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Snarling, he closed his jaws onto my arm, the fangs piercing my skin, drawing blood and a yelp of pain from my mouth.

He was stronger than he had any right to be.

As I tried to pull away, a terrified thought speared through me.

I might not be able to beat him. What was going on?

My rage gave way to fear and uncertainty.

Rick released me, but in a flash, he shoved his muzzle at my throat. A moment before his teeth sank into my neck, another huge furry form crashed into him, knocking him aside.

Cameron.

Her wolf stood, breathing heavily and snarling at Rick. He righted himself and snapped his eyes from her to me and back again. If there was any fear in his eyes, I didn’t see it. All I saw was rage, madness, and anger. He released a howl of challenge and rushed toward us.

Dodging past me, he went for Cameron first. Before I could stop him, he tried to tackle her. Cameron and I both responded to his attack. Cameron swatted his muzzle with her paw, raking her claws across his snout. I slammed my head into his ribs, pushing him over onto his side.

For the next several moments, Cameron and I worked as a team, almost reading each other’s minds as we fought Rick. The man was bizarrely strong and fast. I wouldn’t have stood a chance without her help.

Rick circled us. The fire alarm still blared, making it hard to hear anything but that sound.

His lips peeled back, his eyes burning into mine.

Cameron made to rush his rear, and I rushed his front, trying to pin him in.

Rick lunged at me, opening his maw to attack, but his back feet slid across a stack of files and papers strewn about the floor.

Cameron clamped her teeth around his hind leg, and I pounced, pinning his back to the floor, my paws on his chest. Giving him one last glare, I raised my head, opening my jaws, ready to bury my teeth in his neck and end his life.

“Nate! No!”

I turned to find Cameron in her human form, holding both of Rick’s back legs and shaking her head.

“Don’t. Don’t be a killer. Please .”

The pleading desperation in her eyes was all I needed. Fine. He could live. She was right. He wasn’t worth it, anyway.

Shifting, I stepped back, putting an arm around Cameron as Rick struggled to his feet.

“It’s over,” I warned, holding up a hand toward him as he began to growl again. “We’re done here. You lost.”

Rick planted his front paws on the ground, lowered his head, and eyed us with malicious glee.

“For fuck’s sake, Rick!” Cameron shouted, her voice cracking with emotion. “Stop. If you don’t, we’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

Rick opened his mouth and growled again, strings of saliva hanging from his jaws. Just as I was about to shift again, Rick let out a surprised squeal of pain. A dart protruded from his haunch.

In the doorway stood a man I hadn’t seen in years. Alec Dupont, the man who’d been interim alpha before JC had come of age. He held a tranquilizer gun in his hand.

Rick took two threatening steps toward Alec, who only raised a bored eyebrow.

“Go down, you rich little fucker,” Alec growled.

Almost as though commanded by Alec’s words, Rick’s front feet gave way, and he tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

The pain searing my arm finally broke through the adrenaline. I hissed, and Cameron cradled my arm.

“You’re hurt,” she said. The drone of the fire alarm was silent now. Someone must have shut it off.

“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’ll start healing soon.”

Alec tucked the tranq gun into the waistband of his jeans and held his hand out to me.

“Been a long time, Nate. Glad I got to save your ass this time. Call it square?”

I clasped his hand. “Helping with some police work doesn’t really compare to saving someone’s life. Looks like I owe you now,” I said.

Alec grinned, his thick red mustache twitching. “I’ll take that. Always good to have favors to call in.” He turned and pointed at Rick’s sleeping form. “With this sad sack of shit in tow, I think this hearing is going to go much better than anticipated.”

“I have this, too,” Cameron said, holding her phone up and showing a ten-minute audio recording. “It’s from earlier when Rick cornered me in here. It should be all the evidence we need.”

Glancing around, my anxiety surged. Emergency personnel were probably already descending on the office building.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” I gestured at Rick. “With him. Somehow.”

“Don’t worry,” Alec said. “JC’s on it. We have some friendly firemen on staff at several of the local firehouses. They’ve been contacted. I’ll text them now. Let them know where we are and that we need an extraction. Ollie will do his best to handle the cops. We should be fine.”

Alec exuded the same quiet confidence JC did, and I couldn’t help but wonder why I hadn’t taken Ollie up on his offer to join the pack years before. Maybe my old prejudices against packs were just as bad as the prejudices shifters had against lone wolves.

“You two stay here,” Alec said. “The rest of the staff has evacuated. Once our men are here, we can sneak you and this jerkoff”—he nodded at Rick—“out of here.”

Alec stepped out into the hall. As soon as he was out of earshot, I pulled Cameron close.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“About what?” she asked.

“Yesterday,” I explained. “How I reacted to the news you gave me. I was a dick, but it wasn’t because I was mad at you or anything. I needed some time to think about it all. To process.”

She put a hand on my chest, her frown giving way to a smile. “I figured you’d need some time. You shouldn’t be apologizing to me, anyway. I’m the one who sprang that on you.” She sighed. “I was afraid you might leave.”

Too much had happened. Too many chances for Cameron to have been taken from me. I would be damned if I ever let that happen. No way in hell was I going anywhere. Before anything else happened, she needed to know exactly how I felt.

Cupping her cheeks, I tilted her head back slightly. Good Lord, she was beautiful.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “Once this is all settled, I’m going to see about joining JC’s and Ollie’s pack.”

Cameron’s eyes grew misty. “Are you serious? Really?”

“I am.” I grinned. “How can I leave the woman I love?”

A single tear spilled from her eye and traced a line down her cheek. “What did you say?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“I said I love you, Cameron.” I smiled, relishing the shock on her face. “I think I loved you from the moment I first saw you, but I was too damn stupid to realize it.”

“I…” Her voice cracked, forcing her to swallow. “I love you, too.”

My wolf released a howl of delight. Not in all my years with him had he ever been so happy, and neither had I. If this was what it was like to love and be loved, then I had been missing out. It was amazing.

Pulling her close, I pressed my lips to hers. She twined her arms around my neck as we kissed. For a few brief but glorious seconds, everything else disappeared. It was me and her, and nothing more.

Cameron pulled away, gasping. “No matter what happens at this hearing, I want to be with you. Even if that means leaving and being a lone wolf. I don’t give a shit. I want you ,” she added, clutching at my shirt.

I shook my head. “Cam, I can’t let you do that. Going lone? Slowly going feral? That’s not a life you should live.”

Being mindful of my injured arm, she pulled me tighter and kissed me again. “Can you just trust me for once?” she murmured against my mouth.

Before either of us could say more, Alec ducked back in, phone pressed to his ear. “Hey, lovebirds? I have good news. The hearing is being rescheduled to tonight. You two can get patched up and calm down from whatever this shit show was.”

“Oh, thank God,” Cameron said with a sigh.

The room had nearly been torn apart in our fight. Rick lay motionless, breathing heavily. I was covered in sweat and blood. Yeah, it was good the hearing was being rescheduled.

“Get ready,” Alec cautioned. “Our guys are one floor down. They’ll be here in a minute to get you and our friend out without being seen. Stand by.”

Wrapping my good arm around Cameron, I pulled her close. In a couple of days, my life would be completely different. If everything went well, anyway. And when I looked down at Cameron’s face, I couldn’t help but smile at the possibilities.