Rowdy howled. He’d never thought he could howl like that. He heard the teens on the speakerphone laughing and Justine laughed too.

  “Thanks. Stay out of trouble.” Then she ended the call. “All right. We’re going to my place. We’ll have a wolf run now, before you shift back. And then dinner. And God I’m glad I finally broke through your defenses before the jaguar did.”

  He was too and he was eager to run with her as a wolf. They’d resolved their case and it was already six in the evening and the sun was setting.

  When they arrived at her place, she grabbed his clothes and took them into the house, and he ran inside, worried he’d shift back before they went for a run. He was hoping he wouldn’t shift on the run!

  But her place was surrounded by woods, and she began to strip. “Mom and Dad and I own most of the property on this side of the lake. So we can run to our heart’s content. Moose, deer, bear, cougars, coyotes, and foxes all frequent the property. And of course a few wolves. Are you ready?”

  He woofed.

  She cast her bra and panties aside, shifted, and led him to her wolf door at the back of the house. Then they were out and bounding through the snowy woods and he was having the time of his life. This was what he’d wanted to do in forever. Run free as a wolf. But better than that, run with a she-wolf who had finally made his dream become a reality.

  He loved her for it.

  He chased her tail for a while, and she turned on him, tackling him against the snowy ground and bit at his face. He instinctively bit her back in playful fun, trying to be careful about it, not knowing his own strength as a wolf.

  He wasn’t even sure what he looked like, and he couldn’t wait to see. He hoped she was pleased by his appearance as a wolf. He was sure that, like with animals in the wild, looks had some bearing on the animals selecting their mates.

  In any event, he loved how she had pinned him down and was eagerly biting him on the face and neck, his shoulder, and he was getting her back with the same enthusiasm and playfulness. Then she let him up and she listened for a moment.

  He saw what she had heard—which was incredible, a deer off by the lake, and it turned to look at them, big brown eyes watching them, big ears twitching back and forth, and then it bounded through the woods.

  They ran for forever, and he felt he could have gone on and on and on. He was loving this. But he also was aware of the issue with not having a lot of control over his shifting and when she turned around and headed back toward the house, he was ready. Just in case. It was amazing to be able to run so far so fast and not be winded. He loved it.

  He was cutting it close though as they continued to run, and he felt his body tingling with warmth. He shot toward the house, leaving her behind. It was a fight to the finish, reach the house before he shifted and had to run the rest of the way in the snow butt naked.

  She raced after him and she caught up to him, but he didn’t slow down. He was putting his wolf speed to the test. A matter of life or death. Or in his case, frostbite and hypothermia.

  Oh, he hadn’t even realized it, but his shoulder, arm, and his hand were fine now. Well, paw. He hadn’t even thought of checking it before they ran. She hadn’t either. He couldn’t believe he finally had the advanced healing genetics and in their line of work, he could sure use them.

  He saw her house off in the distance, the sun already set, but he was dying to shift. Do. Not. Shift!

  He couldn’t control the urge and the next thing he knew, he was running through the snow in bare skin. Cold. Cold. Cold.

  Justine ran past him because she could run so much faster as a wolf than a human could and then he saw the flakes begin to float down from the heavens above. It was magical. This day was truly magical.

  She dove through the wolf door into the house. In a short while, she came running out of the house all dressed, carrying his boots, pants, and parka. She ran toward him, closing the distance until they were together. He hurried to pull on his pants, sticking his feet in his boots. While she fastened his boots, he pulled on his parka. Before he made a move to head to the house, he swept her up in his arms and swung her around, kissing her soundly on the mouth, loving her for what he had become. He would never regret this.

  She laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Good, huh?”

  “The best. But it would never have happened without you.” Then he carried her all the rest of the way back to the house and took her inside.

  He wanted to make love to her all the way, but he knew that was a no-no, not unless they were planning on being mated now that he was a wolf too. If he’d opted to be a big cat, he could have had sex with a jaguar shifter and the same rules didn’t apply.

  He kissed her again, letting her know just how much he treasured her for the way in which she’d changed him and expanded his world all in a good way. He set her down on her feet and he pulled off her parka and smiled to see her shirtless and braless.

  “I was in a hurry to rescue you from the cold.” She removed his parka and kissed his bare chest. He gave her a warm hug and she hugged him back.

  Then she pulled away. “Let’s make dinner now.” She slipped her sweater over her head and slid off her boots.

  He yanked off his boots too and pulled on his sweater.

  “Salmon steaks, fried potatoes, and spinach?” she asked.

  “That sounds great. What can I do to help?”

  She took his hand in hers and ran her finger over the place where she’d bitten him and smiled. “You’re perfectly healed.” And she checked out the jaguar bite that was fading too.

  “Yeah, the wolf genes finally really kicked in.”

  “Good.” She led him into the kitchen. “If you want to make us some Christmas drinks, the bar is there, and the cocktail recipe book is sitting on the counter. This is a cause for celebration.”

  “I agree.” He would be her personal bartender if she let him. And he cooked up some mean grilled dishes too. “How do Christmas margaritas sound?”

