"Ellison," she said, her voice stricken.

Ellison held her close. "Shh," he said. "Shh, love." He shivered with release. But he was hot too, inside himself, where they joined, and wherever she touched him.

"Shh," he said again. Maria kissed his cheek, the kiss languid, and Ellison gathered her and held her close.

Ellison carried her out of the water. Maria trembled in reaction to her impulsive decision to make love to him and the sudden cold of the breeze on her wet skin.

Ellison set her on her feet on the bank, wrapped his big body around her to cut the chill, and kissed her.

All the heat of the spring day poured from the kiss into her. Maria warmed, though she still shivered. She wanted to stay here forever in this beauty, this feeling.

Fear was gone. She had Ellison, pa.s.sion, this flood of happiness. She wanted to hold the moment, swathe herself in it, and never leave for the real world again.

Ellison caressed her cheek, his kiss slow with la.s.situde and lovemaking. His body was as wet as Maria's, but his skin held so much warmth, hotter than any living being's should be.

I'm falling in love with you. The thought came to her unbidden, as natural as the breeze that ruffled the lake. I'm falling in love with you, Ellison.

He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the backs of her fingers. A cloud slid over the sun, and Maria's shaking increased.

"We'd best get you dressed," Ellison said.

He looked up at the tree from which he'd hung their clothes, and started laughing. Next to his jeans, a couple of blankets dangled in the breeze.

"Good old Granger. Don't worry, he didn't look."

Still chuckling, Ellison yanked down one of the blankets and folded it around Maria. The scratchy wool smelled of smoke and outdoors, but it cut the wind.

When they were dry, they dressed again. Ellison looked at Maria plenty as she pulled clothes over her damp body, and she didn't pretend not to look at him. He grinned at her again as he picked up his hat, but he didn't set it on his still-wet hair.

The sun was setting by the time they reached the trailer, the long spring day drawing to a close. Granger had a small fire going in his front yard, and was poking at it with a long stick. He invited them in, and Ellison took Maria's hand and led her into the trailer.

Inside was small but cozy. Granger was a bachelor, obviously-no woman's touch in the cluttered interior. Maria sank down on the seat under the window, and Ellison was beside her. His arms went around her, drawing her back into his warm body.

Maria started to drift off to sleep. The smoke from the fire held a strange, sweet odor, the trailer was comfortable, and afterglow from lovemaking made her want to lie here with Ellison and never get up.

Ellison slid his thumb under her jaw and turned her face to his. His kiss was slow, hot, holding the same afterglow.

Granger came noisily in. Ellison broke the kiss and cradled Maria back against him, and she started drifting off again.

"You're gonna get yourself arrested," she heard Ellison say, humor in his voice.

"Nah. The sheriff's deputies around here are my best customers. Hey, I have some errands to run. You guys hang out here as long as you want, and leave when you're ready. There's beer in the fridge and some food. I forget what."

"Sure." Ellison's voice rumbled in his chest.

Maria snuggled up to that rumble. In the pond, she'd given in to her desires, and she didn't regret it one bit. In the water, so close to the strong, caring Ellison, she'd put away fear and acted on new feelings.

Ellison had been tender, gentle, taking it easy. She'd felt him shaking, holding back his incredible strength for her. He hadn't wanted to hurt her or scare her.

Now he held her safely against the darkening day . . . No, the dark. The window was black now, the fire burned out, and only a weak light shone in the corner of the room.

Maria should get home. Tomorrow, Connor was to pick her up early and drive her to where she'd take her SATs. She had to be ready.

No, she had to stay here with Ellison. He'd get her home and to bed in time. It was nice to lean on someone, to have him hold her and keep all the bad things away.

Except that he was gone. Maria woke fully to find herself alone in the trailer, the door moving on its hinges. The light was out, the night was impenetrably dark, and Ellison wasn't there.

Chapter Ten.

Maria got herself up off the bench. She was out in the middle of nowhere, inside a trailer belonging to a man she'd never met before today, and the Shifter protecting her was gone. Ellison might trust this Granger, but who knew what the man could or would do? Maria wasn't given to trust as easily as-well, anyone.

She softly opened the door and stepped outside. Moonlight filtered through the trees and filled the little clearing with white light. The fire had died to a tiny glow, and the smoke had gone, leaving the air clean and fresh.

Maria's thoughts were much clearer now too. She needed to find Ellison and get back to Shiftertown. She had to know what Liam and Dylan were planning to go after the man trying to abduct their cubs, and she wanted to be part of it. Ellison had been right to bring her out here to cool her down, but her concern for the cubs' safety rose.

