Jenner couldn’t help himself.

Before Mia could speak a word, Jenner leaned down and claimed her mouth in a long, slow kiss. There was an initial shock as their lips met, and Jenner felt dizzy, as though he’d unwittingly tapped into an electric current. He heard Mia’s sharp intake of breath, knew she’d felt it, too. But she didn’t pull away, either. And as his lips lingered on hers, shock quickly became a simmering heat that began to pulse in time with his heart. Jenner nuzzled her mouth, brushing his lips against hers, testing, tasting.

He didn’t expect it when Mia simply melted into him, her mouth softening, opening beneath his as she gave in to whatever this strange pull was that existed between them. She sighed, a soft, simple exhalation. But Jenner felt the submission that had produced it, and that single sigh rocketed through his bloodstream.

About the Author

KENDRA LEIGH CASTLE was born and raised in the far and frozen reaches of northern New York, where there was plenty of time to cultivate her love of reading thanks to the six-month-long winters. Sneaking off with selections from her mother’s vast collection of romance novels came naturally and fairly early, and a lifelong love of the happily-ever-after was born. Her continuing love of heroes who sprout fangs, fur and/or wings, however, is something no one in her family has yet been able to explain.

After graduating from SUNY Oswego (where it also snowed a lot) with a teaching degree that she did actually plan on using at the time, Kendra ran off with a handsome young navy fighter pilot. She’s still not exactly sure how, but they’ve managed to accumulate three children, two high-maintenance dogs and one enormous cat during their many moves. Her enduring love of all things both spooky and steamy means she’s always got another paranormal romance in the works. Kendra currently resides in Maryland and also has a home on the web at www.kendraleighcastle.com. She loves to hear from her readers.

The Wolf’s Surrender
Kendra Leigh Castle

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For Brian

At the heart of all my heroes, there is you.

Prologue

Mia D’Alessandro ran into the darkness, knowing he followed, that he was toying with her before the kill. Shaking all over, blood oozing slowly from the jagged wounds on her shoulder and neck, she stumbled into the night’s cold embrace.

He laughed, a breathy growl full of dark amusement that echoed hauntingly in her ears.

God, he’s right behind me.

“Don’t be afraid, baby. I’ll make it good for you, I promise. Just wait until you see what I have planned for us….”

He was close, so close. But these woods were unfamiliar to her and, even with the moon riding high above, it was all she could do not to run headlong into one of the trees that lurked just out of sight, hulking menacingly in the deep shadows. A sound escaped her, a soft, pitiful moan of fear that she was barely aware of in her desperation to get away. And she couldn’t hear him, couldn’t hear anything but the crunch of her feet over dry twigs and hard earth and the ragged sounds of her own breathing.

But he…he made no sound at all.

It was unnatural for someone to be so quiet, so light of foot that there wasn’t the tiniest hint of a footfall that reached her ears, she thought wildly, her terror now verging on hysteria. But then, there was nothing natural about the man who had only minutes ago sunk his teeth into her and torn her shirt wide open with his claws.

Claws. They were claws. And his teeth had been so sharp.

The stone, jutting about an inch out of the ground, seemed to appear out of nowhere to catch the toe of her shoe. Mia nearly lost it then, stumbling forward into the thick, oppressive blackness and only just catching herself. But the split second it took to right her balance had cost her, and she knew it. Any second now, she would feel his hand wrap around her arm, feel his claws sink into tender flesh that had already been scored and bitten.

Jeff Gaines, the wealthy entrepreneur.

The yellow-eyed monster.

She’d been giddy from the wine, the excitement, the pleasure of having attention lavished on her by the handsome man who’d swept her away for a romantic weekend. It had never occurred to Mia to refuse his offer of a moonlit walk. By the time she’d noticed the change in him, it had been too late. His hand had been over her mouth.

His teeth had been in her flesh.

“I don’t know why you’re running, Mia. I can see you. I can smell you. And I’m going to have you. You can’t hide from the big bad wolf.”

Somehow, she managed to find enough breath to scream. It felt as though she’d dragged it up from the very core of her being, a tortured, full-throated rail against what was being done to her, a demand that she be allowed to live. It echoed into the cold night sky, a final plea to an indifferent moon as Mia struggled forward, nearly sobbing with the effort. Time seemed to pause for a few precious breaths.

Then all hell broke loose.

Jeff’s hand, hot and strange, clamped onto her wrist and dragged her forward as he gave a wild, triumphant growl that was utterly inhuman.

“Your blood is mine,” he said, his voice thick, unrecognizable from the cultured tones of the man she’d come here with. “Did you really think you could hide it forever? I know what runs in your veins, witch.”

The blood he spoke of went to ice in an instant. She’d been warned—she’d been so stupid—but she’d never imagined the threat drummed into her for so long could be real.

It was a lesson learned far too late.

Mia had only time enough to gasp before he bit her again, his teeth sinking again into the already-swollen and bleeding flesh of her shoulder. Then, like the animal he had revealed himself to be, Jeff shook his head like a beast with its prey, burying those teeth deep.

Mia heard another scream, distant. It was only when the world began to fade to gray that she realized it had come from her.

The blood ran fast now as her delicate skin tore. Mia could feel her life’s essence flowing from her, soaking her clothes, running down her arm and chest. The world began to tilt beneath her feet, and she felt herself leaning into Jeff’s body, only because he was all she had to cling to before going under.

She was afraid that if she let herself, she wouldn’t come up again.

He seemed to revel in her groggy embrace.

“We’ll finish this now,” Jeff growled, his voice resonating with anticipation. He lowered her to the ground, gently, as though she were only a sleepy child. “Illuria tira. Illuria m’ar hemana.” The words, foreign and yet strangely familiar, resonated in the deepest part of her, and she felt herself opening to the night. Power, dark and forbidden, swirled through her. It was the other half of her gift that Jeff called forth. The malignant seed never allowed to grow, forced to shoot and bloom all in one breathless instant…and it had been waiting.

No, Mia thought. And right on the heels of that, yes.

“Look at it glow,” Jeff whispered reverently as he drew back. Mia managed to open her eyes just enough to see him looming over her, covered in what seemed to be spatters of pure light. A hazy glow surrounded both of them, and she knew at once, with numb horror, what it was.

Oh goddess…that’s me. My life. She saw the flash of a blade as he lifted it above his head, and she closed her eyes against it, against what she knew was coming.

But the final blow never came.

Even in her half-conscious state, Mia managed to lift her head, sensing the subtle shift in the air, as though it had taken on an electrical charge. Somewhere in the distance, a howl rent the night in a mournful song. Then there was another. And another.

Jeff’s body went rigid, and fury began to pump off of him in hot waves, intermingling with the madness that already burned like fever. Whatever was happening, he didn’t like it.

Hope bloomed, small but fierce, deep in Mia’s chest.

“Hang on to me,” he snapped. “I don’t care whose territory this is. You’re mine.”

Then she was lifted, carried through the rushing blackness, dimly aware of short, sharp barks and snarls in the world that existed beyond her closed eyelids, rapidly increasing in volume.

The sounds of pursuit were everywhere around them now. Search-and-rescue dogs? Could she be so lucky? But something about the sounds surrounding them, without a single human voice shouting commands, told her these were no dogs. Pictures flashed through her mind from the book she’d stolen from her grandmother’s library, the one she was never to read. Sketches of men wearing the skins of animals, becoming the animals…beautiful men and women, full of light, dancing wildly beneath the moon…dark creatures with shining eyes that were always watching…

Werewolves, she thought, her mind struggling to stay in the moment. More of them, a pack of them. To save me…or to finish what Jeff started. It seemed impossible. But then, she of all people should know better. Whoever was pursuing them, whatever their intent, Mia knew without a doubt that taking even the smallest chance at rescue was far, far better than dealing with what was going to happen to her should she not struggle. Her will to live, rearing its head with surprising force even as her strength ebbed, gave Mia the drive to try, one last time, to stop this madness.

She caught just a glimpse of Jeff when her eyes snapped open, his eyes glowing a burning gold, lips peeled back over glistening fangs as though he were a creature straight out of Hell. Then she threw back her head and screamed one last time, thrashing in his arms so suddenly and violently that he stumbled.

