we’ve moved south, the temps fall at night. It will easily reach the forties, even lower if we hit a cold snap. And while Collin is always happy to keep me warm at night, I find the extra warmth of a cap helps.
We don’t bother setting up the tent since the night should be dry. After eating our snacks and laying out the bedding, we slip under the covers. The cool night air makes my nipples stand on end, which brings a delectable glow to Collin’s eyes.
He slips his dick inside me. As always, I’m ready for him, but because of the cold he takes me fast and hard. Within minutes, I’m coming. Afterward, he holds me close. Each night after we make love, his arms lock around me. I can feel his need to hold me and feel that we’re one.
We lie on our backs and stare up at the stars.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of this,” I tell him. “As long as I’m with you, I can be happy anywhere.”
His swallow is audible, and his arm tightens around my shoulders. “I just wish I could take you to Wyoming, to show you my home.”
He doesn’t talk about his home much. I know it pains him. The longer we’ve been on the run and the more his wolf has calmed, the more Collin realizes what he gave up when he chose to leave his pack.
“Maybe someday we can go there,” I tell him.
He gives me a small smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I suppose there’s nothing wrong with wishing.”
We lie together in silence as the night drifts on. Collin’s soft snore soon fills my ear, and I snuggle closer to him. I’ve almost completely drifted off when something in the air changes around me. Heaviness descends like a blanket, as if the air has grown thicker and denser.
I frown, my eyelids fluttering open just as the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I lift my head to look around and gasp. A dome of sparkling lights covers the entire area around me and Collin.
“What the hell?” I’m already shaking Collin awake when a blast of light shines directly in my face, blinding me. I slap a hand over my eyes, but it does little to stop the burning light. What is that? It’s as bright as the sun.
“Freeze! Don’t move!”
The blood drains from my face just as Collin rouses. “Collin!” I shake him more, panic creeping into my tone.
“We said don’t move!” another person yells.
I whip around, trying to decipher where the voices are coming from, but the light has me as blind as a mole.
A growl tears from Collin, and before I know what’s happening, he springs up and shifts mid-air. A huge golden wolf descends on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I yelp, more from surprise than fear, but now I’m flat on my back with Collin above me.
The burning light vanishes, but it’s sudden disappearance doesn’t give my eyes time to adjust. I still can’t see.
But I can hear.
Terrifying snarls rip from Collin’s wolf. His underbelly covers me, the soft fur brushing against my face when he crouches low, ready to spring. Every muscle in his body is tense. He feels like rock against me.
With a start, I realize what he’s doing.
He’s protecting me.
But then mayhem breaks loose, and any understanding I had of what was happening evaporates.
Screams.
Snarls.
I will myself to see again, but spots still dance in front of my vision.
Something pushes into me. Soft fur and hard muscle nudges me. Collin. He’s trying to tell me something.
I rub my eyes and finally see six darkly clad people descend on Collin. They’re coming at him from all angles. He pushes me one last time before springing up. Gunfire explodes where he had been directly above me.
Holy hell. They’re trying to kill him!
And then it hits me, what his nudges had been. He’d been trying to make me get up and out of the way.
“Don’t let him out of the circle!” one of the men yells.
Collin’s tearing around, moving so fast that he becomes a blur, but he’s still trapped inside the perimeter the group has made around us. Every time he leaps up, jumping fifteen feet into the air, one of the men follows.
They’ve all got to be supernaturals. Blue-lit balls fly from one of the man’s hands. Sparkles of red light emit from a woman’s fingers. And another is at least six-foot-six. Every time