But where to look for him? If she went blundering around in the dark, she'd get lost or maybe fall into the lake or something. Plus snakes would be everywhere. Texas crawled with rattlesnakes, especially after dusk, when they came out of their holes to soak up the last of the day's warmth. In spring hordes of baby rattlers joined them.

Maria sank down onto the front steps and pulled her feet up under her, in case snakes decided to come out from under the house and investigate her ankles. She had her cell phone, but a peek at it told her she was out of range of the rest of the world.

What was she doing? The cubs could be in trouble, and on top of that, she was supposed to take her SAT tests tomorrow. How on earth could she concentrate on those between worry for the cubs and running off into the wilderness with Ellison?

The trouble was, she'd felt more alive today than she had in many, many years-since that day at the lake with her grandparents.

What filled her mind was Ellison, the memory of him pressing inside her, spreading her, breaking apart her defenses. She could still feel his hands hot on her back, his strength holding her, the hard plane of his chest against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He'd been hard and hot, deep inside her, the feeling glorious.

She'd feared s.e.x, which before had hurt whenever she'd felt anything at all. She'd climbed upon Ellison in a moment of daring, her fears laughing at her.

And now Maria couldn't stop thinking of him. The wild burst of pleasure, the joy of watching his face soften with pa.s.sion, the water holding them-these things would mark her forever.

A step, nearly soundless, but audible in the stillness, made her raise her head. Maria studied the line of trees circling the trailer, but she saw nothing.

She stared hard at the place from which she thought she heard the noise. The sound came again, barely a whisper of movement against gra.s.s.

Then a huge gray wolf stepped out of the woods into the clearing. Moonlight brushed his fur with silver, outlining his large, lithe body and p.r.i.c.ked ears. He turned his face to her, his eyes as silver as the moonlight, then he looked away, scanning the woods as Maria had done.

The wolf turned his steps to the trailer, picking his way in silence across the ground, blending into the shadows. He halted when he reached Maria and sank to his haunches beside the narrow steps.

He was huge even sitting down, his body nearly twice the size of a wild wolf's. Maria wasn't afraid. The wolf was beautiful, though she knew he was deadly, but all that deadliness now protected her.

Maria stroked his back, shivering at the wild strength of him. His fur was wiry and soft at the same time, and held heat and comfort.

"Everything all right out there?" she whispered.

Ellison turned from scanning the woods and nuzzled her, rubbing his furry face against hers. Then he licked her.

"Ay," she said, laughing softly. "No wolf spit."

He made a rumble like laughter. Ellison scanned the woods again, nose working as he tested for scent. Then he rose to his feet and transformed himself with a crackle of bone and flesh to Ellison.

Naked Ellison, towering above Maria, his scent full of spice. The night was warm, sultry, back here in the woods near the lake, the air heavy and damp. It seemed right to be here, alone in this strange place, with only a Shifter to protect her, because that Shifter was Ellison.

Her friend. Her champion. And now, her lover.

Ellison sank down to sit next to Maria on the edge of the step, unworried about his nakedness. He braced his hand behind her, a well-muscled arm against her shoulder.

"We should go." His paused. "d.a.m.n, you don't know how much I did not want to say that."

"I don't want to leave either."

They sat in silence a moment, a cool breeze brushing the clearing. Crickets and frogs took that as a cue to start singing for the night.

Ellison let out a sigh. "You got your test tomorrow, right? And I'm not easy about Bradley and his goons. I want you safe."

"He's abducting Shifter cubs, not small human women," Maria said.

"Yeah, but he knows you take care of Shifter cubs," Ellison countered. "His guys were waiting for Olaf today, knowing you'd go that way. That wasn't coincidence. They were following you."

Maria shivered. "I figured that. You're right, we should go."

Ellison's eyes flashed in what was left of the firelight. They were Shifter eyes, the lightest gray, full of wildness. "Like I said, I don't really want to." His voice held a growl. "I want to stay here, kick out Granger, and hole up with you for as long as I can. I want to claim you, and mate with you, and keep you away from all others. That's the Shifter in me-don't matter about Collars and being civilized and all the rest of it."

The declaration should frighten her. Miguel had captured females then sequestered them and used them when he saw fit, telling the other males in the pack to do the same.

But Maria understood, after living in Austin these past months, that Luis and Miguel had been anomalies. Most Shifter males cherished their mates. She'd seen the women in Shiftertown happy-deliriously so-smiling at their mates, slow-dancing with them at the bar, loving how enclosed they were in their families.

Luis should have taken Maria away and protected her instead of subjecting her to the danger of Miguel and the other the feral Shifters. Miguel too should have made sure his mates were well taken care of, not miserable prisoners.

Maria had seen how Ellison cared for his sister, keeping her from harm, and how stridently he prevented Maria from being hara.s.sed by Broderick and other Shifters who called her fair game. Ellison had protected Maria at every turn, and asked for nothing from her.