She thrashed again, and he couldn’t hold her. Mia slammed into the hard earth, barely feeling the jolt of it, forcing limbs that seemed to have gone liquid to move and propel her backward. But nothing seemed to work right, and her frantic motions seemed far too slow. Nightmare slow.

Jeff whirled on her, his lips peeled back over teeth that were far too sharp.

Oh my God, he is a monster….

She stared right into his blazing-yellow eyes when she cried out this time, giving it all she had left.

“Help! Help me, I’m here! He’s going to kill me!”

“You’re not going to get away from me that easy, Mia,” he breathed. “I marked you. The ritual is already begun. You belong to me.”

But she knew it was at least half a lie, because the glow from her life blood was already dimming where it covered him. She knew so little, so much less than she should. But she knew when Jeff’s chance was slipping away. And from his expression, so did he.

“There he is!”

A man’s voice, deep and strong, bellowed nearby. The ground, cold and solid beneath her, was oddly comforting. She would rather the earth held her than the monster.

Jeff’s face contorted with raw fury before he vanished with a single inhuman roar, his figure already lengthening and changing as he rushed past her into the yawning darkness beyond. And then there were other voices, surrounding her as the world began to swim again. Humans, after all. Relief coursed through her. But it died, a short, brutal death as she looked up into eyes that glowed as bright as the moon. And no amount of willpower could convince her that she was imagining it. Not anymore.

“Just hang on,” someone said. “We’ve got you now.”

I hope that’s a good thing, she thought faintly. I really do.

Then, blissfully, reality finally went dark.

Chapter 1

If there was one thing you could count on, it was that things always got weird right before a full moon. Still, Jenner held out hope, month after month, that there would come a night when his fellow creatures of the night would collectively behave themselves.

Tonight was not that night.

You’re gonna want to get over here, Jenner. We’ve got a biter.

“Hell.” Nick Jenner gave a low growl and shoved away from the pool table, where he’d been about to make the shot that would relieve a couple of his pack mates of twenty bucks. Dex’s voice had sounded loud and clear in his head, and there was no mistaking the urgency in the message. Being able to communicate telepathically with the other members of his pack came in handy, and it sure beat walkie-talkies, but there was also no hiding from it when you didn’t want to be bothered. Especially when you were your pack’s Lunari, second only to the Alpha in both power and responsibility, and said Alpha was giving you a dirty look from across the room.

Bane was linked in to the conversation, of course. He always was. Jenner gave him a sharp nod.

I’m on it.

Bane nodded back, then returned his attention to the pretty blonde who probably had no idea she was being hit on by a werewolf, much less one who headed up one of the larger packs in this part of the country.

No way would he ever want to be an Alpha, Jenner thought as he headed out the door. He couldn’t stand to have all those voices yammering away in his head all the time. He liked Bane, though he was an ornery bastard…hell, probably because of it…but running herd on all the Blackpaw in the area was a deeply unappealing thought. For one thing, it meant having to talk to people. A lot of people. And often.

Being what basically amounted to captain of the guard could be a pain, but Jenner would take the hunt-and-chase any day over all of that talking. His opinion was often asked for, and given, in private, but he much preferred being the silent half of the pack’s leadership in public. Diplomacy had never been his strong suit. Fighting, on the other hand…well, it turned out he had quite a knack for that. And being a werewolf meant having some interesting things to fight on a regular basis, if you wanted your pack to continue to exist.

His father, pampered and entitled, would be horrified if he knew the full truth of it. Actually, he was horrified enough at the little he did know about his oldest son’s life. The thought made Jenner smile.

On my way, he thought, giving it the little mental push he’d learned quickly after his own life-changing bite years before. Instantly, he felt a flash of Dex’s relief, and sighed irritably. If Dex was twisted up about it, it couldn’t be good.

Goddamn biters. It had been quite a while since the last one, which was good considering all the other crap he had to deal with out in the woods. There had been a lot more activity lately, a bad sign, though the shadows had started up and then quieted down just as everyone got really jumpy many times before. But Jenner knew his luck couldn’t hold forever. He just hoped that the woods were clear of any other annoyances tonight. Last night’s hunt should have cleared those blood-sucking shadows out for a day or two, at least.

Jenner paused just outside the door of Rowdy’s, the small, ramshackle bar that was a pack favorite on weekends. He inhaled deeply, his sensitive nose painting him a mental picture of everything going on in the area. The air, faintly damp and with a snap of chill that was typical for a late September night in Northern Pennsylvania, was full of the scents that had become familiar, even comforting, since he’d come here ten years before. Maple and pine, earth and early fall air. Human and wolf, each with their own distinct musk.

And best of all, not a hint of brimstone.

Ferry’s Hollow had come to smell like home. Jenner had no problem doing what needed to be done to keep that home safe.

He pushed another thought at Dex. What’s the status on the biter? Roaming stray from another pack, do you think?

Dex’s response was rapid-fire. Biter’s missing. We’re looking for him now. He wasn’t a Silverback, that’s for sure, Dex continued, referring to the nearest pack over a hundred miles to the North. Didn’t like the smell of him. Or the look, once we got that close. Hate to say it, but I’m thinking feral.

Jenner frowned, loping quickly down the street toward the place where the open land dissolved into forest. The Hollow was nestled deep in the woods, surrounded on all sides by it. The humans who lived alongside the werewolves here, by and large in blissful ignorance of all things supernatural, had no idea that the town’s being a veritable island in the forest was by design.

What about the bitten?

There was a pause. Then: We’ve got her. She lost a lot of blood, but she’s already starting to heal. She was only out for a couple of minutes, seems pretty with it since she came to. Other than that, she’s in shock and confused. About what you’d expect. Pretty little thing.

Jenner snorted to himself. It didn’t matter to him if this woman was the second coming of Angelina Jolie. Nothing good ever came from a feral bite.

Are they linked, then? he thought, and Dex’s immediate blast of anger was an answer in itself.

He didn’t seal the deal, lucky for her. And when we find him, I’m going to rip his throat out myself. The moon is too close to full to be pulling this crap. We need her connection to him while it lasts, but you know damn well somebody’s going to have to make her part of the pack before long. We’ve got less than a week, Jenner. Not much time. For her, either…

Dex’s voice trailed off in Jenner’s mind, but it didn’t matter. Jenner already knew what he meant. It could take some time to smoke out a clever feral who’d decided to take to the woods, which covered hundreds of square miles. But the unwitting victim was going to have to be brought into the pack before the moon rose full. Otherwise, they’d have two ferals on their hands.

The tenuous connection forged between biter and bitten was always a good way, sometimes the only way, to find a jerk like this. But the clock was ticking. Once his victim started to turn, that temporary mental link to her attacker would vanish right along with her sanity. Unless this feral got his paws on her again, of course, to make things between them permanent. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not on Blackpaw territory. And not on his watch.

How strong’s her bond to him? he asked, hoping for the quick resolution that there was no way, in his experience, he was going to get.

Hoping you can find that out. She’s been a little skittish with me. Weird thing is, she hasn’t asked for a doctor, cops, nothing. It’s almost like she knows…but I guess it could be the shock.

Has she said anything to make you think that? Jenner asked, beginning to frown. If this woman knew who and what they were, it meant the feral had a big mouth. That made it even more imperative to find the asshole. Loose lips could do in a wolf pack just as easily as a gang of well-armed were-hunters. Dex’s reply was small comfort.

No. That’s the thing. She’s not saying anything, just watching with those big eyes. I dunno, Jenner, this isn’t my thing! I’ve never had to deal with one of these before!

It was a sad day when he got asked to play mediator, Jenner thought.

I hear you. Headed in.

A loose biter, and a potential feral. And it was only ten. Jenner gritted his teeth and headed into the trees.

Mia D’Alessandro sat with her back against the rough bark of a tree, pressing a wadded-up ball of fabric that had once been a shirt against the open wounds between her shoulder and her neck. An odd sense of calm had settled over her, one that she was sure, in the detached way she seemed to be thinking right now, was a pretty good indicator of shock. After all, how else could she be sitting here, calmly and quietly, when half her shirt was shredded and covered in her own blood? At least there was no pain. Not anymore. And the bleeding, oddly enough, seemed to have stopped…but maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part.

At least my blood isn’t glowing anymore, she thought, but shut that down quickly. These men didn’t seem to have any idea what she was, so as far as she was concerned, she would be playing the normal, traumatized human woman until they let her go. If they let her go. She knew so little about these things, these other creatures.

