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burned through her as she stepped closer to him. The kiss deepened while desire flared unchecked. Ava was ready to give in to him – until the wolf snapped its jaws, jerking her out of her haze of desire.
    Ava ended the kiss and stepped away from Lincoln. He slowly dropped his hands to his sides but didn’t take his eyes from her. While her heart hammered and her body ached for more of his kisses, he stood calm and firm.
    It was only the fire in his bright blue eyes that told her he was fighting the passion inside him.
    Ava swallowed and looked away. Lincoln might be hotter than any guy she had ever seen, and his kisses might send her body into overload...but he was a hunter. She refused to go through that again.
    “Tell me how a tree with a cross can keep us safe?”
    He took a step closer and tilted her chin up with his finger until she was looking at him. “Listen carefully, Ava. We’re on holy ground. As long as we remain here, you won’t be hurt. Understand?”
    She nodded. “That’s a big wolf.”
    “Werewolf,” he corrected. He dropped his hands and let out a sigh as he glanced at the creature. “He’s also my cousin.”
    She remembered him saying something about family when they were running, but she was too intent on remaining alive to think much about it at the time. “Family?”
    “A branch in New Orleans. They’re the LaRues. The first Chiasson that came to Louisiana didn’t come alone. He brought his brother. And his sister.”
    “Ah.”
    “That’s Kane,” Lincoln said and pointed to the black werewolf. “A couple hundred years ago the LaRues brought the wrath of a Voodoo priestess upon them. She cursed their family to be werewolves until the end of time.”
    “They must have really pissed her off.”
    “I don’t even know what they did, truth be told. It’s not something they talk about. Even with family.”
    Ava looked at Kane who was pacing an invisible barrier from the edge of the water, all the way around the oak, and back to the water again. “Why would Kane travel knowing he would turn?”
    “When werewolves turn, they know what’s going on. They remember who they are. When the LaRues shift, they make sure to kill deer or cattle. Never humans.”
    Ava raised a brow. “Want to remind him of that?”
    Lincoln walked to the oak and slid down the tree until he was seated on the ground. “That’s the thing. It seems my cousin didn’t learn anything from his relatives. Kane managed to piss off another priestess. She altered his curse so that when he shifted he would forget that he was human and kill whatever – or whoever – crossed his path.”
    “He didn’t kill you.”
    “No,” Lincoln said thoughtfully. “He didn’t.”
    Ava shivered despite the hot night as she recalled the way the wolf seemed to zero in on her. “He would have killed me.”
    “Why the hell were you in that field?”
    “I was attacked. The men came out of nowhere,” she said and wrapped her arms around herself.
    “You shouldn’t have been alone.”
    Ave glared at him no matter how his Cajun accent made her blood heat. “I’ll have you know it took five of them to take me. I know how to defend myself. I had taken down several before they got the upper hand.”
    Lincoln’s slow smile made her stomach flutter with...was that excitement and pleasure? God, she hoped not. It was already bad enough that she was insanely attracted to him. The last thing she wanted was to seek his approval. On anything.
    “Did you get a look at the men?”
    “No.” And she should have. “They were in all black, and they were intent on taking me no matter what. When I woke, I was in the middle of that field.”
    Lincoln smoothed down a few strands of hair that had come loose from the queue at the back of his head. “It’s pure luck that I saw you at all. Had I went a different route, I wouldn’t have.”
    Ava glanced at the werewolf – Kane – to see him staring at her while he paced. “Where is your