Page 5 of Titan’s Mate

He was bone-tired, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Hell, maybe not ever again.

Maybe he’d Change back to human and go see if Brock was up, in the main house. The rest of the crew had gone to spend Thanksgiving with their parents, the Bad Blood Crew—some kind of crew anniversary celebration.

Only Brock Reilly had stayed behind. He wasn’t truly one of them either.

But the closer he got to the main part of the territory, the antsier his bear got. He wanted to go back to the clearing.

There’s nothing there, he told his bear. Not even ghosts.

We must go back. We are needed.

Needed? No. The ghosts had needed him a long time ago, and he wasn’t there. Now there was nothing he could do. He’d proved that tonight.

No one there needs us now, he snapped. It’s too late.

Titan tried to steer the bear downhill towards the main house, but he refused stubbornly, rocking from foot to foot.

We are needed.

Titan did not want to go back to that cursed clearing, but the bear wouldn’t move any other direction, and he wouldn’t give Titan his body back. So they went.

The moon had dipped behind the trees and the shadows were long and dark, so it took him a minute to see the figure huddled on top of Austin Raines’ grave.

He froze, the hackles on his neck standing up, and gave a low growl.

The figure didn’t move. He padded over to it, nosing aside the scarves wrapped around its neck and lower face.

It was a woman.

A total stranger, lying on a grave in the middle of his territory. Strapped to her back was a large backpack like long-distance hikers wore—except hers was pink. She didn’t move, even when his bear stuck their nose into her face. For one heart-stopping moment he thought she was dead. Another soul he couldn’t help.

But no, the skin under her multiple scarves was still warm, smelling faintly of cinnamon and something else delicious that he couldn’t quite name. And she was breathing. Barely.

With a crunch of bones, Titan Changed to human form. He pulled the pack off her shoulders and slung it over one of his, then scooped her up into his arms.

This one, he had to save.

Chapter 3

Titan hurried back to his cabin, his mind racing. Who was this woman? What was she doing here? She was so cold. So alone.

Bring her food, his bear said. Make her warm. Make her wake up.

It seemed like miles to the cabin, but finally he was there—pounding up the wooden steps, shouldering the door open. The woman was still unconscious, her lips bluish.

Make her warm, his bear insisted.

Titan laid her gently on the couch, then dropped her backpack in a corner and fired up the kerosene heater. Still too cold. It would take forever to warm the place up.

He’d banked the fireplace before he went out, so the coals wouldn’t die. Now he stirred them up and threw more wood on the fire.

He checked the woman again. She seemed to be breathing a little bit better, and her heartbeat was slow but steady.

But she was still so cold, her hands like ice. Carefully he lifted her and pulled her coat off—she didn’t have enough body heat left for it to help her. He left her boots on, and her knitted hat—a yellow one with a silly duck face on the front, the orange beak sticking straight out.

Grabbing the old comforter folded over the back of the couch, he slung it around his shoulders and sat down, lifting her into his lap and snuggling her close. He made sure her feet were tucked up, and then he wrapped the ends of the comforter around her.

And held her.