Silently, and for the millionth time, she cursed the woman who had raised her so indifferently, family or no. Her life had been about hiding, about suppressing the truth until she had hardly believed it herself. And then Ada had simply been gone.

Five men milled around her in the moonlit clearing, eerily silent, though the meaningful looks they were giving one another made her wonder exactly what she was missing. One of the men had been kind enough to give her his shirt to stanch the blood, at least. He was the one who kept checking on her. The one who had reassured her, in a tone that brooked no argument, that she wasn’t in any danger of dying.

It was hard not to believe him, even though she knew she would need medical care, stitches, at the very least. Maybe the wounds had felt worse than they really were? It was all she could figure. These men didn’t look the type to just watch her bleed out. At least she didn’t feel like she was going to pass out anymore, though Mia wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing. Then again, this whole thing was so surreal; she wasn’t entirely convinced she was truly conscious anyway.

“Here comes Jenner,” someone said. Mia looked up.

And then he was just…there.

He seemed to melt right out of the trees, appearing with a swift silence that was even more unnerving because of his size. He was big, well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and the sort of powerful, muscular build that she associated with professional quarterbacks. He didn’t say a word, only shared another one of those odd looks, what she thought of as a “speaking look,” with Dex. Then he turned his gaze on her.

“I’m Jenner,” he said, in a deep, melodious voice that seemed to fill the night. “I’m here to help. How are you holding up?”

Honey-gold eyes blazed out of a dark and handsome face that might have been chiseled from stone. His hair was short, spiky in a way that made her think it was naturally like that, and so dark she wasn’t sure whether it was brown or black, setting off strong features that bore not a trace of softness. With one look, Mia felt a punch of heat in her belly. Appalled at herself, she pushed the feeling away, instead concentrating on getting to her feet to answer him. She’d be damned if she spent one more second as the damsel in distress tonight.

Of course, her effort might have been more effective if she hadn’t nearly fallen over again. Dizziness swept over her, but just as her knees started to buckle Mia felt a pair of strong arms lift her with surprising gentleness. A wonderful smell enveloped her, woodsy and masculine.

Epic fail on being an empowered woman, she thought, knowing immediately who had caught her. Heat rose to her cheeks so that they burned. The world stopped spinning around her pretty quickly, but she really didn’t want to look.

She also knew she didn’t really have a choice.

Sure enough, she found herself pinned by a sharp golden gaze the instant she opened her eyes. Mia took a little solace that this Jenner looked about as uncertain of what to make of her as she was of him. They stared at one another for a long, drawn-out moment, and Mia again felt that strange warmth beginning to flood her. She was suddenly very aware of his large hands on her, the steady rise and fall of the chest she rested against as he cradled her. She could even feel the beat of his heart.

It was, hands down, the oddest sensation she had ever experienced, which in her case was really saying something. It felt as though invisible threads were even now winding around them, binding them together in a way she couldn’t quite fathom. And she had no interest in breaking those new and fragile bonds, preferring instead to forget everything but the intriguing lines of the face bent over her own. She felt drugged, almost, but pleasantly so. His lashes, she noted with some pleasure, were inky black and incredibly long. Such beautiful eyes.

Mia’s hand, which had been fisted against his chest, loosened, and she spread her fingers against the place where his heart beat steadily, thudding reassuringly against her palm. Her head filled with music, the way it always did when her blood called out, and was answered. Jenner’s song was wild and sweet, and for one breathless instant, Mia could hear her own singular melody twining with his, perfectly matched, creating something new and amazing. Her skin broke out in gooseflesh at its beauty…but it was short-lived. She heard Jenner’s startled intake of breath, watched the quick bob of his Adam’s apple at his throat. He looked quickly away, and as neatly as if it had been severed with a knife, the immediacy of their connection was broken. The song stopped short in the midst of a crescendo, locked back away.

Those invisible bonds, however, remained, comforting her even though she didn’t know this man from Adam. For the moment, he was all she had.

Mia found herself quickly set down, though Jenner’s hands lingered to support her. This time, despite an initial wobble, her footing was steady. Inside, she was anything but. A shiver rippled through her at the loss of Jenner’s heat, and the snap of a twig somewhere near her made her jerk. Every head turned sharply in the direction of the sound, at least reassuring her that she hadn’t imagined it. Without a word, two of the men dashed off into the trees with a speed and grace that surprised her. Quickly, fear bubbled back to the surface.

Jeff was still out there. Maybe he’d come back to finish what he’d started. Maybe—

“Don’t worry about them. They’re just being cautious,” Jenner said, pulling her back to the moment. He had obviously seen her watch the two men go. She looked at him, his eyes giving off a soft glow. Did he even realize it? she wondered. He seemed so calm. No sense of urgency. All things considered, Mia thought she would have preferred someone who acted at least a little like the crazed werewolf running around in the woods biting people might be a problem.

“Sorry. I’m not used to being bitten by my dates, and then left to die. I guess it’s made me a little jumpy,” Mia said, finding her voice raspy from the bloodcurdling scream she’d sounded earlier. One dark brow winged up, and Mia wondered if he was surprised she wasn’t just falling apart.

Probably she should fake it. But she didn’t know how. Tears had been outlawed for too long to ever really come naturally to her.

“Point taken,” he said, his voice a resonant growl that scraped in an interesting sort of way against her ragged nerve endings. His eyes dropped to where she’d been wounded. “You seem to be healing up well, at least.”

Mia just looked at him, aghast. Healing? No, not yet, not by a long shot. Magic was her gift, but she could bleed with the best of them. Hadn’t she proven that?

“You’ve got to be joking,” she choked out. “I’ve been attacked! His name is Jeff Gaines, and he tried to kill me! What about all of this is holding you people up? I need the police, I need a doctor, and I need to get out…of…these…oh my God.” She happened to look at her ruined shoulder during her tirade, and what she saw shouldn’t have been, couldn’t have been possible. Beneath the bloody fabric, torn and bleeding skin had already knit together, leaving small scabs in most places. A few spots, she noted incredulously, had already healed completely.

The pain, it seemed, was gone for a reason.

And suddenly, falling apart seemed a much more doable option than it had only seconds ago.

Mia’s mouth opened while she stared at Jenner, who was gazing steadily back at her. He looked like this was the most natural thing in the world. She tried to make words come out, but none came to her. Her heart began to pound, and all of her instincts were screaming at her to run.

“She’s going to freak out,” a voice muttered somewhere behind her. “They always freak out.”

“She is not going to freak out,” Jenner replied, but his eyes never left her, and his voice was low, as though he was speaking only to her. “You’re going to be fine. And you’re not going to lose it. Not if you want him to pay for what he did.”

“But,” Mia said softly, trying desperately to keep it together. This couldn’t be. This wasn’t supposed to happen. “But…”

“I can make him pay,” Jenner said, and something about the way he said it, the words themselves, steadied Mia in a way probably nothing else could have in that moment. “You have to trust me. What this Jeffrey did isn’t allowed among our kind any more than it is among yours. Less, in fact.”

“Your kind,” Mia repeated in a whisper. “What is that?” Deep inside, she knew. But she still needed to hear the words. It had been so long since that day in her grandmother’s study, poring over fantastical pictures that sometimes moved and danced beneath her fingertips. Revelations to her young eyes that had been cut brutally short in the wake of the older woman’s fury at being disobeyed.

At some point, she had stopped believing that these creatures were real, and started believing what she’d always been told. That she was alone in her strangeness.

“This is where she freaks out,” Mia heard someone else murmur softly, and it so incensed her that anger finally overrode fear. There was nothing she hated more than being underestimated, condescended to. She snapped her head around to glare at each of the other men in turn, until they shifted uncomfortably and looked at the ground.

“I am not going to freak out,” she said through gritted teeth before looking again at Jenner. Amusement flashed across his face, as striking as a bolt of lightning in a dark sky.

“I can see that,” he said.

“Then tell me what’s going on!” It came out as far more of a shout than she’d intended, but it was hard to regret it when she still had no information, and now a wound that seemed to be healing itself at incredible speed through some medical miracle.

Jenner studied her for a moment longer, as though sizing her up, and then nodded.

