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“I know," Aidan responded softly. "I know, and I should have defended you.”

"It's okay; you were placed in a difficult position between your brother and a man you'd only known for a few hours. I understand your struggle." The sadness was still dripping from his words, and Aidan didn't know what to do or say to take it away.

"I want this, Isaiah." He said and gestured between them. "I want to see where this takes us.” Isaiah cupped the back of Aidan’s neck in his hand and gently urged him closer while bending to take his lips in a careful but explosive kiss.

The second their lips touched, Aidan felt a fire that had been simmering suddenly burst and began to rage. The feeling of being home and being exactly where he was meant to be consumed him, and he eagerly reciprocated the kiss and its urgency.

The kiss came slowly to an end, but they continued to hold one another as the commitment and desires they felt began to consume them. “I was waiting till morning, and then I was coming to you. I had so many fears I didn’t know what to do or how to make this right. To be honest, I was afraid that I might have ruined everything and that you wouldn't trust me or believe me when I told you how I felt.”

"How do you feel?" Isaiah's voice was a whisper, and it danced along Aidan's flesh, reigniting the flames and sending a tremor through his body. There was no doubt whatsoever that this man was his everything.

Aidan didn’t use words. He instead locked his eyes onto Isaiah’s dark stare and pulled him down to him, taking his lips in another mind-bending embrace, channeling everything he was feeling, everything he wanted, and everything he believed into that kiss, branding his lover with his desire.

Isaiah took everything Aidan was offering. They devoured one another as their need to be close and to experience everything overtook them. The kiss went on for ages, each of them desperately searching and finding the meaning and finding their answers. Isaiah felt his wolf surging to the surface, eager to mark and to claim.

“The Alpha gave me a room on the second floor," Aidan said with his breath catching and his heart beating out of his chest. He leaned his forehead against Isaiah's chest and steadiedhimself. "Come home with me, please. I need you so badly." Isaiah could hear the pleading in his tone, and it touched him, touched his heart, and melted all his fears. This was his mate, his Fated mate, and that was all that mattered. Everything else was just details.

“I want you too, sweetheart, so badly. These hours we’ve spent apart have been a torment, and the fear I felt that you might never come back had me in shreds. I couldn’t think straight, and I felt like my life would be forever hollow and empty. It was terrible.” They continued to hold one another, desperate to get their feelings across and their desires clear.

"Come with me, please." Aidan pulled on him, urging him to follow.

"If I go to your room with you, my wolf and I will claim you, and then there will be no going back, no walking away. Our lives will be made one." Isaiah wanted him to be clear on where this path was taking him.

"I know what to expect, and I’m ready.” He said without pause and continued to pull Isaiah along. That was music to Isaiah's ears, and he hurried to Aidan’s side and slipped his arm around him. The night that had started with sadness and regret had turned into one of joy and expectation, and he couldn't ask for better than that.

The sudden exuberance that passed between them was electric, and Isaiah picked up speed, pulling Aidan along, and contemplated picking him up and racing back to the Pack House. Waiting and being patient were so overrated, as were bedrooms since the beach was beginning to look like an adequate place to complete their bond.

All those fevered thoughts were abruptly halted when there came a flash and a movement before them. It wasn'tnatural, and it wasn't initiated by the pack. Isaiah recognized it for what it was: a raid. He scooped Aidan up and deposited him in the thick brush. "Stay there until I come for you. Do not move." He then turned, and as he rushed toward the interlopers, he shifted and attacked.

They were coming up from the bay dressed in black and cloaked by night. He leaped upon one and realized the person was human, and he was prepared to kill. Isaiah tore at the suit he was wearing, but it resisted the force of his claws. The suit was tactical and specialized. The suit was protective, but the man had nothing covering his face, so Isaiah went for the kill in a brutal and bloody fashion and then tossed him aside.

The men from the Pack House charged from the house led by Alpha Henrik and swarmed the beach, taking the intruders on in hand-to-hand combat. The attackers had weapons, guns, and knives, and several wolves were injured, but the battle was going in their favor. It had been many years since they'd engaged in such warfare, still their skills were as sharp as ever, and their leader was a champion.

Isaiah looked back to where he’d stashed Aidan and noticed the enemy getting close. He finished the shifter he was fighting with a swift slice to his throat and then turned back to his mate, rushing toward him just as the enemy discovered his presence. It was a human and a cougar shifter, and Aidan was not going easily.

Aidan struck out at the human with a jackknife a little more than three inches long, but he was able to inflict maximum damage, going for every exposed inch of flesh and laying it open. The cougar grabbed for him just as Isaiah arrived and easily cracked his neck and tore out his exposed throat.

The human started to run, abandoning him and jumped back into the water. Isaiah did not pursue. Instead, he shifted back to his human form and cuddled Aidan in his arms.

“Are you okay?” He asked, panicked and out of breath as he frantically searched Aidan’s body for injury.

“I’m not hurt. Go, do what you have to. I'm fine. I'll wait here." Aidan read the situation and did not push. Isaiah kissed him hard, bruising his tender lips, and then shifted as he turned and rushed back to battle those who dared to attack them and invade their sacred lands.

Derek was cutting through them swiftly and methodically, leaving bodies pilling up on the beach, and Isaiah couldn't be happier about the fact that Derek was there. The man had abilities beyond imagination when it came to delivering death. The battle raged on for nearly twenty minutes before those who were able ran back to the bay and disappeared beneath the calm waves.

Strewn across the beach were humans and shifters who had fought together against the wolves, and it made no sense at all. They stood there analyzing the scene, taking in all that had happened. Alpha Henrik sent guards to search the pack lands for any further breach or enemy presence.

He was about to order a clean-up when suddenly the bodies before them began to tremble and smoke as if on fire, and then they disintegrated into the sand, leaving nothing but smears and pools of black which were washed away by the bay.

“It’s a spell the attackers were covered by a termination spell which would activate upon death," Sasha stated as he made his way over to where Javier was standing and wrapped the man in his arms. Isaiah looked over his shoulder and saw Aidan making his way toward him. He was a little shell-shocked butwas doing well, considering. Isaiah met him, and they just stood there holding each other for a few minutes.

“That was outrageous," Aidan commented. "I'm so glad you're not hurt. I watched you, and man, your wolf is extreme and savage and the most beautiful beast I've ever encountered." He ended with a smile. "So does this happen often?"

"No, this is, as you say, outrageous. Battles happen, but we were blindsided, which never happens. Luckily, we were more than they bargained for."

"I think it was a test, and these men were forfeit to see our strengths and test our resolve," Sasha stated, and everyone fell silent as that information was processed. “The mixture of human and shifter and their gear, they were expendable throwaways, I believe, although I don't think they knew that.”

"Somebody was watching and gauging our reactions," Henrik stated, and Sasha confirmed. “Is it over, for now?”