I’m not having sex, Agnes!

Maybe you should—the good kind I’m saying. You’re awfully testy.

I’ll be by this afternoon.

There was a brief pause, followed by: So you are having sex?

I conceded just to shut her up. Yes. It’s just hot monkey wolf love around here.

I knew it! See you this afternoon.

What sucked was, out of all Misha’s vampires, Agnes tended to be the most conservative one of the bunch.

Which spoke volumes.

It took me only about ten minutes to reach Squaw Valley but another fifteen minutes to climb Granite Chief Peak where the Den was located. The dirt path up the mountain was easy to maneuver with my new ride, but I didn’t want to risk losing control and falling off the side.

I peeked over the nosebleed edge. Yeah, going off the side would super-suck.

Now that it was October, the temperature had begun to drop. But my inner furry beast kept me warm, so I let the windows down to breathe in the luscious aroma of pine. My sisters and I had traveled all over the U.S. as nurses until we finally settled in Tahoe. Out of all the places we’d visited, neither me nor my beast had ever encountered air as crisp or clean. We belonged in Tahoe; I just never realized it until we arrived.

I reached the massive wrought iron gate that led into the compound where weres were taught to maim, kill, and do algebra. I’d hoped Heidi was on duty so I could say hi. The last time she called, she’d invited us over for leftover horse. My sisters and I had politely declined, and I hadn’t spoken to her since.

Instead of Heidi, an unfamiliar were hit the button and allowed me through. He didn’t bother to glance my way or hide his scowl.

The way the wolf disregarded me was more than just the typical aversion; I could sense his deep underlying resentment of my presence. I wouldn’t have cared what he thought if his dislike didn’t extend past me. But that wasn’t the case. Aric had lost respect from his kind for choosing to be with me. It didn’t bother him. But damn it all, it bugged the hell out of me.

The majority of weres who consented to our union only did so because they believed the soothsayer Destiny’s prediction: A new evil was coming, and only my and Aric’s children would be strong enough to stop it.

My hand involuntarily fell to my belly. “So much for that,” I mumbled.

I accelerated ahead, past the sprawling lawns to the collection of buildings that resembled more of a posh ski resort than a school.

I parked in front of one of the main buildings and was pulling the picnic basket out of my SUV when a few of Aric’s students jogged by. After spending most of my life on my guard, I wasn’t someone anyone would classify as friendly. Still, I tried to smile pleasantly. With the exception of a small wolf named Peter, who grinned back, the other young weres nodded briefly and scurried away.

I guessed I didn’t do cheery well. “Hiya, Celia!” Peter said. “Do you need help with that?”

Peter had always been nice to me, but that wasn’t the only reason I liked him. He was scrawny and wimpy for a wolf, but he didn’t appear to know it. Despite the fact that even the first-year students towered over and outmuscled him, he trekked along without a care. I respected him for it. He seemed comfortable in his own skin, a feat my sisters and I had never managed.

While I could have carried twenty full picnic baskets and thrown Peter on top, he seemed eager to help. I smiled again and handed him my basket. “Thank you, Peter. I appreciate it.”

As soon as I tucked the blanket I brought beneath my arm and grabbed my purse, he led me into one of the largest buildings, a three-story chalet with stacked-stone steps and pillars. The building served as office and sleeping quarters for the staff.

The floor and paneling were composed of dark wood, meticulously clean and polished. Pictures of famous weres in brass frames covered the foyer walls. Among them were photos of Aric’s father and grandfather.

Aric had inherited their dark hair, light brown eyes, and strong chiseled jaw. If he had never pointed out who they were, I would have easily recognized the resemblance. Both men appeared serious in the photographs, very unlike the jovial men Aric had described.

My eyes wandered from the photos of his family to a large painting of a pack of wolves racing through the forest. With the exception of the full moon that shone brightly in the azure sky, all the colors in the painting were dark, muted, and eerily beautiful. Beneath the painting was a bronze plaque inscribed with the words Perdere malis—“Destroy all evil.” I paused beneath the painting. My experiences in the past two years made the words more significant. I wasn’t a were, but I could identify with their sense of duty to the earth.

“Is Aric upstairs?” I asked when Peter bounded up the steps.

“No, but I figured the lunch you brought will be safer in his quarters. You never want to leave food around a pack of growing wolves.”

“Oh, okay.” I hadn’t been back to Aric’s suite since recovering from my injuries. It was where we mourned the loss of our child and dealt with the aftermath of Anara’s deceit.

The young wolves and weres who resided at the Den had only been given minimal information about my injuries. If Peter had known what I endured, I doubted he would have led me back to the suite.

We walked up to the third level and down the long wide corridor without either of us breaking a sweat. Each floor had been crafted of that same dark wood and designed with a more masculine feel, which was why the bright pink floral couch set near Aric’s door gave me pause.

“Peter. What’s that?” I asked, motioning ahead to the eruption of prissiness.

“Huh? Oh.” He rolled his eyes. “That belongs to the girls.”

I continued alongside of him. “What girls?”

“You know, the ones who want to have sex with Aric.”

Peter continued on his merry little way while the world stopped spinning on its axis directly below my feet. “What?”

He answered while he fumbled with the keypad to Aric’s door. “Yeah, they have a club and everything. Anyway, they got tired of standing around waiting for him so they all chipped in and bought that ugly thing.” He punched in a few more numbers. “Sorry, I forgot the code,” he said when the light finally flashed green.

He reached for the handle, but became distracted by my death grip on his wrist.

Anger spread through me, heating my body so fast perspiration gathered along my crown. “Just so I’m clear, there are women—who want to sleep with my fiancé—and they sit there”—I motioned with an accusing finger to the fucking couch—“so they can pounce on him the minute he shows?”