“Okay. You were bitten by a werewolf we think is a feral drifter. Unless you give us a hand, he stays loose, and you wind up just like him.” He tipped his head, studying her. “How’s that for starters?”

It was true, then. These were all werewolves. Jeff, somehow, was a werewolf who’d managed to pass for as normal as could be and slipped easily past her defenses. Mia’s heart leaped in a mixture of joy and fear. She wasn’t the only human cursed with a little something more. These creatures were as real as she. She wanted to open her mouth and spill out everything, everything she knew about her own strange gifts. Maybe they would know what she truly was. Maybe they could help her.

Or maybe they would use her the same way Jeff had wanted to. She couldn’t trust anyone. Not yet. And especially not when her problems had just been added to. Mia knew nothing about werewolves outside of movies and TV, and most of that was probably garbage. Being bitten by whatever a feral drifter was, however, didn’t sound good.

So many questions, and all that came out was a stammer.

“I…I need to know…” Mia looked at him, noted the raised eyebrow, and felt the eyes on her back, waiting, she had no doubt, for that freak-out they were all so sure was coming. All but him. Jenner watched her steadily, calmly, with twin pools of honey gold. Forest eyes, she thought, focusing on the sanity, the steadiness in them.

Wolf eyes.

Mia felt something inside, a lot inside, actually, that did indeed want to just let loose and completely freak out. Instead, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and put her chin up. She was far stronger than they thought. This Jenner wanted to help her. She needed to concentrate on that. He knew what Jeffrey was, where Mia was sure that normal cops would chalk up her description of his transformation to hysteria, or worse. And if they didn’t believe her, Mia realized, Jeff would never be caught. He would find her. He had promised…

“He’s going to come back for me,” Mia said, wrapping her arms around herself in an effort to ward off the chill that seemed to be seeping into her very bones. “He said he would. To…to finish.”

“He picked the wrong place to bring you, then,” Jenner said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

She looked around at solemn, serious faces and eyes that glinted with more than just the reflection of the moonlight. And knew she had no choice but to accept their help…and all that might come with it.

“So…I guess this means you’re all werewolves, too,” she said slowly, keeping her tone carefully neutral. Too much calm would raise suspicion. Hysteria would probably get her nowhere but a psych ward.

“We are.” Jenner nodded, and she didn’t think she was imagining the relief that flickered across his face. Mia took a twisted sort of pride in that. She slid a defiant look at the stocky blonde who’d been so sure she was going to lose it. He smirked back as Jenner introduced them.

“I’m Nick Jenner. Everyone calls me Jenner, though, so you might as well. That’s Dex Clark, Jake Pascal, and Ian James.” She watched as each of the men nodded their heads in turn, flashing reassuring smiles at her.

“Tommy and Kev Payne were the ones who took off a few minutes ago.”

Mia frowned, feeling a sick twist of fear at the reminder of the two men vanishing into the woods. “Do you think they’re okay? If it was Jeff—”

“It wasn’t,” Jenner said quickly. “I would know. They’re just taking care of a…pest…we have out here from time to time. Nothing to worry about. You can trust me on that,” he said, and there was something in the way he said it that left Mia no doubt she could believe him, at least on this. And as for the pest he’d mentioned, she was pretty sure she’d rather stay in the dark on that. The werewolves and, of course, Jeff had been enough of a revelation for one night.

“We’re all Blackpaw pack,” Jenner continued, “and you’re right in the middle of our territory. Not a problem for a human. Big problem for a drifter, especially a feral like this…Gaines, did you say?”

Mia nodded. “Jeff Gaines.”

He tilted his head just a little, putting her in mind of a predator listening for its prey.

“Hmm. Boyfriend?”

Mia felt her shoulders begin to hunch defensively. Yes, she wanted to say. I’m one of those women who ends up dating a psychopath. Apparently, I’m blind. Instead, she kept it simple.

“Not anymore.”

That prompted a small, sexy smile that left Mia feeling a little breathless. Werewolves in movies were almost never this gorgeous. Of course, werewolves in movies weren’t real, either. All she could think of was the way she’d felt when Jenner had touched her. Not a great idea…but better, she supposed, than focusing on what Jeff Gaines had almost managed to do to her. And what it seemed he had done to her.

“Fair enough,” Jenner said, and turned to the others. “Ian, why don’t you go back to the Hollow, have Buddy run the name just in case. It’s probably not his real one, but you never know. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“You got it,” said one of the men, sandy-haired and with bright green eyes that lit on Mia with keen interest and a surprising amount of compassion. “Don’t worry, miss. You’ll get used to us. Well, except maybe Jenner.” He grinned at the name Jenner called him under his breath, then added more somberly, “We’ll make sure this guy gets his.”

He dashed into the trees at a speed that was far beyond anything Mia had ever seen, then vanished. She assumed he hadn’t just gone ahead and turned into a wolf out of deference to her, though at this point, Mia thought, he might as well have just gone for it. She turned her attention back to Jenner.

“Buddy’s the sheriff in Ferry’s Hollow. He’s one of us,” Jenner said.

“Convenient,” Mia said.

“It comes in handy sometimes.” Jenner looked at her closely. “Look, you seem to be healing well, but you’re paler than I’d like. That bite’s going to take you down hard at some point. That’s just the way of it. No getting around it, but you’ll feel a thousand times better once you’ve slept. I’ll take you back to town so you can rest. The others will start hunting for Gaines, and call out the others who can help. Not much else we can do without you, and I don’t want to risk it until tomorrow, at the earliest. The details can wait until then.”

He offered his hand, and Mia looked at it, how large and strong it was, feeling more than ever like she was having an out-of-body experience. She was suddenly very, very tired, and her memories of the evening had begun to press insistently against the cocoon of her shock, threatening to take her places she didn’t want to go. Rest might be the best thing, Mia decided. But before doing so, she had one question left to ask.

“This bite,” she began, lifting her gaze from Jenner’s still-extended hand to meet his eyes. She saw the subtle change in his expression, and knew the answer before she even asked it. The truth stunned her. Didn’t she have enough to grapple with? Still, she needed to hear the words.

“You said if I didn’t help you I’d wind up just like him. A…a feral, whatever that is. Does that mean I’m…I’m going to be a…”

“It’s not so bad,” Jenner said softly. “Saved my life, anyway. But that’s enough for tonight. There’s plenty that will wait for morning. You’re going to be fine, miss. That I can promise you.”

She felt no real horror. Not when she’d been living with her own secrets for this long. What was one more? But she also knew that this foggy indifference would evaporate by morning, when the cold light of day would probably see things looking awfully different to her. For now, it was enough to know. She’d deal with it…but later.

Mia looked back down at his hand. Given the choices she had, there was really only one option. Tentatively, she placed her hand into Jenner’s, struck by how small her own was in comparison. And then struck again by the hot snap of connection where their skin touched. It still seemed wrong, to feel such a thing on a night like this, but Mia had no strength left to fight it. His fingers closed gently around her own, and again she felt those threads between the two of them, tightening and pulling them closer.

“I’m Mia,” she said. “Mia D’Alessandro.”

“Mia,” Jenner said, and no one had ever said her name that way before, as though it was being tasted, savored.

“Welcome to the Hollow.”

Chapter 2

Dex hadn’t been kidding, Jenner thought ruefully. She was a pretty little thing.

And if he kept noticing, it wasn’t going to do either one of them any good. He had a feral to catch, and Mia had a lot to adjust to in a short amount of time. He was going to make sure the latter was someone else’s problem, though. He had enough on his plate. Still, the way her hand had felt against his chest was going to haunt him. He hadn’t touched a woman in a long time. Too long, since it hadn’t taken much for him to start imagining that Mia’s fingertips had some kind of magic in them. It wasn’t just the attraction, either, which was going to be tough to ignore. He could have sworn, just for an instant, he’d heard music…

Shaking off the strange feeling, Jenner steered Mia toward his beat-up old pickup. One of his pack mates had left it for him on the side of the road heading back into town at his request. Walking home wasn’t going to be an option tonight.

And neither was carrying Mia, for entirely different reasons.

