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RILEY

Tyler had called my phone five times since I ran from him–no, ran from a giant wolf –all the way out of the canyon. I didn’t even know I could run a mile uphill without dying.

I rejected his call again and dialed the number of my best friend, Lila, with shaky fingers.

She’d dated Tyler for three years. Did she know that he was a monster?

“Shit,” I muttered when her phone went straight to voicemail.

God, what if… what if he’d bitten her and turned her into a werewolf, too ? What if my best friend was also a monster? Oh my God! My brain spun out.

I was spinning out.

None of this made sense.

My heart thundered as I considered what to do. I replayed the scene in the canyon over and over, but I still couldn’t make sense of it. Okay, to review, I kissed Tyler, and it was not good. Then, he sniffed the air– like a wolf –and right after, the mountain lion appeared. One second, he was about to lose the fight with it; the next second… he was a giant wolf with bone-crunching jaws. He’d killed a mountain lion with his teeth.

Right. So Tyler was a wolf. A werewolf. Either that or he put mushrooms in the sandwiches we had for lunch, and I was tripping.

I should call my dad–working for the sheriff’s office meant he was good with emergencies. But no. No. Something stopped me.

Dad was overprotective as hell. After taking me to the ER for a drug test–because he’d totally think Tyler had drugged me to have his way with me or something ridiculous–he’d probably throw Tyler in jail without asking questions first. And Tyler hadn’t hurt me. The opposite. He’d been protecting me. He’d pushed me behind him to fight off a mountain lion.

A mountain lion .

He was a hero, not a monster.

A monster-shaped hero.

Maybe I should take his call and hear what he had to say. I paced around Nana’s tiny house, grateful I at least had my own space to think this through.

After Nana moved into a retirement home earlier this summer, I moved in. Dad wanted to sell the place to help fund her retirement, but she insisted that she was just “trying out” the community and that she needed me to keep her place homey in case she returned. I suspected she was handing me my freedom since the community college I attended didn’t have campus housing, and my dad wanted me to stay at home.

Yup, overprotective. Ever since Mom left us, he was a little over the top. Which meant for most of my life.

I stopped pacing and stared at my phone, my thumb hovering over Tyler’s name. Should I call him? My heart still beat unnaturally fast. My breath fell in quick pants.

Maybe I needed a shower. I always did my best thinking in the shower. Besides, that hike–and run–left me covered in dust and sweat. I headed to the bathroom, turned on the water, and stripped out of my dusty clothes .

I stepped in and let the water cascade over my head.

Yes.

This was what I needed. My thoughts didn’t clear, but at least the warm spray felt good. My muscles started to relax.

I should call Tyler back. Yeah. That made sense. He was the only person to give me answers to the questions circling my brain.

After shampooing, conditioning, shaving, and everything else I could think of to stalling and hearing the truth, I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off.

“Riley?” A man’s deep voice called from the living room.

Shit. My pulse rocketed back to epic speeds. So much for calming my nervous system. Damn small towns where people walked through open doors. Dad was going to kill me for not locking mine.

“Who is it?” I called back, grabbing my short pink satin robe and stuffing my wet arms into the sleeves. I threw the door open and shrieked because the owner of the voice–all six foot three of him–stood just outside. “Oh!”

I recognized him, but my brain was so muddled from the mountain lion incident that I was still putting it together. Mr. McIntire, the gorgeous owner of Cody’s Saloon, was in my hallway, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. Cooper Valley was a small town, so I knew him–he was a notorious player–flirty and friendly with all the women, but I didn’t know that he knew me.

“I’m sorry to scare you, sugar. I knocked, and you didn’t answer. I got worried. Now I know why.” Mr. McIntire took off his cowboy hat and leaned against the hallway wall as if to give me space. His eyes crinkled as he shot me a lopsided smile. Uh, wow. This man gave Hollywood actor vibes with his dark hair and blue eyes. The neatly trimmed beard gave him a rugged, cowboy look, enhancing the square jaw and dimpled chin.

There was an apology in his expression, but not genuine remorse. As if he knew he shouldn’t be in Nana’s house, but he wasn’t leaving, either.

The closeness to this delicious display of manhood further discombobulated my already confused brain.

I sensed his attraction to me. Even though his gaze didn’t stray below my eyes, I knew he registered the fact that I was standing in front of him, dripping wet, naked underneath the short robe that I hadn’t even finished tying.

His eyes glowed with appreciation .

His eyes glowed.

I blinked. Oh my God. I was an idiot! This was Mr. McIntire . As in Tyler’s dad.

Was he a wolf, too?

I sucked in a breath and tightened the robe’s sash. “Um, what are you doing here, Mr. McIntire?” I cursed the warble in my voice.

He stepped closer and touched one of my shoulders. The corded muscles of his forearm flexed as he reached out. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”

My body responded to his touch, to his nearness. To his masculine scent and the sight of the bulging muscles of his arm and chest. He wore a snap-button shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows, showing off his strong, tanned forearms. It made my mouth water and other parts of my body get wet, too.

Then my brain–which was still too damn slow–caught up. Mr. McIntire was here because of what I saw earlier. How weird was it that he came, rather than Tyler? Was he going to bite me? Turn me into one of their kind?

“I… I think you should leave.” I slipped out of his grasp and darted past him, running for the living room. Nana kept a loaded shotgun behind the front door .

He didn’t chase. I heard the even pace of his cowboy boots as he called after me, “I heard about what happened in the canyon. Tyler said you didn’t answer his calls, so we were worried. I wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

I grabbed the shotgun and lifted the muzzle as I whirled. “Yep, I’m home.”

Too late.

Mr. McIntire was right there and caught the barrel. With his quick tug, I lost my grip and the shotgun flew out of my hands. He tossed it on the couch behind him and hooked my nape with his palm.

My eyes flew wide when I tried to move, and I found myself effectively immobilized.

He had superhuman strength! If I had any doubt, it was now confirmed–Mr. McIntire was definitely a wolf, too.

He leaned down like he was going to kiss me. “I’m real sorry about this, sugar,” he murmured.

About what? The alarm bells were going off, but it was too late. Something sharp jabbed my neck.

A needle? Oh fuck.

“The last thing I wanted to do was add to your trauma, but I promise, by tomorrow, it will be like nothing happened.” I barely heard his dark rumble before my mind went blank.