“Why are you snarling at me?” Kara glanced over her shoulder at him. Her back was ramrod straight, her shoulders pulled back, and her hands rested on her hips. “This is your fault, Nick. You don’t get to be pissed at me for wanting what is my right. Isn’t that what I hear you males continually spout? That you have a right to your true mate. Does that right only go one way?”

  “Dammit, female!” Nick shouted, his irritation getting the best of him. “Can’t you see that I’m just protecting you? I will always look out for your best interest. Your health, safety, and happiness will always come before my own.”

  She turned to face him. Her hands dropped from her waist and fisted at her sides. “Do I look happy to you?” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and a piece of him shattered. He hated when he caused her tears.

  “Baby,” he said softly, taking a step toward her. He needed to touch her, to feel her flesh against his own. His wolf needed the reassurance that, despite their quarreling, she still wanted him, that she wasn’t giving up on him.

  Kara put up a hand. “Don’t,” she breathed out at him, sounding defeated. She wiped away a tear she hadn’t managed to keep from falling. “I’m done fo—”

  “What!” Nick practically roared, causing her to jump.

  “Fix this. NOW,” his wolf bellowed inside his mind. “If she leaves us, I will destroy everything and everyone near us until our alpha is forced to put us down.” Nick ignored his beast's threat. The man didn’t bother to argue because he agreed with him. Nick would not want to live if Kara chose to live without him.

  “Nick,” Kara’s voice trembled as she took a step back. She held up both hands as if to keep him away. Like hell, he thought. “You need to calm down. Now.”

  “You just told me you are done with me, and you expect me to calm down?” He could feel the nails on his hands phasing into the claws of his wolf. He would never, ever, hurt Kara, but his emotions were out of control, and he was fighting his need to phase. “You are the other half of my soul, and you expect me to live without you. You would choose to live without me?” He knew his eyes glowed, and he felt his teeth sharpening and lengthening. “Just because I won’t give you what you want, you would throw us away?” He was too busy trying to keep from tackling her to the ground and tying her up to notice the confusion on her face. “I am your male, and you are my female. I will not give you up. I told you that. You knew that before you came to our pack. That hasn’t changed, Kara, and it won’t change. I will do anything to keep you.”

  “Not anything,” she said, finally dropping her hands. “Don’t lie to me. Ever. And don’t interrupt me. It’s rude, and it makes you assume things because you weren’t smart enough to keep your muzzle shut.”

  Nick glared at her. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to her room and lock her inside so she could never follow through with her words.

  “I wasn’t saying I was leaving you—”

  “You said you were done.”

  She stomped her foot. And it would have been adorable if she wasn’t staring daggers at him. “I just told you not to interrupt me, dammit. I was about to say, I’m done, for now, you overgrown hairball.” Kara took a deep breath as she seemed to attempt to calm herself. “By ‘for now,’ I mean that I am done fighting with you. I’m exhausted mentally. I’m beginning to wonder if I can use my witchy magic on you if only to zap your ass. I don’t want to hear your voice for at least a few hours, because if you attempt to tell me, one more time, that I don’t know what I need or what I’m ready for, I just might cut out your tongue while you sleep.

  Nick didn’t move, afraid that if he so much as twitched she might follow through with trying to zap him. “There’s no need for name-calling,” he said after several moments of silence filled only with their respective glares.

  Her brow rose, causing her forehead to wrinkle. “Seriously? You have the nerve to say that to me after you just went apeshit over a conclusion you made because you couldn’t just listen to me?”

  “Apparently,” Nick groused as his teeth and nails phased back to human form.

  “I need a drink,” Kara huffed.

