his window. While the majority of the den was underground, his office was located on the highest level, tucked into a natural curve of the mountain. The glass was treated so as not to reflect, but it afforded him a good view of the main path up to the den. Bathed in sunshine today, the land beyond was verdant with trees, until you’d never know the Mojave desert sprawled just beyond the distant ridgeline.

He liked being able to keep an eye on things from here, but the lack of windows in the main den didn’t bother his wolves—they loved coming home to a snug den, a place where their pups were always protected. Added to that, the tunnels were wide and bathed in simulated daylight and moonlight depending on the time of day, the air-filtration and temperature-control mechanisms fine-tuned to create an effortless transition between the outside and inside.

SnowDancer’s scientific arm had been responsible for the original development of the technology, but it was the highly trained systems engineers who maintained and calibrated the interconnected systems on a day-to-day basis. Each could handle most of the minor issues that cropped up from time to time, but they all had their specialties. Grace’s expertise was in the simulated natural light so important to the pack’s well-being.

His hand fisted, his scowl returning at the reminder of how she’d trembled under his touch. Yes, he could be scary—hell, it was an asset when it came to protecting the pack—but he didn’t want to scare Grace. He wanted to pet her, hold her, learn the intricacies of the smart, sexy woman who handled her high-tech tools with the care and elegance of a surgeon…and made him wonder how she’d use those same hands on him. Because he most definitely wanted to coax her to strip off the workmanlike coveralls that drove him wild, and breathe his fill of her scent as he explored those incredible, dangerous feminine curves with his body, his mouth.

A curl of wood falling to the floor.

He realized his claws had shot out, carved grooves into the wood of his desk. “Great,” he muttered, retracting them into his skin. “If you’re trying not to scare a woman, learn to keep your fucking claws in, Cooper.” Shoving back from his desk, he strode out of his office, taking the steps that led down into the main core of the den two at a time.

Chapter 3

BETHANY CAUGHT HIM just as he reached the bottom. “Coop, I need to talk to you about the juveniles.”

“Whatever they’ve done,” he growled, continuing on toward the exit, “handcuff the lot of them and put them in the brig. I’ll spring them in a few years when they’re full-grown adults.”

“Funny.” The short, curly-haired maternal female, her mouth bracketed by laugh lines that told of a life well lived, said, “Some of us remember when you were the worst of the lot. Wasn’t it a pink ribbon? Or did you sport the purple and Riaz the pink?”

Wincing, he halted. “You have the memory of an elephant, Aunt Beth.”

“It comes in handy when I need blackmail material.” Dimples dented her round cheeks, a mischievous expression in the dark, dark eyes that marked them as kin. “Which, in this case, is unnecessary. The juveniles have been good.”

“Did you drug their soup?”

She threatened to pull his ear—probably would have if he didn’t top her by over a foot. “About fifteen of them joined up to clear that invasive weed that somehow made its way into one of the streams. Spent the whole weekend at it, and as of today, the weed is history. It’d be nice if you could swing by.”

“I’ll do it now.” He glanced at the small comm screen set into the den wall, saw it was almost midday. “Kids had lunch?”

“I took them a couple of baskets.” Bethany patted him on the chest. “With enough for a big, strong lieutenant.”

“Sometimes I think you take me for granted.” Leaning down, he kissed her cheek, the scent of her inciting a keen protectiveness.

It was Bethany who’d taken him in as a grieving, angry sixteen-year-old, enfolding him in love. What she hadn’t done was attempt to reverse the sudden adulthood that had been shoved on him that cold, rainy night—because some things couldn’t be changed, and the loss of his childhood had been a permanent one.

“However,” he added when she stood on tiptoe to smooth his T-shirt across his shoulders, “I’ll fall in with your cunning plans.”

“You always were a good boy, Cooper, even during your hellion juvenile years.” Her smile was an echo of his mother’s, caused a familiar ache in his chest. “Now go, before they inhale lunch. You’ll be lucky to find a few bones to gnaw on.”

The teenagers had in fact resisted the lure of the sandwiches, cake, and fruit, and were checking the final section of the stream with industrious eyes when he arrived. Visibly perking up at his presence, they clustered around to show him what they’d done.

“I’m proud of you,” he said after listening to their explanations of the project, his wolf in pleased agreement.

The juveniles beamed, tugged him to another part of the stream.

When two younger kids showed up in pup form a few minutes later, he scooped them up before they could poke their curious noses into the picnic baskets. “Behave or it’s back to the nursery with you.”

The miscreants pretended to claw him, growling and snarling. Laughing, he tapped their noses in a light reprimand and put them on their feet, where they leaned their small, warm bodies against his legs as he finished speaking to the teenagers. By the time the group sat down to lunch—the two pups shifting form to curl up against him and eat more cake than was good for them—the tension had left his muscles.

Nothing could alter the fact that he was an aggressive dominant, but as the pups and juveniles showed, he had the capacity to earn the trust of even the pack’s most vulnerable. It would take time with Grace, the trust he asked of her a piercing intimacy, but Cooper had been called a stubborn bastard more than once. It wasn’t an unfair accusation.

And he was determined to seduce, pet, and coax Grace into his arms.

Where he planned to keep her.

All night.

All day.

Always.

• • •

HALF relieved, half disappointed that she hadn’t seen Cooper again since his declaration of courtship, Grace put her tools away in her office, then stripped off her black coveralls to reveal the jeans and sleek black tank she wore underneath. She was hungry after the long day, should’ve gone home. But pulling on her favorite blue sweater, the fabric fine rather than heavy, she checked her hair and face in the mirror, then turned in the direction of the indoor training arena where she’d heard Cooper was working with some of the novice soldiers.

Seeing the access door up ahead, she used her palm print to get through, then shut it behind her. The good thing about being in systems maintenance was that she knew all of the hidden nooks and crannies of the den. This particular accessway led to another door on the inner wall of the training arena, and that door had a window to ensure maintenance personnel didn’t accidentally walk out into a dangerous training situation.

Grace made her way to that window with quick steps, happy to see that it was clean, as mandated by the safety regs. Beyond the glass, it appeared the novices had been split into two teams and were “at war,” though she could see kicks being pulled and punches turned into light taps. Still, people occasionally went down—someone was calling points she realized, and a certain number equaled incapacitated or dead.

She saw a disappointed novice go to his knees before her attention was captured by the adult male who came over, hauled the lanky youth to his feet, and proceeded to show him where he’d gone wrong. Cooper’s actions were powerful, his expression intent. The younger man nodded, copied the moves Cooper had demonstrated while compensating for his own lighter body mass, and grinned when his intelligence earned him a slap on the back.

Grace couldn’t keep her eyes off the lieutenant, a problem she’d had since the day she moved into the den. It was amazing how many times she could find a fault that needed checking right next to where Cooper might be running a training session or working out on his own. Now, she saw him call the battle to a halt, and from the victorious cheer that thundered over the left side of the room, he’d declared a winner. A minute later, the novices cleared the floor to position themselves against the walls.

Into the open space walked a senior soldier who’d been helping to supervise the session. As she watched, Shamus stripped off his T-shirt and threw it aside. She wrenched her head toward Cooper to see if he was doing the same. He was. Rippling muscle under hot, dark silk, a fine pelt of black hair on his chest, his cheeks creased as he laughed at something Shamus had said; he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

Dressed only in cargo pants, their feet bare, the two dominants took position against one another and began to go through a combat routine even Grace could tell was in half time, a teaching aid for the novices. Shamus was well built—sexy, she supposed—but all Grace could see was Cooper, his fluid actions akin to rough music. How might that strong, trained body move in other, far more intimate situations?

Even as her teeth sank into her lower lip, even as her breath caught, her wolf paced, agitated and confused. It reminded her that Cooper’s demands would be fierce, his need furious. The possibility that she might not be up to the task of satisfying him made her mood go dark, especially when she finally turned her awareness to the men and women who watched the bout—to see that three other adults had joined the group. All were female, and two of them had their eyes on Cooper.

Grace took careful mental note of their identities. Maybe she’d switch the air in their quarters to freezing, ensure they didn’t have any hot water for good measure. The wicked thoughts were gratifying, but nothing came close to seeing Cooper’s body flex with predatory grace as he and Shamus stepped it up a notch. It was breathtaking to witness, the dance as primal as it was violent.

Her heart was in her throat when they came to a sudden, unexpected halt…and Cooper’s head whipped around, his eyes locking with Grace’s.

• • •

COOPER shifted his attention back to Shamus after that instant’s distraction. He was dead certain he’d caught the finest trace of Grace’s scent—peaches, luscious and ripe, intertwined with a softness that was pure, sensual woman.

His woman.

Slamming up a hand to block a kick to the head, he twisted around with a kick of his own. “Full speed,” he called, and the two of them went into the final stage of the display, its purpose to demonstrate to the novices how simple moves could be put together to lethal effect.

Afterward, he listened as Shamus questioned the group. They didn’t do too badly, and Cooper released the class after pairing them up for a self-practice session the following day. As the novices left, he saw Shamus go over to his math teacher mate. Dark-eyed, black-haired “Ms. Lopez”—as the pups called her—had come in toward the end of the session and now hugged her mate hello, the couple nuzzling one another in wolfish affection.

“I thought you two had a room!” Cooper called out across the training arena.

The newly mated couple grinned before Shamus wrapped one arm around Emma and said, “Green is not a good color on you, Coop. And we’re going to that room now, where I plan to do things to Teach you can only dream about in your cold, lonely bed.”

Cooper saw Emma slap at Shamus’s chest for that shameless boast as the two of them disappeared out the door.

Grinning, he met the laughing gazes of the two senior soldiers who’d come in with Emma. “What did you think?”

Margot was the one who answered, blue eyes dancing. “About Shamus’s plans, or the novices?”

Vitoria blew a wild curl out of her eyes, her hair an explosion of bronze and black with the odd thread of unexpected red-blonde. “Scuttlebutt is that Emma was missing at lunch today and so was Shamus.”

“I can do you one better.” Margot paused for dramatic effect, the sun-golden skin of her face marked by a faint greenish bruise caused by a rogue baseball. “Apparently when Shamus stripped off to shift a couple of hours ago, it was pointed out that he might possibly have carpet burns on his butt.”

Cooper’s wolf huffed with laughter as both women cracked up, but damn it, he was jealous. He wanted to sneak a certain deliciously sexy engineer away for a lunchtime snack of his own, carpet burns optional. “Leaving aside Shamus’s sex life,” he said when the laughter subsided, “what about the novices?”

“I like how they listen but still ask questions,” Margot said. “Shows they’re thinking for themselves without getting cocky.”

Vitoria nodded. “We were saying we could take the next class—we’ve taught that one before.”

“Great.” It’d give him more time to court Grace. “I’ll let Shamus know.”

When the women continued to look at him, he put down the water bottle he’d drained and raised an eyebrow.

Margot’s responding smile was playful. “Aw, come on, Coop. You know.”

“I know you two are best friends,” he murmured, “but if you’re offering what I think you’re offering, I didn’t know you were that close.”

Vitoria snorted. “We’re not. We just figured we’d play fair and give each other the same shot. So?” A warm invitation in eyes of jade green brilliant against skin the color of pure, unadulterated coffee. “We’ve noticed you’ve been abstaining.”

Damn pack. Nosy as hell. “It’s by choice,” he said bluntly, knowing the women wouldn’t take it as an insult, as he hadn’t their affectionate offer to assuage his increasing touch hunger—a hunger focused on one woman and one woman only. He wanted Grace’s hands on his body or no one’s. “I’m taken.”

Two pairs of eyes lit up in unholy delight.

“Do tell.” Margot sidled closer. “We’ll keep it a secret.”

He was the one who snorted this time. “Wolves gossip like old women.” It was the flip side to their incredible loyalty—everyone wanted to poke his or her nose into everyone else’s business. “I’ll tell when I’m ready to tell.” Not that it wouldn’t become obvious soon enough. He didn’t plan to pursue Grace in secret; he wasn’t the subtle type. Though since he was meant to be on his best behavior, he’d try to give her a fraction more breathing room to get accustomed to the idea of him.

“This should be fun.” Vitoria actually rubbed her hands. “Who would dare give Coop the runaround?”

“None of your business.” It was a growl.

Rising on her toes, Vitoria kissed him on the cheek, bracing her hand on his shoulder. “You know we only care because we love you.”

Another kiss on his opposite cheek, this one from Margot, the soldier tall enough that she didn’t have to reach like Vitoria. “Soooooo…her name starts with…?”

Laughing at their playful teasing, he snapped his teeth. “Out. I have things to do.” A certain submissive wolf to catch.

Vitoria and Margot made faces at him but obeyed the order. It left him alone in the training arena. The first thing he did was walk to the service door and pull it open. The luscious scent of ripe peaches warmed against a certain woman’s creamy skin whispered into his lungs, strong enough that he knew she’d been here not long ago.

His lips curved.

His mood more cheerful than it had been for six long months, he shut the door and headed to his quarters to shower. Pulling on a pair of black cargo pants and an olive green T-shirt afterward, he ran a hand over his chin, felt the stubble, and decided to shave. That done, he slapped on some aftershave, figured it was the best he’d ever look. Pretty he wasn’t.

What if Grace liked pretty?

Biting back a growl, he grabbed the little box he’d been hoarding for over seven weeks. He was about to walk out the door when he realized that the moment his packmates spotted the shimmery blue wrapping paper and silver bow, they’d stalk him with brazen relish. Digging out the small backpack he used to carry his water and food when he wanted to go into the forest in human form, he stowed the box inside and slung the pack over his shoulder.

Several people said hello as he walked through the den, and he returned the greeting but didn’t stop. No one paid him much mind when he knocked on Grace’s door—everyone was used to seeing him talk to people from different parts of the den, and in the absence of her two immediate superiors, Grace was the one in charge of her department.

“Just a second!” In spite of her words, it took Grace at least two minutes to open the door, and from her flustered expression and damp hair, she’d been in the shower.

The image of her creamy skin soap slick and slippery wasn’t good for Cooper’s self-control. Patience, he snarled at himself, wrenching so hard on the reins that his wolf yipped in protest and his voice came out a near growl. “Can I come in?”

Chapter 4

CONSCIOUS AT ONCE that he might just have screwed up his attempt at a gentle courtship, he said, “Or we can go outside.” Where he could talk her into skin privileges of the sinful kind.

Cheeks flushed with soft color he wanted to lick up, she stepped back. “No, here’s fine.”

Not giving her time to change her mind, he slipped inside and nudged the door until it was almost closed, creating the privacy he craved. “Hey.” Finally alone with her, her scent caressing his skin, he felt a fraction more in control.

Grace tucked the damp curls of her hair behind her ear, her smile shy. “Hey.”

Pulling off his backpack, he unzipped it to retrieve the box. “I got this for you.” He’d never courted anyone before, didn’t know if he was supposed to work up to this, but he wanted to give her a present and didn’t see the point in pretending otherwise.

A startled look out of chocolate brown eyes before her lashes shaded her expression again. He couldn’t wait until she held his gaze anytime she felt like it, though he knew it would take staggering trust on her part—an acceptance that he’d never see any such eye contact as a challenge on the pack level, even were they in the midst of a blazing fight. It was a significant accommodation, but one his wolf was more than willing to make. Neither part of him wanted his woman to feel at any kind of a disadvantage in a relationship.

Of course, he thought as she accepted the gift with a husky “thank you,” if she felt the urge to challenge him on the private male/female level, he’d pick up the gauntlet in a heartbeat. The thought of Grace trusting him enough to play with him on such an intimate level made his entire body tighten in need.

“Here.” He held out his hand for the ribbon she’d untied.

When she handed it over with a deeper smile, he dared step an inch closer, his wolf brushing against his skin. She proved as impatient with presents as he was—the paper tore, and a few seconds later, she held the box in her hands.

Taking the paper, he watched as she removed the lid of the box. Nestled against the white satin within, the blue glass of the bracelet almost glowed, the tiny daisies captured in each of the square links appearing to have been picked but a moment ago.

“Oh!” A captivated gasp. “How did you know?”

He grinned, smug, and shoving the used paper and ribbon into his backpack, let it drop to the floor. “I have my ways.” He’d seen daisies in the vase she kept in her office, had noticed she sometimes wore a dress patterned with the same flower—a floaty, summery thing that made him want to tumble her into his lap and demand a hundred laughing kisses. “You want me to do it up for you?”

“Thank you, Cooper.”

He could listen to her lips shape his name forever. Muscles taut against the urge to cuddle her close, his own personal bundle of warm, trusting woman, he went to do up the clasp. His fingers appeared too big, too clumsy for the task—as they appeared too rough to touch Grace. He knew differently, knew he’d never hurt her. “There.” Keeping hold of her hand, he brushed his thumb over her skin.

She shivered, but didn’t pull away. “I shouldn’t keep it. It’s too much.”

Her skin was so soft, so appealing to stroke that he did it again. “It’s normal to give flowers during courtship.”

