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to us. A wolf is a wolf.”
    “If you start mixing, things get unpredictable. For the kids, I mean.”
    “That bothers you?”
    She opened a cabinet, rustled something within it, and closed it. “No. Figured it would bother you .”
    “Whether or not my pups will be compelled to shift for the full moon is amongst the least of my worries.”
    “But, you do want kids?”
    “I honestly haven’t given it a whole hell of a lot of thought, Christina. My kind, we don’t even think about taking mates until we’ve got a home base—a den, I guess. We weren’t in that position until recently. I imagine you want some?”
    “The idea of them scares me, but yes.”
    “Scares you? Why?”
    “The little boys where I’m from, well, they’re…” Christina let the words trail off. Water gushed in the sink, and then a pot hit the stove burner.
    He set down the gun. “They’re what, little wolf?”
    “They’re just awful , and you can’t tell them any better because that’s how their daddies want them. I always hoped that if I had to stay there, I’d only have girls. Of course, you can’t control that sort of thing.”
    The stove burner clicked repeatedly before the pilot light caught the gas.
    He stood and walked over to the island, leaning his forearms against the counter. Her back was turned, and she stared down into the pot.
    “There are other packs,” he said. “City packs. Rural packs. Everything in between. They all run a little differently. You could have held out for any one of them. You can usually tell who’s putting out the call if it’s coming from a big group. I don’t know why you jumped at the opportunity for this one. I can’t imagine you’ll be happy here.” With me.
    “You must think I’m ambitious.”
    “I think you can recognize opportunity.”
    Her nod came slowly. “I guess I can.” She turned, but didn’t meet his gaze. “I took a chance, knowing I wasn’t going to anyplace worse than I already was. So, if that makes me an opportunist, so be it.”
    “You deserve better than not worse .”
    Now she did look up.
    “Much more than that, and I’m sorry you didn’t get it. Adam says I can’t send you away, but that doesn’t mean I have to bite you.”
    “You just want me living here, like a roommate?”
    “It’s the best I can offer you.”
    “No, it’s not. There’s nothing wrong with your teeth, is there?”
    “My teeth are just fine, in both of my forms.”
    “So you’re opposed to marriage, then.”
    “I’m not opposed to marriage. I would have just preferred to be saddled with some bitch that deserved defective goods. Then I wouldn’t feel so fucking guilty.”
    If she was trying to look stern and severe with those narrowed eyes and that adorable pout, she wasn’t doing a very good job of it. He couldn’t help it. He laughed. “If intimidating me is your goal, you might try standing on a chair.”
    She flicked the dishtowel at him and walked to the canvas bags, grumbling about stubborn wolves.
    Surely, she counted herself in that plural.
    “I’m making spaghetti. If you insist on standing there teasing me for being inadequate, at least be useful while you’re doing it.”
    “You’re not inadequate, and what do you want me to do, little wolf?” This time, he suppressed the laugh, but barely.
    She stabbed her index finger toward the cutting board. “Chop that onion for the sauce. Since you’re so tall and whatnot, maybe it won’t even make you cry.”
    “I bet you’d like to make me cry.”
    “You’d think I would,” she said softly, and peeled back the tape on the butcher paper-wrapped tube of meat she held. “But I don’t.”
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Christina pulled her pillow over her head and let out a long sigh. So much howling. Maybe the Norseton wolves didn’t need to shift for the full moon, but it seemed that their ladies did. She could hear them out in the desert, baying at the moon. They’d gotten their bites—their own marks—so they