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For one horrible moment, I think Jake might snap his neck. But then he releases the black wolf with a growl, and Derek tears off into the night.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ELENA

For a long moment,the only thing I hear is the sound of my own breathing and the distant whoosh of cars on the highway. The air is cool enough that I can see Jake’s breath as his wolf pants and chuffs.

“Are you hurt?” I whisper, stepping toward him with my hand outstretched.

It feels unbelievably stupid, approaching a wounded wolf, but this is Jake. My heart trusts him in a way that my mind can’t comprehend.

As I bury my fingers in his silky fur, Jake goes utterly still. He doesn’t move as I caress his back, carefully avoiding the matted patches of fur that are sticky with blood.

It’s strange, touching his body with such abandon when I wouldn’t dare do the same to him in human form. Jake closes his eyes when I reach the side of his long neck, and his mouth opens in a contented pant.

Then I remember that Carmen’s wedding guests aren’t the only ones staying at the hotel. I glance around, butthankfully there aren’t any humans staring in horror at the giant wolf on the terrace. Of course, that says nothing of any guests who might have been looking down at the gardens from the upper stories.

Jake seems to be thinking along the same lines, because he shakes and starts to shift back into a man. Bone and muscle reshape themselves, skin blanketing the area where fur once was. It doesn’t matter how many times I see a wolf shift; I’ll never get used to the strange beauty of the transformation.

Panic grips me when I see Jake’s naked body sprawled out on the terrace, but my eyes snag on a long bloody gash just below his left armpit.

“Are you all right?” I huff as Jake finishes the change. His eyes are closed in a slight grimace, and I remember that a wolf’s body is extra-sensitive after the shift.

“Fine,” he grits out, opening his eyes. “It’ll heal faster with the shift.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Done what?”

I roll my eyes. “Defend my honor . . .again.”

“Oh.” Jake shakes his head. “You were doing a fine job defending your honor all on your own. I was just ripping into Derek because he’s an asshole.”

I snort.

Jake chuckles but winces when the motion pains some injury he’s downplaying. He hasn’t moved from his position on his side, and I keep my eyes trained on his face.

Jake’s smile fades, and he shakes his head. “When I saw you walk out here with him, I thought . . .”

My heart takes so long between beats that I worry itmight stop altogether. The wind has gone from the trees, and I don’t even dare to breathe. “You thought what?”

Jake’s rough exhale tickles my knee. “I thought you and he came out here to . . .” He trails off and scratches the back of his head. “Anyway, I . . . I guess I got jealous. I followed you out here to make sure he didn’t try anything, and . . .”

Then he overheard.

But my mind gets caught on what Jake said about being jealous, and my heart resumes its frantic gallop.

“You were jealous?” I repeat, unable to stop the slow smile that’s spreading across my face. I take a deep breath. “I didn’t think . . .”

“Didn’t thinkwhat?” Jake’s question comes out so sharp that I really don’t know how to respond.

All this time, I’d thought Jake was just being protective for Rafael’s sake — that he didn’t like Derek near me for the same reasons my brother didn’t. But maybe I was wrong.

I shake my head. “Never mind,” I mumble. “It was a really long time ago.”

Jake’s eyes flash, and for a moment, they look almost wolfish again.“What was?”

I take a deep breath, my cheeks burning. “My sixteenth birthday,” I say in a huff. “I didn’t think you evenlikedme after . . . after what happened.”