“I can’t lie,” she admitted with a delighted smile that hit him straight in the heart, “I love it already. I’ll wear it all the time.”

God, but he wanted to cover that luscious mouth with his own, taste her long and deep. Slow goddamnit, slow. “Will you come for a walk with me?” he asked, keeping his eyes scrupulously off the bed he could glimpse behind a shoji screen patterned with shoots of green bamboo. “We can sneak out through the access tunnel to the back entrance.” Though he wanted everyone, particularly the unmated males, to know she was off-limits, Grace wasn’t the hard-ass he was, would find the attention difficult to deal with.

Smile turning a little shy, she said, “Let me tie back my hair and change.”

The thought of her silky-skinned and naked beyond the thin barrier of a single doorway annihilated his attempt at good behavior. “I think you look edible.” Since he’d already blown it, he surrendered to need and took a deep breath, barely resisting the urge to nuzzle at her throat. “Peaches. You smell like lush, ripe peaches. Can I take just a little bite?”

Grace’s skin glowed with color, but instead of shying or backing off in fear, she pointed to the door. Grinning because his submissive wolf had just proven she could handle him fine even when he was bad, he went. “I’ll be waiting.”

• • •

GRACE leaned against the door after Cooper exited, taking jerky breath after jerky breath. God, he was dangerous—even more so when he turned on that rough charm.

“Can I take just a little bite?”

Swallowing her whimper, she put herself in motion, changing out of the sweats she’d thrown on at Cooper’s knock and into jeans paired with a soft cashmere cardigan in a rich raspberry shade that felt exquisite against her skin. If she planned to play with a wolf as strong and aggressive as Cooper, she had to learn to cope with the fact that he was going to push. Hard. It was in his nature.

“I did cope,” she muttered, tying the laces on her boots with jagged moves after quickly braiding her hair. “I didn’t turn tail and run, did I?” No, she’d made her opinion plain…and he’d listened. The big, teasing wolf who outranked every single person in the den had obeyed her silent order without the least protest.

It was a gift as wonderful as the whimsical bracelet on her wrist.

Hope a rich spice in her blood, she walked out to discover he’d moved to the end of the corridor, was chatting with Shamus, who—from the container in his hand—had made a run to the kitchen to pick up a slice of key lime pie. While Grace didn’t know the senior soldier well, she’d become close friends with his mate, Emma, after meeting the sweet maternal dominant at the book club Vivienne organized once a month. So she knew the pie was Emma’s favorite, as was lipstick in a particular shade of vibrant red, a trace of which marked Shamus’s jaw. It made Grace smile, seeing how crazy they were for one another.

“Off for a walk?” Shamus asked with an inquiring glance when she halted beside Cooper.

Cooper answered before she could become flustered. “I thought I’d point out one of the evacuation routes to Grace in case of emergency.”

Shamus threw back his head in a belly laugh, his thick brown hair catching the light. “And I was about to say it was a romantic night. Have fun.”

Waving good-bye, they waited until he was out of sight before entering the narrow access corridor that led to a rarely used exit. Though kissed by a cool wind that promised rain, the night was as lovely as Shamus had said, the satin black of the sky dotted with what appeared to be a million stars.

Cooper’s hand closed over hers. “First, so I’m not a liar, there’s the start of the evac route.” He pointed northeast. “Okay?”

“I already know the routes,” she said, heart thudding at the skin-to-skin contact. “It’s part of the welcome-to-the-den module for submissives.” Submissives were the ones charged with evacuating the pups should it ever become necessary to abandon the den because of hostilities, while the soldiers held the line of defense.

“Good thing Shamus doesn’t know that,” he said as he tugged her into the trees, stroking his thumb over her skin in that maddening, arousing way. “I think you’ll like this.”

Her wolf wide-eyed and watchful, she walked quietly beside him through a natural passageway created by two near-perfect rows of trees, their branches twining to form a lacy canopy, the stars visible in glittering glimpses. However, it wasn’t the velvet night that held her attention, but the predator by her side. The one who’d claimed her hand, claimed skin privileges, in a way that shouted possession.

The thought of belonging to Cooper made her wolf pad around her skin in a confusion of panic and delight once more. But neither part of her wanted to be anywhere but here, in this exhilarating, exquisite instant. Maybe this courtship was ridiculous and impossible and bound for failure, but she wasn’t going to give up on it, give up on Cooper, without trying her damndest.

“Here.” His body brushed hers as he brought her to a stop in what appeared to be a small clearing. “Do you smell it?”

“Yes.” Ripe, juicy blackberries.

Reaching out to pluck a berry from one of the canes that surrounded them, he brushed it across her lips. “Open for me, beautiful, sexy Grace.”

Her toes curled inside her boots at that low-voiced request, a liquid kind of heat in her abdomen. Parting her lips, she allowed him to feed her the plump fruit, the juices bursting inside her mouth. When he picked off more, fed her decadent berry by decadent berry, she didn’t protest. And when he spread his legs and tugged her closer, she went, her wolf quivering at the risk.

He ran a berry across her lower lip, painting it with the juice as the masculine heat of his body seeped into her every cell, and his face blocked out the night. “I’m going to kiss you.” His voice vibrated where her breasts pressed against the strength of his chest, making her nipples ache. “Don’t say no.”

Releasing her hand when she remained silent at the rough-voiced request, he tipped up her chin with his fingers and suckled on her juice-drenched lower lip. The sweet, hot sensation was over almost before she knew it, her eyes fluttering open. He returned for another suckling taste, coaxing her closer as he did so. “Mmm.” It was a sound of deep male pleasure, his hand sliding from her chin to cup the side of her neck. “You taste delicious.” This time, his lips covered hers, the kiss an intimate seduction.

She clenched her hands on his chest as she rose toward his sinful mouth, felt the flex of warm, tensile muscle beneath the cotton of his T-shirt. Groaning, he licked his tongue across the seam of her lips, one of his hands coming to lie against her lower back, the rigid heat of his erection pushing against her abdomen—

Claws pricking the insides of her skin, the wolf threatening to take control.

Jerking back, she gasped in the cool night air. Her breasts felt swollen, the place between her legs damp, and she had no doubt Cooper had scented the musk of her arousal. But that wasn’t the sole emotion in play, her wolf’s sudden, wrenching realization of the violent strength of the predator who held her a visceral punch to the gut.

The wolf didn’t want to run. It knew such an action would never work, that it would only enrage the predator. Instead, it demanded she lie down, let Cooper do what he would, its deep-rooted survival instincts colliding against her human need to make a conscious choice. It was all she could do to hold back the impulse to bare her throat to the male whose scent lingered rich and wild in her mouth; to whimper in primal submission—a submission that would end this relationship before it began, because that kind of mindless surrender would humiliate her and horrify Cooper.

“This isn’t going to work.” The words came out ragged, regret a hollowness inside her chest that caused a true physical hurt. “I’m too submissive.”

Cooper, having remained motionless thus far, shifted to pluck a berry off the plant near him and pop it into his mouth. She watched him swallow, wanted to trace the movement down the tendons of his neck with her lips, lick up the dark amber and rich earth of his scent. When she finally dragged her eyes back up to his face, his lips were curved. “It’ll work,” he murmured, eating another berry. “It might require lots and lots of foreplay, but it’ll work.”

“Cooper.” Turning away from the raw sexuality of him, she shoved a berry into her own mouth to give herself time to think. “If—”

“No ifs,” he murmured in a tone that spoke of the dominant he was. “Not yet. Even if you can’t trust me in any other way, trust me in this—the instant your wolf overwhelms you without your conscious volition, I’ll stop.”

She felt him come closer, but he didn’t bury his face in her neck as she craved, even though she knew her wolf was in no state to accept the searing intimacy of having him near her jugular. Even now, it buried its head in its paws, sad and scared and wanting all at once. “How will you know?” she asked, unable to hide the tremor of hope in her voice.

“I guess it’s part of what makes me a lieutenant—being able to sense when the wolf is close to a packmate’s skin.”

She shuddered in relief. “Always?”

“Always.” The barest touch on her hip. “Have you eaten?”

“No.” Her stomach had been too full of butterflies after that scorching instant of eye contact in the training arena. “I’m hungry.” A hesitant invitation, should he want to take it.

Knuckles brushing down her cheek. “I can’t wait to feed you.” A low purr of a statement that made her breath catch, her heartbeat accelerate.

“You earned your reputation, didn’t you?” It came out husky.

He tapped her lower lip with a finger. “Play with me and I’ll teach you all sorts of bad, bad things…but you’re only ever allowed to do them to me.”

Grace knew she was in trouble. Big, sexy, dangerous trouble.

Chapter 5

AFTER DRIVING GRACE home from dinner in the pounding rain that was the leading edge of an unforeseen storm front, Cooper had expected to spend the night tossing and turning as a result of extended sexual frustration. And hey, he wasn’t against some hot, erotic dreams featuring his favorite engineer. However pleasure wasn’t what awaited him when he fell into bed.

At first, all he could hear was rain.

He was sitting under a lee of rock outside the den, sheltered and snug from the cold droplets, enjoying its music. He’d always liked rain until that night. Every so often, he’d twitch his tail to shoo away a suicidal crow he couldn’t be bothered to snap his teeth at—

—and then he was in human form on a long, slick road, watching two huge lights bearing down on him. He wasn’t afraid. He knew who they were, and that they’d stop.

They did.

Opening the door, he got into the backseat as if it was an ordinary thing to get into a car from the middle of the road. His mother turned, laughing at something his father had said as she reached out a hand toward Cooper, the pearl earrings she so loved flashing in the flickering firelight.

Except, there shouldn’t be a fire. They were alone on the dark, twisting road—

He was outside the car, screaming at them to stop, but they were both still laughing, dressed in the clothes they’d worn to attend the wedding, and they didn’t hear him, didn’t even see him—

—fire! He was trapped inside the car and the flames were blistering his flesh. He cried out, reached for his parents…but they’d turned to bone, charred and black. “No! No!” he screamed as his flesh melted.

Cooper jerked awake on a scream, the echo of it hanging in the air. Shuddering, he thrust his hands through sweat-soaked hair and checked the status of the audio shield round his room. Thank God, he thought when he saw the switch flicked in the right direction. The last thing the den needed was to hear its lieutenant screaming in terror like a child.

Shoving off the sheets tangled around his legs, he walked into the shower. Scalding, that’s how he wanted the water. To thaw the lump of ice that was his heart. Always, he woke from that nightmare chilled to the bone. He’d never understood it, not when the fire was so hot.

He stayed until the shower stall was so full of steam, he couldn’t see the hands he’d braced on the wall. Wrenching off the tap, he stepped out, dried off, and—towel wrapped around his hips—stared into the mirror. His jaw was dark with stubble, so he focused on that, shaved. The task took a bare few minutes, and then he no longer had even that slim buffer against the echoes of nightmare.

It had been worse this time, because he hadn’t expected it, hadn’t prepared himself for the horror that awaited him in the dark of night. It had been so many years since he’d been trapped inside that phantom car, burning and burning and burning.

“Enough.” It was a quiet command to himself.

Leaving the bathroom, he pulled on underwear, jeans, a black T-shirt, socks, and boots.

The den was quiet when he stepped out, not unexpected at five in the morning. He almost turned toward Grace’s room, wanting desperately to ask her to let him hold her, just that. But he didn’t have the right to push for those skin privileges, so he took himself up to his office and began to go through a number of financial reports Jem had forwarded.

His fellow lieutenant kept an eye on Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, was the one Sebastian in San Diego called first if he had a problem. Cooper, by contrast, looked outward to the border with Arizona, Joshua Tree, and the arid Mojave falling under his mandate.

His and Jem’s geographic closeness—relatively speaking—meant they could get together in person every so often, but they did most of their work via the comm. Both having an aptitude for and training in finance, they were in charge of the pack’s investments, working with a small, dedicated team to ensure SnowDancer stayed healthy on that level. Normally, Cooper found the intricacies of the work invigorating, a complex jungle of a different kind, but today it felt like wading through quicksand. Still, he got it done, then began to plow steadily through the other paperwork that had built up on his desk.

All the while, the rain continued to fall beyond the window, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t forget the charred black of his parents’ bodies.

• • •

GRACE returned to work on sector 4B the next morning, after a systems and tech meeting where it was revealed the previous night’s storm had done major damage to the solar panels. Specifically designed to blend into the environment so as not to give away the den’s location, the panels provided the main source of its power.

“We’re switching to hydro-station power till the replacement panels come in,” the lead power tech had said, referring to the ecologically sound system that harnessed the kinetic energy of the water as it thundered down the mountains. “Shouldn’t cause any issues, but keep an eye out for power surges anyway.”

As she worked, Grace couldn’t help but replay the previous night in her mind. Every now and then, she’d push back the sleeve of her coverall and sneak a look at the bracelet Cooper had given her. Which led her to recall the callused skin of his palm against her neck, the wild, dark taste of him in her mouth as his tongue licked at her own. The things the lieutenant could coax her to do…

Her nipples rubbed against the supple fabric of her bra.

Glancing guiltily around, she saw she remained alone. But the moment was enough to have her snapping her attention back to work.

When lunch came and went—a lunch she had with her crew—without word from Cooper, her mood began to plummet. Dominant males never backed off during a courtship. Perhaps Cooper had rethought things in light of her wolf’s response by the blackberries, decided he didn’t need the hassle of dealing with a timid submissive when he could have an enthusiastic dominant playmate anytime he wanted?

“Or maybe,” she muttered, annoyed with herself, “he’s a lieutenant in charge of a den and got caught up in work.”

Putting down her tools, she closed the cover on the computronic junction she’d finished checking, then glanced at her watch. Three forty-five. Since she was well ahead of schedule after working like a fiend on the off-chance that Cooper would turn up for a visit, she decided it was time for a coffee break.

About to tag Vivienne, she hesitated. Neither side of her nature was comfortable pursuing a male, but this one had made his interest clear. Taking a deep breath, she stowed her tools in her office, then went looking for Cooper. He wasn’t in his office, but Bethany saw her coming down the smooth stone stairs and said, “If you’re trying to hunt down Coop, he’s out with the crew handling a slip caused by last night’s rain.”

“I hadn’t heard.” It hadn’t been mentioned in the daily den e-bulletin. “Was anyone hurt?”

Bethany shook her head. “But it’s on an evacuation route, so it needs to be cleared, the land stabilized. At least the rain’s stopped for now.”

“I’ve been inside all day,” Grace said, hoping Cooper’s aunt would accept her words at face value. “I can take coffee out to the crew, stretch my legs.”

“You’re a doll.” A beaming smile. “There’s four of them—Cooper, Shamus, Vitoria, and one of the structural engineers. Todd, I think.”

Not bothering to change out of her coveralls given the area was likely a muddy mess anyway, Grace popped into the large communal kitchen and prepared a big thermos of coffee, as well as a smaller one of tea, then added some plas cups. The cook had just baked several trays of blueberry muffins, so she appropriated a bunch of those as well, plus some fruit, putting it all in an insulated carrier.

It only took her ten minutes to walk to the site of the slip using the directions Bethany had provided. Cooper was standing with his back to her when she arrived, his T-shirt stuck to his skin, boots caked with mud. She saw they’d cleared a path, were working on a temporary retaining system until the storm-damaged trees could regain their hold on the soil, or new trees could be planted. As she watched, Cooper thrust his shovel down…and turned to look at her, eyes of near black intense with emotion so raw, it stabbed at her heart.

“Tell me you have tea!” Todd’s voice shattered the piercing intensity of the silent connection.

“Pussy drink!” Shamus yelled in return. “Grace’s smart enough to bring a manly drink like black coffee.”

Vitoria, a colorful scarf holding her curls off her face, punched him on the arm. “Who’re you calling manly?”

“Ouch.” Shamus rubbed his arm as they ambled over to where Grace was setting out the food and drink on the flat surface provided by an old tree stump.

“Coffee,” she said, tapping one thermos, then, “tea,” tapping the other.

“I knew I could count on you.” Todd kissed her on the cheek before going for the tea.

Only then, when the other three were occupied, did Cooper touch his fingers to her lower back in a fleeting but undeniably possessive caress. “You know Todd likes tea.”

Yes, definitely possessive. “I’ve had meals with him and Vivienne lots of times.” She poured Cooper a cup of coffee, added cream from the little bottle she’d slipped in. “I also know a certain lieutenant,” she whispered, “doesn’t particularly care for Shamus’s manly black coffee.”

His lips kicked up at the corners at the gentle tease as he accepted the cup, and it did something to her to know she’d made him smile. “Thank you, Grace.”

Simple, everyday words, and yet they sounded akin to a caress. When Shamus asked him something, Grace chanced a look up, hungry to drink in the sight of him without worrying about matters of dominance. Except he looked back for a single electric second before returning his attention to the senior soldier.

In that instant, Grace felt her entire body come to life…even as she once again caught the shadows of pain in the midnight depths of his gaze. Unable to understand how no one else saw the hurt he carried within, she waited until the others had headed back to work, with Cooper remaining behind—ostensibly to talk to her about a maintenance issue—to say, “Cooper? Are you okay?”