The others had peeled off one by one, eager to join the hunt for the night. Jenner couldn’t blame them. Hell, it was what he would be doing if the woman wasn’t the key to finding the feral. The thrill of the chase was one of the things he loved about his position in the pack. The Lunari always led the hunt, and often took the kill. As it was, he was stuck playing both babysitter and guard, at least for tonight. Until he knew more, Jenner wasn’t comfortable passing off the job to someone else. Wasn’t likely Mia’s erstwhile boyfriend would try and come back for her, despite her fears, but you never knew with that type. So he’d let her crash at his place, then tomorrow get her set up with one of the mated couples who had some space to spare.

He glanced over at her, at the long waves of chocolate brown hair that glinted in the dim light, the strong, classical profile that could have been printed on a Roman coin, and thought: Early tomorrow…the sooner the better. She wasn’t Angelina Jolie.

She was far more beautiful than that.

Mia, thankfully, seemed oblivious to the scrutiny. Her eyes were pointed determinedly forward, as though it were taking everything she had to get where she was going. Likely it was, he knew. Her strength would return in spades, but it wouldn’t be tonight. Still, she hadn’t complained, which he hated, or cried, which he hated even more. It spoke well of her character. Hopefully she’d make a good addition to the pack, once she accepted the way things were.

She was very lucky some of the pack had been out for a run. A few more minutes alone with her attacker and she would have been linked to a feral, cut off from anyone who could help her make a normal transition and possibly, probably, damaged beyond repair.

The thought of it, of that faceless psycho forcing himself on her, filled Jenner with a slow burning rage. He clenched his teeth. Yeah…he wished he was still out in the woods tonight.

“What’s wrong?”

Jenner turned his head and was instantly caught by a pair of large almond-shaped eyes, hazel with fascinating little flecks of green. Her arms were crossed over her chest, wrapping the jacket he’d given her to cover the tattered remnants of her shirt tightly around her, like armor. It surprised him how easily she had picked up on his tension. He’d always been very good at keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself—it was part of what made him effective at his job, and a tough werewolf to crack besides. But then, Mia was different. He’d sensed it from the first.

Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen. His instincts told him there was more to her story. But it was going to have to wait.

“Do I look like something’s wrong?” He tried to ask it lightly, and knew it had come out sounding surly anyway. She didn’t seem fazed by it, but at this point, it didn’t surprise him. Whatever else she was, Mia was a woman with some spine…though she might have been better off being a little more intimidated by him.

Well, he might have been better off, anyway.

“You look like you want to kill someone,” Mia said, weary eyes regarding him in the darkness. “But as long as it’s not me, I guess it’s fine. Carry on.”

Her sense of humor caught him by surprise, charming him. He didn’t want to be charmed. He set his jaw, determined to keep this as impersonal as possible.

“I was just thinking about next steps,” Jenner replied. And that was true enough. “This is my truck, here. Hop in.” He led her around, opened the passenger side door for her. Mia hesitated as she peered into the dim interior of the truck, which Jenner was relieved to find was pretty clean except for an empty soda can in the cup holder.

“I’m sorry, but…where are we going, again?” she asked, stifling a yawn mid-sentence. Her gaze was cloudy when she looked at him. Jenner didn’t expect her head to really clear until sometime tomorrow—the feral’s saliva had only been working on her for about an hour, and he’d seen with his own eyes that the initial effects of a werewolf bite could cause all manner of strange symptoms. In Mia’s case, it seemed like it was going to take her down into the inevitable deep sleep sooner rather than later.

That was likely better for them both.

“I’m going to take you someplace where you can get some rest for the night, remember? You’ve been through a lot. Some sleep will do you good.”

He kept his voice casual, reasonable, and that, coupled with Mia’s fatigue, was enough to get her in the truck with little more than a resigned sigh.

“I’m not going to wake up with fur, am I?” she asked when he’d gotten in, found the keys beneath the seat, and turned on the engine. Jenner chuckled at the expression on her face despite himself.

“No fur. Not even a headache. Trust me, when you make your first change you won’t sleep through it.”

“Oh, yay.”

He snorted at the way she wrinkled her nose and closed her eyes. Pretty—yeah, she certainly was, and stubborn to boot if he’d been reading her right. The smile faded quickly when he thought of the choice Mia would have to make in the coming days.

There were only two ways to link into a pack. Being born to at least one parent of the blood…or a joining of a much more intimate nature. It was why there were such strict rules, why packs rarely saw newcomers who weren’t already part of a love match. The bite was only part of the equation. The bond, the connection with the pack mind, would only be complete after she’d joined with a Black-paw in a physical sense, at least once.

He didn’t want to be the one to tell her. No doubt she’d be furious, and with good reason. But the alternative was one he didn’t think she’d find acceptable, to turn feral, to lose all sense of right and wrong, all humanity. Jenner was already sure she’d have her pick of the young, single males in the pack.

All but him. The only joining he would ever be a part of was the one he’d already gone through. That couldn’t have turned out a whole lot worse.

Jenner frowned. He didn’t want to think about Tess tonight.

“Oh, crap,” Mia muttered beside him.

“To which part of the night so far?” he asked.

“My stuff. I mean, I have stuff. At the hotel.” She shoved the heels of her palms against her eyes and growled her irritation. The noise had Jenner’s senses kicking into overdrive before he could think to try and block them, and in an instant he found himself breathing in air scented with light citrus, some sort of vanilla body wash, and beneath even that, clean, feminine skin. He could hear every breath. Every heartbeat.

Then it was his turn to feel like growling.

“You staying at the inn? Down the road in Greenview?” he asked instead, irritated all over again when he realized she’d had a room with the biter at a fancy, scenic, known-for-its-romance hotel, had no doubt planned on sharing a bed with the psycho…hell, maybe they were engaged, how did he know? And more important, why did he care?

“The Sylvan Inn, yes,” Mia said, taking her hands away from her face and blowing out a breath. “God, why can’t I think?”

“It’ll get better.”

Jenner could feel her eyes on him, trying to bore holes in his skin, but he kept his own on the road. He needed to get it together. Hadn’t he told himself a million times to keep life simple, to avoid complications? Because he had the distinct feeling that Mia D’Alessandro could be one huge complication if he let her be.

“Better when?”

“Tomorrow, probably.”

“Probably?” She managed to sound both sleepy and outraged at the same time. Jenner bit back a smirk. She was fighting the sleep hard…she should have gone down by now, but that stubborn streak he’d suspected seemed to be preventing it.

He couldn’t help but egg her on a little.

“Yeah. Tomorrow or the day after.”

Her tone was acid. “Wow. You’re a font of information, Nick.”

“It’s Jenner,” he said quickly, not liking the way it felt to hear his given name roll off her tongue that way. It was too familiar, reminded him too strongly of his old life, and his journey into this one. “Everyone calls me Jenner.”

“Jenner,” she repeated. “Like that big rat in the kids’ movie. Secret of NIMH.”

“Rat?” Jenner looked over at Mia, and immediately understood what the problem was. She was no longer just fighting sleep. Sleep was actively fighting her, and the two appeared to be locked in an epic battle for supremacy. It seemed pretty obvious sleep was gaining the upper hand.

Not a surprise, since after a werewolf bite it was less like sleep and more like falling down a black hole for a whole bunch of hours.

“Bad rat,” Mia said. “Got stabbed. Was a happy ending.” She yawned.

Jenner grimaced. “Stabbed. Great. You’re making my night, Mia. Thanks.” What kind of literary asshole named an evil rat Jenner, anyway?

“I like Nick better,” she said, slurring her words. “Iss nice.” She yawned. “Nick the werewolf. Awoo.” Another chuckle.

This time, she sounded so young and exhausted that he didn’t have the heart to correct her. And he guessed he had to give her points for the little wolf howl she did at the end before falling silent. He drove on in silence, making the turn onto the heavily wooded road on the outskirts of the Hollow where he lived. It occurred to him all at once that he’d never brought a woman out here. Whenever he’d scratched that particular itch, a thing he did only infrequently because of complications he wanted to avoid, he’d done it elsewhere.

Well, it wasn’t like he was bringing her home to go to bed with, Jenner thought with a frown. And it wasn’t like she was staying long. And if she made him feel a little itchy that way, well…he could deal with it.

Mia sighed in the seat beside him, a breathy exhalation of pleasure that had his mind immediately racing for the gutter. He was pretty sure that after he got her carried into the house and tucked into bed, his mind was going to stay in that gutter for the night and roll around for a while.

