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Y ou’re dismissed.

Conri, who was leaning against the porch banister, straightened up as Chanin’s massive, smoke-gray wolf stepped through the woods beside the house.

“Welcome back, Alpha.” Conri leaped over the side of the railing.

Check in with Boris, he has orders for you.

“Will do.” Conri headed off in the direction of town.

There was a lot that he needed to discuss with his Pack, to inform them of what was to come. However, not tonight. His time belonged to one person only.

He’d felt a sense of elation fill and shudder along his and Morlie's bond well over an hour ago, but nothing since then, and she wasn’t responding to him.

His wolf bounded up the stairs to the porch. He shifted.

Nude, Chanin entered the house and sniffed.

He isolated his senses, removing everything in the vicinity, and focusing on one thing: his mate’s scent.

The woodsy violet with the sweet vanilla musk drew him like a dog to a bone.

He followed it from the front room through the house until he was in the bathroom of the master suite.

Once there, he stopped, stood in the half-open door, and watched the petite figure standing beneath the stream of water. The steam was heavy in the bathroom, but not so thick that he couldn’t take in everything about her as if it were dissipating. Both man and beast locked in on her.

He knew she hadn’t heard him come in. Not because her shifter hearing wasn’t keen enough that she couldn’t pick up on things happening around her, but even most savvy wolves would find it hard to detect his Alpha movements when he didn’t want them to.

However, in this case, Morlie, not moving from her position under the stream, showed him she wasn’t paying attention to their bond.

That concerned him.

He knew what had gone down today, what she’d done. His Pack members hadn’t disturbed him and Bleddyn at the meeting, but once they were finished with the long, exhaustive meeting and far enough away from the others, his Beta had contacted Boris to let him know they were finally headed back.

Chanin’s head of security filled them in on the dominance challenge between Morlie and Minsi. He had thoughts, strong thoughts, but he wanted to discuss them with his mate and hear what she had to say.

His beast was furious.

Chanin recognized his beast's emotions were based on fear more than anger. Every possibility of what could have happened during the battle, taking place while he wasn’t there or nearby, shook his wolf’s core.

Questions flooded his mind: ‘What if he lost her?’ ‘What if she lost the battle?’ ‘How would that impact her standing in the Pack?’ The questions and scenarios went on and on, coming to different conclusions, none of them good.

However, that was Chanin’s beast, an entity driven by animal instinct. Chanin had concerns of his own, but he could be rational and set his apprehensions aside until he could see and talk to Morlie.

As he leaned his shoulder against the jamb, he let his gaze wander as the steam began to settle around her feet.

Morlie’s shapely, slim body enthralled him.

The new tone to her muscles, the high lift of her breasts with their large, taut nipples, made him desire to trace the shape with his tongue and draw the tips, he knew were extremely sensitive, into his mouth.

Her narrow waist attracted the eye to the plumpness of her ass.

Her full hips made his hands tingle with wanting to grip and hold her there as he thrusted deep inside her.

He watched how the rivulets traveled along the medium-brown of her skin, making her curves shimmer in the bright overhead light in the shower.

It was the only light on in the house. He wasn’t sure if it was because it was the only light his mate had turned on when she got home, or if it was a declaration of how long she’d been in the shower that evening had set in.

It didn’t escape his sharp notice that his mate's toned, sleek body was marred and riddled with bruises, contusions, and cuts, and that her palms were pressed into the walls as her arms trembled as if it took all her reserve strength to hold herself upright.

Then her body shook and her knees buckled.

Chanin moved.

“Shit!” He caught her body against his chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Quickly, he realized why the steam clouds in the bathroom were thinning out, because the water was turning fucking cold. His nude body was now drenched under the deluge.

“Chanin?” Her eyes were still closed, but she buried her face against his chest and inhaled loudly and deeply.

“Yes, little bunny.” He could smell her scent filling the bathroom, but there wasn’t anything else, no sharp, clean notes of soap. Chanin figured she hadn’t gotten that far in her bathing, either from mental exhaustion or pain. He hoped for the former.