An instant’s stillness before he handed her an empty thermos to pack away. “Sure. Little stressed with this slip, I guess.”

His refusal to admit to his hurt was no surprise. Grace was well aware that often, the only way a woman could get a dominant male to open up was to ram at his defenses. Only she wasn’t the ramming kind, wasn’t even sure she had that right, their relationship a nascent thing. “Will you walk me back a little ways?”

“Anytime.” He slung the bag over his shoulder.

Grace stopped once they were around the corner and out of sight of the rest of the team. Then she did what came naturally to her in this situation and slipped her arms around the muscled heat of his body, the scent of clean, male sweat and Cooper in her lungs. “I’m sorry for whatever it is that’s put that look in your eyes.”

His arms came around her, his cheek rubbing against her temple as her wolf rubbed up against his in an effort to offer comfort. In that instant, she felt no fear at this strength, only the need to temper his pain.

“I’m fine,” he murmured. “Especially now that I’m holding you.”

Frustration clawed through her at his stonewalling, but Cooper wasn’t a man who’d trust easily. That he’d accepted her need to care for him, accepted her affection when he had to be feeling vulnerable, it was a powerful step. So she just held him, stroking his back until she felt the final fragments of tension leave his body…and when he rubbed his nose playfully against her own, she shyly petted him with a slow dance of a kiss that made champagne bubble through her veins.

• • •

COOPER returned to the site of the slip feeling more himself than he had since waking from the nightmare. It wasn’t the first time a submissive wolf had done or said something to heal an emotional wound in a dominant—in their own way, they were as fiercely protective as the soldiers. But it was the first time Grace had done the same for Cooper. More, it was the first time she’d initiated skin privileges, her kiss a luscious gift that gave him all sorts of ideas about winning another from her tonight at the dinner she’d promised to have with him.

“Everything okay in the den?” Shamus asked when Cooper got back, wiping his face on the sleeve of his T-shirt. “You were with Grace awhile.”

“Nothing the systems and tech teams can’t handle,” he said, and gestured to a post they were planning to sink to anchor the temporary retaining mesh. It wasn’t the best option, but with more rain on the horizon, they had to get something in place, at least for the next few days. “How’re we going to get that in without causing vibrations that might further destabilize this area?”

“I have an idea. Spoke to Todd and he thinks it’ll work.”

As the two of them got down to work, Cooper thought again of Grace. So perceptive, his highly intelligent, intuitive engineer; seeing what no one else had, what he’d thought he’d successfully submerged. Part of him didn’t want her to see, didn’t want her to know, but another part of him howled in delight, seeing in her insight the promise of a bond that would make her his on the most elemental, most primal level.

Chapter 6

HAVING SPENT THE remainder of the afternoon in 4B, Grace headed home at close to six p.m. All she wanted was to wash off the grime from crawling around in access corridors and narrow ducts she knew full well had been cleaned a mere two weeks ago.

Too bad spiders only needed a day to build a sticky mansion, complete with multiple rooms and storage facilities. She shuddered at the reminder of the bugs she’d seen trapped in the webs. Yes, she was changeling, hunted when her wolf needed it. But there was something very creepy about keeping your food hanging around.

Her comm panel chimed an incoming call just as she was stepping out of the shower cubicle. Recognizing the caller’s ID code, she wrapped a towel around herself and answered with a smile, picking up another towel to rub at her hair as the visual feed went live. “Hi, Mom.” It was a choice she’d made as a child, to call Milena and James Mom and Dad. It gave them the beloved place they deserved in her life while differentiating them from her lost mama and papa.

“Hi, munchkin.” Milena beamed, the natural deep honey of her skin caressed by a glow that said she’d spent several hours outside under bright sunshine. “How was your day?”

“Great.” Unable to resist, Grace bragged a little about how her crew was ahead of schedule, then asked her mother about the rest of the family.

“I know you talk to Pia and Revel, too,” Milena said after catching her up on a few things, “but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep the two of them, not to mention your father, from paying a visit to check up on you.”

“They turn up, I’ll kick them back out.” She cherished her family, but they continued to see her as the half-mute seven-year-old they’d taken in after her parents were killed in the catastrophic events that had overtaken the main Sierra Nevada den roughly two decades ago.

So many children had become orphans, but none had been left without support, without family. Milena and James, and their teenage children, Pia and Revel, had become hers. Old enough not to mind the tiny intruder in their home, the teenagers had thrown their protection over Grace. Hardly surprising, since both Pia and Rev were strong dominants who now held senior soldier status.

As a shocked child, she’d needed the comfort of their protective natures, needed the cage provided by falling asleep curled between her siblings, all of them in wolf form. It had made her feel safe when her world had splintered into so many pieces, she didn’t know what to do, how to survive each painful hour.

But she hadn’t been seven for a long time.

“I’ll pass on the message,” Milena said with a sigh, “but you know how stubborn they are.” Then she laughed, hazel eyes shimmering. “Look who I’m talking to—you always were a stubborn thing. I remember trying to get you to release your blankie so I could wash it. You didn’t scream, didn’t cry, didn’t claw out at me or growl, but would you let go? No. I had to resort to sneaking it away one night weeks later when you finally fell asleep without it clutched in your little fist.”

The story was a favorite one of her mother’s and still made Grace laugh. Now, she reached out and picked up the furry orange teddy bear Milena had made from the scraps of her blankie after it had finally fallen apart. He’d survived her childhood and these days sat cheerfully on her bookshelf, next to photos of her family. “I wash him, I swear.”

“Cheeky girl.” Blowing her a kiss, Milena said, “I better go. I promised your father I’d make his favorite quesadillas. I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

As she ended the call, Grace thanked God that neither Pia nor Rev had been posted to this den—they’d have been appalled at the idea of their sister dating a lieutenant. Grace would have told the two of them to butt out, of course, but she much preferred to play with Cooper with no one looking over her shoulder.

“Tell me what bad-girl things you got up to as a juvenile.”

Even as heat bloomed in her abdomen at the memory of that lazy, caressing voice asking her wicked, wicked things at dinner the previous night—while he fed her spoonfuls of decadent chocolate mousse—a message came in on her cell phone.

Storm-damaged tree found along main den route. Needs to be brought down. Rain check for dinner? Coop.

Disappointed, she went to say yes, paused. Has your team eaten?

No. Bethany’s bringing it over in a half hour.

I’ll do it.

xx

It made a goofy smile break out over her face that Cooper had signed off with kisses. Dressing quickly, she found Bethany in the kitchen, putting together the meal. When she offered to take it, the older woman raised an eyebrow. “Todd?”

Grace squirmed. “Er, no.”

“Hmm. Who else is out there?” She continued to make the sandwiches. “Bill replaced Shamus and they’re both mated, in any case. Which leaves my Cooper.”

Having finished her own set of sandwiches, Grace wrapped them up so they’d stay soft. “I’ll get some of the brownies.”

“Grace.”

She froze, bit her lip. “It’s new. We’re not ready for the pack to know.”

Bethany didn’t stop her again when she moved to grab the brownies. Since the site was at least a half hour away on foot, Grace headed to the garage, Bethany walking down with her. They saw Vitoria on the way, the other woman having had to return to the den in order to teach a novice class. “You have more hot drinks for everyone?” the senior soldier asked from the other side of the corridor. “It’s chilly out tonight.”

Grace’s nod received a thumbs-up before Vitoria turned to continue on her way.

“He always was a law unto himself,” Bethany mused as Grace got into the driver’s seat of a sturdy four-wheel drive, “so all I’m going to say is—submissive or not, you make sure you don’t just sit and take his care. You give back.”

Grace’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “If you think only dominants know how to love, you don’t know your packmates very well.”

Bethany’s response was startling. Laughing, she leaned in to kiss Grace on the cheek with open affection. “Just checking you’ve got spine—you’ll need it with Coop. That boy likes to get his own way. Good luck.”

• • •

AFTER helping to demolish the food Grace had brought, Cooper nixed her offer to stay and help with the tree, receiving unexpected support for his decision from Todd.

“Can’t risk those hands,” the engineer said. “You’re a surgeon with the systems.”

“Anyway,” Bill added, shoving a hand through his blond mop, “this shouldn’t take long. Now that we have it down, all we have to do is cut this baby up enough that we can clear the road. Rest of the cleanup can be done tomorrow by a novice team.”

Grace folded her arms, expression mutinous. “Fine. But I’ll wait and drive you all back to the den.”

Todd burst out laughing, followed by Bill. When Grace scowled, Cooper tipped up her chin and kissed it off in a quick, light caress that wouldn’t startle or scare her wolf. “You’re with three dominants.” He grinned, his lips brushing hers as he spoke. “All of us have a well-known and occasionally mocked tendency for wanting to control the vehicles we’re in. What do you think your chances are of retaining the wheel?”

“Okay, I’ll give you that one.” An amused smile, but her eyes skated toward Todd and Bill, who weren’t even pretending not to watch them, shit-eating grins on their faces.

Cupping her hip in a protective caress, Cooper pointed a finger at the two men. “Sworn to secrecy.”

“Aw, come on, Coop!” was the joint refrain, but he glared them into agreement…and later that night, got another shy, sexy kiss from Grace for his trouble, her wolf rubbing up against her skin with an affection his own returned.

But even though he fell into bed bone tired, the exquisite taste of Grace in his mouth, he dreamed of horror. “No! No!”

• • •

THE next day was a crazy one. One of the major air conduits just up and died without warning, pulling Grace’s entire team out of bed at six a.m. Paul, their air-systems expert, had them working nonstop until after five, when he decreed the job complete. Tired but pleased, they slapped one another on the back, then went their separate ways.

It was only after she’d showered that Grace realized Cooper hadn’t said anything about seeing her tonight when he’d dropped by to check on the progress of the repair. Of course, it had hardly been a private moment—and Cooper was doing his best to give her time to get used to their relationship in private before it inevitably went public.

It wouldn’t be too much longer, she knew that, especially after the kiss at the tree site. Predatory changeling males, regardless of their place in the hierarchy, were all openly possessive. The fact that Cooper had fought his instincts on the point this long…well, it simply made her melt for him even more.

“I like your kisses, bad girl.”

Toes curling, she went to check her messages, only to discover one from her brother but nothing from Cooper. And she knew for a fact he was in the den, so he hadn’t been pulled away.

Frowning, she sat down on her bed and thought things through. Given that Cooper had made it crystal clear he intended to have her…keep her, added to the reality that dominant males went after the women they wanted no holds barred, the fact that he’d expended no effort whatsoever to pin her down for tonight could only mean one thing—he was treating her as his, as if their spending time together was a given.

It was a very subtle form of dominance play,and no matter how much woman and wolf both adored Cooper, Grace had no intention of being led on a leash.

Chapter 7

COOPER’S blood went ice-cold when no one seemed to know where Grace had gone. He pulled out his cell phone to call her, knowing she’d see it as a controlling move on his part, but he needed to know she was okay, was safe. The rain was only a drizzle for the moment, but that didn’t mean the roads weren’t dangerous.

“Hey, Coop.” Shamus ran over before he could input the call. “Emma’s abandoned me for dinner out with Grace and Vivienne. You want to grab a pizza?”

It took everything Cooper had to hide his relief. “I’m heading out,” he managed to say. “Need to run. But I think a few of the others are hanging in the break room.”

“We’ll save you a slice.” Shamus turned, ran backward for a few feet. “I was just outside. Still raining on and off, but the wind’s gone flat and the moon’s actually out—best view is past the twin waterfalls.”

“Thanks.” Cooper shoved his cell phone back into his pocket as the senior soldier disappeared around the corner, and bracing his palm against the stone wall of the den, he gave in to a shudder. He knew his response was extreme, would scare Grace, seeming to spring from a level of possessiveness that went far beyond what might be expected from a SnowDancer lieutenant. No woman wanted to be with a man who wouldn’t permit her to breathe, whose care became a cage. Which was why he had to get a grip on himself before she saw him again.

Growling under his breath, he made his way outside and ran until he could think through the chaotic haze of his emotions. He wanted to go after Grace with every cell of his being, needed desperately to scent her alive and well, but he’d already miscalculated once. Making his way to the den instead, damp but not cold, he showered, then grabbed some dinner from the kitchen and spent the next couple of hours working in his office.

As was usual when he was alone in his office at this time of night, more than one member of the pack dropped by to talk or ask for advice. It kept him busy, and he was fine for the first half hour, okay for the second. The third and fourth were like having nails pounded into his flesh. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing Grace wasn’t alone and that Shamus was surely in touch with Emma. Anything happened, Cooper would have the information within minutes.

Finally, he saw the women’s vehicle come in, the lights cutting through the dark of the night outside before the SUV slid silently into the underground garage. He forced himself to give Grace fifteen minutes to change and settle in, then stalked down to knock on her door.

This time, he attracted a few interested glances from passing packmates. It was late for a man to be going to a woman’s room, and as Grace’s boss had returned that afternoon, Cooper couldn’t excuse it on the grounds of a systems emergency. He knew they were close to busted. Good. He needed people to know she was his, that he should be told if she was ever in any trouble.

The lack of secrecy would also give him room to court her as outrageously as he liked.

When the door opened to reveal her clad in pajama pants of pale blue fleece featuring fluffy white sheep, along with a soft black T-shirt that caressed her with the finesse of a lover, her hair tumbling over her shoulders in a dark cloud, he had to take a deep, deep breath to restrain his instinctive response to thrust his hands into the luxuriant mass, tilt back her neck, and bite.

She’d scared him.

He hated the feeling, but he also knew his scars weren’t Grace’s fault. She’d acted as any female wolf would with a man who’d dared take her for granted; she could have no idea of the violent response she’d incited in him. And if he had his way, she never would. Cooper didn’t want his nightmares to shadow the life he intended to build with her.

“Hello, Grace.” He leaned against the doorjamb, doing nothing to hide his appraisal of her beautiful body. When her nipples pushed against the well-washed fabric of her tee as her breath hitched, he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra, and self-control became one hell of a test. “I left my bag here the other day.”

“What?” Pulse thudding in her throat, she swallowed. “Oh, yes, I put it right here.” She went to get it, paused, turned back. “You did it on purpose.”

Smile deepening, he let his gaze linger on her lips. “Did I?”

Chest rising and falling in an increasingly rapid rhythm, she swallowed. “You’re being pushy.” It was a husky accusation.

He shrugged, his wolf prowling to the surface of his mind. “It’s who I am, you know that.” His gentleness with her hadn’t been feigned—he adored coaxing and petting Grace, but she needed to see and accept this side of him, too. He’d intended to ease her into it, but she’d changed his plans with her rebellion, aroused the primal core of his nature. “Your fault, you know.”

Her hand clenched on the edge of the door. “Mine?”

“You did challenge me tonight.” In her own way. “You know how wolf males react to a private challenge from a female.”

Her cheeks colored that pretty color he wanted to lick up from every inch of her skin. “It wasn’t a challenge.”

“Don’t be a liar now.” A slow tease. “I got the message.” He straightened from his leaning position to brace his hands on the top of the doorway, blocking her from the view of those in the corridor. This woman was his. He didn’t want to share. Not tonight. “Invite me in, bad girl.”

“If you got the message,” she murmured, standing firm, “you know I’m a little mad at you.”

Strong, sexy, beautiful woman. “I think I can coax you out of a little mad.” Dropping one hand, letting her see it so she wouldn’t startle, he ran a finger over her cheek. “All you need to do is open the door a fraction wider.”

Grace shivered…and stepped back. Not bothering to see if they had an audience, he walked inside, and this time, he shut the door. But rather than blocking the exit, he shifted to lean against the wall beside her bed, the shoji screen sitting neatly folded in the opposite corner, and crooked a finger. “You know you want to.”

Rather than scowling at his arrogance as he’d expected, Grace frowned, her eyes looking into his for a single, compelling instant. “Cooper, what’s wrong?” she said, and he wondered what he’d betrayed, what she’d seen. “There’s—”

Not giving her a chance to continue, he reached back and pulled off his T-shirt. Her gasp was a stroke to his ego, but he wanted more than that. Needed more than that, the irrational fear that had gripped him by the throat having left raw edges in its wake that hurt with every breath.

Dropping the T-shirt to the floor, he prowled across the space that separated them, hotly conscious of the way she watched him, her arousal an erotic musk in the air.

Thank God.

It was a heartfelt thought, because the fact was, his body was more than a bit beat up, had a number of scars—even changeling-quick healing couldn’t fix everything. Added to that, he was a big man. Big enough to intimidate—which was the response he caught a faint hint of in Grace’s eyes just as he reached her.

“Touch me,” he said, stripping his need bare. “I promise I won’t touch you in return until you ask.” Make no demands that might force her wolf to react with throat-baring submission, savaging the fragile trust that had grown between them.

“That’s not fair on you.” Quiet words, her eyes continuing to eat him up in a way that had his cock at rigid attention.

“I’ll never complain if you have your hands…or your mouth, on any part of my body.” He might go insane, but it would be a glorious madness.