  “Go for it.”

  He mixed all the ingredients including cranberry juice, tequila, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and maple syrup together. “Salt on the rim or—”

  “Sugar,” she said, smiling.

  “Okay. I’ll have that too.” He finished making the drinks and came into the kitchen to see how he could help her with dinner.

  “You can set out the silverware, plates, and get us some glasses of water, if you don’t mind.”

  “Yeah, I’ll do that.” But he handed her cocktail to her first and they clinked them together, then they both took a sip and she smiled.

  “Hmm, that’s good.” Then she wrapped her arm around his neck and licked his sugary lips and he licked hers, their tongues teasing and tasting.

  Man, he couldn’t believe how much his sense of taste had perked up even. “You taste divine.”

  She chuckled and set her glass down on the counter and then gave him a hug and he hugged her back. “So do you.” Then she pulled away and began to slice up the potatoes.

  He had been so looking forward to nights spent overlooking Birch Lake, listening to the water rolling over the rocky bank, listening to the wind ruffling the tree branches. But now? He wanted to spend the evenings with Justine every night in the worst way. Not that he hadn’t before, but he swore it was the wolf part of him that was craving her something fierce.

  “Yes, I feel the strong pull too,” she said. “Our pheromones are calling to each other. I could smell yours before, but now that you’re a wolf, they’re much more pronounced now. And I knew we both had the hots for each other from the very beginning.”

  “I knew the wolves had superpowers.”

  She laughed. She finally dished up their food and they sat down to eat.

  Justine couldn’t believe the blasted jaguar had bitten Rowdy when here she’d been trying to turn him into a wolf shifter like her. When Rowdy had the urge to shift at Barney’s house, she’d been afraid he was going to be a jaguar.

  She was thankful her genetics had changed him instead. She considered what he had said earlier—that she wouldn’t have to mate him even if she turned him. She was pleased he was interested in the same thing as her and that she could still have kids and her parents could love on some grandchildren someday.

  He was a beautiful wolf when he was wearing his thick wolf coat—a gorgeous black saddle and mask on his face, tans and whites on his chin and chest, long legs, big bodied, a wolf to be reckoned with.

  After they finished the meal, she said, “Okay, we’ll tell everyone you’re now a full-fledged wolf, and you’re staying here and not returning to Houston, but we’ll wait on a mating to see how you feel about all the changes first.”

  “We can. Or we can just go ahead with a mating if you’re ready and want to. Once I’ve made up my mind to do something, I do it. And you’re the only one I want to be with.”

  She smiled, glad he felt that way because she’d had every intention of talking him into it soonest. “Good, then we’ll share the good news once it’s done, and you can move in with me.”

  “I’m all for that. You were willing to give up so much to be with me and I couldn’t love you more for it.”

  She sighed. “I had to turn you before my mother did—knowing already that you were the right one for me. Or any other she-wolf who knew a good deal when she saw one and wanted to claim you for her own first. And boy, I’m glad I did because if I hadn’t—”

  “I would have become a jaguar—courtesy of Mason’s bite.”

  “Exactly. I love you. Come on then. Let’s make this official.” She was ready to mate her wolf. What if some other she-wolf was taken in by his generosity, his sexiness? She wasn’t about to lose him to another single she-wolf.

  He swept her up in his arms and carried her into the master bedroom, putting all those fascinating muscles to work, and this time she and he wouldn’t hold back. They were making love like they did the first time, all the way, only they would both be lupus garous this time. And they would be mated for life.

  After setting her on the floor next to the bed, he slid her sweater over her head and bared her breasts. She pulled his sweater over his head, tossing it to the floor, and then slid her hands over his biceps, and kissed his wondrous pecs. He threaded his fingers through her hair with a sensuous touch.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to kiss his generous mouth—so masculine, so adept at kissing her as if their lips had been created just for this—for each other, no one else.

  Heat spread throughout her body, their pheromones calling out to each other, working them up into a passionate frenzy and he began pulling off her pants. No panties. He smiled.

  But he wasn’t wearing boxer briefs either, neither of them having had time to dress that fully when she rescued him from the cold. And all the better to getting down to business now.

  She climbed into bed, and he joined her, and the kissing began all over again. Tongues touching and sliding over each other, their kisses electrifying, demanding, needy.

  His mouth took a detour and suckled on a breast, and she gasped with the intimacy she loved and hadn’t even realized how much she’d needed. Then he worked on her other breast and licked and kissed the nipple, peaked and stimulated to the max.

  Then he began stroking her clit, playing her. She felt wet for him, ready to take this all the way. He was stroking her lightly, harder, slowly, faster, determined to bring her to climax and she was feeling the exhilaration rising, the need mounting. Her body was screaming for release with his hot touch, and she felt herself reaching for the moon and beyond.

  She arched her back, so near to the end, she couldn’t stand it, wanted to beg for release, and then she was catapulted into the most heavenly of worlds. She cried out with relief and exultation, intense ripples of pleasure running rampant through her.

  Their mouths melded again, kissing, tasting, and then she wrapped her arms around him. “Mate with me, my wolf.”

