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The wolf stops, his ears flicking, and he shakes out his head like he can throw off the magic.

Just as I’m bracing for him to approach me again, shifter magic thickens around the wolf, and then the transformation is happening all over again but in reverse—limbs lengthening and widening, fur retreating—until a very naked Kane is on the ground on all fours, panting from the exertion. I can see his muscles trembling from the effort, and his skin is covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Sorry,” he says. His voice is more of a growl than anything else. He clears his throat. “I wasn’t thinking. I forgot you weren’t”—he glances up at me—“pack.”

I exhale. I think that was supposed to be a compliment, but considering the fact I nearly shit my pants a few seconds ago, I’m having mixed feelings about the entire thing.

Why does every supernatural have to be so damn scary?

“Lycanthropes don’t hunt humans,” he adds. “Not, at least, to kill.”

When thenwoulda wolf shifter hunt a human?

I’m not brave enough to ask.

Instead, I nod. “How are your wounds?”

“Better,” Kane says, sounding more like himself. He grabs his clothing and begins to put it on. “I think I’m almost completely healed. One more shift should do the trick, but I’ll do that back on pack lands.”

I give him a small smile.

I can hear sirens in the distance. Must be the Politia.

Once Kane is dressed—well, mostly dressed, as he’s still shirtless—he comes over and sits at my side, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. His embrace is so comforting that I can’t help but lean my head against him, Memnon’s threat be damned.

“I think we’re doomed to just be friends,” I say softly, hating the admission but feeling the truth of it.

“What?” Kane looks down at me. “Is this about that asshole?”

I nod against him. There’s no point in lying.

He’s quiet for a moment.

“And is that what you want?” he says, frowning. “To just be friends?”

I take a deep breath. “I don’t know what I want,” I say wearily. “I do know that I was ready to have really fun, wild sex with you.” I’m not even embarrassed to admit it at this point.

“That’s not off the table,” Kane cuts in, skimming his lips along my temple.

Those lips feel wrong there. Fuck,whydo they feel wrong there? I want to carve out my own thoughts because they’re all twisted up.

I straighten, pulling away a little from the shifter. “The man who attacked you, he’s…been stalking me, and he’s made it clear he’ll hurt you if we do anything more.”

But that isn’t the full truth, is it? I kissed the sorcerer, and it felt right in a way nothing else has. And now I’m noticing all the ways other touches don’t stack up.

And you are my Selene, my eternal soul mate.

Kane’s hold tightens on me. “Fuck him. Some sicko doesn’t get to tell you how to live your life.”

Yeah, this is true, but the sicko in question apparently overthrew an entire kingdom just to get his girl a summer palace.

That’s not the sort of man I want to go toe-to-toe with.

Before I can form a response, two Politia officers, a man and a woman, come around to the back of the house, their flashlights moving over the lawn.

I wave to them, just to get their attention.

The two come over to us.