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she’d had on last night, she barely looked that.
    “My real name is Stephanos Lazos. I hail from Leontio, Greece, though I haven’t
    lived there for over a century. My father, my Alpha , is Lucas Lazos, my mother is Alisha,
    and my two brothers are Thomas and Nicolas—Nick for short. You just met his new
    wife, Carly. She’s one of the few humans who know about us. For now we call Miami
    home but we’ll probably move in a decade. I have a lot of cousins, but there are too
    many to name. Your turn.”
    She bit her bottom lip as she assessed him. He felt as if he were under a microscope,
    but if it got her to talk, he didn’t care about the scrutiny. “My last name is Cabrera and
    my entire pack is dead. I’m originally from Asuncion, Mexico, but my Alpha moved us
    to northern California when I was a pup. We moved around but I had never left the
    state…until a year ago when I came to Florida. I literally have no one in my life so you
    have nothing to worry about from me.”
    “You have me.” The words slipped out.
    Disbelief flitted across her face, but it happened so fast and then her protective
    mask was back in place. Her pain and loneliness tore at his insides. He couldn’t keep his
    distance any longer. Closing the gap between them, he wrapped his arms around her
    and pulled her into a comforting embrace.
    At first she tried to pull away, but finally she wrapped her arms around his waist
    and laid her head against him. She was quiet, but he could feel the wetness of her tears
    on his skin. His chest tightened as the thick shroud of her emotions surrounded him.
    A dozen questions raced through his mind—such as why the hell was she in Florida
    and why had her entire pack died? Even though he needed to ask them, he knew she
    needed to be held. Whether she admitted it or not. His protective instinct kicked into
    overdrive as she pressed her lean body against his.
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    Worth the Risk
    He searched for a way to distract. “You want to go for a run?” he murmured into
    her hair.
    “Is it safe?”
    “My pack owns a private stretch of beach here. That’s where I just came from.”
    She pulled her head back to meet his gaze. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears but
    there was a hopeful spark in her eyes. “I’d love to.”
    She stepped away from him and stared at him expectantly. His older brother, Nick,
    had connected telepathically with his mate after the first time they’d had sex, but
    Stephan couldn’t link with Marisol. Or maybe she was intentionally blocking him out.
    Either way, he wished he knew what was going on in her head at that moment.
    “Uh, it’s this way.” He motioned toward the back door.
    Tentatively she followed him. When they were outside on the stone patio and she
    didn’t make a move to shift, he realized she might be shy about undergoing the change
    in front of a stranger.
    He didn’t have a lot—or any—modesty, but she was in a new area with someone
    she barely knew. Hell, she’d lost her entire family. That was something he couldn’t even
    fathom. Without his pack, he’d go crazy. It was a wonder she hadn’t.
    Wordlessly he turned and changed, hoping to give her some privacy and to let her
    see him at his weakest moment. As his bones shifted and broke, then realigned, the pain
    hit with the intensity of a tsunami. While the pain was inevitable, it was always fleeting.
    It quickly faded until he felt nothing more than pleasurable tingles along his spine.
    In wolf form, his auditory senses were amplified a hundredfold. Behind him, he
    could hear her clothes hit the ground then he heard her sharp intake of breath before
    she made the change herself.
    Before he could turn, he felt a cold nose against his fur. When he turned to look at
    her, he growled protectively. It shouldn’t surprise him, but she was a small wolf. Maybe
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    Savannah Stuart
    seventy-five pounds and her shifted form was that of a brown and white Alaskan
    malamute. She was…cute. It was the only word