  “N—”

  “But because I’m mature, and know that it’s not legal for me to have a drink, then I won’t have one. But know that it's my choice whether I do or don't. Instead, I will take my mature ass out for a run. Bite me, Nick. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Nick refrained from telling her how badly he wanted to do just that. He didn't want to send mixed signals. He even kept their mental bond minimized so she didn’t pick up on his need for her. “You aren’t very good at being a mate. Maybe you should let me take over,” his wolf pointed out. “And you aren’t human. You don’t understand that they don’t think like you. It’s not as simple as claiming and bedding her because she’s our true mate,” Nick responded. He watched her storm from the room. “From where I’m standing, it is that simple. If it wasn’t, our mate would want to be with us instead of always trying to get away from us.” Nick didn't respond to his wolf’s observation. Maybe his beast was right.

  Nick shook his head, pushing away the memory as his feet pounded against the ground. Every day since they’d returned to the pack mansion, Nick had gone out into the field where his mate had run after they'd had their arguments. He jogged the same route, the grass worn where her much smaller feet created a trail. In his mind, he pictured her ponytail swishing back and forth, her arms pumping at her sides, and the determined look in her eyes as she burned through her frustration at him. His mind kept dragging him back to the times when they’d argued, which had ultimately put her in the dangerous situation that had gotten her taken. He rarely allowed himself to think of the good memories. Nick didn’t feel he had a right to them. But just then, he needed to remember that they’d had more than conflict between them. No matter how they’d snarled at one another, they still loved each other.

  * * *

  “Come in,” Kara’s voice said through the door that kept him separated from her. She didn’t sound irritated, which was a good sign. Nick wouldn’t share a room with her, though he allowed himself to hold Kara at night because he and his wolf could barely stay away. It was especially difficult when they knew she was across the hall, mere feet away, curled up in a bed all by herself. He could feel her need for him through the bond, and sometimes it drove him crazy. Tonight was one of those nights.

  Nick turned the knob and pushed the door open. He stopped in his tracks as his eyes landed on the woman he craved like a drug. She wore a tank top that revealed a hint of cleavage and shorts that were so small they should be illegal for any unbonded female. Kara was stretched out on her stomach on the bed. Her legs, bent at the knee, swung up and down behind her, her heels bouncing off her delectable backside. Do not look at her delectable backside, Nick berated himself. She propped herself up on her elbows, a book laid open in front of her. Kara's eyes were fixed on the pages as if whatever they contained was the most intriguing thing she’d ever seen. His wolf growled. He didn’t want to share her attention with anything, not even a book. His wolf was ridiculous. But then again, Nick wasn’t really any better.

  “Whatcha doing?” he asked and wanted to smack himself because it was obvious what she was doing.

  “Planning my next vacation. It’s been so long since I’ve been on one. Like”—she tapped her chin—“never. Because I’ve never been on one.” She glanced at him, a smirk on her face. “I’m reading a book, dork. What does it look like I’m doing?”

  “Smartass.” He walked across the room toward her. He told himself he would keep his eyes focused on her face. He lied. His eyes roamed over her body, and he knew if he didn’t stop, he would end up panting just like his wolf.

  “To what do I owe the honor of your presence?” She closed the book and looked up at him, resting her chin in her hands.

  Nick sat down beside her and took a deep breath. Her scent filled his lungs, and he couldn’t stop the rumble that rose in his chest.

  Kara grinned at him. “I love that sound.”

  Nick lifted his hand and slipped his fingers into her hair, running them through the brown locks that held streaks of blonde, which weren't entirely natural. He hated the smell of the chemicals that lasted a few days after her dye jobs, but he liked the way it looked. After the Volcan crap, Peri had noticed that Kara’s hair had grown, and the brown roots showed where the blonde had grown out. She gave Kara a permanent hair dye job with the streaks, and Nick strongly suspected the fae, too, didn't care for the chemical odors.

  “You okay?” Kara asked, her grin fading as she stared up at him.

  The answer was “no,” he was not okay. But he couldn’t tell her that. “Just miss you,” he said softly. Nick picked up the book and tossed it to the bedside table then rolled his mate to her back. He typically slept in nothing but shorts, but once he’d given in to the need to see her, he’d slipped on a shirt. He immediately regretted it as he stretched out beside her, and her palms laid against his chest. He wanted her skin on his.

