“Why him? And not someone else in the agency?” Becky asked.

  “Remember the day when I was talking to you about the kind of guys who appeal to us—physically? I know there’s not much to that as far as making a connection, but that was my start. All the men in Ryan’s agency had photos on the agency site. I just looked them up, found the three who weren’t married, saw that Max had been a Navy SEAL, and because of my near drowning experience—that still haunts me—I just thought he would be perfect to keep you safe.”

  “What if I had left you instead of any of us telling you about this? What if Christopher hadn’t been a wolf?” Becky asked.

  “I might have lost you as my personal assistant, though I had hoped not. As far as Christopher was concerned, I knew in my heart I wanted him no matter who he was, what he was doing. It just didn’t matter as long as he felt the same for me. Max was really only supposed to find him for me. Beyond that, I wanted to renew our dream. But I’m glad Christopher’s a wolf too. It’s like living with this secret forever and finally being relieved to know others not only believe it but are some of the same kind and accept me.

  “I–I think you and I need to discuss more of this alone, Christopher. Becky and Max, you have a good night. Max, thanks for finding Christopher for me. Becky will have my finance officer pay for your services tomorrow. I hope the two of you have some plans for tonight. I think Christopher and I do,” Pamela said.

  “There’s no charge for the services I provided,” Max said. “Just a welcome to our pack.”

  Christopher smiled and it was truly a happy smile. Becky thought things would work out between them, if they were honest with each other and they showed each other how much they cared. But for now? She and Max were going to have their own party.

  And then they said their good nights, and Becky and Max walked to her home.

  “I never dreamed I would meet a wolf like you. One who was there to help me with my boss’s problems, yet there for me too. Protective. It could have been a disaster when I went to run with you as a wolf if I had been alone and had to face the cougar,” Becky said.

  He smiled at her. “You are so fierce as a wolf, it scared me. But I would have worried about you if you’d been walking alone as a human. Then you could have been in trouble. Once a predator like that thinks you are supper, you have to be fiercer than it, bigger, scarier, show you will win in a battle between the two of you.”

  “That’s true. It might have turned out differently if I had wanted to strip off my clothes and fight him as a wolf if you hadn’t been there for me.”

  He agreed. “So, about us—”

  “When are you moving in? Permanently?”

  He smiled and kissed her. “As soon as you say the word.”

  “I’m ready. It’s amazing how many things can fill your life and keep you busy, except for the one thing you really need in it. I was so busy doing things for Pamela, I hadn’t realized I needed more. You are that for me.”

  “I feel the same way about you. When we had another PI join our agency, he was seeing a wolf that I thought I might have a chance with. But the two were a couple from the beginning. So when I met you, the feeling was mutual. That we had something going for us that I’ve never had with any other she-wolf. I feel I can let down my hair when I’m around you.”

  She chuckled. “If your hair was longer. I can talk to you about anything and I feel comfortable, not judged. I enjoy being with you like this, or just taking walks, eating, playing. It’s added a whole new dimension to my world.”

  “Yeah, if anyone had told me going on a blind date would end like this, when here I thought you were human, I would never have believed it.”

  “When you were in the service, did you have a lot of dangerous missions to go on?” she asked Max as they entered her house and shut and locked the door.

  “Yeah. I stayed in until I retired, then started working for Ryan. As many years as we live, we have to be so careful about exposing the fact we live so long and don’t age as quickly as humans.”

  “Well, I’m glad you left the service, ended up working for Ryan, and Pamela decided you were the one she wanted to have date me. I want you. I love you, Max,” Becky said, running her hands over his dress shirt, toeing off her heels.

  “I love you, and if you’re truly ready for a mating, no more waiting, I’m all for it.” He yanked off his shoes.

  “I am.”

  “Good.” He cupped her face and began kissing her mouth with gentle presses, then conquering, as if he’d found the one he’d wanted and he was claiming her. But she kissed him passionately right back, letting him know she wanted the same of him—to have him for always. He was smart, wily, protective, and loyal, and she needed that in a man. It was the kind of relationship her parents had and she’d always wanted. Loving, caring, interested in what the other was doing. Yet for her, it was the hot passion between them that stirred her blood too, making her want more. Not just the unconsummated sex but fully committing to a mate—Max, her mate.

  He began to unbutton her blouse, but he was still kissing her mouth, and she began unbuttoning his shirt, ready to strip him down and get to the nitty-gritty. She pulled his shirt out of his trousers, bared his shoulders, and kissed his solid pecs. He was so sculpted, like art in the flesh. She licked a nipple as he freed her blouse from her skirt and cupped her silky bra-covered breasts, massaging, kissing her lips again as if he didn’t want to be separated from that part of her for anything.

  Her panties were wet, her body ready for him, and she began to work on his belt. His hands slid down her skirt, searching for the fastener. “Side,” she said, their lips parting for a moment, and he glanced down at her skirt.

  The zipper was hidden, and she patted her hip, then resumed work on his belt. He found the button above the zipper on her skirt, unfastened it, and pulled down the zipper. Then he slid the formfitting skirt down her hips and let it fall to her feet. She stepped out of the puddle of blue linen fabric and kicked it out of their way.

