If his mate didn’t need him, Xander would march back to the clearing and slaughter every person who had dared to lay a hand on her. Quelling that instinct, he gentled his touch as he caressed her cheek and brushed a soft kiss over her lips.

  “Do you trust me?”

  Her eyebrows drew together to form a shallow valley across her forehead. “Yes, which is stupid. I don’t even know you.” She stared up at him with wide eyes, so trusting, so vulnerable. “I don’t understand any of this.”

  He had so much to explain to her, and he didn’t even know where to start.

  “I know, but naked on the side of the road probably isn’t the best place for that conversation.” Stripping his shirt off over his head, he passed it to his mate with a sigh. “It’s wet, but it’ll cover you for the time being.”

  With a sweet smile, she thanked him and tugged it on, outwardly pleased when it fell down to the middle of her thighs. “I don’t know what happened to my car, either,” she explained, crawling into the cab when he unlocked and opened the door for her. “The guy from the garage said he’d take my car in and have it fixed by morning. Something tells me, it’s likely at the bottom of the river, though.”

  Sadly, she probably wasn’t wrong. “We’ll deal with that later.” Leaning into the passenger door, he cupped her face in both hands, tilting her head up for a long, leisurely kiss. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

  She stared up at him dazedly. “You can’t promise that.”

  “I just did.”

  Her smile was radiant as she settled into her seat and folded her hands in her lap. “Okay.”

  “Okay? Just like that?”

  “Well, you did promise.”

  Xander grinned. “It won’t be easy.”

  “I never assumed it would be. I’m mated to a werewolf.” She stopped abruptly and tilted her head to the side. “That’s what you are, right? A werewolf?”

  He bobbed his head, still amazed that she wasn’t completely losing her mind. “I am.”

  “And I’m your mate, right?”

  Xander nodded again, but he couldn’t stop his brow from furrowing.

  “Okay.” Her own nod was resolute this time. “I’m mated to a werewolf. That seems about as far from easy as you can get.”

  Again, she wasn’t wrong. “Your life is about to change, sweetheart. You understand that, right?”

  Surprisingly, her smile grew even wider, and she even hummed a little under her breath. “Well, I certainly hope so.”

  Xander blinked. He’d never heard anyone say so much with so few words. Yet, that one, simple sentence explained a lot.

  “Where is home for you, Sasha?”

  She shrugged casually, but some of the light in her eyes dimmed. “I guess I don’t really have one.”

  “Well, you do now.” When she glanced up at him, he slipped two fingers under her chin, tilting her head up and forcing her to meet his gaze. “You are mine, Sasha Pierson, and I’m never letting you go.”

  Chapter Six

  Xander was worried about her.

  Sasha could tell by the way he kept shooting sideways glances at her from the driver’s seat, like he expected her to dissolve into a neurotic mess at any second. Maybe she should have been losing her mind.

  A normal person would at least have some reservations about being mated to a werewolf. A normal person would probably be freaking out after witnessing multiple homicides. On the other hand, those guys had been trying to kill her, so fuck them.

  Still, any sane person would surely balk at the idea of their entire life changing because of one freak accident.

  The difference was Sasha had been on the road near Broken Ridge with the very intent of changing her life. When she’d left Ohio with only what she could fit in her car, she hadn’t had a clear destination in mind. Hell, she hadn’t really even known what she was looking for, but she figured anything had to be better than what she’d left behind.

  As ludicrous as it sounded, deep in her heart, she believed that everything that had happened had led her to this moment. To Xander. Maybe that made her naïve, or stupid, or just plain crazy, but she didn’t care. Nothing in her life had ever felt as right as just sitting next to him in companionable silence.

  As for Xander being a werewolf, well, a part of her had always believed in the strange and inexplicable, the so-called monsters that lurked in the shadows of the world. Or maybe she’d simply hoped there was more out there. Something different. Something special. Something…more.

  “We’re here,” Xander announced as he pulled into the gravel parking lot of the B&B where Sasha had been abducted. “Let’s go, sweetheart.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “I’m not leaving you out here by yourself, so yes.”

  Staring through the windshield at the deceptively inviting light from the inn’s windows, she bit her lip and sighed through her nose. He was right, of course, but that didn’t make it any easier.

  “Sasha?”

  “They probably already dumped my stuff.” It wasn’t like she’d had anything valuable in her suitcases. Just clothes and shoes, nothing that couldn’t be replaced.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” His fingers toyed with the keys in the ignition, but he didn’t turn them. “It won’t hurt to look.”

  She frowned at him in the eerie, green light cast by the dashboard stereo. “Are there more of them in there? More werewolves?”

  “No, sweetheart. No one is here except us.” Reaching across the console, he stroked his knuckles down the side of her neck where he’d bitten her. “But even if there were, I’d never let them touch you.” One side of his mouth turned up in a sexy smirk. “Still trust me?”

  The warmth of his touch spread through her like a soothing balm. Sasha whimpered, closing her eyes and leaning into his hand as every part of her called out to him, wanting him, needing him.

  “I trust you, Xander.”

  “Good girl,” he praised. “Now, let’s go get your things. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had enough of this town.”