  “Nick?” Her lips turned down in a frown.

  “Have I told you how much I love you?” Nick asked. He traced her lips with his forefinger. “You’re a miracle.”

  Her hands flexed against his chest. Her frown fell away, and the lips he touched turned up in a small smile. “I love you, too,” she said, her words filled with the same fierceness that her voice held. “No matter the battles we seem to have, I love you, Nick. I hope I haven’t made you doubt that.”

  Nick’s eyes took in every detail of her face—every contour, nuance, and tiny detail. It wasn’t just her outside beauty that drew him. Though Nick wouldn't lie and say that if he saw her on the street, he wouldn’t take a second look … or a third. But it was Kara’s inner beauty that called to him. It called to his beast, who constantly fought the darkness. “I don’t doubt it, sweetheart,” he told her, sliding his finger out of the way and replacing it with his mouth against her lips. He allowed himself few things as intimate as kissing. Though he held her and touched her as often as he could, kissing her was a massive test of his self-control, especially when she broadcast so loudly, both verbally and through their bond, that she welcomed his advances.

  “Stop thinking for a minute and just feel,” Kara said through their bond. “Just be here in this moment with me.”

  Nick ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she opened her mouth for him. Her taste flooded his mouth. His chest rumbled as desire rose like a fire doused in gasoline. He felt her chest rise and fall against his own, and her breathing increased. Kara’s hands slid slowly up his chest. He could feel every indentation of the pads of her fingers as she pressed them into his muscles. She briefly stopped at his shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze before continuing her exploration until her hands wrapped around his neck. The heat of her skin met his own, and he felt his wolf pushing to take control. He wanted to be closer. He wanted more. Both he and his wolf wanted to taste the skin on her neck. The salt he knew he would find there. His wolf could smell the perspiration coming off her. He wanted her supple flesh between his teeth, and then he wanted the tang of her blood in his mouth. He needed her.

  “Mine,” Nick said into her mind, unable to curb his possessiveness as she pressed closer to him. One of his hands ran down her side, across her ribs, her waist, and her hip until it rested against her thigh. She was so small compared to him. His palm spanned her entire thigh, and he wrapped her tightly in his hand as he hiked her leg up and over his hip. She gasped at his boldness, and Nick chuckled. She nipped his bottom lip, tugging on it before releasing it. He pulled back so he could look down at her.

  “Do you feel that?” Kara asked him. “Your heart against mine.”

  “The same rhythm,” he said, his voice gruff with desire. “Our souls are united. Our hearts beat as one.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she brought a hand up to cup his face. Her bottom lip trembled, but it wasn’t with sadness or anger. Nick could feel through their true mate bond that the intensity came from the knowledge that she was not alone and never would be again.

  “I’m yours, Kara,” Nick told her, his forehead pressing against hers. Her warm breath fanned over his face. She seemed to struggle to draw air into her lungs. “I am yours and yours alone, and you will always have me.”

  Tears fell as her body shook. Nick felt her emotions flow through her like a violent storm. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them over until they were on their sides, chest to chest, face to face. Their legs tangled, binding them together as tightly as the surest knot. Nick’s hand slipped up the inside of her shirt, his palm sliding against her silky skin until it wrapped around the back of her neck. He could feel the heat of her all the way up the inside of his forearm which was pressed tightly against her.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d fallen apart to the point that she seemed to need him to keep her together. He would gladly hold her in his arms for eternity. Nick could lay in this bed, just like this, and never tire of her being there. “I’ve got you,” he whispered as he buried his face in her neck and breathed her in deeply, filling his lungs with her precious scent. “I’ve always got you, and I will never let you go.”

  He felt her head nod even as she sucked in a quavering breath through her tears. “I know,” she responded. “I know.”