  She slid his zipper down and pulled his trousers off his hips, and he jerked the pants off the rest of the way and kicked them aside. He slid her blouse off her shoulders, still holding onto her blouse, and kissed each shoulder softly. His tongue swiped over her neck, then her jaw, and he kissed her mouth again, his hands sliding her blouse off her shoulders.

  Being with him like this, making love to him was the best ever, but this time it would be different. The first time for a mating, and she couldn’t wait, yet she was trying to make it last long too. Max didn’t seem to be in any rush either. He was kissing her leisurely all over, her breasts still covered in the bra, her arms, shoulders, breastbone, as if he adored every bit of her. He reached down to whip off his socks, then she pulled off his shirt the rest of the way and ran her hands over his pecs, flicking her thumbnails in a gentle caress over his nipples.

  He slid his hands around her back and then unfastened her bra and pulled it off her shoulders. Leaning down, he kissed each of her breasts, then licked the nipple of one and suckled, and did the same with the other. They were peaked and sensitive to his touch, her pheromones and his going wild with anticipation. Even his nipples were hardened pearls, and his erection was straining at his boxer briefs. A beautiful sight.

  She moved her hand over his erection, felt it pulsing with need, and she inserted her thumbs slowly beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs and began pulling them off, glancing down to see his arousal spring free.

  He quickly kicked off his boxer briefs the rest of the way, and then he did the same to her with her panties, a slow seduction—sliding his thumbs beneath the waistband and then slipping them down her hips, but instead of letting her kick them off, he slid them all the way down until she climbed free of them.

  He lifted her on the bed and she quickly scooted over so he could join her—all the way this time. She was so ready for this after years of not finding the right wolf for her.

  He climbed on top of her, keeping his weight off her like a wolf on the prowl, leaning his head down to kiss her mouth. And then he spread her legs with his knee. He swept his hand down her body in an erotic caress until he found the center of her and began to stroke her nubbin. Pleasure and need pooled in that region, her channel moist for his penetration. His strokes were gentle at first, working her up to the zenith of the climax, pleasuring her in a way no one else had ever done, making her needy and desperate for completion.

  She ran her hands over his muscled shoulders, loving the feel of his hot skin beneath her fingertips, but he stole every thought filling her head—the sexy smell of him, their musky scent arousing her, his stroking her nub harder, faster, in an attempt to coax a climax out of her. His gaze was on hers, hot-blooded, lust-filled, and she knew he felt the same way about her as she felt about him. The need, the want, the craving for making this permanent between them.

  Her breathing hitched, her heart beating as she felt the rising crescendo of the climax before it hit. And then she cried out with exaltation, “Ohmigod, Max.” She swore he was the greatest lover of all time. But that was before she even knew how he could make love to her all the way.

  His smile was strained. “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice drenched with lust.

  “Yes.” They were committing to this, no going back.

  He eased into her, slowly, stretching her, making her feel the oneness between them, the connection even greater. He started to thrust, slowly at first, building up steam, deepening the penetration, then he began to kiss her again like he needed to touch every inch of her while he made love to her. To show her how much he cared about her.

  She was running her hands over his back in long, sweeping caresses, kissing him, tonguing him, showing him she felt the same way about him.

  With that one act of penetration, they had made the commitment to be together forever. He continued to thrust, and she ran her heel in gentle caresses over his leg, and then he was coming, pausing, thrusting, pausing again, as if he was trying to hold on, to experience the wonder of it being their first mating, then thrusting again.

  This time he came in an explosive rush, heating her insides, his heart and hers beating hard, but he wasn’t finished as he continued to pump into her and rub his body against hers now, kissing her like she was the one he loved most of all.

  She enjoyed the closeness, the love they had for each other, and she felt she could stay like this in his arms and never part.

  He kissed her finally, pulled out of her, and moved off her. Then they cuddled and their relationship had changed again. From one blind date, not even knowing the other was a wolf, to falling in love and mating for life. She couldn’t be happier.

  All the rest? Figuring out what to do about his place, telling her folks—oh, she needed to do that right away, well, just a lot of things they had to do. But for now, she wanted to bask in the glow of their lovemaking and snuggle with her wolf.

  When they finally woke, they made love in the shower, and then once they were dressed, she wanted to call her parents and her sister and brother and let them know she and Max were now mated.

  “I’m calling my parents to let them know about us.” Once she called her mom, she said, “Hey, Max and I are mated wolves now.”

  “Honey! She and Max did it!” her mother shouted to her father.

  Becky smiled and kissed Max’s cheek while he waited to hear how that went over while she put her phone on speaker.

  “You didn’t bring him here to meet us first,” her mother scolded.

  Her dad was on the speakerphone then. “You didn’t need our approval. We know you made the right decision.”

  “That’s true. We want you to come over for dinner and celebrate the occasion,” her mother said. “Tomorrow evening? Can you both get away?”

  “We have the time off.” Becky realized she needed to tell her boss it was a done deal. Then she wondered how things were going between Pamela and Christopher.

  “Okay, come over for dinner then. Have you told your brother and sister yet?” her mom asked.

