“You refused him. Too bad. I was ready to kick his ass.”

“I’m allowed to turn down mate-claims. Liam said so.”

“Liam’s right.” Ellison moved closer to her. “But you’re going to piss off every horny Shifter male by doing it. Fair warning.”

“Doesn’t matter. I won’t live in Shiftertown forever.”

Ellison didn’t like that. “You can’t be planning to move back in with your brother.”

Maria stopped, her braid swinging. She turned warm brown eyes up to him, but they held a hint of steel. “Of course not. This is America. I don’t have to live with my brother, or with Liam, or Sean. I can live in a place on my own.”

“Alone?” Ellison blinked. “Why would you want to?” He couldn’t imagine living by himself, without sister, nephews, cubs, parents, pack—family.

He was almost alone here, head of a pack of four. No mate of his own, no cubs. Lone Wolf, the other Shifters sometimes called him.

“It’s different for me,” Maria said. “The idea of being alone is . . . splendid.”

“Lonely.”

“Peaceful.”

“Boring.” Ellison shook his head.

 “I wouldn’t sit at home and do nothing. I would . . .” Maria bit the corner of her lip then drew a breath. “If I tell you this, will you keep it to yourself? Andrea knows, and Glory. And Connor. No one else.”

“Connor?” She named Liam’s nephew, younger than Ellison’s nephews, all of twenty-one.

“Yes, Connor. He’s good at keeping secrets. I want to go to school. I’ve been saving up for it, and I’m already working on my application and looking for scholarships. Connor’s been helping me study for the tests called SATs. I’ll be taking them this Saturday.”

“Community college, eh? Maybe a good thing. You could drive Connor—the kid’s a maniac behind the wheel.”

“No, not community college. University. UT Austin.”

Ellison whistled. “They don’t take everyone—they don’t take Shifters at all. Maybe you should start with something smaller, work your way up to it.”

Her indignant look could have lit a fire. “There is no reason to start small. If you want something, you go for it. You never know in this life when it will all be taken away.”

So true. Maria spoke from her own experience, and look what had happened to Deni.

Maria’s anger made her shake. She needed reassurance, cried out for it, though Ellison knew she’d never admit it.

Ellison put a hand on her shoulder. Quietly, like he would for a cub who was upset.

But Maria wasn’t a cub. She was a beautiful young woman, alone, unprotected, yet gutsy and strong for what had happened to her.

Ellison’s touch of reassurance turned to a caress, the backs of his fingers brushing her skin. “You go for it, Maria. Aim as high as you want.” And if you fall, I’ll be here to catch you.

Maria’s expression softened. She had a round face, pretty, ringlets of black hair trickling loose from its binding. Ellison’s need to kiss her rose like a newly kindled fire, to press his lips against the soft red ones, to taste the moisture inside her mouth.

“Is everything all right with Deni?” Maria asked.

“Yeah,” Ellison said, jerking his gaze from her lips. “She’s fine now.” Ellison had left her sleeping, Andrea holding her hand.

“I’ll go over and see her tomorrow, all right?”

“Yeah, she’d like that. But if she gets . . . you know . . . forgetful, you get out. Dominant female wolves can be very dangerous.”

“She won’t hurt me.” Maria spoke with a confidence Ellison didn’t share. Deni had been intent on killing him, her own brother.

They’d reached Sean’s house, all quiet within. Ellison’s house was dark as well. Maria slowed her steps and stopped with Ellison at the bottom of Sean’s front porch. Silence hung between them, and warmth.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” Maria said. “Twice.”

Ellison reached up to tip the hat he’d left at home when he’d raced out to find her. “Any time, darlin’.”

Her smile flashed, beauty in the darkness. The smile went from polite to genuine, hot as the Texas sunshine. “Hasta luego,” she said. See you soon.

Ellison made himself step away from her. The move was difficult, as though someone had wrapped elastic straps around himself and her to pull them together. “You need any more rescuing, you call me, sweetheart,” he said. “Good night.”

“Good night.” Another flash of smile, and Maria turned, ran up onto the porch, and was gone.

Ellison stayed in the street, watching the closed door. A light went on downstairs, then off, then one upstairs, in the bedroom they’d given Maria. A glow illuminated her as she came to the window, ready to close the blind.

Maria saw Ellison, who remained staring up at her like a love-struck wolf cub. She waved then closed the blind, shutting him out.

“You plan on eating her alive?” a gravelly voice asked him.

Ellison whirled around, fist on his chest. “Shit. Spike.”

Spike stood two feet away from Ellison, his son on his shoulders, the little boy holding on to his dad’s head. Ellison hadn’t heard or sensed either of them. Spike was a tracker, one of the best—good at stealth. But Ellison should have scented and sensed the cub, a four-year-old called Jordan.

“Hey, Jordan,” Ellison said, trying to force himself to relax. “Taking your dad out for a walk?”

Jordan laughed. “Yeah. It’s fun.” Spike hadn’t known about the kid until last fall, and now the two shared a bond that was like cement.

“Watch Broderick,” Spike said. “He’s going to try to make the mate-claim and your Challenge stick.”

“Damn, word travels fast.”

“Broderick went back to the bar and started pissing and moaning to Liam. Ronan got worried about Maria and called me, asking me to check on her. So here I am, checking on her. But I guess you got it covered.”

He started to turn away, Spike finished.

“If the Challenge goes down, want to be my second?” Ellison asked him.

Spike called his answer over his shoulder. “Do you have to ask?” Jordan laughed and waved, and the pair of them faded into the darkness.