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Carefully, I eased her more fully into my arms and made my way to her car. It was the only way to get her back to my place. The magic would linger in the air for hours, and I couldn’t do anything about that, but I could break down her campsite, get her car back to my place, and try to obscure as much as I could.

The back hatch of her car was still open, and the seats were folded down, so I placed her onto the carpeting and made her as comfortable as I could without staring at the naked parts of her. She didn’t deserve my leering, even as much as I wanted to see what I’d missed out on Friday night.

She stirred. “Please help me. I’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“I know,” I murmured. “You’re going to be okay.”

Even if I explained how her wounds were healed and the blood loss no longer mattered, she couldn’t fathom it.

She went limp once more, probably for several hours this time. With all the magic that had coursed through her, it would take a long time for her to sleep it off, and she’d feel hungover when she woke up. That was always the way after the first shift.

I scanned the area again, tapping into my wolf senses. No campers slept in this part of the park, and the mountain lion had fled into the woods. The fight between Emma and the cat had sent all the animals away, leaving the two of us., the tent, the fire, and whatever else I had to clean up. The keys to her car were probably in the torn pockets or in her backpack by the log near the glowing embers. I’d use her vehicle to get her out of here.

As I dismantled her tent and loaded everything into the front seat, I replayed her reaction to seeing me staring at her. After Emma had turned human again, she’d been terrified of me. She had accused me of stalking her, of wanting to force myself on her, and I had been so shocked I didn’t defend myself or calm her fears.

No, I’d said something cocky, and I kicked myself as I kicked dirt over the few remaining coals of the fire. It should have gone better, though I hadn’t expected to run into destiny while on patrol tonight.

The outfit she’d morphed in was too shredded to use again, but I found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, along with the car keys, inside her pack. For a long moment, Icontemplated trying to redress her before taking her back home, but Olivia would be better suited to getting her back into something to wear so Emma didn’t wake up confused and naked. Instead, I unzipped the sleeping bag and tucked the edges around her body. Then I balled up the clothes and placed them under her head as a pillow.

I eased the back hatch down until it clicked, started the car, and slowly made my way toward what would become Emma’s new home. Each pothole and bump made me wince, but she didn’t stir again.

I had a feeling it would take some work for her to think of my home as her home. She’d eventually see the sense of it. She had to.

My determination didn’t have anything to do with what had happened on Friday night. Sex wasn’t a part of the equation. Eventually, she’d see the truth of it.

She had everything to do with saving our shifter world.

Olivia met me in front of the alpha house, no doubt notified by the guards stationed at the entrance to our acreage. Disheveled blonde hair matched the haphazard way she’d gotten dressed. Fury marred her expression, and she turned her rage on me the minute the driver’s door opened, and I slid out of the vehicle.

“What’s the meaning of this? Unlike you,Ihadcompany,” she snapped. She crossed her arms and glared at the car. “And whose vehicle is this? It doesn’t belong to the pack.”

“It’s Emma Carter’s.”

Her eyes went wide, and she froze. “It belongs to Emma Carter? The vet?”

“Yeah, she’s in the back.”

She peered in through the rear window and gasped. “Is she sleeping?”

“She passed out.”

“Unconscious?” she echoed.

“Yep.”

She dropped her hands, and her head swiveled toward me. Then she pointed her finger at my chest. “What did you do?”

“I rescued her from a mountain lion attack.”

“You what?”

“Well, I watched her rescue herself from a mountain lion attack.”

She said nothing, but her scowl deepened.

“By shifting into a bear,” I continued.

“She’s one of us?” Her strangled words came out raspy, and her eyes bulged.