  “Not yet. I need to call them and my boss, and Max needs to let his pack leaders know the good news.”

  “What goes around, comes around,” her mom said to them. “I was telling your dad that the other day. Here we thought we would never get any of you three mated to a wolf. But saving Pamela when she was a girl set the whole thing in motion. It might not have seemed like the right thing to do in the beginning—to some people—but it all worked out in the end.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Max said. “I can’t wait to meet all of you.” He kissed Becky’s cheek.

  “We’ll see you at six,” her mother said. “Oh, and when we can schedule a dinner with Pamela and Christopher”—as Becky had been happy to tell her parents that Christopher was a wolf and Pamela was going to become one of them finally—“we’ll have them over as a reunion of sorts.”

  “I’m sure she’ll want to do the same with you,” Becky said.

  “Welcome to the family, Max,” her dad said. “We’ll have to get some fishing in with my son, Dale.”

  “I would like that, sir.”

  After they congratulated Max and Becky again, they finally ended the call.

  “I’ll call my pack leaders,” Max told Becky.

  “Afterward, I’ll call my sister and brother and then let Pamela know.” She realized now that she didn’t want to just talk to the parties she needed to by herself. She needed her mate there so he could hear their congratulations too. The same with him talking to his pack leaders.

  Then Max wrapped his arm around her and called Ryan. “I’m putting this on speakerphone.”

  “What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, sounding concerned.

  Given what they were talking about with Pamela tonight, Becky understood why Ryan might think something was the matter.

  “Nothing’s wrong. We’re mated—Becky and me, so if any single wolves in the pack had ideas, they can forget it.”

  Becky chuckled. She hadn’t expected Max to say that.

  Ryan called to Carol and she joined him on the speakerphone. “They’re mated—Max and Becky.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. I just knew it would work out for the two of you,” Carol said.

  Then they explained about what Pamela and Christopher had agreed to do.

  “We’re so glad about Christopher and Pamela too. We’ll have a pack celebration, and everyone will be invited—your family, Becky, Pamela and Christopher, and of course our pack members. It will be great,” Carol said.

  Which made Becky think about her family. Would they want to join the pack too?

  After they ended the call, she called her sister and brother on a conference call and gave them the happy news.

  “We knew it was coming to this,” Dale said, “and we’re glad for it.”

  Natalie laughed. “I’m so happy to hear the news. I hope that we’ll be seeing a lot of you in the future.”

  “Now that we have the land to run free on as wolves, you all can come over and join us,” Becky said.

  “What about the pack in Green Valley? Are you joining it?” Natalie asked.

  “Absolutely, and the pack leaders are having a big celebration for us and for Pamela and Christopher, so I’m sure they’ll ask you if you want to join the pack too.”

  “Are there any available bachelors in the pack?” Natalie asked.

  Max chimed in then. “Yes, absolutely, and they’ll love to meet you.”

  “What about she-wolves?” Dale asked.

  “Yeah, even Rosalind, the pack leader’s sister, is available.”

  Was Max into matchmaking now? Becky hadn’t seen Rosalind yet. Max had told her Rosalind had a garden and delivered flowers all over, so Becky hadn’t known if she even had a boyfriend.

  “We’ll see you at dinner tomorrow night at Mom and Dad’s,” Becky said.

  When they all said their goodbyes, she called Pamela last. “Hi, it’s Becky. Max and I are mated.” She was dying to know if Pamela and Christopher were holding off or if he’d bitten her to turn her.

  “Oh, I’m so glad. Christopher is at a business meeting—I know, an emergency night meeting—dealing with some issues I was having. I’ll let him know at once. He’ll be as thrilled as I am.”

  “Thanks. If the pack leaders haven’t already told you, they’ll be having a celebration for you and Christopher and for Max and me with the whole pack.”

  “I’ve got an incoming call. That might be them. I look forward to it. Enjoy your day off tomorrow. Your gift from me. And if you need any more time off, just let me know.”

  “Thanks, Pamela. My parents, Robyn and William, want you to come to dinner one night too, to meet you now that you’re all grown up.”

  Pamela laughed. “I would love that. And when I can have dinner out with your family, I’m paying.”

  “Did Christopher turn you?”

  “Yeah. So you’ll need to schedule engagements according to the phases of the moon for me now.”

  “Yes! Oh, I’m so glad you’re one of us,” Becky said, Max echoing her sentiment.

  “We will do everything to make the transition work as smoothly as it can for you,” Max said.

  “Thanks, Max, Becky. I knew I could count on the two of you.”

  Then they ended the call, and they were done with business.

  “Do you want to run as wolves?” Becky asked Max.

  “Yeah, let’s do this.” He took her in his arms and hugged and kissed her. “Then we return to make love.”

  “You read my mind.”

  Before long, they were running through the dark woods, not on the trail that Becky had made and taken for the three years she’d been here, but they were making their own trails now. Together.

  * * *

  The next night, Becky took Max with her to meet her parents and sister. Her mother had put on a lavish feast of roast, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, gravy, and she’d even made a cake. Becky’s sister, Natalie, was smiling big-time at Max, as if she wished she’d had a blind date with the hunky Navy SEAL.