He could handle it, Jenner thought, his jaw tightening. He could handle most anything.

But really, did their first feral victim in ages have to be quite so appealing?

The soft gasp beside him made him jump a little as he pulled into the long drive. The lights he’d left on glimmered through the trees ahead.

“What is it?” he asked. “Mia? You okay?”

“We forgot my stuff,” she slurred, her voice soft and getting softer with every word. “Di…did I tell you I was staying at…at the…”

“I’ll have someone get your things,” Jenner said, relieved. “No problem.” Bite complications were rare, but always a worry. This, though, was just Mia’s last stand against unconsciousness. He smiled a little. It was hard not to appreciate her effort, futile though it was. She’d lasted far longer than most. He pulled the truck up in front of the garage, put it in park, and killed the engine.

“We’re here, Mia. Time to go to bed.”

“Um. Mmm. It was…inna room…blue room…” She trailed off, and when Jenner looked over at her she was sound asleep, mouth slightly open, head tipped back. His smile faded as he looked at her, finally letting his eyes wander over her sleeping form. Small, slim-waisted but with curves in all the right places. Naturally, since he was a sucker for an hourglass figure. And that face…she really did look like a Roman goddess. Not Venus, though. More like Diana. Goddess of the hunt…and of the moon.

Pretty little thing, Jenner thought grimly, remembering Dex’s words. Hell with that. Mia was beautiful.

And if he didn’t want his life screwed up all over again, he was going to have to be very, very careful.

“Just for tonight,” he told her, though her only response was the deep breathing common to those soundly asleep. Jenner just shook his head, then got out of the truck and headed around to the other side to get his passed-out charge. The only sounds in the night were the crunch of gravel beneath his feet, the distant call of an owl. And, as he gathered Mia into his arms, the uneven beat of his own stupid heart.

Mia awoke, mouth watering, to the tantalizing scents of coffee and bacon. She could hear the sizzle and pop of the bacon in the frying pan, could almost taste the decadently rich coffee on her tongue.

Kona, she thought dreamily, drifting in the peaceful place between waking and sleep. Who bought the Kona? It’s my favorite…

Reality intruded far too quickly, and all at once. Mia’s eyes fluttered open as memories of the night before returned with a vengeance, each horrible image cascading into the next. Her heart quickened, the impulse to throw off the covers and run somewhere, anywhere, almost overpowering.

Almost.

Mia closed her eyes again and forced herself to think, to remember the rest. The rescuers in the woods. The ride in the truck with Nick Jenner, foggy though that last bit was. Jeff was gone, Mia told herself firmly. She was safe. She was being protected now.

A pair of big, golden eyes surfaced in her memory, and a husky growl of a voice. I can make him pay. You have to trust me.

In the company of werewolves. What a comfort. Especially since, along with her myriad of other problems, she was now on her way to becoming one. Or something like one. What exactly did you get when you crossed a werewolf with her sort of blood? Somehow, she didn’t think that would be a great conversation starter here.

With a strangled groan, Mia opened her eyes, sat up, and slowly pushed the covers back, blinking rapidly as she realized her contacts were dried out and stuck to her eyes.

Crap. An attempted run of her fingers through her hair indicated that it, too, was showing the effects of a rough night. Snarl city. She exhaled loudly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, dangling them above the floor for a few moments as she got her bearings. Gooseflesh prickled over her exposed skin. Mia looked resignedly down at her bra, a lacy black number that seemed ridiculously out of place this morning. Her tattered, bloodied shirt had been removed, a gesture that left her torn between gratefulness and embarrassment. At least her jeans were still on, slightly dirt-stained though they were. Her feet were bare.

The thought of big, handsome Nick Jenner removing her socks and shoes and tucking her into bed made her flush…and wish she’d been just a little bit awake for it. Quickly, she pushed the thought from her mind. She had more pressing things to worry about now. And after last night, another man who could sprout fangs was the last thing she needed. She took full responsibility for Jeff. She should have known better. She’d always gone for the damaged ones, the ones who might just need her enough not to push her away if they ever discovered what she was. Mia was old enough to know that secrecy didn’t have to mean shame, but the feeling that she was somehow wrong had lingered…and her choice of men had borne that out over the years.

But even by her standards, Jeff had been needy. Charming, yes, but unmistakably broken in some way she couldn’t begin to touch.

The thought of him brought a mix of emotions to the surface: fury, betrayal, even shame that she hadn’t seen him for the predator he was. And underlying it all, sadness. Maybe one of these days she’d learn that fixing emotionally wounded men—or trying—wasn’t going to fix her own problems.

At least he’d tried to kill her before she could sleep with him. Small favors. And now she was here with Jenner, who didn’t seem like the kind of guy who needed anyone, least of all her. Not her type.

Yeah, she’d just keep telling herself that…

Mia slid off the edge of the simple iron bed and wiggled her toes into the plush area rug that covered much of the wood floor of the small bedroom. Her eyes wandered a room lit by muted daylight, which was filtering in through a window hung with sheer curtains in a shade of deep cream. A single, low dresser sat opposite her against the wall, an old-fashioned basin and pitcher resting on top of it. A small nightstand sat beside the bed, and the little clock on it put the hour at a little past 9:00 a.m. The walls of warm, honey-colored wood left no doubt she was in a log home, and on them someone (Jenner, she assumed) had hung a couple of photographs, gorgeous shots that had been blown up, matted and framed. They showed a forest, probably this forest, in full autumnal glory.

As she looked around, Mia’s eyes lit on the weekend travel bag placed neatly on the floor beside the dresser. Her bag. Tears pricked her eyes as reality began to fully penetrate the protective cocoon she’d been wrapped in since last night. This was really happening.

She’d done exactly what had always been expected of her: the worst.

“You’ve the dark blood in you,” Grandmother Ada’s voice whispered in her mind, the rasp so familiar, so real that Mia shivered. “I knew it the instant you were born. Tainted. I warned your mother what your father was, but she wouldn’t listen, and look where it got them. My family’s light snuffed out, your parents’ lives lost, and only you to show for it. A little girl who’ll draw the shadows like flies to honey. They’ll break you, Mia, once I’m gone. And then you’ll break everything.”

Mia closed her eyes against the tears and forced that awful voice back into the dark corner of her mind where it belonged. She was determined not to lose it now. If she was going to be dealing with a pack of werewolves today, at least she could do it without looking like an extra from Night of the Living Dead. At least Jeff was something the werewolves seemed to know how to hunt. The shadows in her grandmother’s warnings, always feared but never seen, were her problem. She’d just make sure to get out of here before they became anyone else’s.

“I’ve managed so far,” Mia told herself in a bare whisper. “I can handle this. After last night, I can handle anything. No matter how weak anyone thinks I am.”

And as she dug into her weekend bag, she almost believed it.

Chapter 3

Ten minutes later, Mia padded quietly down a short hallway, drawn by the delicious smells that had flooded her senses the instant she’d left the bedroom. Rich coffee, toasting bread, potatoes and eggs and bacon…it was easy to push her nerves into the background when she was positive she’d never smelled anything so heavenly. And she felt much better since she’d changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a simple, fitted V-neck sweater. Her hair had been de-knotted, and she’d been glad to find the gorgeous bathroom across from her room so she could brush her teeth. Tired of her itchy, driedout eyes, she’d opted to soak the contacts and had instead put on the geeky-chic glasses she favored for work. Thick woolen socks warmed her feet.

It was, Mia figured, no time to try to be glamorous, not that she’d really packed for that sort of charade. She’d stupidly thought that Jeff had appreciated her being basically casual and earthy, the sort of girl who liked to run barefoot in fields and catch fireflies on lazy summer nights before dancing wildly under the moon.

She really should have known better.

Troubled by the way her thoughts kept circling around Jeff, Mia tried to concentrate on the mouth-watering smells wafting through the air and followed her nose into a room that opened clear to the peaked ceiling. As soon as she stepped into it, she forgot her nerves entirely.

Before her was a wall of enormous windows, turning nearly the entire thing to glass. And just beyond, seeming to be a part of the room itself, was a forest ablaze with color. Crimson and gold, vibrant orange to deepest rust—the colors flooded her vision until they were all she could see. Though her job and her fears had long kept her bound to the anonymous city, Mia was possessed of a sudden, wild urge to dash into the waiting arms of the trees and just…run.