Her breasts caught his attention as she sucked in a breath, her nipples tight peaks against her T-shirt. Mouth watering, he put his hands behind his back and locked his arms by gripping one of his wrists with his other hand. “I,” he murmured, “give you permission to punish me for my behavior tonight.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re dreading it,” she said, placing her hands on his chest.

He bit back a growl of demand. “Trust me, it’s torture.”

Lips curved, she began to shape and pet him with a distinct feminine possessiveness in every stroke, that of a woman who considered him her personal property. God, it felt good. He couldn’t hold back a groan when she skated her fingernails over his nipples. She paused…and repeated the caress.

“Christ, Grace.” Shuddering, he dipped his head forward.

Not the least hesitant, she rose up on tiptoe and kissed him, her hands gripping his waist. He took full advantage, coaxing and seducing with his mouth, his tongue. She let him in, and when he sucked on her tongue, she echoed the intimate caress, her breasts pressed against his chest, her nipples hard little points he wanted to roll between his fingertips, tug and squeeze until he knew exactly what made her moan, what made her writhe and go molten around his cock.

Breath ragged, Grace broke the intimate contact to press an openmouthed kiss over his left nipple. Pleasure rocked his entire body, almost breaking him in two. When she repeated the caress on the other side of his chest, he had to use teeth-gritting control to keep from throwing her onto her bed, tugging off her pajama pants, and mounting her in the most primitive of matings. He wanted to see that curvy behind move against him, wanted to reach down and play with her heavy breasts as he slid his cock in and out of her in a pounding rhythm.

He just wanted.

And since he couldn’t touch, he began to talk. “You know how I’d like to take you the first time we’re together?” Too fast, he was moving too fast, being too aggressive for his sexy Grace, but he couldn’t stop.

Nails pricking his chest. “How?”

“Face-to-face, you spread out under me, your legs locked around my hips, and my cock buried balls deep in you.”

She swallowed at the raw sexuality of his words, but he wasn’t finished.

“I’d kiss you over and over because I love the taste of you, but I’d have to play with those pretty, pretty breasts. I’d suck and lick and maybe even bite a little. You don’t mind teeth, do you, Grace?”

A shake of her head, her skin flushed, the opulent scent of her arousal a drug.

“Good.” He dropped his gaze to her breasts. “While I was fucking you slow and deep, so damn deep, I’d close my hand over one of your breasts, squeeze and pet. And you know what else?”

“What?” A near-soundless question.

“I’d look into your eyes the entire time.”

• • •

GRACE was having trouble thinking. Serious trouble. But she knew one thing: the lieutenant was using the addictive pleasure of intimate skin privileges to distract her. And doing a brilliant job of it. Arousal gripped her by the throat, turned her skin so sensitive that her clothes felt abrasive, the delicate flesh between her thighs plump and wet.

So it was as well that her wolf danced away without warning, darkly conscious that the man she petted with such proprietary hands could overpower her in a heartbeat. How could she think of being naked in his arms when she couldn’t guarantee her submission would be a conscious, voluntary response, rather than being born of primitive instinct?

“I’d look into your eyes the entire time.”

What if all he saw was a submissive looking back at him, whimpering and quiescent, Grace’s human personality overwhelmed into obedience?

Fear taking an icy hold on her heart, she stepped away. “Put on your T-shirt.” So she could concentrate, could think.

Cooper growled.

Jumping, she lowered her head. “Please.”

“Damn it, Grace.” He wrenched on the tee, impatient and angry. “I wasn’t growling because you gave me an order. I was growling because I wasn’t done playing with you.”

For some reason, that snarling response made her relax, chance a peek up. “Does sexual frustration always make you so bad tempered?”

Another growl that had her wolf clawing at her to shut up.

“Go on,” he said in a low tone that was a dare. “Keep on poking the hungry wolf, see how naked it gets you.”

Heat burned her cheeks, but she wasn’t going to allow him to do this to her again. “Cooper, I’m not an idiot. I know something was bothering you when you knocked on the door.”

He made a sound of teeth-gritting aggravation. “I was angry you took off without telling me, okay? Didn’t think you’d like it if I pointed it out.”

It made sense…yet what she’d glimpsed had been far more violent an emotion, somehow old. Akin to the hurt she’d seen in his eyes at the site of the slip. “You don’t have to pretend around me,” she said, uncomfortable with shoving at his defenses but frustrated enough by his refusal to even acknowledge he was in pain that she had to make the attempt.

“Grace, no male wants to further piss off an already pissed-off woman whom he has every intention of talking into bed as fast as possible.” He ran his hands over his scalp. “Goddamnit, now I’m yelling.”

“So? I don’t want you to turn down the volume of your personality or your emotions,” she said, dismayed at the idea. “That’s not healthy on any level for you.” It would drive him slowly insane. “If that’s what you’re having to do when we’re together”—the thought hurt, so much—“you know it won’t work.”

His growl raised every hair on her body. “It damn well will work.” The statement of a man used to getting what he wanted.

Stubborn, infuriating male.

She went to open her mouth to argue, but she’d pushed her wolf’s limits long enough. It clawed to the surface, wrenching the reins from her hands, and doing what it deemed necessary in order to pacify an angry dominant.

A submissive whimper left her throat.

Cooper froze.

Chapter 8

GRACE COLLAPSED TO her knees as the door closed behind Cooper, tremors quaking her frame.

He’d cupped her cheek, rubbed his own against her temple with an affection that soothed some of her wolf’s panic, before saying, “Good night, Grace,” and leaving.

It had happened exactly as she’d feared, her nature unable to stand the sheer, unleashed force of Cooper’s dominance. In her lupine form, she’d have tucked her tail between her legs, maybe even rolled over onto her back to expose the vulnerable flesh of her belly.

Sobs escaped her mouth, filled her chest until she could hardly breathe.

She was simply not built to handle the hot-blooded passions and brutal depth of emotion of a man of Cooper’s strength. Nothing could change the very makeup of her being. What if the next time it happened, they were in bed? What if Cooper was inside her?

Then he’ll stop.

The answer came from the tiny part of her that wasn’t a complete mess. And it was true. Cooper would always stop—as he’d done today. But that didn’t mean she had any right to put him in that position, any right to demand he muzzle the raw beauty of his sexuality, his personality. What she’d said, it was an absolute, unavoidable truth—for him to strangle his instincts would be a horribly damaging act.

It would kill him and destroy her.

“I don’t want to let him go.”

The whispered confession was a slap.

If she couldn’t bear to set him free, couldn’t bear to imagine another woman’s hands on his skin, another woman’s lips on his own, then she had to find a way to deal. But how?

It was as she was washing her tear-ravaged face that she realized she had to talk to someone who’d been through this. Except no one had. Yes, she knew—was friends with—any number of submissives who’d mated with or lived in permanent loving relationships with dominants. Not one of those relationships, however, mirrored the extreme power gulf that separated her and Cooper.

“There must be someone.”

Determined to discover an answer, she was on her second cup of coffee when she remembered the woman who’d been her nursery school teacher while Grace lived in the Sierra Nevada den as a child. Twelve when her family shifted dens, she well remembered the lovely woman with the stunning indigo eyes who’d always had a hug and a word of praise for her long after she’d left the nursery.

Tarah was a submissive not much stronger than Grace. Her mate, Abel, by contrast, was a very strong dominant, a soldier who held a senior position in the pack. One of their daughters was a lieutenant, the other a submissive close to Grace in the hierarchy. If anyone would understand the forces tearing Grace apart, it was Tarah.

Not giving herself time to change her mind, she looked up Tarah’s number in the internal pack directory and input the call, realizing too late that it was past ten at night.

Abel was the one who answered. “Almost threw me,” he said after a short pause, “but I never forget one of Tarah’s kids. How are you, Grace darling?”

The gentleness of the question told her he’d sensed her distress. “Good.” She met the deep gray of his eyes for the barest second. “I know it’s late. I’m sorry. I wanted to talk to Tarah and didn’t think about the time.”

“She’s up. Hold on.”

Tarah took a seat in front of the comm a second later, her eyes the same vivid hue Grace remembered from childhood, her voice brimming with joyful welcome. “It’s so good to see you, Grace.”

They chitchatted for a few minutes before Tarah turned those perceptive eyes off-screen. “Darling, give us a few minutes, will you? Girl talk.”

Abel snorted. “If I know you, it’ll be more like an hour.” Coming into view, he tipped up Tarah’s head to claim a kiss, then glanced at Grace. “You make sure you drop by if you’re ever in the area.”

“Now,” Tarah said once her mate was gone, her face holding a kindness that was innate, “what’s the matter?”

Grace forced herself to describe what had happened, found herself on the brink of tears again by the end. “How can I be with him if I can’t trust my wolf not to regress to instinctive behavior? As if I don’t know him, don’t have faith in him?” His lover’s trust was integral to a dominant’s sense of self. Steal that from Cooper and she might as well stab him in the heart.

Tarah’s expression was sympathetic. “It’ll take work, I won’t lie about that. But it is doable, and when it works.…Abel is my rock and my heartbeat.”

The haunting depth of love in that statement made Grace yearn. “Is there anything you can tell me that might help?”

“Compromise is the magic word, just as it is in most relationships.” A wry smile crept over her face. “Though I should warn you, a dominant’s idea of compromise is sometimes very ‘flexible.’”

Grace’s laugh was a watery sound. “I can imagine.” Taking a shaky breath to settle herself, she said, “What worries me most is the level of control he has to keep over himself. It’s constant. Does—” She halted, suddenly conscious of how intimate a question she was about to ask.

Tarah tapped the comm screen as if tapping the nose of a recalcitrant pup. “Ask what you need to—and to answer that last question, Abel doesn’t hold back. He doesn’t need to, because my wolf knows he never expects submission from me, even when I’m at my most defenseless.” A penetrating gaze. “You can’t rush the development of that trust, because it’s not a conscious choice. It comes from the animal within—for the wolf, learning to judge a predator is a survival mechanism.”

Tarah’s words made too much sense. “Thank you for being so honest.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Her long-ago teacher gave her a mischievous smile. “Tease him, Grace, play with him, give him the chase he needs, and take the time you need. There’s something to be said for anticipation.”

Later, considering everything Tarah had said, Grace stripped and shifted. It was agony and it was ecstasy, the shift separating her into a million particles of light and color before coalescing into the wolf that was her other half. She shook herself to settle her new skin, then hopped onto the bed and allowed the animal to rise to the surface of her mind, felt it sigh at the freedom, sigh, too, at the lingering scent of dark amber and wild earth.

Ours.

Yes, agreed the human part of her, he’s ours.

• • •

COOPER decided he must hate himself as he walked into his bedroom at just past one a.m., after attempting to wear himself out in the gym. He knew Grace couldn’t help her reaction—and that had been fine until the dreams. He’d had the strength to be patient, had actually been having an intoxicating kind of fun coaxing her to him kiss by kiss. Now, however, he had a hell of a time maintaining his hold on his more primitive emotions.

Showering under a cold spray in an effort to control his rebellious body, he shook himself off wolf fashion afterward and pulled on some sweatpants. Then he slumped on his back in bed. Sleep, of course, was a vain hope with his cock in a vise, and it wasn’t as if he’d wake well rested.

Christ, what was he going to do when he and Grace did become lovers?

No way would he ever leave her alone afterward, but he couldn’t fall asleep, didn’t want her to hear him screaming like a child. “And how long do you think you can function without sleep, genius?”

Growling, he got up and decided to make someone else miserable, too, the comm his weapon of choice.

“Whoever you are,” came the voice rough with the gravel of deep sleep, “I will hunt you down, tear out your spleen, and eat it fried with mushrooms.”

“Creative,” he said to Riaz.

His fellow lieutenant’s sleep-mussed hair appeared on the screen, followed by the rest of his face, as if he was levering up on his elbow in bed. “Coop? Is this an emergency?”

“Yes. My cock’s about to break in half.”

“If it was anyone but you…” Disappearing off-screen, Riaz returned with damp strands of hair around his face, eyes of dark gold no longer hazy with sleep. “Right, tell me what’s up.”

So Cooper did. He wasn’t a big talker, especially when it came to something this important, but he and Riaz had been friends since childhood, knew each other inside out. The other man would understand what this meant.

“You’re really gone for her,” Riaz murmured when he paused. “Is she your mate?”

“Yeah.” The mating dance hadn’t begun, but that was a minor detail as far as Cooper was concerned—soon as her wolf was ready, it would. “Only, she doesn’t know it yet.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I think I want to punch you.” A good drag-down fight was what he needed, but in this mood, he’d slaughter anyone but another one of the lieutenants, or the alpha. “You don’t know how lucky you are to be sitting pretty halfway across the state.”

Riaz’s grin was without remorse. “You’d laugh, too, if it was me gaga over a woman.”

Cooper rubbed a hand over his cropped hair, wondered absently if he should just shave everything off like a few of the other guys. Then again, some of their women hadn’t exactly been impressed by the look. So maybe he should check with Grace first. And if that made him pussy-whipped, he didn’t give a shit. He wanted her to care about what he did with his body, wanted her to consider him her damn business.

“I need help, Riaz,” he said to the man with whom he’d first strategized about how to attract female attention—they’d been gawky teens at the time. “How do I court her?”

“Didn’t you say you were with her tonight?”

“Yes.” He hadn’t mentioned any specific details, just that he was frustrated in the aftermath.

“Well, it’s been less than a week—if your submissive’s allowing you close enough that you’ve got blue balls, I’d say you’re already doing things right. We both know you’re a bit much for even some of the dominant females.”

Cooper winced because Riaz was right. He was demanding, in bed and out. Even when he tried to tone it down, it only lasted so long. “Grace can handle me.” She had to—because he’d been waiting for her for a lifetime. “Though maybe I should try a more subtle approach, at least for a while.”

“I gotta ask, Coop. You sure about this?” His friend’s eyes were night-glow in the dark of his bedroom. “Your Grace, she hasn’t got any claws, not in comparison to you.”

Cooper bristled. “It feels righter than anything else in my life; she’s tougher than everyone thinks. She’s already challenged me once. I know she’ll go toe-to-toe with me once her wolf accepts I’ll never use my dominance against her.”

“In that case, balls to the wall, man.” Riaz yawned. “No guts, no glory.”

“Why are you spouting aphorisms at me?”

“Because it’s two-fucking-thirty in the morning and I need to be up for a six a.m. shift.”

“Wimp.”

Riaz gave him the finger. “Get some sleep and chase your wolf tomorrow.” Another yawn. “And Coop? Forget about subtle. That’s not your style.”

• • •

AT nine the next morning, Grace stared at the extravagant bunch of flowers that had been delivered to her office a few minutes ago, direct from the greenhouse attached to the den. Overflowing with color and texture and scent, though she saw he hadn’t forgotten her favorite daisies, it was a blatant public declaration of intent.

Then there was the card. According to the grinning juvenile who’d delivered the flowers, Cooper had inserted it into the bouquet himself, promising a horrible death to anyone other than Grace who dared open it.

Like I said. Lots and lots of foreplay. xx Coop.

Blushing, even as relief coursed through her that he hadn’t been scared off last night, she tucked the scandalous card into her pocket just as the comm panel chimed an incoming call.

“Indigo,” she said, acknowledging the lieutenant with a split-second of eye contact. “Chief’s with the healer—he twisted his ankle this morning. Said to tell you he’ll get in touch later today.”

“No problem,” Indigo said in a distracted tone. “Those are some gorgeous flowers on your desk.”

“Yes. From Cooper,” Grace admitted, knowing the gossip would reach the Sierra Nevada den by the end of the day anyway.

She’d underestimated the speed of the pack grapevine.

“I figured.” An open grin. “So…why do you look mortified?” Her tone cooled. “You don’t share his interest?”

“Of course I do.” Until her entire body ached for his touch. “God, what red-blooded woman would turn away from a man like Cooper?”

Indigo laughed. “Sorry about that,” she said a little sheepishly. “I know it’s none of my business, but he’s my friend. I’d hate for him to be hurt.” A pause before she added, “I can see he’s made a good choice—you’re smart, sexy…and without a doubt want to jump his bones.”

Grace groaned at the sly tease. “Everyone is going to be watching us now.”

She was right. And that was before Cooper stole her away for lunch since he had to be on night shift on a perimeter section and wouldn’t see her for dinner. “Did you like the flowers?” he asked, bracing his arm above her head on the tree trunk on which she leaned.

He looked so pleased with himself that she felt a surge of wild affection. “Yes.” And because there was no pain in his eyes today, she didn’t bring up the worry that continued to simmer in her at whatever it was that was hurting him. Instead, she petted him with her words, her hands. “I’ll miss you tonight.”

“Tomorrow, you’re all mine.” The rough promise melted her bones.

Of course, her family wasn’t so excited about the news of her relationship with Cooper. The only way Grace kept them from coming down to meddle in the situation was to threaten to never return home for a visit again. When she finally got off the comm with them, she fell into bed, her wolf exhausted by the aggression.

