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  “It’s a little irritating.” Although I thought if I went back to my sleeping bag, I would crash. If he noticed the first aid kit, he didn’t say anything. For all I knew, he’d seen me with the wolf and was just being nice, pretending to believe my lies.

  “Do you ever sleep?” I asked.

  “Not much. A bad habit I got into this year at college—spending way too much time studying, when I wasn’t partying.”

  “Don’t take this wrong, but I can’t see you partying.”

  “My first semester away from home, I went a little wild. We all did. Me, Connor, and Rafe. On campus, they called us the wildmen. But by the end of the year, we’d settled down.” He glanced around. “You mentioned seeing a black wolf last night. How about the wolf this afternoon? Was it black?”

  “No.” While I’d hesitated to tell Mason the wolf’s true color, I knew that Lucas was all about protecting the wildlife. “His fur was different colors—kinda like your hair, actually. Black, brown, white.”

  “Most wolves have varying shades of fur, which is the reason that the black wolf stands out. Probably not a good idea to go out alone until we spot that wolf and know he’s not going to cause any harm.”

  “You say that as though you know the wolves.”

  “Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of them. Don’t think we know them all, but some are friendlier than others.”

  I nodded. The wolf I’d begun to think of as mine certainly seemed as though he’d never harm me.

  “I think the day’s catching up with me,” I said.

  Without saying a word, Lucas walked me back to my tent. He waited while I crawled back inside.

  I was right. It didn’t take me long to go to sleep. I dreamed about the candlelit dinner that Mason had promised me. Only in my dream, it wasn’t Mason sharing the dinner with me. It was Lucas.

  NINE

  Lindsey was right. My night watch shift was with Lucas.

  “If you’re not feeling up to it, I can keep watch alone,” he said when I joined him in the middle of the camp after Lindsey had nudged me awake when she finished her shift.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  He gave me a pointed look.

  “Okay, so I’m not fine, but I’m capable of keeping watch without straining myself.”

  He gave me that little twitch of his lips that resembled a smile. “You need a jolt of caffeine before we get started? I’ve got some coffee going over here.”

  “Oh, that’d be great.”

  We sat on a log by the fire and he handed me a mug of coffee. It was a cool night, and the warmth of the fire felt wonderful. Lucas was leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs, both hands around his mug, his eyes on his coffee. His profile was to me. He was ruggedly handsome.

  “I scare you, don’t I?” he asked quietly.

  If I’d already taken a sip of coffee, I’d have either spewed it or choked on it.

  “You’re kind of intense,” I admitted.

  He released a dark chuckle. “Yeah. I take protecting this stretch of wilderness seriously, and when people like the professor and his group come into it, I’m not sure they respect it like they should.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “I grew up here. I love it. Don’t you feel the same about Dallas?”

  “I’ve never really felt like I belonged,” I confessed. “I’ve always felt more at home in the woods.”

  “So we have that in common.”

  It was strange to think we might have a bond. “So what are you majoring in?”

  “Political science.”

  I arched a brow. “What? You’re going to go into politics?”

  He gave me a wry grin. “Trying to improve my communication skills.”

  I had to admit that he wasn’t one for small talk, but once he started talking, I didn’t think he had any problems communicating. As a matter of fact, I found myself enthralled whenever we got into a conversation. It was obvious that when he cared about something, he cared deeply.

  “Lindsey said your dad was someone important in the community.”

  “Yeah, he’s served as mayor of Tarrant and was on the school board, so I guess my interest in politics comes naturally. He’s always had high expectations.”

  “Did he find out about you beating up that Devlin guy?”

  “Yeah. He wasn’t happy about it.” He shook his head. “Parents. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can’t please them.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  We sat in silence for a minute, each of us sipping our coffee.

  “The color of your hair reminds me of a fox I once saw,” he said quietly.

  “Thanks. I think. That was a compliment, right?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. Most definitely.”

  “I’ve never seen a fox in the wild.”

  “Maybe I’ll show you one before summer is over.”

  “That would be nice.” I really did think it would be. Better than a candlelit dinner where the main entrée was a can of beans. Even as I pictured that, I felt guilty at making light of Mason’s attempt to romance me. The funny thing was, given the choice between trudging through the woods searching for a fox and a candlelit dinner in the finest restaurant—I would choose the fox. I should have thought, “Lucas gets me. He’s the one.” Instead, I swallowed hard and decided to change the subject, because I had a feeling that when it came to relationships, Lucas wouldn’t fool around. He would be as intense in love as he was with all things. I was still carrying around too much baggage to be intense with anyone. Maybe when I’d had a chance to unload some of it….

  “So you really think it was that Devlin guy who cut the rope?” I asked.

  If my change in conversational topic surprised him, he didn’t show it.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said.

  “But see, it doesn’t make any sense at all to me. Okay, so he got fired. Move on already.”

  “He’s not going to move on, not until he gets even. Since I’ve been off at school, he’s had to wait. This place, these woods—this is where he’ll want to take his revenge.”

  “Revenge? Just because you kicked his butt? That seems a little extreme.”

  He released a harsh laugh. “Extreme? That’s Devlin. In some ways, I think he’s borderline psychotic.”

  “But what did he accomplish by cutting the rope except spooking everyone?”

  “For him, that’s enough motive. Create chaos.”

  “Do you think Dr. Keane and his students will be safe when we leave them?”

  “Yeah. Devlin wants to discredit me. He won’t hurt them.”

  “You sound like you know him pretty well.”

  He turned his silver gaze back on me. “I should. He’s my brother.”

  I felt like I’d taken a punch to the chest. My shock must have shown on my face, because he got up, tossed his coffee into the fire, and strode away. I thought he was going to disappear into the forest, but he stopped at the spot where I’d seen Rafe and Brittany serving as sentries.

  So he’d fought with his brother and gotten him fired—turned him in for improper behavior. I set my mug aside, got up, and walked over to him. I touched his arm. “That must have been hard, not to look the other way.”

  He gave his head a quick shake. “It was like he morphed into Anakin Skywalker and went to the dark side or something. He was doing all kinds of crazy shit. He knows these woods as well as I do. He could hide out in them, survive in them, without anyone knowing he’s here.”

  “His bad behavior isn’t your responsibility.” I sounded like Dr. Phil.

  “I confronted him. Humiliated him.” He touched my cheek. His fingers were warm against my skin. His eyes had darkened to the shade of pewter. “I really want to show you that fox, but my job right now is to get the professor to his destination, then I have to find Devlin and deal with him. I have to focus on that.” He dropped his hand to his side. He looked uncomfortable, as though he had a lot more that he wanted to say, things it m