“It’s not a threat. I’m stating a fact. Now—” he opened the door and went outside, “—you can lock up behind yourself if you want to stay. If not, I will see you tonight after you get off shift. I’ll be at your place at five.”

“I said don’t bother. I won’t be there. I’ll be at Lex and Cade’s. You’ve put them in more danger— I’ve put them in more danger. They’ll need round the clock protection.”

“Whatever. I’ll see you there then,” he called over his shoulder as he walked away.

“We’ll see about that,” she muttered as she grabbed her phone and called Lex to arrange a ride.

“He did what?” Lex exploded, slamming a fist down on the table.

“I’m not going to repeat myself. You heard me. I couldn’t stop him once the other cop got there and they took the human into custody. I’m sorry.” She kept her eyes down.

Nina watched, a frown on her face. Seeing Tegan so hangdog bothered her. “You couldn’t have stopped him, Tee. He’s a cop. There’s no way he would have let you go all werewolf on that human. It’s not in his make up.”

“It doesn’t matter now. His make up has put my family in danger, and I didn’t stop him.”

“You’re a werewolf, not a super hero, Tegan!” Nina stood and went to Tegan.

“Honey, you can’t be anyone but who you are, right?”

“I should have just gone out there myself. Not told him. I should have known.” The remoteness of her stance went into anguish, tearing at Nina. She knew what it meant to blame yourself that way.

Nina took Tegan’s hands. “He’s your mate. You shared with him. That’s what mates do. Tee, you cannot make this about you failing. That’s not what it is. You are who you are. He is who he is. You have to accept that or you’ll constantly have problems with him.”

“There is no he and I. Not anymore. I told him that this morning.”

Lex had been looking out the window but whipped his body around at that. “What do you mean?”

“What is up with that question?” Tegan threw her hands up in the air. “It’s made up of six words, all one syllable. What’s not to understand? He and I are over. I can’t be with a man who puts my family in danger. I was willing to let him mince around and find himself or whatever the hell he needed to do to deal with the mate thing. But this is different. He totally overruled me. At the expense of everyone I love. I can’t abide that.”

Lex shook his head. “Tegan, as angry as I am at Ben right now, he didn’t do this to harm you or me or anyone in the Pack. He’s a cop. A human cop with human sensibilities. He did what he thought was right. You can’t punish him for that. It’s not right and it’s not you. You’re not thinking about this correctly. Give him a break.”

“I’m not punishing him. I’m not sixteen years old! But I have my limits. He crossed them. I’m done with this conversation. I will recommend that you get your ass down to the court house with someone and soon. He’ll bond out and be like smoke. A tail might be useful. Now, I’m going out to patrol.” Tegan turned on her heel and left the room without saying anything else.

Lex turned to Nina who looked worried. “Okay, I’m at a loss here, beautiful. What do we do?”

“She blames herself, Lex. She takes on too much but there’s nothing much we can do but help her figure it out. If I know Ben, he’ll come for her. She feels guilty. Like she failed the Pack. That’s going to be the biggest thing for her to overcome.”

“Does she honestly think I’d blame her for not assaulting some human in front of the cops?”

“I don’t know, Scooby. I don’t know. We’ll have to support her through this. But also keep an eye out too. If Pellini is tailing her, or Ben, well, this just went to DEFCON four.”

“Yeah. I’m going to have to bring in Cade and the others. Which means I need to talk to Ben. She’s right about the tail.”

“Don’t hurt him, Lex.”

“I’m not going to as long as he does the right thing. I want him to realize she’s broken and out of sorts, to give her extra consideration and help her through. I can’t bear to see her unhappy like this again. But for now, it’s business because we need a clearer picture and I’ve got a Pack to protect.”

Nina nodded, kissing his lips absently as they looked out the window at the lone red wolf trotting away from the house and into the line of trees just beyond.

Tegan slipped back into her human skin once she’d gotten deep into the trees. She went to her favorite spot, a little bench Nina had put at the base of a tree where a creek ran nearby.

Four years she’d been alone. Her only focus had been her Pack, protecting them, putting them first and foremost. Behind the walls she built, her heart was safe. She risked nothing but her life and really, she had no real connections to anyone at that point, didn’t allow it, so her life wasn’t much to risk.

And then she’d begun to live again. Had taken a small step into the light and had gone out and started to see friends. She’d moved into her own place. Baby steps and they’d been satisfying.

But f**k, like being struck by lightning, Ben had come into her life and turned on all the lights and the walls got kicked down. There wasn’t a way to keep him out, wasn’t a way to protect herself from the bond she hadn’t even known existed until it was created.