Chapter 9

TORMENTED BY EROTIC dreams in which she indulged in the most delicious of sins with Cooper, Grace came into her office the next day to find it filled with balloons and her workmates hanging around with huge grins on their faces.

The part of her that had been forced into rebellion in an effort to fight her family’s overprotectiveness thought she should be annoyed at the way Cooper was accelerating things, but she looked beyond that, to the core of who she was and knew she was charmed. This male, her wolf said, knew how to make his woman feel good.

The truth was, she didn’t need the reins of their courtship, wouldn’t be comfortable with them. And while it occasionally made her blush, she could deal with the pack’s good-natured and gentle teasing. Of course, Cooper had to keep ratcheting it up a notch—boxes of fine chocolates delivered to her home and office, an honest-to-God gorilla love-gram that had her entire crew in hysterics…and gifts far more private.

Like the exotic perfume he insisted on dabbing on her wrists himself after making her a home-cooked dinner, and the midnight blue silk sheets she found on her bed one day when she went home midmorning to pick up something she’d forgotten. Her breath caught, her fingers unable to resist touching the exquisite fabric, her mind supplying her with vivid images of what Cooper would look like sprawled on those sheets, all darkly bronzed skin and heavy muscle.

Her fingers curled into her palms, a needy whimper escaping her lips. Because in one area, Cooper wasn’t pushing, the skin privileges they shared limited to long, lazy kisses that had addicted both sides of her nature. She knew it was on purpose, that he was seducing her one small, luscious bite at a time, taking care not to set off her wolf’s survival instincts as he had that night in her bedroom, but she ached, sexual frustration a slow burning ember in her gut.

Until when Cooper tracked her down that afternoon, she said, “You’re driving me insane.”

He went motionless where he’d taken a seat in the access corridor beside her crouching form. “Want me to stop?”

No! “I…” And because he mattered, because she never wanted him to think he couldn’t be who he was with her, she found the courage to say, “I like it when you’re bad.”

He reached out to run his hand over her thigh and the embers glowed a deep, hot red. “You have no idea how much I enjoy corrupting you.” A squeeze. “It’s going to make me crazy to think of you lying on those sheets, your skin creamy, your curves bitable. I’ll have to stroke myself to sleep, and damn, it’ll be a pale substitute.”

His sexuality was so raw, so honest, far more earthy than her own…but she was starting to believe she might just be able to handle it. It aroused her to lush readiness when he talked that way—and he knew it. “I did,” she murmured, deciding to torment him in turn.

“What?”

Putting down the tool she’d been using, she went to her knees, placed one hand on his shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Stroke myself.” She’d been a mess of need by the time he’d walked her home the previous night.

His growl echoed over the stone walls. “Witch.”

She laughed, the sound soft, husky. He made her feel strong and wild and brave, her wolf daring to rub up against his own. She wanted, needed to take care of him in turn—it continued to frustrate her that he’d gone stubborn on her when it came to whatever it was that was putting increasing marks of strain on his face.

“Just tired from the late shifts. Don’t worry about it.”

She knew it was far more than that, but even a hint of confrontation on the issue made him shut down, and there was a point beyond which her wolf simply refused to push. It worried her on the innermost level, because their relationship could not survive if he wouldn’t share his problems—it would savage her to see him hurting without being able to do anything about it, make her feel useless rather than a partner.

Grace had no intention of permitting that to happen, and if confronting him about it wasn’t going to work, then she’d pet, adore, and persuade the truth from him. Submissives could be as relentlessly stubborn as any dominant—and this one was falling too hard for her man not to do everything in her power to rid the shadows that haunted him. “Vivienne told me there’s a fair not far from us,” she said. “Will you go with me?”

His eyes were ringed with a fine circle of yellow when he answered, and she knew the wolf was looking out at her. “If you promise to go necking with me afterward.”

The idea of necking with Cooper made the embers turn molten. Which was how she ended up walking hand in hand with him through the happy chaos of the fair that had set up about a half hour’s drive from the edge of den territory. He bought her cotton candy, and reminded of a childhood incident, she found herself telling him about her family, both the present and the past.

“I still miss my mama and papa,” she admitted. “I feel disloyal to Milena and James for it, but I think they understand.”

“Of course they do.” He hugged her to his side. “Just because your parents are gone doesn’t mean you’ll ever forget the way they loved you and how you loved them back.” Fingers playing with her hair.

“I didn’t understand for a long time that they were never coming back. When I did…I cried all night, until I made myself sick.” She reached up to link her hand with the one he had on her shoulder. “You understand.” He’d lost his parents, too, though not in the violence that had taken her own.

“Yes.” A rough agreement before he stole the last of her cotton candy and teased her into a smile, then led her to the dazzlingly lit up spokes of the old-fashioned Ferris wheel. “Having fun?” he asked as they slid into the gently swinging bench seat.

“Yes.” She snuggled into the heat of him after he pulled down the safety bar and their seat moved forward a spot. “Are you?”

“Yes, but I’m really waiting for the necking.” His fingers brushed over the delicate fabric of the fitted sunshine yellow cardigan she wore buttoned up over a white tank. “You’re cold.”

“A little. I should’ve brought a jacket.”

He held her closer as they slowly reached the top of the wheel, the view dazzling. Leaning down, he nuzzled a kiss above her ear. “Or we could make out right here, warm ourselves up.”

His caresses felt good. Possessive. Regardless of all else, Grace loved that about Cooper, loved that she didn’t have to wonder where she fit in his life. When he bit down on her lower lip, she bit back. His chest rumbled against her breasts. “Do that again.”

The low-voiced request made her blush—and tip her face up for another kiss. He gave her that, more, before running his lips over her jaw and down her throat. Grace was so used to his kisses that she forgot he’d never gone for her neck before. It shocked her when fear overwhelmed her in a brutal wave, her wolf telling her not to move, not to incite the predator who had his teeth so close to her carotid, her jugular.

He heard the rapid stutter of her heart, sensed her incipient panic, because he raised his head at once. “I’m not demanding submission.” It was an irritated growl. “When and if I ever do, it’ll be because we’re playing a bedroom game. Got it?”

Grace’s wolf quivered at the anger in his voice…but it was also aware of the protective way he continued to hold her. “How would you like it if an alpha wolf went for your throat?” she said instead of backing down.

Cooper smiled, slow and wide, because there’d been no fear in those words, only feminine outrage. If he had to make Grace mad to get her to forget the dominance imbalance between them, he’d frustrate, aggravate, and annoy her as much as possible. “I’d tell Hawke he wasn’t my type.”

A feminine snarl as the wheel began to sweep around at full speed.

Delighted, he tipped up her chin and nipped playfully at her nose. “God, I hope you make that sound when we’re naked.”

She nipped back. Hard.

“Ouch.” He rubbed his nose. “That wasn’t nice.”

Glaring at him, she tucked her head back against his chest. He allowed himself to grin, his wolf smug. Grace might not realize it, but they’d just taken one hell of a big step in their relationship. Pretty soon, he’d have his engineer snarling at him in bed while she raked her nails down his back.

Grumpy as she was with him, however, and given the failure of his earlier attempt, he wasn’t expecting her to remind him he’d promised to take her necking. Instantly aroused, he drove them deep into a secluded part of the forested territory around the den. “Come here,” he said once he’d brought the vehicle to a stop, his wolf in his voice.

Grace shivered and undid her safety belt, but instead of obeying his order, she slid back her door. “Outside.” A whisper.

It was cold out, and he didn’t like her being uncomfortable, but he had the sudden realization that his submissive lover was trying to set things up so she’d be far less likely to panic. Sliding back his own door, he walked out to meet her at the front of the car. Already, he could see nerves in her movements. Not giving her time to stew, he picked her up and perched her on the hood, moving to stand between her legs.

She gasped, went still, her hands on his shoulders. But then his sweet, sexy, incredibly strong Grace said, “Can I kiss your neck?”

He groaned. “Anytime.”

Angling her head, one hand cupping his nape, she brushed her lips shyly along the column in an intimacy he rarely allowed. The majority of dominants were choosy about who they permitted that particular caress. He knew that was why she’d asked. If she’d attempted to touch him there without permission, implicit or explicit, he might’ve reacted in anger—except of course, it was Grace. He would’ve done exactly what he was doing now and held her to him with a gentle grip in her hair.

Shuddering at the pleasure of feeling her tongue flick out to taste him, he let the wolf rumble in his chest, felt her arousal scent the air. “I want to lick you up,” he said, playing the fingers of his free hand over her hip. “Spread your thighs and suck and bite and taste until you come.”

A tremor rippled over Grace’s frame. “It wouldn’t take long.” The intimate whisper was a fist around his rigid erection.

Teeth grazed his throat an instant later.

“Grace.” He fisted his hand more tightly in her hair. “You owe me two now.”

He felt her thighs tense as she squeezed, hazy brown eyes meeting his for a blinding instant as she lifted her head from his neck…to lean back a little, arch her throat in an act of conscious trust that humbled him. Shuddering, he ran a finger down the slender column. “Such pretty skin, so easy to mark.” He stroked again. “Should I suck hard, Grace? Leave a bruise no one will mistake?”

She whimpered but didn’t change her position, and that sound, it wasn’t one of fear-drenched submission.

“I think you like that idea.” Leaning in, he flicked his tongue over her pulse, drawing the erotic musk of her into his lungs. “What if I did the same thing to these beautiful breasts, hmm?” A brush of his knuckles over one ripe mound. “Those particular marks would be for my eyes alone. I’d lick at each until it faded, suck another.”

Her arms rose, one going around his shoulder, the hand of the other on the back of his head. “Stop talking.”

The breathless command made his lips curve. “But you like it.” Her arousal spiked with every one of his words. “When I have you open and wet under me, I’ll make it a point to tell you—”

Her mouth closed over his. Groaning, he held her in place, devouring her lips, sucking on her tongue, drowning in the scent of her until she pushed at his shoulders. “Air,” she gasped.

Flattening his hands on the cold metal of the hood, he heaved out breath after breath, his head hanging low. He wanted another kiss, wasn’t sure he could control himself from going further. Not with her so aroused and soft around him. But he knew she wasn’t ready, wasn’t at the point where she’d trust him not only in front of her, but at her back. He wanted everything before he tumbled her into bed, because there was no way he was going to be able to resist fulfilling his fantasies about watching her move against him as he mounted her.

Warm fingers on his nape. “Why did you shave off most of your hair?”

“Don’t you like it?” His wolf stretched out.

“I didn’t say that.” She continued to stroke him. “You look good either way.”

He wasn’t a vain man, but he enjoyed being petted by Grace. “For convenience.”

“I like the way the bristles feel.” Her cheek rubbing against his temple. “Did you really get this scar”—a single finger trailing over his cheek—“from fighting a rabid bear?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “I was young, a bit of an idiot.” A juvenile, he’d come upon the bear chasing two petrified young wolves. He’d thrown the pups onto a high branch and taken on the bear when it became clear the maddened animal wouldn’t allow itself to be led away from the children. “I managed to avoid getting bitten, but it clawed me. This wound and the one on my back didn’t heal right for some reason.”

“They only make you sexier.”

He arched his neck in a silent invitation, had the pleasure of feeling her suck hard enough to leave a mark. Possessive wolf.

“And,” she said, licking over the mark that delighted him on every level, “there were pups’ lives at stake.” Nipping kisses along his throat, the scent of peaches warmed against skin a sensual caress. “You’d do it again if necessary, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m still a bit of an idiot.” He held her face against him, hissed out a breath as she bit down over his pulse. “That’s three, bad girl.”

Her thighs squeezed…and this time when she tipped back her head, there was only anticipation in the arch of her spine.

That was when he felt it, the wild howling from his wolf that sounded the start of the mating dance.

Chapter 10

GRACE STARED AT the mark on her throat the next morning.

“Now everyone will know you’re mine.”

Shivering at the memory of the way he’d run his finger over the spot when they finally got home after making out like teenagers, Grace decided not to cover it up with makeup. She was proud to be Cooper’s. And it wasn’t as if her packmates had any doubts about his intentions, she thought with a delighted laugh, her entire body humming with anticipation for the night to come. The fact her wolf had accepted him at her throat…

Happy and excited and a little bit terrified—in the breathstealing way of a woman who knew a sexy, dangerous man would soon be in her bed—she went to work with a smile on her face, ready to handle the teasing.

What she was not ready for was for her brother and sister to turn up. The two took one look at the unmistakable mark on her throat and lost it, their eyes turning an identical wolf amber swirled with green.

“Are you insane, Grace?” Pia yelled, having dragged her out into the sunshine-drenched forest so they could talk without being overheard, her petite size no indication of her temperament. “The man is a lieutenant! Not only that, he’s a lieutenant with a reputation for being a total hard-ass. He eats submissives like you for breakfast!”

Slender Rev was more elegant in his choice of words but no less violent in his repudiation. “You need someone gentle, someone who knows to treat your wolf with care. Thank God we talked Dad out of coming with us—he’d be ready to spill blood after seeing that bruise on your neck.”

As she opened her mouth to point out that the “bruise” was a very welcome love bite and that she’d seen plenty like it on the throats of Revel’s various lovers, her sister went off again, so she folded her arms and waited. Pia would eventually run out of steam, or pause to catch a breath. Meanwhile Rev would wait for Grace’s reply to rebut her words. It was an aggravatingly familiar pattern—but she knew the doofuses were freaked out because they loved her.

Her wolf sighed in exasperation, put its head on its paws, and waited.

Except the pattern altered in a rush of fury as another man snarled into the clearing. “Are you all right?” was Cooper’s first question, his irises ringed with that distinctive feral yellow that said his wolf was riding him.

“I’m fine.” Shifting closer, she put her hand on his chest. “What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?” It was a snap of sound. “I get a report that two unfamiliar dominants hauled you bodily out of the den, and you ask me that?”

Suddenly infuriated, she narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you use that tone of voice with me.” She would not take it, not from anyone, and especially not from the man with whom she intended to share skin privileges both intimate and precious.

His response was to shove her behind the wall of muscle that was his body. “You”—his words were snapped out at Pia and Rev—“have three seconds to explain why you dared lay hands on her.”

“She’s our sister.” All black hair and wolf eyes, Pia was magnificent in her anger—she would also be mincemeat if Cooper took offense at her aggression. “And you have no right to use your position to force her to share skin privileges.”

Grace wanted to beat her head against a mountain of brick at that ugly statement from her generous-hearted, talk-before-she-thought sister. But she didn’t have time, because Cooper’s claws had shot out, a violent growl coloring the air. Slipping around his body and gripping at his arms with her own claws when he picked her up and attempted to put her back, she raised her voice to be heard over the cacophony of her siblings’ cries for her to get away, to run.

“Cooper. Cooper!” Twisting her head when she felt Pia and Revel move, she said, “No!”

They halted, unvarnished shock in their expressions. Grace never yelled. Not at them.

Satisfied she’d bought a fraction more time, her feet still dangling off the ground, she leaned forward and did the bravest thing she’d ever done in her life. She bit Cooper hard on the jaw…and got no response aside from a slightly irritated snarl, his gaze locked on her siblings. “Cooper,” she said, digging her claws deeper into his flesh, “you ignore me now and that’s it. We’re done.”

Her desperate gamble worked, his gaze ricocheting to her, the yellow so bright, it was a shocking kind of beauty. “They challenged me. They said I hurt you.”

“I know.” Allowing her own wolf to rise to the surface, to guide her, she held his gaze…and wasn’t afraid, not of his anger. Because even though she’d bitten him, clawed him, he held her with a gentleness that was a silent rebuttal to any accusation of abuse. “And I know I’m asking a great deal, asking you to go against your every instinct, but please don’t hurt them.”

His lashes came down, thick and straight and inky black. Lifted again. Yellow eyes stared at her, and she knew the wolf was listening but wasn’t convinced, especially when her siblings continued to yell in the background.

Blowing out a breath, she concentrated on Cooper and played her ace. “How will you face my mother if you send Pia and Revel home in pieces?”

A pause, then—“I’d tell her she birthed stupid pups.”

Dark growls from the pups in question, but she knew the danger had passed. Cooper’s response had been sharp, sarcastic. “Thank you,” she whispered, because it was a gift he’d given her, this dominant wolf whose instinct it was to respond to any challenge with a show of violent force.

His next words were subvocal, for her ears only. “I like your claws. Next time, use them on my back while I’m inside you.” Wrapping an arm around her waist after that wicked request, he tucked her to his side, ignoring her attempts to check what damage she’d done to his forearms.

“I should break every bone in your bodies for that display of insubordination,” he said to Pia and Revel, his tone so coldly harsh that her siblings went quiet at last, a little of the color leaching from their skin. “But,” he continued, “that would hurt Grace, so you get a single free pass.”

Grace met her siblings’ eyes. “You do it again, you deserve anything he dishes out.” The hierarchy existed for a reason and could only be bent so far. Cooper had gone well beyond what might be expected of him, and she wouldn’t ask it of him again.

“You’re mad at us.” Revel sounded lost.