Wow, she thought. Except she must have said it out loud, because the next thing she heard was his voice, deep, resonant, and just as gruff as she remembered, though now colored with a hint of amusement.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m partial to the woods, myself. Thought breakfast might get you up. Coffee?”

Mia turned her head toward the sound, seeing the portion of the great room that had been turned into a kitchen. She saw gleaming marble in deep earth tones, glass-front cabinets, a scatter of containers and appliances that indicated the kitchen wasn’t just for show…and in the middle of all of it was Nick Jenner. Still bigger than life. Still simmering with the kind of latent sensuality that left her nerves raw and quivering.

Damn it, he was even better-looking than she remembered. And he’d asked her something. Which she couldn’t seem to remember for the life of her.

You wanted a way to get your mind off of Jeff, she reminded herself. Of course, she hadn’t wanted her brain to shut down completely, either.

“Hi,” Mia said, and immediately wanted to cringe. Whatever he’d asked her, hi wasn’t an answer.

Jenner lifted one eyebrow before turning to fiddle with something he had going on the stovetop. “Hi yourself. You feeling all right? Last time I checked the wound it was healing up well, but it could take a while for you to get your thoughts all the way back together.”

He’d checked on her. Of course he had. Still, she was absurdly touched. People simply didn’t take care of her…that was her job. Mia breathed in deeply, forced herself to concentrate on forming a coherent answer. He was right…she did still feel a little scattered. But she couldn’t afford to stay that way for any length of time. She had a lot of questions that desperately needed answering. And goddess forbid she slip up and say something.

“No, I’m fine,” she replied, and tried for a friendly smile. “Still a little foggy, but I think some coffee might help with that.”

Which was what he’d asked in the first place, Mia realized. What a great impression she was making. She walked to stand at the edge of the kitchen, all while Jenner watched her with his intense eyes, more like a wolf’s than a man’s. He didn’t return her smile, but he didn’t look irritated by her presence, either.

“Well, I’ve got plenty of coffee,” he finally said in his deep rumble of a voice. “Probably too much food, too, but I didn’t know what you’d like, so…” He trailed off with a nonchalant shrug that Mia found ridiculously attractive. “Cleaned out the pantry. Made a little of everything.”

“Oh, I like everything,” Mia rushed out. “Eating everything, I mean. Er, but not all at once.” She wanted to die, Mia decided. Just lay right down on the floor and give it up. Her foot was already glued into her mouth. Maybe she could just choke on that.

A slow, lazy smile curved up both corners of Jenner’s mouth and deepened the appealing little lines at the corners of his eyes. The bundle of nerves all knotted up in Mia’s lower belly seemed to tighten all at once.

“Good,” he said, his amusement clear in his voice. “Try to eat a little more of everything all at once this morning, though. You’re going to need the energy.”

“Yes, I guess I will,” Mia said, glad that he didn’t seem to think she was as ridiculous as she felt right now. She felt as skittish as a deer scenting a predator on the wind. It was both unfamiliar and unnerving. But there was something she needed to get out of the way before anything else was said this morning. She took a deep breath and plunged in.

“Look, I want to say thank you,” Mia said. “For helping me. Your friends saved my life. And you took care of me. If there’s any way I can repay you…”

Jenner’s eyes seemed to brighten as she trailed off, their strange honey-gold lighting with some inner fire for just an instant as he eyed her in a way that made heat spread from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. But before Mia could do more than register it, he had turned back to the eggs and was poking them with his spatula.

“No need,” he said, his voice slightly huskier than before. “Wolves like this Gaines are scum. Dex and the others were happy to run him off. Just like we’ll be happy to make sure he never hurts you or anyone else again.” He paused, flicked a glance at her before shoveling some eggs onto a plate, then beginning to butter a slice of toast roughly enough that it looked slightly mangled when he put it back down.

Disappointment flooded her. “Oh. So they didn’t catch him last night,” she said.

Jenner shook his head. “No, not yet. But we will. Which reminds me, Bane’s going to want to talk to you as soon as you’re up to it.” He sounded apologetic, Mia noted with a prickle of unease.

“Who’s Bane?” she asked.

“Jayson Bane. He’s Alpha of the pack. Don’t let him intimidate you when you meet him, though. He can be a hardass, but he’s a good man. I sure as hell wouldn’t want his job, but he does it well.”

“Oh,” Mia said, slightly taken aback. Considering Jenner’s size, the aura of power and confidence he projected, it hadn’t occurred to her that there would be other men in charge of him. “I thought maybe you were, you know…the leader,” Mia confessed before she could stop herself.

Jenner lifted his brows, and he chuckled, a warm rumble. He looked genuinely surprised, but not in an unpleasant way.

“Me? No. I’m not what you’d call Alpha material. You could say I’m sort of his second-in-command, I guess, though that’s not exactly right, either. We’re more like…two halves of a whole. He handles the stuff that requires talking.”

She watched him curiously, fascinated by the casual, predatory grace in every small move he made.

“And you do the stuff that requires…”

His grin was fast, wolfish, and moon-bright. “Not talking. Come on and sit down, Mia. Not all of us bite.”

Jenner loaded the rest of the plate with bacon and hash browns, grabbed a fork out of a drawer, and set the plate down on the island, which looked as though it doubled as an eating space. Mia hesitated only a second before approaching. She settled herself on the leather-padded seat of a stool, trying not to feel unnerved by Jenner’s watchful gaze.

“Wait a sec. Napkin,” he said with a frown, and brought her a hastily torn off paper towel. Her fingers brushed his when she took it, and Mia shivered, pulling it quickly away. Even that slight contact left her with the ghost of that beautiful melody she’d heard singing through his veins last night. It was only one of her gifts, but it had never come to her so effortlessly, nor had any man ever responded to her abilities so openly, even if Jenner seemed unaware of how receptive he was. She could only imagine the heaven of joining with him, skin to skin…

“Thanks,” she said, trying for a smile as her heart fluttered wildly. What was wrong with her? Yesterday at this time, she’d been happily imagining a romantic weekend with Jeff. But Jenner’s mere presence seemed to eclipse every thought of Jeff, good and bad.

“No problem.” He drew back almost as quickly as she had. Did he feel it, too, she wondered, this weird chemistry between them? She decided it was a stupid question almost as soon as she’d come up with it. Jenner was a big, sexy, supernaturally powerful man. And she was just…Mia. Not that she was unhappy with being just Mia most of the time. But it was not something that seemed to have set the male hearts of the world aflame just yet.

Because it was easier than forcing her mind to formulate coherent sentences, Mia shoveled up a forkful of the hash browns and dug in. Her taste buds sang their praises so immediately and loudly that she was pretty sure her eyes rolled back into her head in pure pleasure. Apparently, she’d been hungry.

“Umm. Mmm,” she heard herself say.

When she opened her eyes again, Jenner had paused in the middle of sitting down next to her with his own loaded plate and was looking at her with that intense, heated expression again. Almost as though he was thinking about taking a bite out of her. But as quickly as she could blink, it was gone, leaving her to wonder if she’d imagined it.

It spoke to her addled state, Mia supposed, that she kind of hoped not.

“Tastes okay?” he asked.

Mia swallowed. “Yes, thank you.”

Jenner slid onto the stool beside her without saying another word. Not much of a talker, that much was obvious. And it seemed like whatever questions she wanted answered, she’d probably have to ask them herself. While she pondered what to say next, she ate another bite of food. It was so good she quickly had another, and it took some time before Mia realized that she and Jenner had been eating for several minutes in complete silence. She glanced at him, certain she’d be confronted with at least an odd look, some sign that her lack of conversation was off-putting. But to her surprise, Jenner seemed perfectly comfortable in the quiet, eating and lost in his own thoughts.

It was easy to imagine him doing much the same thing every day of his life. A cozy thought, one that gave Mia a warm feeling she knew she had no business having over this man. But…it was so unusual, to be with a person who felt no need to inject words into a moment that was fine without them. Jeff had chattered ceaselessly, sometimes nervously…mostly about himself, Mia realized.

And he was as different from the man she was sitting next to as night was from day.

She looked back down at her plate, which she discovered was nearly empty. Jenner, it seemed, was noticing the same thing. He leaned over just a little to look, and now Mia could smell him again, a musky blend of forest and wood smoke. She had a mad urge to stuff her face in his neck and breathe it in.