Quick, he grabbed the bar of soap. He lathered up his hands behind her back until the suds foamed and dropped thick from his palms. Setting the bar back on the shelf, he bathed her quivering body, starting with the expanse of her back, then gliding up to her neck.

He worked in every place he could reach while holding her, moving in a steady, fast pace and doing his best to go easy over the multiple scrapes and darkening bruises peppering her body.

The water would warm again while it was still running.

Sliding his slick hands under her arms, he coasted over her breasts.

She moaned as he grazed across her nipples, but Chanin kept his touch on her body more clinical than seductive.

Fuck, he always wanted her, and caressing her now had his dick hard and pressing into the softness of her belly between them. But he denied the lust raging inside of him.

From her stomach he rounded her hips and stroked the supple curves of her ass cheeks then descended her legs.

If there was any dirt from the fight on her, it had long been doused and run down the drain.

He added more soap to his hands before sliding them between her stiff, quivering thighs, washing those intimate parts that were his alone.

Lastly, he fingered her soft, soaked curls.

Not concerned with cleaning her hair, but checking for hidden bumps or scratches.

Once he got her to shift, her wolf would heal everything in time, but he needed to know everything for himself.

Adding more of the cleaning bar residue to his hands, he let the stream of bubbles dash away not just the grime from the forest travels, but also swiped away the stench of the other shifters that always seemed to cling to him after a meeting.

Done with them both, Chanin reached for the dial and shut off the water.

Shivers ran through her petite form, urging him to draw her closer.

Morlie whimpered and released a broken hiss.

He shifted his hands to make sure he wasn’t gripping too tightly and increasing her pain. If she’d won and was battered this badly, he could only imagine how Minsi fared.

Right now, Morlie was his only concern.

“Come on, love. Let’s get you out of here.” He kept one arm around her waist as he led her from the stall. Once she was standing on the bathroom rug, he released her just long enough to grab a couple of towels from the linen closet.

Water ran down her body and dripped from her face, fingers, and breasts to the floor as she still shook and her teeth chattered loudly, whether from the cold or pain, he wasn’t sure. One thing he knew was that it took a lot for a wolf-shifter's body temperature to dip so low that they became cold.

Stepping back before her, holding two towels, he tucked one towel under his arm as he began wiping down her body briskly, trying to bring warmth back into her blood and extremities, which would help reduce her unusual chill.

When he was finished, he swiped the towel over his own body before dropping the large, damp cloth to the floor.

Next, he began wiping the water from her face, then draped the towel over her head to soak up some of the excess water in her hair.

Why, mate?

Silence. Morlie kept her words and thoughts to herself.

Two heartbeats passed before her golden-brown eyes lifted to his, her head still shrouded—a fierce nun. There were shadows in her gaze, emotions he couldn’t pull apart and examine.

“Shit,” he roared low as he saw the split and swollen top lip.

Chanin slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her bare flesh against his naked body, adding his warmth to aid in elevating her core temperature.

She shook her head and glanced away. “You wouldn’t understand,” she said.

He cupped her chin and brought her face back around, not willing to let any distance remain between them. They were one in every sense of the word, and he wouldn’t allow anything to break that. “Try me.”

She began to step back, but he held her in the space and felt the heat in her body returning.

Instead, she drew the towel from her head and then tossed it to the counter.

“There’ll be no secrets between us, Morlie.” He stroked down her back to the top of her ass. Tightening his core, he refused to let his desire blaze at the feel of her silky skin. “Know I am always on your side.”

She nodded, pressing her palms to his chest. After an inhale, she began. “I’ve been sheltered and protected all my life by one person or another, in one way or another.”

Morlie studied his face.

He kept his features locked.

Even by you, mate.

Chanin arched a brow, but remained silent.

She exhaled and pushed against him.

He didn’t want to let her go. She still wasn’t as warm as he liked, but he understood she needed a little space, so he lowered his arms.

Morlie sashayed by him toward the bedroom.

Lush. Her swaying ass drew his attention and he let himself admire the natural sexuality of her.

He gritted his teeth as he noted that there was hesitation in each step she took and a slight limp. His mate was still pushing through a great deal of pain.