Sighing, Grace went to walk toward him, found herself restrained. She looked up, asked another gift from Cooper, this man whose wolf was so close to his skin. “Let me go for a second. I need to say good-bye properly.”

He released her, but she felt his eyes watching her every step of the way as she went into Revel’s arms, squeezing him tight, then doing the same to Pia. Before she could speak, explain to them that her relationship with Cooper made her so, so happy, Revel jerked back, his eyes flicking to Cooper over her shoulder.

“Shit,” he muttered, but not low enough that she missed the word. “Come on, Pia. We need to catch that shuttle.”

Pia scowled. “What—”

But Revel was already dragging her away, waving good-bye to Grace as he went and calling out to say, “I apologize, Cooper. I didn’t get things. Thanks for not shredding us.”

When Pia squawked something, Revel hissed at her under his breath. Her sister stopped struggling, twisting her head around to stare at Grace and Cooper, her mouth falling open before an enormous grin crossed her face. “Bye, Grace! I’ll tell Mom and Dad you’re fine!”

Grace stared after them as they disappeared into the trees, a dark suspicion forming in her gut. There was pretty much only one thing that would’ve eliminated her siblings’ protective worry with such absolute effectiveness. “Cooper, are we in the mating dance?” The male always knew when the dance began, and more than a few of them were less than inclined to tell the female half of the pair until said female was too committed to back away.

“If we are?” A challenge.

“Don’t you think you should’ve told me?”

“No.” The infuriating male kissed her. Unlike his coaxing kisses before, this one was a demand, a raw melding of mouths that swept away her foundations and left her floundering.

Then he grinned. “You’re not afraid of the big, bad wolf anymore, Grace.” Picking her up, he backed her into a tree, her legs going around his waist. “I want you.” Clever fingers on the buttons of her shirt.

“Stop.”

Hearing the panic, Cooper froze, realizing too late that he’d made a huge tactical error. Though Grace hadn’t been frightened by his anger, that didn’t mean she was ready to give him the kind of intimate trust he needed from her if they were to share a bed. During the fight, she’d been in that protective mode where a submissive could become oddly fierce, her body high on adrenaline.

But the fact was, she’d only offered him her throat last night. It was way too soon to expect more, any demand apt to push her into an instinctive submission that’d scar them both. “I’m sorry.” He pressed his hands palms down on either side of her body. “Baby, I’m so—”

Fingers on his lips. “I’m not afraid of your anger,” she whispered, eyes flicking up to meet his for a single, brilliant instant. “In fact”—a slow smile—“I’m proud I stood up to a lieutenant and forced him to listen.”

He laughed at the adorable hint of smugness, tension snapping. “You also clawed him and he’s keeping score.”

A nuzzling kiss that told him she was utterly unrepentant, even as her hands stroked over the already healing cuts. “But deep inside,” she continued, “the wolf already knew you’re built to protect rather than hurt those like me. The other…the intimate skin privileges…that’s new, unexpected, and the vulnerability it asks for…it frightens my wolf until it forgets what we’ve already shared and retreats into the rules of the hierarchy.”

Fingers on his nape, petting gently before worried eyes met his for another fleeting moment. “You won’t give up, will you?”

“Hell, no. You’re mine and I’m keeping you.” Conscious all at once that she’d softened around him, and made no protest to the fact he had her pinned against the tree, his hips nestled intimately against her, he brushed his lips over hers. She opened on a sigh, her hands sliding to grip his shoulders.

Much as he wanted to use his own hands, he kept them on the tree trunk, and in spite of the fact she wore his mark on her throat, he didn’t attempt to move his mouth down to that sensitive area. Not today, when he’d inadvertently frightened her wolf in his impatience. Today, he’d just kiss her…and plan the next step in their dance of courtship.

• • •

COMING home after a midnight-to-six shift on the perimeter, Cooper crashed for a few hours. It felt as if the nightmare gripped him in its jaws the instant he closed his eyes and shook, until he woke screaming. Angry and frustrated, he punched the wall until his knuckles bled. It took teeth-gritting control to shake off the dark effects, and he kept his distance from Grace, not wanting her to see the emotional damage with those too-perceptive eyes of hers.

Instead, he sent her miniature peanut-butter tarts to have with her lunch, got a note in return saying he would make her fat…as well as a pink cupcake decorated with their initials in a frosting heart. Laughing when he hadn’t thought he’d smile today, he bit into the cupcake and sent back a note saying he liked something to hold on to in bed.

When he finally dared go to her that afternoon, her eyes danced at him and he had to steal a kiss, squeezing her hips the entire time. Her touch warmed the ice-cold places deep inside him that no amount of hot water could reach, her fingers soft against his cheek. “You didn’t sleep well.” She brushed at the smudges under his eyes, a frown marring her brow.

“Yeah, I’ll sack out early tonight…unless you want to crawl into bed with me? Then I’m sure I could be motivated to stay awake.”

The frown didn’t disappear. “You’re doing it again.”

“What?”

“Using sex to muddy up the waters.” Cupping his face, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him until he was breathless. “Talk to me.”

Chapter 11

HE ALMOST BROKE, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t, taint her with his pain, didn’t want her to feel caged by his need. “Why don’t you talk to me? I hear you’re going out with your engineering crew.”

“Yes, a dinner to celebrate our early completion of the section 4B rehaul.” She petted his shoulders in that affectionate way she had of touching him. “Want to come?”

Yes. “No, you have fun. Shamus and I are planning to go shoot some pool.” He would not monitor her life just because it drove him insane to not be certain if she was safe. “I’ll come by and say good night if we get in at a reasonable hour.”

Dark eyes watched him. “I haven’t forgotten.”

He knew she hadn’t. He also knew this was his cross to bear. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

The night was excruciating. Returning from the bar, he and Shamus got stuck in a traffic jam caused by some kind of protest and didn’t get back into the den till after eleven. Aware it was too late to wake Grace up, he nevertheless went past her quarters, hoping against hope to see light under the door. But she was asleep…or not in. And there was no one he could ask to confirm without betraying too much, so instead he waited for dawn and turned up to take her out to breakfast.

Where he held her for so long, she knew something was very wrong. He dodged her questions again, though he knew it couldn’t go on this way forever. But today, he wanted only to bury himself in the wild joy of courting her. Because she was the bright light in the dark—his wolf swaggered around the den, so delighted with the woman who was his own that he didn’t care who razzed him about being smitten.

“Word is she’s got you wrapped around her finger,” his alpha said to him two days later, an amused look in eyes so pale, they were those of a husky given human form. “They’re taking bets on what you’ll do next to court her. I heard about the violinist.”

“This pack has far too much time on its hands,” Cooper muttered, but even sleep deprived as he was, he was in too good a mood to be mad. Because Grace was letting him chase her—and his wolf did love a challenge.

He grinned, thinking of the surprise he’d left her.

• • •

GRACE had to physically fight a hot red blush when she walked into her office to see the black box tied with a pink ribbon sitting on her desk. That wasn’t what had heat blazing over her skin. It was the discreet symbol on the bottom left corner of the side facing the door—of a high-end lingerie shop.

Vivienne whistled from beside her. “Oh, now the man is playing hardball.”

Grace had heard about the male wolves’ exhibitionist tendencies during the mating dance, but Cooper knew very well she was shy about certain things. “I’m going to kill him,” she muttered, trying to avoid the chief’s and Paul’s eyes as they walked past her office for the third time, necks craning.

“Don’t murder the man until you see what’s inside.”

“I am not opening this here.”

“Come on, Grace.” Vivienne nudged the door shut in the men’s faces. “There, see? We’re all private.”

Someone knocked.

When Vivienne scowled and opened the door a peek, Emma poked her head inside, the glossy dark of her bob swinging across her cheek. “I had time before a class, and I heard…” Her eyes lighting up when she saw the box, she came in, shut the door, then hit the lock for good measure. “God, he really did do it. Even my guy wasn’t this shameless.”

Grace’s stomach did a little flip. My guy. That sounded nice. She’d like to call Cooper her guy. After she killed him. “He could’ve had this delivered to my room.”

“Please, Grace.” Vivienne snorted. “The lingerie might be for you, but the message is for everyone else. Hands off sexy Grace. She’s all miiiiiiiiine. Grr and snarl and grr some more.”

Grace glared at her as Emma dissolved into giggles…but when Vivienne started beating her chest, her teeth bared, it was all over. It was some minutes later that she wiped the tears from her eyes and, giving in to their wheedling, tugged on the ribbon. “Breathe a word of what’s inside and I’ll make sure the lighting in your room gets stuck on bright noonday sun all week.”

“Done.”

Emma hesitated. “Can I tell Shamus? Please.” She pressed her hands together. “It might, you know, give him ideas.”

“Not a word.”

“Okay, okay.” Miming zipping her lips, the other woman said, “Open it before I explode.”

They crowded around as she lifted the lid to reveal fine white tissue paper. Nestled within was a garment that made all three of them exhale in sheer pleasure. Rather than anything scandalous, Cooper had bought her a thigh-length nightgown in midnight blue, the straps ribbon-thin, the material cut so it would hug her body in all the right places, the fabric itself pure sin.

“Oh, this makes me want to purr.” Emma rubbed the midnight blue between her fingertips. “I’m dragging Shamus to this store until he gets the hint.”

Vivienne sighed again. “The man gets serious brownie points for taste.”

Grace stroked her hand over the garment, in love. She’d never have bought it for herself, would’ve considered it too decadent, too expensive. “Maybe I won’t kill him,” she admitted in a dreamy voice, imagining Cooper’s big, callused hands sliding the straps from her shoulders, his stubbled jaw rough against her skin, his lips possessive.

Vivienne nudged her shoulder, a knowing gleam in her eye. “Aren’t you going to open the other packages?” She pointed inside the box.

“No.” Cooper only had a limited store of good behavior, and she was dead certain he’d used it all up on the nightgown.

Her friends made disappointed sounds, begging pitifully, but Grace held firm, ushering them out the door, and locking it behind the two before returning to the box and surrendering to her own wild curiosity. She’d been right to worry.

“I would,” she muttered to him later that night, as she straddled him in the backseat of the SUV he’d signed out of the garage, “have to be in a very, very, very good mood to put on that teddy. It might as well be made of tissue.” Instead of impossibly delicate red lace that would cup her breasts and glide over her abdomen with no intention of hiding anything.

Cooper, sprawled half naked and magnificent against the seat, grinned. “I liked the hooks.”

“That’s because they’re on the back.” Making it clear it wasn’t a garment a woman was meant to either put on or take off by herself. “And what do you call that last piece?”

“Panties.” Knuckles running down the naked line of her breastbone to her abdomen, exposed due to the fact the sexy male beneath her had talked her into unbuttoning her shirt for him. “Definitely panties.”

Her thighs clenched. “What exactly is that teeny, tiny scrap of red meant to cover?”

“Hopefully not much.” He tugged at the waistband of the floaty knee-length skirt she’d dressed in tonight in a conscious decision that made her feel naughty in the most adult way. “Tell me you’re wearing them.”

Arousal was liquid honey in her veins, thick and rich and oh-so-luscious “No,” she said, playing with him. “I think I should punish you for how you’ve been tormenting me.”

Teeth on her lower lip. “God, I love it when you’re bad, Grace.” His fingers went to the bottom edge of her skirt, his hand spreading on her thigh in a caress of rough heat. “Can I?”

Heartbeat jerky in her throat, she shook her head…and reached down to slowly, so slowly, bunch the skirt ever higher up her thighs. Cooper’s breath was harsh, loud in the confines of the SUV, his eyes a wild yellow that traced every inch she bared. It was intoxicating, his raw desire made her feel like a sexual siren when she’d always thought her sensuality a gentle flame.

There was nothing gentle about her need or her possessiveness where Cooper was concerned. He could arouse her with a word, a look, and she hungered for him to complete his claim, her body in a constant state of readiness. It wouldn’t be long, she thought, before her wolf took that final step into absolute, unremitting trust.

“Higher.” A growled demand when she stopped near the top of her thighs. “I want to see.”

Skin damp with perspiration, she kept the skirt where it was. “What’s my incentive?”

Wild yellow blazing at her in the dark, the windows fogged up to enclose them in steamy intimacy. “I’ll lick you until you come. Now, keep moving.”

Whimpering, she obeyed the order, saw him jerk his head up and check that the whimper was one of passion. Satisfied, he returned his gaze to the miniscule red triangle that shielded her from his view, his hand clenching on her thigh. “Take them off.”

Her legs quivered. Dropping her skirt, she leaned backward until she hit the back of the front seat, her chest rising and falling as she fought to suck in enough air to clear the haze in her mind.

Muscular thighs rock hard beneath her, Cooper’s hands closed over her knees. “You’re going to make me wait?”

She licked her lips, nodded. “You’re being punished, remember?”

“Then let me plead my case.” Holding her gaze, he cupped her.

She moaned at the proprietary hold, feeling herself grow more damp with every passing second.

A brush of his thumb across the taut nub at the apex of her thighs, the pleasure piercing her to the core. She arched into his touch, even as an acrid sensation she didn’t want to feel began to eat away at the sumptuous wave of passion, the wildness in her sensing the acute vulnerability that awaited if the wave crashed. Gritting her teeth, she tried to ride it out, but Cooper knew.

Removing his hand, he tucked her against his body, one hand cupping the back of her head, the other on her lower back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed in the rich earth and dark amber of his scent, her wolf rubbing up gently against his own in silent apology.

His response was a low rumble of a growl. “It’s my own damn fault for buying you those panties.”

Laying her head against his shoulder, she petted his beautiful chest. “Yes,” she agreed, “it is.”

That got her a growl…and, “When are you going to wear the teddy?”

• • •

ABLE to feel herself hovering on the brink of that final, ineffable trust, Grace got up the next morning wishing the hours away so she could play with her dominant lover when night fell, but the day ended up being unexpectedly, dangerously long.

“We have a serious problem at the hydro station,” her boss, Barney, said around five that afternoon. “A computronic issue that only became apparent a couple of hours ago.”

The timing, Grace thought, couldn’t be worse. The region was heading into a severe new storm, forecast to hit tonight. It was meant to be so bad that a team had been dispatched to bring the wild wolves that shared their territory into the den for the night. “Are Elizabeth and Diego up there?” she asked, referring to the two senior station techs.

“Yeah, but they need someone from your team. The air system at the control station is acting glitchy, CO₂ alarms on the fritz, and they have to batten down the hatches, spend the night babying the computronics.”

Dangerous, Grace thought, if the air filters failed and carbon dioxide built up in a contained area. Unlike the den, the below-ground control station had no natural airflow conduits to negate the risk, and the storm would make heading outside just as bad a choice. “Den’s got generator backup,” she said. “It’d be safer to recall them.”

“I suggested that, but Elizabeth says if they leave the problem, it could end up crippling the station, take weeks to repair. That happens, den will be reliant on the backup battery units in the critical systems—generators are only meant to run for a few days at most.” He rubbed his forehead. “We won’t go dark, but things will function at minimal levels at best. If the solar panels hadn’t been damaged.…”

Grace knew even with the pack’s scientific manufacturing arm putting a rush on the specially calibrated panels, it would take at least another week to get everything in place. “Paul’s our air expert,” she said, hating the idea of sending any of her people out in this weather.

“I tried him, but he’s not in his quarters and he didn’t file a schedule. Figured you might know where he’s working.”

That was when Grace recalled why she hadn’t seen Paul today. “Damn, I forgot. I gave him a couple of days off so he could go to his father’s birthday party in L.A. He left this morning.”

“How about Jenson?”

Grace shook her head. “Jenson’s still apprentice level.” He might panic under the kind of pressure at the station. “I’ll go—air is my secondary specialization, and I have plenty of on-the-ground experience.” She frowned. “Jenson should be able to deal with anything that comes up here, but call Paul in L.A. and have him provide remote backup and guidance. If you can’t get hold of Paul, call Zang at the San Rafael den or Shae at the main den.”

Ten minutes later, she threw an overnight bag in a truck and sent Cooper a message.

Heading to hydro station. Staying overnight.

Chapter 12

SHE WAS TWENTY minutes away when he called on the car’s system.

“Are you driving up alone?”

His protectiveness warmed her. “Yes, but the winds are manageable.” Though she could feel them buffeting the heavy all-wheel drive vehicle she’d signed out. “I’ll be safe under shelter before the storm breaks.”

“Call me when you get to the station.”

“You stay safe, too.” She knew he’d be the first one out in the fury if anything happened. “Have you got a satellite phone?” Proving the adage that trouble came in threes, the main comm tower had gone down forty minutes ago, leaving a huge dead zone as far as normal mobile reception. The only good news was that thanks to underground cabling, the den’s hardwired lines remained functional.

“Yes. You?”

“No, but Elizabeth and Diego both do.” Personnel who worked regularly in isolated areas were issued them as a matter of course after a packwide mandate.

“Take care, Grace. I’ll be pissed off otherwise.”

For some reason, that bad-tempered statement made her smile. “Same.”