  Nick held her as she cried. He held her even as her tears subsided and her lips pressed sweetly to his neck. He held her as she drifted off to sleep, exhausted from her own emotions. He held her all night, and he relished it. It was a memory he would tuck away for the lonely nights that would remain until the day he could complete the blood rites with her and become one with her in every way. Then he could hold her every night.

  He wasn’t there for the first seventeen years of her life. He hadn't been able to protect her from all the ugly in the world. He couldn't make sure she had good experiences or memories in her previous life, but he promised himself that when they bonded—when he marked her with his teeth and his body—that it would be a memory she could treasure. A moment in her life that she would forever look back on and know that she’d meant so much to him that he had been willing to wait until she was ready in every way: mind, body, and soul.

  “Soon, baby,” he whispered as she slept. “Soon, I will make you mine in every way.”

  * * *

  Nick was jarred from his thoughts as his feet pounded against the ground. An arm bumped him, and he was reminded that he wasn’t running alone. Today, Drayden joined him. Nick knew his alpha was worried about his mental state. Without the bond, the darkness in Nick would grow. With Kara in danger, the darkness would grow faster. The longer he was unable to get to her, the more feral his wolf would become. Soon, he would no longer only be a danger to his enemies. How long until I’m a danger to those I count as friends, a danger to my pack?

  Suddenly, Nick stumbled. The world around him disappeared, and his wolf senses took over. Nick felt his wolf seeking Kara through their bond, even though it seemed the bond was no longer attached to their mate. But then it was there, snapping taut back into place. She was there. The sensation of his mate was faint, but she was there. And then, through his wolf’s eyes, he saw her materialize. Nick had no control over any part of himself. His beast had simply taken the reins and was in full control. All the man could do was watch. Nick didn’t know how long he was lost in the moment. His mind was in one place and his body in another. But as quickly as it had happened, it was over. Nick was thrown back into reality, and he could once again see his alpha and the pack grounds around him.

  “I felt her.” Nick’s breathing was rapid from more than just the jogging. His wolf was growing frantic inside of him. “My wolf saw her.” His feet froze as he stood outside the Canadian pack mansion.

  They’d searched for a month. First, they’d tried to determine if perhaps Ludcarab and Alston might have decided to stay close to their previous compound. Nick thought it was a long shot, but perhaps their enemies thought it would be the last place the wolves would consider. The only thing they’d encountered were some newly made vampires. Nick and the others had happily dispatched them. His wolf had felt a miniscule amount of pleasure at having ended the lives of such despicable beings.

  They’d also searched every hidden supernatural establishment in the human realm but had likewise discovered nothing. If anyone had known anything, the fear of facing Fane would have made them squeal like a cornered pig. So far, they had come up empty and had no leads to go on. Drayden had decided they needed to go back to their pack headquarters and regroup. Nick also knew he’d suggested it because Kara’s scent lingered there. Though the smell wasn’t as strong as it had been a month ago when he stepped into her room, it had brought him some semblance of peace. The feeling only lasted a moment, but it was a moment he treasured.

  “What do you mean?” Drayden asked. “You felt her just now, but only your wolf saw her?”

  Nick realized that didn’t make much sense. He shook his head and started pacing. “I mean, the bond has felt completely severed until now. But for an instant, it was there. We were connected again. And then my wolf showed her to me.” He closed his eyes and pictured what his wolf had seen. “I was in a forest just looking out into the trees. I could feel the bond. Then, my wolf’s attention was suddenly alert, his focus somewhere else entirely. His gaze searched for what we both felt. And then he heard footsteps.” Nick took a deep breath, afraid to believe that it was true. Maybe it was simply a figment of his imagination because he missed her so deeply. Maybe the memories he’d allowed to play out so vividly in his mind had begun to drive him mad. Half of him was missing. He was incomplete without his Kara. “When my wolf turned, she was there. At first, the beast didn’t trust what he was seeing, but then he smelled her. That’s when he let me in. He let me smell her and hear her voice. I phased. I tried to move toward her, but my feet wouldn’t budge.”