Maria put her hand in his broad one. She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. "I'll go back with you."

Ellison closed a hard hand over hers. He said nothing, only looked at her, his chest rising with a sharp breath.

Maria rose and kissed him, letting the kiss linger on his mouth. "With you," she repeated. "It's only ever been you."

Ellison tightened his grip on her hand, fingers biting down, and exhaled. "Thank you."

Maria expected to slip unnoticed into the dark and silent house across from Ellison's after kissing him goodnight, but she walked into her bedroom to find Andrea sitting on her bed, waiting for her.

Andrea had Kenny in her arms, the boy with his tuft of unruly black hair sleeping soundly in the crook of Andrea's arm.

"Worried sick, I think, is the term," Andrea said, her gray eyes watchful in the light Maria turned on. Those eyes narrowed as Andrea inhaled. "Ah."

Andrea's Shifter nose would smell Ellison all over Maria. Maria slipped off her shoes. "You didn't need to worry at all."

Andrea gave her a nod. "You go well together. Ellison is one of the good guys." She said it with confidence, no doubts that the mating would go through.

"Was everything all right here?" Maria asked. She came to Andrea and brushed her hand over the sleeping Kenny's hair. "No threats to cubs?"

"No." Andrea rocked her son, who slept the limp sleep of an infant secure in his mother's arms. "The cubs are safe in Shiftertown. No one gets in that we don't know about. No one will take them from here."

"But you can't keep them holed up here forever." Maria stroked Kenny's hair again, the down soft on her fingers. "They can't be imprisoned, even if it's for their own safety. That isn't right."

Andrea's look softened. "We'll always be closed off from the rest of the world in some ways. We're Shifters, Maria. People fear us. We'll always be apart. But we manage together." She smiled. "I should know. I'm half Fae. That has most of Shiftertown still a little wigged out. I'm apart even from other Shifters."

Andrea's Fae blood had never bothered Maria, and she still wasn't certain what being Fae meant. But she'd observed Shifters glance at Andrea with curiosity and even fear. They never said anything, knowing Sean would retaliate against any disrespect to his mate, but the nervousness was there.

"I'm apart too," Maria said. "But I decided I can't hide forever. There's a world out there, and I need to face it. It's a risk, but I will take it."

"And you will. Tomorrow. Your SAT tests. I hope you didn't forget." She smiled, knowing Maria never would. Maria had confided in few people about her dream to enter the university, but Andrea was one of them. She and Connor, Glory, and now Ellison.

"What did Dylan decide to do?" Maria asked. "About Bradley?"

Andrea's look turned evasive. "They'll stop him. Dylan, Liam, and Sean together. No need for you to worry about that."

"Yes, but how? Find the man? Murder him? What happens if they get caught?" Maria looked at Kenny, sleeping so sweetly. The boy had been named for the brother of Sean and Liam who'd been killed by a feral Shifter long ago. Kenny had been Connor's father and much beloved.

A shadow pa.s.sed through Andrea's eyes, worry for her mate and his family. "If there's a problem in the world Sean, Liam, and Dylan can't take care of, then it's a bad problem. Don't worry."

"We have to stop them, Andrea-these people who s.n.a.t.c.h cubs. Bradley and everyone like him, and the people who hire them. It's terrible."

"I know." Andrea held Kenny closer a moment, protective. Then she handed Kenny up to Maria's outstretched hands and rose, stretching as only a Shifter could stretch, every limb supple. She kissed Maria on the cheek. "But you focus on your tests tomorrow. It will be a big day for you."

Maria enjoyed the warmth of Andrea's hug for a moment, the baby scent of little Kenny. Andrea took Kenny back into her arms, left the room, and Maria turned out the light.

She went to the window and raised the blind enough to let in the moonlight. On the porch across the street, two cowboy boots were crossed on the porch rail, long legs in jeans stretching back into shadows.

Maria smiled, her heart lightened. She undressed, blew a kiss across the street, and got into bed, where she lay awake for a long time.

Thoughts tumbled through her mind-the panic when she's lost Olaf, her sudden fright inside the culvert, her rage when she discovered that men were trying to kidnap Shifter cubs, the distracting worry about the exams.

Over all of this she relived the water embracing her, Ellison holding her, the heat of him inside her, finding something buried deep inside her and dragging it out into the light.

After a long time, she drifted to sleep to the memory of the warmth of Ellison's touch, the tenderness of his kiss. The image of him running into the water, naked but for his cowboy hat, was a fine one too.

"Here, I found more pencils for you." Olaf held them up on the porch in the early light of morning, yellow pencils nicely sharpened.