  His smoldering gaze collided with hers. “My pleasure.” He moved between her legs and pushed his stiff erection between her swollen and throbbing folds, deeply embedding himself in her, pushing deeper. And then he began to thrust.

  They were united as wolves, and she couldn’t have been happier as he thrust harder, faster, taking her to the next level. She didn’t want him to stop, needed him to keep on making love to her the whole night long.

  When Justine called Rowdy her wolf, he couldn’t have been any more thrilled to hear those words.

  He couldn’t believe how much stronger all his senses were as a wolf while he made love to Justine. He could smell their musky sex, female, male, pheromones, all tantalizing him to take this to the end and want for more. Wolfish needs. Human needs. His wolf was saying he claimed her, she was his forevermore, and he loved that feeling of unity.

  He could hear the slight changes in her breathing, hitching when he was getting closer to making her come again, angling himself inside her, feeling the tension building in her, seeing the pleasure in her expression, the light perspiration on her skin, feeling the heat of their bodies colliding.

  The end was near, and he held on, sure she was about to climax again, and he wanted that to happen. But then he couldn’t stop the inevitable and he climaxed, filling her with his seed, feeling as if he had gone around the world and back, satiated, in love and loved. And she orgasmed right after that.

  “Ohmigod, you are such a hot wolf lover,” she said, breathlessly. “I love you.”

  “I love you.” He pressed heavily against her, wanting to surround her, fill her, keep her like this always.

  She wrapped her arms around him and smiled. “Stay like this the whole night through.”

  “Forever and ever.” They were going to make the best USF special agent team ever—in and out of bed, he just knew it.

  Later, they would tell everyone he had been turned, and they were mated wolves, but tonight, they were going to run as wolves again—the moon-filled night was theirs.

  EPILOGUE

  Rowdy couldn’t have been happier for the way things had turned out. Volunteering to assist Justine at her USF branch had been an act of Christmas kindness to his fellow coworkers on his part so they wouldn’t be separated from their families. He never thought he would receive the best Christmas present ever—a wolf way of life, a mate he adored, a family—her parents couldn’t have been happier for him to join them—and lots of shifter friends who were just as glad as he was that he was now one of them.

  Even his coworkers from Houston were coming up here for New Year’s Eve to celebrate with him and Justine, the Arctic wolf pack that they’d had a connection with ever since bringing home Cameron and Faith’s little lost boy, and the other shifters in the community.

  He and Justine had done some last-minute Christmas shopping for each other and her parents and that’s when he learned the day her parents were buying gifts when he saved the teen bear in the lake, they had been buying the presents for him—as if they knew he was going to be part of the family.

  He hadn’t had a family in so long that he couldn’t have asked for a better one.

  Rowdy snuggled with Justine on the couch in front of a fire before they headed over to her parents’ place for Christmas Eve dinner when they got a call from Everett. Rowdy put the call on speakerphone.

  “Hey, I was calling to tell you we just got the news about your wolf case. The men were given sixty days incarceration in the jaguar confinement facilities in Houston for causing the accident, fighting with the jaguar, and causing injuries to both of the jaguars. Elan had to have medical tests run down here because he’d been knocked unconscious in the car wreck. The wolves had to pay for Mason and Elan’s medical expenses and replace Mason’s car. Maybe they will have learned their lesson.”

  “I sure hope for everyone’s sake they have. Thanks for letting us know. And Merry Christmas, Everett,” Rowdy said.

  “Merry Christmas and tell Martin thanks for loaning Rowdy to me,” Justine said.

  Everett chuckled. “He was supposed to be just a loan, but we’re glad how it all worked out. Merry Christmas to you and Justine and we look forward to seeing you for New Year’s. And congratulations again for becoming a wolf, Rowdy, and the mating, you two.”

  Justine hadn’t expected to turn a human and take him for her mate, but Rowdy had opened up her world to a wonderful new friendship, to having an exquisite lover and compassionate friend. She adored him, sexy muscles and all. “It’s time to go to my parents’ place for dinner.” She and Rowdy were hosting Christmas dinner, the first time she’d ever done so, and her parents were as delighted as she was to do it—but only because she had a mate to help her with it and Rowdy was a winner when it came to cooking and making delectable cocktails and delicious fancy cocoas.

  He smiled. “How did I ever get so lucky.”

  “I’m the one who truly lucked out. I love you.” She kissed him. “Merry Christmas Eve.”

  “Merry Christmas Eve, Justine. I love you right back.” And he kissed her like he wanted to take her straight back to bed.

  That was another reason she really loved him! He made all the right moves and was the only wolf for her.

  AUTHOR BIO

  USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over a hundred paranormal romance novels, young adult, and medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. She has received many awards, including a PNR Top Pick, a Best Book of the Month nomination by Long and Short Reviews, and 2 Paranormal Excellence Awards for Romantic Literature (Finalist & Honorable Mention). A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Spring, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, shapeshifting jaguars, cougar shifters, vampires, hot Highlanders, and having fun with her young adult novels, helping with her grandkids and playing with her two long-haired havanese.