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stomach to fluttering, and she colored, suddenly aware of both her nakedness and his proximity. 
    As quickly as it had begun, the laugh stopped, and Gareth’s nostrils flared.  Oh crap, he smells it!   Beth turned a deeper shade of red and asked him to help her stand. 
    Eventually, with much moaning and groaning, complaining and cursing –mostly from Beth – they managed to find one of the old, unused Den Houses and pried a window open.  Gareth climbed through quickly and unlocked the door for Beth, who was at the end of the meager strength she had left.
    The rich, coppery scent of blood assailed her nose as she hobbled to the corner where there was – mercy of mercies! – an old bed with a scratchy blanket that smelled like mold.  Whatever, it was warm.  “Are you hurt?” she asked him as he hissed and the scent of blood got stronger.
    “ Nicked myself on an old nail on my way in the window.  No wonder they were hard to open, nailed shut!”  He leaned over her, reaching for the blanket to cover her and took up a position on the floor, watching the door.  “Nothing that won’t be healed by morning,” he assured her.
    “ What are you doing?”
    He glanced at her.  “What do you mean?”  His eyebrows drew together in confusion as she continued to stare at him.  “I’m uh, sitting down, Beth.  Why?”
    “You’re bound to be just as cold as I am,” she informed him in a no-nonsense voice.  “You can’t spend the night sitting on the bare wooden floor.  At least shimmer.”
    “ Can’t,” he whispered, seemingly exhausted himself.  The old wooden wall let out a creak as he leaned more heavily against it.  “I’m too tired.  It’s not as easy for me as it is for you.”
    The admission surprised her.  She knew she found it easier to shimmer because she was pure bred, but Gareth was wolf enough to be a Guardian, surely he wouldn’t find it that much harder than she did.  Guess you learn something new every day, she thought.  “Well then,” she whispered, voice hitching.  She cleared her throat and went for the same no-nonsense voice of moments before, barely carrying it off.  “You’ll have to lie here with me.”  She shook her head as he began to object.  “You’re cold, and you’re tired.”  She pointed to the bed.  “Hellooooo!  Don’t be stupid, Gareth.  I promise to leave your virtue unsullied.”  Laughing, she scooted closer to the wall, making room, and patted the dusty mattress.  “Don’t fight me on this.  You won’t win.  And I’ll make you miserable until you give in.”
    “ I’m not worried about my virtue,” he replied, not meeting her eyes.
    “ Oh.”  So that’s it, she realized.  He’s not comfortable sharing a bed with the outsider.  Fine, let him freeze then!
    Immediately reading her expression, he stood and slowly came towards the bed.  “I said it wasn’t my virtue I was worried about.”
    “I know,” she snapped.  “I heard you!”  She turned her back to him.  Let him freeze, she repeated.  What an ass.
    Dust rose, as the mattress shifted under his weight.  I will not look at him.  I will not even speak to him.  Ass.
    “ It’s not my virtue I’m worried about,” he repeated softly, his lips mere inches from the shell of her ear.  “It’s yours.”
    Well if that didn’t just shut her up.  Her stomach roiled, and her eyes, like saucers, stared into the darkness.  She could feel him breathing on her shoulder, and damn if it wasn’t the most amazing sensation in the world right now.  What could she say?
    The mattress shifted again as he made to stand up.  Beth’s hand shot out from under the blanket and grabbed his forearm.  “Stay,” she whispered.
    “ Stay?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ You’re not worried I’ll…how did you put it...sully your virtue?”  He seemed to hold his breath.
    “ I never claimed to be very virtuous, actually.”  Surely he could hear the tremor in her voice.  She heard the