She reached the station as the wind was kicking up, and found the techs both outside, attempting to coax a wild wolf and her tiny pups out of a tree hollow that wouldn’t protect them from the raging force of the storm. Aware the female would react better to her, Grace waved Elizabeth and Diego away and held out a hand. It took ten minutes in the driving rain before the wolf gripped one of her pups in her teeth and gave her to Grace. Grace cuddled the pup close and led the mother—who gripped the second pup by the scruff of its neck—into the station.

“Could I borrow one of your sat phones?” she asked after they’d dried off and created a nest of blankets for the wild wolves. “My cell’s got no signal.” She’d double-checked to be certain.

Red hair in a halo around her face, Elizabeth glanced at Diego with a distinctly guilty expression. “I forgot mine in the rush to get up here, but Diego’s way more organiz—”

Loud swearing from her partner. “I had it in my pocket, must’ve lost it while we were outside.”

Since it was their sole means of communication with the den, they decided to go back out into the now-pitch-black night to look for it—only to be shoved back inside by the gale force wind that turned even the smallest object into a deadly projectile. A heavy broken-off branch nearly took off Elizabeth’s head before Grace wrenched her out of the way.

“Hell!” Shoving the door shut with their help, Diego bolted it, leaving the branch where it had crashed into the opposite wall. “That’s it, we’re stuck here till the storm passes.”

Grace thought of the concern in Cooper’s voice and hoped he wouldn’t worry too much when he didn’t hear from her, even as her wolf fretted about him in turn. “I better get to work on the air”—she picked up the wolf pup clawing at her work boot, took it back to its exasperated mother—“or we’ll have to open a window.”

The other two laughed but it was strained—built into the side of a small hill, with only a doorway to reveal it was there, the control station had no windows. All three of them knew that with the unpredictable air glitches, there was no way of knowing for certain how much breathable air was left in the bowels of the facility, two levels below this one…the area that housed the sophisticated computronics needed to run the hydro station.

• • •

COOPER carried in the soldier who’d broken his leg when he slipped in the muddy terrain and deposited him in the infirmary. “Are they all in?” he asked Shamus, using a towel to wipe off the wet, a touch of blood saturating the fabric from a piece of debris that had whipped across his face.

“Yes. Or accounted for—few are bunkered down in the perimeter shelters, but they’ve called in and nobody’s alone.”

The words did nothing to ease the ugly knot in Cooper’s abdomen. “Any word from the station?”

Shamus’s expression turned grim. “No, but we’ve had no power fluctuations, so—” He stopped talking as the lights flickered. A second later, a low hum filled the air, the generators kicking in.

Bile coated the back of Cooper’s throat, a cold sweat breaking out along his spine. “I’m going up there. You’re in charge.” He knew the senior soldier could handle anything that occurred in his absence.

“Jesus, Cooper. Be sensible.”

“Would you be if it was Emma up there?”

“Shit.” The other man shoved a hand through his hair. “Take the armored all-wheel drive. Thing’s a tank.”

Cooper shook his head, impatient to start moving. “I’ll make better time in wolf form, be lower to the ground.”

“If you need to bring someone back…”

Someone hurt…or dead.

He nodded, unable to voice the thought that was a razor in his throat.

Shamus walked with him to the garage. “Turn on the tracking signal so we can keep an eye on you.”

“Done.” As he drove, he tried to focus only on the weather and the track, in spite of the scrabbling panic that clawed at him, filling his mind with images of fire and melting flesh.

He knew that was stupid, that even if something had gone wrong at the station, it would’ve involved a slow suffocation as the air turned to poison, not an explosion. It didn’t matter. Fire was his horror and it was what haunted him.

Crash!

Wrenching the wheel, he barely avoided the tree smashing to the earth, his wolf’s eyes scouring the wind- and rain-lashed dark for signs of further danger.

Be safe, Grace. Be safe.

They were the most agonizing three hours of his adult life, the journey taking twice the time it should have. When he pulled up in front of the door of the control station, it was to see the vehicle he knew Grace had checked out of the garage flipped over and smashed into a tree.

His heart turning to ice, he fought through the wind toward it, the rain knives against his skin.

• • •

GRACE sat in silence, fiddling with a conduit. Elizabeth and Diego had both bedded down in bedroom cubicles at the end of the corridor, and the rambunctious wolf pups had exhausted themselves at last, but she couldn’t sleep. Her gut was all twisted up, as if something was horribly wrong. But when she checked the air systems indicator on the wall—set to sound a piercing audio alarm if it detected a problem—it was to see everything was as it should be. No abnormal CO₂ readings, the air breathable.

She’d repaired it, knew this one at least was functioning fine now. Regardless, she verified the readings with the small hand-held unit she’d brought up. Discovering no discrepancy, she walked over, ensured the wild wolves were okay. The mother raised her head when Grace petted one of her babies but didn’t protest. Knowing she shouldn’t wake the pup, she took her hand from his baby-soft fur and stood…just as a banging came on the door.

The mother wolf sat up, ears pricked.

“It’s a branch,” Grace murmured, but the sound came again, the rhythm too precise.

Was someone out there?

When she saw Cooper’s face through the reinforced glass at the top of the door, she threw back the bolts so fast she tore off a nail, scenting the air with blood. “Cooper!” Her cry was lost in the howl of the wind as he came in, shoving the door shut again with the force of his body as she reengaged the bolts.

The mother wolf growled but a single violent snarl from Cooper and she backed down, wrapping herself protectively around her babies. Whipping back toward Grace, his eyes wolf-yellow and feral, Cooper grabbed her, burying his face against her hair, the water from his rain-drenched clothes seeping into her as she clung to him. He didn’t say a word, just held her with raw ferocity.

Tears blurring her eyes, she hugged him as tight as she could. “You shouldn’t have driven in this. You shouldn’t.” Fear for him had her heart stuttering, her wolf pushing at her skin to get closer to him.

Lips against her temple, on her cheek, her mouth, a hungry, desperate kiss.

When Cooper drew back, glanced around, his gaze still inhuman, she found the breath to say. “They’re asleep.” Dragging him to an unoccupied cubicle, she stepped out to grab towels from a nearby supplies cabinet, snagging the portable air gauge at the same time.

He watched her every move and when she returned, pulled her in and shut the door. The space was tiny, but putting the gauge on the shelf above the bed after turning up the volume on the audio alarm, she sat cross-legged on the mattress as he dried his face and hair, began to pull off his clothes. She removed her sweater and set it aside, the rest of her only a touch damp.

“The three of us talked about it,” she said, speaking to fill the terrible silence, “and decided not to go down into the computronic center. If the station malfunctions and the den loses power, it won’t be a total disaster—we’re wolves, we’ll handle it, and we can always jerry-rig something if necessary for places like the infirmary.”

No one, Grace had pointed out to Elizabeth and Diego when the techs argued with her, would thank them for dying when it could’ve been avoided. “If there’s a problem while we’re on this level, we have the option of opening the door, even if it means dealing with the wind.”

She tried not to stare as Cooper stripped down to the dark bronze of his skin, wrapped the towel around his hips, and came to sit beside her. Still not saying a word, he picked her up and put her in his lap. “You didn’t call.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Shaken by the tone of his voice, she told him what had happened, stroking his face, his shoulders in an attempt to pet, to comfort. “I’m okay. I’m fine.”

It seemed to take forever before his skin warmed, the rigid tension in his muscles melting away. “Are you going to tell me?” she asked, rubbing her cheek against his when he finally relaxed his hold on her.

He didn’t speak for a long time, but she didn’t shove at his defenses. Not now, not when he was so very vulnerable. Instead, she continued to touch him, soothe him. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “I can wait.” Kisses on his temple, his cheek. “Let me make you some coffee.”

He shook his head. “No…it’s time.” A rasp in his voice, his next words vibrating with old emotion. “When I was sixteen, my parents went out of state for a wedding. They told me no staying up late and gorging on pizza and burgers. Then my mom let it slip she’d made my favorite pizzas, frozen the packages, and my dad put double credits into my comm and games account, even though I hadn’t earned them by doing extra chores.”

Grace could hear his love for his parents in every word. “Lucky.”

“I was.” A quiet, somber agreement. “Normally, I’d have invited Riaz over for company, but he was grounded. Saturday, I ate, played games, watched X-rated movies after hacking into the comm’s parental guidance controls—and sent Riaz a message to brag about my genius since he’d lost his entertainment privileges.” A faint smile. “Mid-morning the next day, I went for a long run with him and our other friends, didn’t come back in till around four, when it started to rain.”

She knew something horrible was coming but didn’t interrupt, knowing he needed her to listen, to understand.

“The wedding was on Saturday night. Mom and Dad left before dawn on Saturday morning, planned to drive back Sunday.” He swallowed, the strong muscles of his throat moving. “My mom kissed me good-bye while I was still in bed. And my dad rubbed the top of my head in that way dads do.”

She could almost see him, a juvenile young and lanky, his eyes sleepy as he said good-bye to his parents.

“Then they were gone.” The words sounded terribly final. “I got a message from Mom around ten Sunday morning saying they were on their way. When they didn’t arrive by seven p.m. as planned, I didn’t worry. I figured they’d taken a detour that looked interesting. We always did that even when we went running in wolf form.” A shuddering breath. “But when they weren’t home by nine and hadn’t called, I started to call them. Over and over.

“I told myself I was being stupid to be so worried, but there was this stone in my stomach that kept getting heavier. I’d contacted the seniors in the pack and they tried, too, even got in touch with Enforcement to see if my folks’ car had been logged passing a tolling station, but…nothing.”

Grace’s heart ached for the frightened boy he’d been.

“I stayed up all night, waiting by the den entrance in wolf form as the pack rang friends, hospitals, restaurants, and diners along the way. It was raining and every time a vehicle appeared, I’d run out to see if it was them. It never was.” His voice broke. “We managed to track them to a restaurant halfway home, but then it was as if they’d vanished. Eighteen hours.” Stone-rough words. “That’s how long I waited for them to come home before their vehicle was found at the bottom of a ravine.”

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Grace hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Cooper.” She understood what it was to lose her parents, understood what it was to wake up and not have them be there.

Damp against her neck, one of his hands fisted in her hair. “They’d taken that detour, along a rural road with hardly any traffic. Their car was up to safety specs, had all the anti-skid, anti-collision technology, but something made them swerve into the barrier—maybe an animal—and their car, it exploded as it hit the bottom of the ravine. It shouldn’t have. A freak accident, the authorities said. They told me my parents must’ve died on impact, but I could see they couldn’t be certain. The fire…”

“I know it hurts.” She stroked her hand down his nape. “I know.”

Cooper lifted his head, held her gaze with eyes gone night-glow. “I’m getting you a sat phone, and if you ever forget it, I will never forgive you.”

“I won’t forget, I promise.”

For the first time, he was the one who broke the piercing eye contact. “No. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this—I don’t want to control you, Grace.” He brushed his thumb across her cheeks, wiping away the remnants of her tears. “I know the problem is mine, so if you want to take off and leave the phone behind, or if you’re pissed at me and don’t want to talk, I’ll deal.”

She heard the taut thread in his voice, knew what her silence would cost him, knew, too that he’d never blame her for it. “It doesn’t bother me, Cooper.” Honest in her choice, she kissed him, his shoulders hot silk under her hands. “I like being cared for, like knowing that you watch out for me.”

It made her wolf feel secure on the innermost level, and she had no quarrel with who she was, what made her happy—and one of those things was giving her man what he needed to feel the same. “Even if we’re fighting, I’ll send you bad-tempered text messages now and then. My way of caring for you.” As integral to her personality as protecting her was to his. “Let me, okay? Don’t do the proud dominant thing and get mad at me for it.”

God, Cooper thought, she was beautiful. Taking something that had almost crushed him, threatened to shred his pride, and turning it around so that he was the one giving her a gift. “How did you get so strong, Grace?” Strong enough to not care about being perceived as weak by those who didn’t know better, didn’t understand the beauty of her spirit.

Her smile was slow and just for him. “I have to be—I plan to play bad-girl games with a lieutenant.”

In her thrall, he ran his fingers under the edge of her T-shirt, touched soft, silky skin, the contact easing the agony of memory. “Any particular lieutenant?”

“Oh…I was thinking Matthias is quite a hun— Eek!” She landed on her back on the bed, with him braced over her, though he was careful to keep the majority of his weight off her.

“Take that back.” He knew she was playing with him in an effort to lessen his hurt and loved her even more for it.

An impenitent glance. “Make me.”

“Grr.” He nipped at her neck, remembering too late that he had to be careful of that vulnerable spot…but she giggled, then slapped a hand over her mouth.

Chapter 13

“WE HAVE TO be quiet.” A whisper. “Elizabeth and Diego are only two cubicles down.”

Cooper ran his hand down her body, so delighted that he didn’t care who heard them, the lingering shadow of pain eclipsed by searing joy. “What’s my incentive?” he asked, luxuriating in the scent of her. Warm and luscious and pure woman. His woman.

A hand curling over his nape, fingers touching his lips. “Cooper.”

That voice, that tone. “Nu-huh,” he said, throat dry. “You are not seducing me on this tiny bed.” He wanted to take his time with her, wanted her to feel free to scream.

She nuzzled at his throat in response, licking and sucking. And he knew he was a goner. Growling low in his throat, more a vibration than sound, he reached down and fisted his erection, his towel long since gone. It wasn’t for pleasure but to force himself to slow the hell down. No wolf female would be impressed by a man who spilled all over her at her first touch.

“That’s my job.” A husky protest, her hand moving down his body.

Releasing himself, he halted her. “Wait, I want skin.”

She raised her arms above her head at the blunt demand, let him tug the T-shirt over her body to expose lush breasts in a simple black sports bra, the neckline a deep vee. “I wanted to wear lace for you,” she whispered, a touch of color on her cheeks.

“Next time.” Since he’d all but swallowed his tongue, the words came out thick. “Shit, take it off or I’ll rip it.” Not the smoothest or most romantic of words, but Grace wiggled sexily under him as she pulled the stretchy material off over her head and threw it aside.

He already had his hand, his mouth on her ripe flesh, so creamy and plump and tantalizing. She jerked under him, her hand gripping his nape and a stifled cry escaping her mouth. Breath heavy, he rose up, demanded a kiss while he petted and fondled one of her breasts, received it.

Grace’s fingers landed on his hips, dug in.

Breaking the kiss, his cock pushing into the silken skin of her abdomen, he looked down to see brown eyes gone hazy. Lush and curvy and all woman, Grace made him grit his teeth and bury his face in the curve of her neck.

Her hands stroked up over his shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m about to come like a schoolboy,” he ground out, and it might have been an embarrassing confession…if Grace hadn’t softened impossibly further and reached down to curve her fingers around the hard evidence of his need. It wasn’t brazen, but neither was it hesitant. No, it was the possessive grip of a woman who knew she could claim any and every skin privilege she wanted when it came to him.

“Christ, Grace. Sweetheart, stop or—”

His brain blanked as she began to move her hand.

“Like this.” Closing his fingers over hers, he showed her how fast and almost rough he liked it. She followed his lead without argument, her confidence increasing with every stroke until he fisted one hand in her hair, levered himself up over her, and buried his face in the side of her neck again in an effort to muffle his growl as he came all over her hand and stomach.

The orgasm ripped over his spine, bowed his back, pulse after pulse punching through his body.

Breath harsh in the aftermath, he fought not to collapse on her. “I got you all sticky.”

A nuzzling kiss to his throat from the generous, sensual woman in bed with him. “I like carrying your scent on my skin.”

He thrust into her hand again, his erection near full-strength once more. And he had the thought that he could come all night for her, but he had other priorities. Forcing himself to get up, he used his still-damp T-shirt to clean off the evidence of his desire. Grace watched him with lazy eyes the entire time and when he threw the tee aside to move his hands to the button of her jeans, she sank her teeth into her lower lip and raised her hips off the sheet so he could tug the jeans off, throw them aside.

Her panties were black like her bra, but lace rather than cotton, hinting at the dark curls beneath. Shifting to the foot of the bed, he spread her thighs and settled himself between, breathing deep of her musk. “I want to eat you up, Grace,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her navel as he lifted her legs up around his shoulders, his gaze taking in those glorious breasts for which he had plans.

She ran the heels of her feet down his back in a gentle caress. “Cooper.” It was a sexy complaint.

He smiled. “Am I talking too much and doing too little?” he murmured, using a claw to cut off the sides of her panties so he could tug them off. “Let me lick it better.”

She sucked in a breath. “I like the things you say.” A whispered admission that undid him.

“You’re so pretty here, Grace.” He nuzzled at her navel before lifting his head and sliding his hands under her buttocks to tilt her up to his mouth. Using his thumbs, he spread her for him. “So pink and wet and plump.”

