“Because as far as the wolf’s concerned, I belong to her.” The brand might only be temporary, but that wouldn’t matter to the animal—their wolves were fiercely possessive.

Leaving the others, Marcus walked on ahead, letting the twigs beneath his feet snap loudly so that she would sense his approach. Startling a wolf was never a good idea. Soon enough, he stepped into the clearing. The dark-gray female was lapping at the small stream there, but her eyes—so alert, intelligent, and watchful—were honed on Marcus with lethal precision.

He’d encountered Roni’s wolf during the battle against the extremists. She was even-tempered, but she was also vicious when the situation called for it. And that was the very reason why he had no intention of releasing his own wolf—the male’s natural reaction would be to attempt to dominate her into calming. That wouldn’t work. The female would sooner fight him than submit.

Marcus took a few steps forward. “Hey, gorgeous.” Of course the wolf wouldn’t understand the words, but his calm, cajoling tone would assure her that his intention wasn’t to throw his dominance around. Also, he knew Roni could hear and understand him.

The female lifted her head, but didn’t otherwise react. To his relief, she wasn’t warning him to leave. That meant she’d at least accepted his presence, though she might not particularly welcome company right now.

He squatted and tapped the ground with his hand. “Come here, sweetheart.” She didn’t. She just continued to watch him with that hunter stare that missed nothing. Making his way to her wouldn’t earn him any points. To the wolf, he was already invading her private time uninvited. There was no sense in pushing it.

A minute or so later, she finally moved. He remained still as she prowled toward him, looking both graceful and dangerous. She didn’t halt until she was up close, eating up his space, clearly believing it was her right.

“Good girl,” he said softly. He gently stroked her neck; her dense fur was softer than he’d expected. Marcus rubbed his cheek against hers, and she returned the gesture before delivering a delicate lick to his jaw. “Beautiful, aren’t you?” Another lick to his jaw. “Come back, Roni.”

Human eyes filled with irritation briefly flashed at him. Sharp teeth then nipped his chin and the wolf pulled back. He got the message—she didn’t have any intention of shifting just yet.

“But I want to talk to you.” The female kicked dirt at him. “Oh, like that, is it?” he asked with a smile as he stood, wiping the specks of dirt off his clothes. “All right, I guess I’d better make myself comfy then.” He sat near a tree and leaned back against it, making a statement that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Again irritation-filled human eyes flashed at him as the female curled her upper lip, baring her teeth, a low growl trickling out of her. The warning was coming from Roni, he knew. It was actually fascinating to see how close the line was between the human and the animal.

“You can’t get me to leave. I’m staying. I’m not here to crowd you. If you want space, you’ve got it, but I’ll be sticking close.”

The wolf cocked her head, reminding him a little of Roni just before she delivered one of her useless facts. Then the wolf dismissed him with a distinctly haughty sniff and trotted off.

For hours, he sat against the tree, watching the wolf as she moved around the clearing, lapped at the stream, bathed in the sun, and occupied herself with batting at fish. The entire time, she pointedly ignored him. But he knew the female was supremely aware of every move he made.

When his ass started to go numb from sitting on the hard ground—at which point it was also beginning to get dark—Marcus moved to lie on his back, his arms crossed beneath his head. He was just about to doze off when he heard rustling in the grass. Then a cold muzzle rubbed against his cheek and a wet tongue lapped at his ear.

“Roni,” he griped, shuddering and wiping his ear. “I’m not leaving.”

Human eyes flashed at him once more, this time revealing confusion.

He patted the ground beside him in invitation. “Come on, gorgeous.” With a put-out growl, the wolf collapsed at his side, leaning into him. Stroking her fur, he said, “I don’t buy that you shift out of a need to escape memories or feelings.” Her tail swished at him in what he interpreted as a “shut up and sleep” gesture.

It couldn’t have been more than a minute later when he dozed off, relaxed and content. He woke to the sound of growling. Surprised to find it was daylight and he’d slept so long, he squinted as he sat upright to stroke the wolf who was standing at his side, staring into the trees and growling. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

She didn’t move her gaze from the trees, but he couldn’t sense anyone close. Guessing it was one of her brothers stupidly trying to get near, Marcus got to his feet and did a long, languid stretch to get the kinks out of his back. When he went to move forward, the wolf pushed against him—she wanted him to stay exactly where he was.

“Roni, this is the part where you shift back and tell me what’s wrong.” But he got his answer when a black female wolf stepped out of the trees. Taking in her scent, he immediately understood. “Eliza, do you have a fucking death wish?”

Taking another step forward, she bared her teeth at the dark-gray wolf, which confirmed that, yep, Eliza had a death wish. Not only had she invaded the wolf’s space, but there was nothing friendly about her approach.

Immediately, the dark-gray female curled her lips back, exposing fangs and gums, and released a chilling “back the fuck off” growl that made even Marcus nervous. Her hackles were raised and her ears were upright as her raging eyes drilled into the other female. Everything about her posture warned, “I can take you.”

Marcus would bet everything he owned that she could. The two females were matched in size, but he was confident that Roni’s wolf could wipe the floor with this potential challenger.

Generally, female wolf shifters gave three warnings before attacking. The black wolf had had her first warning, but she didn’t appear to be backing off. If she kept pushing, this could get very bad. And Marcus didn’t think Jesse would like finding his girlfriend in bits and pieces.

Fishing his cell out of his pocket, Marcus called Shaya. “You’d better get Jesse here fast, or there’s a strong possibility your sister-in-law’s going to rip out his girlfriend’s throat.” With that, he shoved his cell into his pocket and crouched down beside the dark-gray wolf. “Roni, come back now.” He wouldn’t be able to reason with the animal—she saw a threat that needed to be dealt with.