  She whimpered again when he removed his hand, swaying toward him to prolong the contact. Jesus, she was a goddamn mess. Straightening in her seat, she took a deep breath to clear her head and reign in her emotions.

  “Yeah, okay, let’s go.” She climbed down from the pickup and gingerly navigated the gravel parking lot, wincing when the rocks dug into her bare feet. “So, earlier, you said something about a Council Estate? Where exactly his that?”

  Jogging around the front of the truck, Xander caught her up in his arms and spun her in a circle, chuckling when her loud squeal rent through the night. “Just outside of Dallas.”

  “And this Council is like a werewolf government?” she asked when they reached the front door of the B&B.

  “Something like that.” Once inside, he lowered her to the area rug in the foyer. As he’d promised, there wasn’t another soul in sight. “It’s called the Justice Council, and it includes members from many different races of Nightlings, not just wolves.”

  Sasha jerked her head up and stared at him with wide eyes. “Not…just…wolves,” she repeated slowly. “You mean, like vampires and stuff?” The shock of that realization lasted only briefly. If werewolves existed, it stood to reason that the other legends were real as well. “Yeah, okay, I guess that makes sense.”

  Xander arched a dark eyebrow at her. “Well, that was easy. You constantly amaze me, female.”

  “What can I say?” She lifted one shoulder as they started toward the wide staircase that led up to her room. “Finding out that the paranormal world actually exists isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “You’ll have to tell me about that sometime, but right now—”

  “Yeah, I get it,” she interrupted, tugging him more swiftly up the stairs. “Let’s hurry up and get the hell out of here.”

  ~

  Half an hour later, they put Broken Ridge behind them as Xander drove east toward the Council Estate east of Dallas. Clean, dry, and dressed in a pair of denim shorts with a soft, pink sweater that hung off one shoulder, Sasha looked more radiant than ever, and Xander couldn’t stop sneaking glasses at her as he navigated the dark stretch of highway.

  No matter what he’d said to his mate, he’d actually been surprised to find her suitcases still in the room. Even her purse had been sitting on the nightstand with her credit cards, cash, and ID inside.

  While Sasha had showered, he’d stood in the hallway outside the bathroom door. As much as he would have liked to join her, he knew they’d never get out of there if he did. Still, he’d wanted to keep her close, just in case anyone from his father’s pack escaped his team and came looking for them.

  Xander kept expecting her to break, to finally fall apart because her mind couldn’t process everything she’d learned about his world. Yet, after hours on the road, of him explaining as much as he could about werewolves, vampires, shifters, the Council, mates, and everything in between, she still hadn’t cracked.

  In fact, her excitement and eagerness only intensified with every new thing she learned.

  “Okay, so…vampires.” She angled toward him, tugging against the belt across her chest as she practically bounced in her seat. “They burn in sunlight? Fact or myth?”

  Xander chuckled under his breath as he flipped on his blinker to merge off the state highway and onto the interstate. “Yeah, they burn in sunlight.”

  “Garlic?”

  “Myth.”

  “Holy water?”

  “Just water.”

  She bobbed her head slowly, her expression an adorable mixture of concentration and delight. “What’s the difference between shifters and werewolves? Are there other weres?”

  “Yeah, there are other weres. The main difference is that weres only turn into one kind of animal. Shifters can change into anything they want.” One wasn’t necessarily better than the other. Just different.

  “Do you have to change on the full moon?”

  “Nah. When we’re younger, it’s harder to control, but the pups eventually mature and learn to suppress the urge to shift.”

  She grinned brightly and cocked her head to the side. “Silver bullets?”

  “Will kill us just the same as any other bullet.” Werewolves weren’t easy to kill, but it wasn’t impossible, either. “Silver is poisonous to us, though, and it does leave a nasty scar.”

  “Right. Okay. Got it.” Her smile turned impossibly bright, and the cab of the pickup flooded with the scent of her excitement. “Am I going to turn into a werewolf since you bit me?”

  Instead of anxiety or hesitance, she sounded like a small child on Christmas morning. It was so damn cute Xander almost didn’t want to tell her the truth.

  “No, sweetheart, you won’t turn into a werewolf. Wolves are born, not turned, but there are some benefits.” Taking one hand off the steering wheel, he reached over and rested his palm on her belly where she’d been scratched earlier. “You’ll heal quicker now. You won’t get sick. You’ll be faster and stronger, and your senses might be heightened. You won’t shift, though.”

  “Oh.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and worried it while she stared through the windshield. He could practically taste her disappointment. “Well, I guess that’s not so bad.” Her head snapped up, and she frowned at him. “Will it mess with my birth control? I mean, I’m on the pill, but we weren’t exactly careful earlier.”

  Xander’s heart sank as he took her hand and squeezed it gently. “That’s not something you have to worry about. Wolves can only breed with other wolves.”

  It wasn’t fair, but there were other ways. If she wanted to be a mother, he’d adopt a whole litter of pups. Whatever she wanted or needed to be happy, he’d make it happen.

  “Actually, that’s kind of a relief.” A self-conscious smile tugged at her lips, and she ducked her head, creating a curtain around her face with her ebony hair. “I like kids well enough, I guess. I just never really felt the need to have one of my own.”