A feminine moan she blocked with her fist, her body arching toward his mouth in invitation. He took it, dropping his head to give her an openmouthed kiss that had her fingers fisting in the sheets, her body squirming as if she wanted to get away—except from the way she’d gone molten against his tongue, he knew she didn’t. Changing his hold to below her knees, he spread her thighs even farther apart and feasted on the taste of Grace. When she began to come, using one hand to lift up the side of her pillow so she could bury her face against it, muffle her cries, he licked and sucked her through the pleasure, then inserted a single finger into her sheath.

Her muscles pulsed around the intrusion. “Grace, sweetheart,” he said, his voice a rasp, “you’re going to squeeze my cock so good and hard.” He moved his finger out, pushed it back in to a gasping sound of pleasure, her face lifting from the pillow, eyes dazed. “Especially when I take you from behind.”

Looking up, he made certain she was with him before he thrust again, and again. A fresh slickness coated his finger. He removed it and used his mouth on her once more, careful with her clit, which he knew had to be sensitive. But she didn’t protest, her body undulating toward him. The complaint came when he stopped. “Cooper.”

Blowing over the flesh he’d teased to creamy need, he said, “I want inside you.”

A shudder rippled over her…and she spread her thighs for him, her feet flat on the bed. Biting back a primitive sound of pleasure, he rose up over her, stopping to suck a nipple into his mouth. “I’m saving these for later,” he said when he released the hard nub to kiss his way to her lips. “For dessert.” He nudged at her heat with his cock, his arm braced beside her head, his free hand on her hip. Urging her to wrap one leg around his waist, he began to push in, holding her gaze.

Her eyes fluttered shut after a few seconds, and he froze. “Grace, baby, are you with me?”

She ran her claws lightly down his back. “Yes. Oh, please don’t stop, Cooper.”

Sweat beaded along his forehead, but he locked his muscles in place. “I need to see your eyes, need to know you’re really okay.” That this wasn’t primal submission, but an act of passion, of conscious surrender.

Swallowing, she lifted her lashes, the eyes that met his a shy wolf gold. No fear, human reason in her words. “I’m here. Every part of me.” A nip at his throat, a quiet demand.

To have both sides of her nature dance with him, it was the most magnificent gift he’d ever received. Petting and kissing her, he continued to coax her to hold his gaze as he moved in her. “My pretty, sexy Grace,” he said, and pushed in to the hilt, his balls slapping at her flesh.

Her nails scraped down his back in response.

His growl a heavy vibration in his chest, he pinned her in place and began to thrust slow and deep until she whimpered in a desperate effort to stifle her cries. They found a faster rhythm, were locked with one another when they fell, wild yellow looking into passion-drenched gold.

• • •

COOPER’s heart was still pounding like the rain outside when he fell onto his back, taking Grace with him so she ended up sprawled on his chest. Shifting one hand, he splayed it on her butt, stroked. She rubbed her foot over his shin in response, circling one of his nipples with a lazy fingertip. “I don’t want to be quiet next time.”

He tapped her butt playfully and drew in enough breath to say, “You wouldn’t have had to be quiet this time if you’d waited.”

Kisses on his chest, up his throat, along his jaw. “Are you sorry?”

“I just had an orgasm that almost killed me, and I have naked Grace for a blanket. Yeah, I’m real sorry.”

Husky laughter, more kisses, eyes that shimmered with the wolf’s amusement. And he had the thought that his choice to share his deepest vulnerability had shifted something between them, given her what she needed to trust him on this level. It embarrassed him to think how he’d fallen apart, but he could deal with it if this was the result. Still—“It wasn’t a pity lay, was it?”

Pushing up so she could look down at his face, Grace glared at him, then slapped his chest. “Yes. Absolutely. That’s me, a woman who goes around sharing skin privileges with anyone who looks sad. Did I tell you about the engineer who broke his favorite tool the other day? I had to strip right there and—”

He shut up her rant by the expedient of a laughing kiss that had feminine claws pricking his chest. “Sorry,” he said when those claws dug a fraction deeper in warning. “I’m male. I had to ask.”

A shake of her head but her lips curved…then she ducked her head. “I wanted to crawl all over you the first time we met.”

His wolf preened. “I wouldn’t have stopped you.” He continued to pet her luscious body, his own very enthusiastic about the fact she was snuggled up so close. “God, it makes me feel good to have you here.” A pause. “Where you belong.”

Her gaze lifted to his again, a little shy, but not afraid in any sense. “I guess…I just needed to know you needed me on some level.” It was a painfully honest statement. “You’re so strong—my wolf understands a submissive’s important role in the pack but couldn’t comprehend what I could give you, how I could be your partner.” A hand cupping his cheek. “Now I know it isn’t about power, but about heart, about loving.”

His hand shook as he brushed her hair off her face. “I will always need you—you’re strong and brave and goddamn perfect, and you fucking own my heart.” And he needed her inside that heart, needed her to accept the mating bond, couldn’t understand why she hadn’t already.

Especially when tears shimmered in her eyes, as she said, “I love you, Cooper.”

His resistance broke. He tumbled them over, made love to her again, and this time, it was slow, full of whispered promises and caresses, a dance so beautiful it shattered his every remaining defense.

Maybe that was why he fell asleep curled around her afterward.

He’d never know what woke him, but he jerked into a sitting position to see it was just after four thirty a.m. Since Grace continued to sleep, he hadn’t screamed, and he didn’t have the foul aftertaste of nightmare in his mouth.

Thank God. Thank God.

Swallowing, he went to the door Grace had sleepily asked him to pull ajar as a safety precaution before they slept, and used the hallway light to check the portable air gauge, confirmed everything was fine on that point. Only then did he go into the tiny shower at the end of the corridor to wash and take a few deep breaths.

Diego’s and Elizabeth’s doors were ajar, too, and he heard snores from one as he walked back, the deep breathing of sleep from the other. He checked on the wild wolves as well, heard their sleepy whuffs as they resettled their bodies.

When he returned to the sleep cubicle, Grace had shifted to face the room rather than the wall, but her eyes remained closed. Moving with as much stealth as possible, he found his jeans, pulled them on, the material stiff but wearable. Though, he thought, he might as well run down in wolf form, since he was planning to leave both his phone and his vehicle behind for Grace.

“Cooper?” A drowsy question. “Is it morning?”

“Shh, go to sleep, darling.” Taking a seat on the bed, he brushed tangled strands of hair off her face, then indulged himself in one last stroke of her curvy body, her skin marked from his caresses. Primitive as it was, the sight made him feel good. “Storm’s past and even the rain’s stopped. I better start my run down, help with the post-storm cleanup.”

Instead of nodding and going back to sleep, Grace frowned and struggled up into a sitting position, pulling the sheet to her breasts. “You’re leaving me while it’s still dark? I thought you’d want to stay…a while longer, anyway.”

Her hurt tone was an arrow to his heart. “The storm, sweetheart. It’ll have made a mess of things. I’ll stay tomorrow night.”

Blinking, she stared at him for a long time, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “You’re always out in the dark, have far more night shifts than you should, and it’s clear you don’t get enough sleep. Why?”

His wolf paced, looking for a way out and finding only closed doors. “I take the shifts no one else wants.” He shrugged and got up, then realized there was nowhere to go in this tiny space. “Just being a good lieutenant.”

“That’s not how a pack works.” Grace got out of bed, the sheet wrapped around her like a toga, and pushed the door fully shut with a quiet snick. “We have to talk about this.”

He turned with a snarl, going on the defensive. “Jesus, Grace, you’re not that needy. I’m sure you can spend a few hours alone without breaking.”

Chapter 14

EVEN A FEW weeks ago, those angry words delivered by a Cooper whose eyes were tinged wolf yellow, would’ve made Grace stumble back, lower her head and her eyes. That was before he’d played with her, courted her, taught her he’d never ever hurt her. “That’s not the point,” she argued, refusing to let this go any longer. Maybe she didn’t like to push, to demand in the normal scheme of things, but she discovered her wolf was quite willing to do so when it was Cooper’s happiness on the line. “I want to know why you avoid sleeping.”

“I’ve told you,” he snarled, quiet but adamant, his eyes slamming into hers, the fury in them a wild thing. “Just leave it.” His dominance shoved at her.

If it had held the force of a command, she would’ve backed down, their relationship in splinters, her heart an agony of pain. But furious as he was, Cooper wasn’t pulling rank. No, he was simply a pissed-off man who wasn’t acting at all like the tough, strong, honest Cooper she knew and loved. “No,” she said, holding that powerful gaze. “I won’t leave it when I know something’s hurting you deep inside.”

When he would’ve opened his mouth to respond, she kept speaking, her words a taut whisper as she fought the urge to yell. “You think I don’t know how sleep deprived you are? That I don’t feel your wolf’s exhaustion? I know you, and I know you’re in pain, so you will talk to me.”

He bared his teeth, went toe-to-toe with her. “Act like a damn submissive.”

Tears pricked her eyes at those bad-tempered words, but they weren’t tears of pain or of hurt. “I am. I’m acting like your submissive.” The one who knew he’d die before he’d crush her spirit, no matter if such an act would win him the argument.

Growling deep in his chest, he picked her up and pressed her to the back of the door, the sheet falling to the floor as she grabbed reflexively at his shoulders, her legs going around his hips again. She found herself face-to-face with the wolf, his eyes pure feral yellow, his body pressed to the delicate, unprotected core of her, naked against the abrasive denim of his jeans.

Rather than flinching or pulling away, she touched her fingers to his face, stroking. “I see you,” she whispered, her own wolf rising to the surface. “I see you, Cooper.”

The affectionate whisper, that pale gold gaze devoid of fear, it destroyed him. Turning his face into her touch while never breaking the beauty of the eye contact, he reached down her body to stroke her, drank her sigh in a kiss. She didn’t refuse him when he undid his jeans, taking him with a gasp of welcome, her lips seeking his in a delicate kiss that was inexpressibly feminine.

Shuddering, he let her take control, walking backward until the backs of his knees hit the bed. He sat down, his woman on his lap, and surrendered to her loving. Until he felt adored in the most tender of ways. Until he knew that if she ever left him, he’d break forever.

Later, after the pleasure, and knowing she would fight him again if need be, this woman with a spirit strong as steel, he admitted the horror that stalked him. “I don’t want you to see me, hear me, like that, and it infuriates me that I can’t escape it. I’m not that scared boy any longer, haven’t been for a long time.”

Grace brushed her hand over his scalp, understanding why he’d fought so bitterly against telling her. For a dominant to confess to such a weakness would feel like an unmanning—and he’d already been emotionally raw after last night. Even now, she could see him withdrawing, his wolf refusing to meet her gaze.

But there was something important in what he’d said, something he was too close to see. “You said the nightmares started up around the time you began to court me seriously.”

A nod, jaw clenched.

“It’s because I matter, Cooper.” It made her heart hurt to understand how much. “You worry about me in a way you haven’t worried about anyone since you were a boy.”

Cooper didn’t say anything for a long time. “I’m always going to worry about you.”

“Ditto.” Pressing her fingers to his lips, she said, “But maybe the nightmares won’t come when you know beyond any doubt that I’m safe and sound. I can’t get much safer than in your arms.”

He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t fight her when she asked him to come to her bed again the next night. She knew he didn’t sleep properly, determined to hold the darkness at bay, but by the third day, he was so exhausted he crashed. This time, it was Grace who didn’t sleep. She knew what it would do to him to wake up screaming—so she’d kiss him at the first sign of trouble, seduce him until he forgot what had originally disturbed his sleep.

It was the only answer she had, and if it failed, she didn’t know what they’d do. Cooper was so proud, it would savage him if he couldn’t win the fight against the nightmares, because a fight was how his wolf saw it. He needed to beat this challenge, needed to protect the woman who was his own against the shadows in the dark.

To her endless relief, he slept like the dead.

And woke amorous.

Grace smiled as she wrapped her legs around his hips, met his sleepy-eyed kiss. Maybe she was wrong and the bad nights would return, but she didn’t think so. Not when Cooper had spent the night with her tucked up tight against him, his arm locked around her waist. “Possessive beast,” she murmured when he bit her throat hard enough that she’d wear the mark all day.

She felt his lips curve against her as he licked over the brand.

• • •

TWO weeks after their return from the station, and with the den’s power supply back to full strength as of five days earlier, Grace came home to find a bath in the room she now shared with Cooper. An honest-to-goodness bath, clawed feet and all. Filled with steaming water that carried a heady floral scent, delicate pink petals scattered over its surface.

Grace stared. She had no idea how he’d even gotten the thing into the room, much less how he’d arranged it so the water would be the perfect temperature when she arrived home. Shucking off her clothes, she slipped into it with a groan of pure pleasure. No one could say her man didn’t know how to court a woman—the entire pack was wondering why she was leading her lover on such a chase, even as they applauded his tactics.

The fact was, it had taken an agonizing level of self-control on her part not to surrender to the bond. She’d been teetering on the cusp of it the morning at the station, but after his confession about his nightmares, she’d known she had to wait, no matter if the hunger to bond with him was a constant ache inside her. Never did she want him to wonder why she’d accepted the bond, whether she’d done it only so he’d always know if she was safe.

He’d been a little shaky the first few days, his wolf waiting for the ax to fall. But as the nights continued to pass, dreamless and peaceful, he began to get aggravated by her resistance to the bond. She’d danced in joy when he restarted his relentless campaign, complete with deliveries of romantic handmade chocolates…inscribed with sexual favors on the backs; the sudden appearance of a coveted new tool in her toolbox; and daily love-song requests on the internal SnowDancer radio station that had every adult in the pack—and some clever juveniles—tuning in at 9 p.m. to see what he’d ask for next. And how.

Her favorite was the time he’d dedicated it to, “The obstinate she-wolf who thinks I should learn the meaning of patience.” A pause before his growl turned silky. “Though last night, she threatened to murder me when I tried to demonstrate how good a student I’ve been.”

Mortified by the intimate tease, she’d blushed her way through the next day…but secretly, she liked being an “obstinate she-wolf,” loved that he never used the careful voice on her anymore, demonstrating his rock-solid belief in her emotional strength with every dirty trick he played as he attempted to wear down her resistance.

And Cooper had some very dirty tricks in his arsenal.

Moaning with remembered pleasure, she rose out of the bath, dried herself off, then shifted. Her wolf sniffed at itself, not too sure about the floral scent but deciding it was acceptable since Cooper’s scent underlay it, embedded into her very skin. Jaw dropping in a wolfish grin, she padded to the door, pressed her paw to the special footpad to open it and slipped out, the door swinging shut behind her.

It took her no effort to track Cooper, his scent vivid to her every sense. He was outside, speaking to several of the senior soldiers. When she would’ve remained on the edge of the clearing, waiting for him to finish, he turned and smiled at her, angling his head in welcome.

She padded over to lean against his leg.

As she listened, Cooper finished working out some kind of a rotation schedule, and the soldiers began to break away one by one, the grins on their faces having nothing to do with work.

Cooper came down in a crouch after the last soldier left, stroking his hand down the slope of her back. “You’re such a pretty wolf, Grace.”

She yipped in a request for play.

Hand fisting in her fur, he said, “Okay, you convinced me. Give me a minute.”

It took him less than that to strip and cache his clothes in the hollow created by the thick roots of a forest giant. A wonder of light and color, and she found herself faced with a heavy-boned wolf who had become a familiar playmate. He was at least a hand bigger than her, maybe twice her weight, his eyes shimmering yellow and his coat a luxuriant dark red.

She quivered as he pressed his body against hers, acting shy…before she pounced up to grip at his neck with her teeth. He snapped his own teeth in a pretend growl and nipped at her ear as she jumped back, making her release a startled squeak-bark.

A wolfish laugh.

Snarling, she attacked him and they rolled around on the grass, wrestling and whipping around one another. She knew he was letting her play—he was so much bigger and stronger that it would’ve taken him but a second to seize control. But she also knew he was having fun. So when a low-hanging branch distracted him, she took off.

Grace didn’t like being chased as a rule—it was scary, stressful…except when it was Cooper doing the chasing. Then it was fun.

Heart thudding, she scrambled up hills and across clearings, aware of him gaining on her—and then his paws were on her shoulders, taking her down. It was a classic demand for submission, but when the bigger wolf nuzzled at her and jumped off, she knew he was telling her he’d won the game, nothing more.

Grinning, she rose up to her full height and yawned in a gesture of impertinence.

Cooper bared his teeth at his mate—if the contrary female would just accept the bond—and stared into her eyes. She stared back, unafraid, her tail up, her gaze bright. Had anyone come upon them, they might have believed she challenged him, but that wasn’t it at all. It felt as if she was adoring him.

All at once, her form dissolved in faceted sparks of color.

He shifted alongside her and let out an “oomph” as she pounced on him again, playful as a pup. “Hi, Cooper.”

His cheeks creased where he lay on his back with her over him. “Hi, Grace.”

“Guess what?” A very wolfish angle to her head.

“What?”

Leaning in close, she whispered. “I decided.”

His spine bowed as the mating bond locked into place, as gentle and as fierce a thing as Grace herself. Throwing back his head, he howled his joy, heard the wild wolves howl back. And then he heard his Grace, her voice melding with his in a harmony that was their song of the heart.