“I guess that agreed with you,” he said.

“I…yeah, it did. Thanks,” Mia replied.

He eyed her plate, amusement glittering in his eyes. “I don’t know where you put all that, but there’s more where that came from if you want it.”

“No,” she said with a laugh. “Any more and I’ll explode.” She put her fork down and watched Jenner return to his breakfast. Mia took a sip of coffee, thought a moment, then plunged in.

“So,” she said, not missing the way his shoulders stiffened ever so slightly, as though he knew what was coming. “How long do I have before I turn into a werewolf? And when can I go home?”

Jenner had known she was going to ask the questions.

He just wished she’d waited until someone else had shown up to answer them.

He looked at Mia, her expression open and earnest as she watched him through a pair of glasses that shouldn’t have been nearly as sexy as they were on her. All that thick, dark hair was tucked behind her ears, and she looked like a young, bookish innocent.

Young, she most certainly was. Bookish, maybe. Innocent…well, he hoped Mia wasn’t as innocent as she looked, because otherwise her life was going to be very unpleasant until she got used to the way things worked with a wolf pack.

And she was still staring at him with those pretty eyes of hers, waiting for an answer.

“Well, you see,” he started, and then stopped again. Damn it, explanations weren’t his deal. Running off intruders and taking care of the filthy menaces that oozed around the edges of their territory was. He wasn’t valued around here for his communication skills…and he was now getting a very potent reminder of why not.

A crease appeared between Mia’s eyes, the beginnings of a frown. “I am going home soon, right? I’ve got work.”

“Work. Yeah.” God, he sounded dumb. What would a woman like Mia do for a living? he wondered. His curiosity about her—strange for a man who was picky about who he spent his attention on—prevented him from giving her an answer that was vague enough not to upset her.

Or any answer at all, for that matter.

“Okaaay,” Mia said, drawing out the word. “We have now established that we both understand that I work. Nick—”

“It’s Jenner,” he said reflexively, and knew at once how defensive he’d sounded. Well, great. That would do a lot to help his cause. He snuck a glance at the clock on the microwave and wished it were sometime in the afternoon instead of morning. Then Bane could deal with all of this. He’d expected, hell, hoped for a groggy Mia to feed and send back to bed. Instead he was getting grilled over breakfast.

Mia blinked at the sharpness of his tone, but to her credit, it didn’t seem to put her off much. “Jenner. Right, sorry. Look, I don’t know what you thought, but I’m not exactly living a life of leisure back in Philly. I need to get out of here as soon as possible, today if I can. I know you said you needed my help, and I’ll be happy to tell your…your Alpha, or whoever…everything I know about Jeff. But that shouldn’t take more than an hour or so, tops. I haven’t known him long.” She looked away. “I really think we should call the police. I don’t want him coming after me. I can’t have him coming after me. If he does, he’ll kill me. But I can’t stay here.”

Her blunt assessment, and the resigned way she delivered it, surprised him. Suspicion, always his first reaction, made the hairs at his neck prickle. He tamped it down as best he could, knowing it was unfair. Or maybe he was just hoping it was.

He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something important here.

“I don’t think he was trying to kill you, Mia,” Jenner said slowly, unsure of how close he should get right now to the truth of werewolf bonding. She looked back at him sharply, and in that moment, despite her previous uncertainty with him, he could see the steel spine lurking beneath the surface.

“Yes he was,” she said flatly. “I saw the knife. He was about to finish it when your men arrived.”

“Jesus.” Jenner stared at her, astounded she could be so calm about this. “Why didn’t you say something last night?”

“I didn’t know the knife made a difference,” Mia replied, shifting a little. “I thought it was pretty obvious he was trying to kill me. What, did you think he just wanted to…to make a new werewolf girlfriend or something?”

Jenner resisted the urge to get up, get away from that too-perceptive stare of hers. “We thought he wanted to turn you and keep you, which is bad enough,” he said, skirting the issue as best he could. “Why would he want to kill you?”

He knew it was a stupid question the second it was out of his mouth, and Mia’s withering look said as much.

“Because he’s crazy. He thinks—” She hesitated, then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks. He’s insane. I’m glad to know you and your pack are hunting for him, but I really think it would be best to involve the police, too, just to keep the bases covered. They don’t need to know what he is.”

Jenner’s instincts sharpened. He could hear the uneven beating of her heart, could smell the fear beginning to taint that seductive citrus scent of hers. His feeling that there was more going on here had been dead-on. He could see it in the stiffening of Mia’s shoulders, hear it in that unfinished sentence. But the look on her face, and the weariness still hovering over her features, made him stop. She’d tell him, or tell someone. She was going to have to.

Given what she’d been through, he’d wait to push her on it.

But not long.

“You’re forgetting, our sheriff is on it. Anybody asks, you’ve already been to the police. Buddy will get the word out, but this is going to work its way through both channels, Mia. Isn’t that better?”

She sighed and shook her head. “I suppose. I wish I’d never met him. Or at least that I hadn’t been so stupid when I did.”

He shouldn’t have felt relieved, but Jenner couldn’t help himself. All of his questions about her relationship with the feral were now answered. Mia hadn’t been engaged, or in love, or anything much at all with this Gaines. He could read it all over her face. And giving a damn about it, Jenner knew, was bound to put him in a foul mood when he had a chance to mull it over.

“It wasn’t stupid,” Jenner said, unsure why he was compelled to soothe her. Maybe she had been stupid about it, but he doubted it. “Sometimes we just get…unlucky.”

He knew more than a thing or two about that, and he could see that she got it right away.

Mia curved one corner of her mouth up in a small, self-deprecating half smile.

“Yeah,” she said. “You can say that again. Though fangs and fur kind of pushes the situation somewhere past just unlucky.”

Jenner chuckled. It seemed like he was going to end up liking Mia D’Alessandro, whether or not it was in his best interest. Her own smile faded away far too quickly, replaced by grim resignation.

“So about the going home?” she asked. “Like I said, I’ll talk to whoever I need to, but this was only supposed to be a weekend getaway. Just tell me what I should be expecting.”

“What you should be expecting,” Jenner repeated. He’d never met anyone who treated becoming a werewolf like catching a cold. He shook his head, amazed. “You’re a strange one, Mia.”

He could see right away he’d said the wrong thing.

“I’m not strange, I’m trying to be practical,” Mia replied, bristling. “Whatever’s coming, I can handle it. I can even come back at the full moon or whatever if it would help. But before anything happens, I need information.”

Jenner couldn’t do anything but stare at her. It was obvious Mia needed a few basic things explained to her, and he had no interest in being the one to do the explaining.

Damn you for sticking me with this, Bane, Jenner thought, taking care to keep it to himself. And though he hated to invade the Alpha’s thoughts almost as much as he hated having his own picked up, Jenner pushed out a request with as much force as he could muster.

Bane, could you get over here? Mia…that is, the bitten from last night…she’s asking a lot of questions, and I don’t think I’m really the guy to be answering them…

The response was quick, and though terse, laced with a little amusement at his expense that Jenner didn’t miss.

You’re one of us. Why not you? I’ll be over later, Jenner. Didn’t expect her to be up and lucid so early. Little busy right this second.

Jenner set his jaw and fought back a groan.

The blonde from the bar?

You got it. Smugness, Jenner decided, came through telepathy just fine.

“You can’t keep me here against my will,” Mia said. “I don’t care what you turn into, or what’s supposed to happen to me on the full moon, I’m not staying here indefinitely. I want Jeff caught, but as long as someone explains how it all works to me, I’ll handle my own…stuff. At home.”

The voice Jenner had found rich and warm just a few minutes ago had moved further into just plain “heated” territory. Innocent or not, he decided, this one had plenty of fire in her. Mia was obviously no pushover, nor a simpleton, which meant she’d probably do just fine here. Once she accepted the way things were.

He guessed an upside of being the bearer of bad news, though, was that Mia would probably want nothing to do with him after this. That would make things a hell of a lot easier on him. At least, he thought as he watched Mia cross her arms over her chest and glare at him with enough heat to set the house ablaze, it ought to. If he could somehow manage to ignore her presence in the Hollow altogether.

Which was unlikely at best.

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