  Thank fuck.

  Xander didn’t know what the hell he’d do with a kid, but more than likely, he’d screw it up. Some people just weren’t cut out to be parents, and as a self-aware kind of guy, he’d known that about himself for a long damn time.

  “Okay, tell me about this magical bubble of protection.”

  Xander frowned. “I don’t really know where to begin?”

  “How about at the beginning?” she suggested flippantly.

  He had to laugh. Her and Keller were going to get along famously. “So, werewolves can choose a mate. Maybe because of love, or maybe it’s just for a mating season, but fated unions are different. True mates are predestined, chosen by the Ancestors. It’s…”

  “Special,” she supplied. “Like soul mates.”

  “Yes, exactly.” As comparisons went, it was a good one. “No one really knows how it happens or why, but mates are drawn together. They’re sort of led to each other, I guess.”

  Sasha bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Oh, my god, I thought I was going crazy. I just had this feeling like I was looking for something, like I had to be somewhere. It makes so much sense now.”

  Maybe it only happened to females. Or humans. Or maybe all fated pairs found each other in different ways. He certainly hadn’t felt the pull to be in Broken Ridge, or anywhere else for that matter. On the other hand, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near that godforsaken town. So, in a way, he supposed he had been led there.

  “Okay, so what does this have to do with the magic bubble?” she prompted when he didn’t continue right away.

  “Fated mates are…blessed. Maybe it really is magic. I don’t know, but wolves say they’re protected by the Ancestors.” Pausing, he rubbed a hand over his face. He was doing a pretty piss-poor job of explaining, but the truth was he didn’t really understand it himself. “It’s a compulsion, like a command that you can’t disobey.”

  “I think I get it.” Sasha chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds, then scrunched her nose. “Is it just female mates? I mean, why don’t you have a magic bubble?”

  Xander thought about it for a long time, but he didn’t have a good answer for her. “I honestly don’t know, sweetheart.”

  “Well, that seems really unfair.” She huffed adorably. “And kind of sexist.”

  “And you are cute as hell when you’re indignant.”

  In response, she stuck her tongue out at him.

  They fell quiet for a while after that, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. On the contrary, her presence gave him a sense of peace he hadn’t known before. Until he’d met her, he’d never believed in such superficial, human emotions like love, but the past several hours had changed him irrevocably.

  The bond that tied them together had taken root, linking them in a way that went far beyond anything he’d ever experienced, or even knew existed for that matter. Focusing on her heartbeat, he smiled as he felt his own pulse thrumming in time with hers. He inhaled when she did, exhaled at the same time, and each time he moved, she moved in accordance, like two parts of one whole.

  Fate couldn’t have chosen a better mate for him, and he’d spend every day of his life cherishing the gift he’d been granted.

  “You’re happy,” Sasha whispered, a tiny smile curling the corners of her lips. “I…feel it.”

  “You make me happy,” he answered honestly. “What about you? How are you feeling about all this?”

  “Honestly? I’ve been through worse,” she answered, her voice quiet and thoughtful. “I guess I’m feeling grateful. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if you hadn’t been there.”

  “I swear I’ll make them all bleed for what they did to you.” His wolf called out for blood, and the human part of him was all too willing to oblige the beast.

  Taking his hand from where it rested on the console, she lifted it to her face, nuzzling her cheek against his palm. “That’s kind of a sweet. Violent, but sweet.”

  She couldn’t know it, but she’d soon understand, there wasn’t anything under the sun or moon he wouldn’t do for her.

  “So, where are we going after you meet with your Council people?”

  It seemed he’d forgotten an important piece of information during his lecture on the paranormal world. “Actually, I live at the Council Estate. It’s my home.”

  She chewed her bottom lip again, something he noticed she did when she was nervous. “They won’t care that I’m human?”

  “There are other humans who live on the Estate. So, no, sweetheart, they won’t care.”

  The tension in her shoulders relaxed, and her scent mellowed. “I admit I don’t understand it all yet, but I feel it, Xander. I barely even know you, but at the same time, it’s like I’ve known you my entire life.” She turned her head and pressed a kiss to his palm. “This just feels right. It feels like I finally belong somewhere.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, you’ve always belonged with me.” He’d never been more certain of anything. “You just didn’t know it yet.”

  Chapter Seven

  The sun had just begun its ascent over the horizon when they pulled into the long, winding driveway of the Council Estate. Sasha didn’t know what she’d expected when Xander had told her where they were headed, but a freaking castle in the heart of Texas hadn’t crossed her mind.

  Technically, it was a just a mansion—an enormous one—but it looked like a damn castle to her with its huge columns and sprawling terraces. The manicured grounds took her breath away, and she pressed closer to the window, awed by the stunning gardens and grass so green it didn’t seem real.

  “Oh, my god. This place is beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  He pulled the pickup to a stop directly in front of the wide steps of the first-story veranda and cut the engine. Immediately, two men dressed in identical uniforms—fitted, long-sleeved shirt, cargo pants, and boots, all in black—jogged down the stone steps to open their doors.