Roman walked through downtown San Antonio, passing tall hotels and historic brick buildings. One of the many things he liked about San Antonio was the mix of the modern with the old. The town was alive, and it aged, like a person or a shifter.Despite being the alpha, he was accompanied by two other shifters in human form—his second-in-command, Jackson, and his newly chosen personal guard, Drake Torres. Although the Losoyas were close to being wiped out, they couldn’t be too careful. Who knows how vengeful they might be? After all, Roman did escape from them. And Roman was all too aware of the fact t

An odd thought crossed Roman’s mind—the kind of thought he’d never have had before he became alpha. “I want to protect you. I want to have you in my life. My streak can protect you.” He bit his lip. “In fact, I suspect my entire streak would want to take care of you. Watch over you. Love you.”Her eyes softened and then the tears did start to build but didn’t pour forth. He knew he was going down the right path.

Lana thoroughly enjoyed the next day and was delighted to discover that Roman was pretty good at moving heavy things.The big surprise, however, was re-learning how funny Roman was, how their senses of humor meshed. Despite the intimidating task of packing up her apartment and completing the furnishings of her new suite—one that Jackson had arranged to have cleared out for her—they had a lot of fun that day, laughing together almost the entire time.That night, as sh

Although he hadn’t told anyone else about it, Jackson was still suffering from nightmares about his late wife. Every night it was the same. They would be at home, his wife busily cooking dinner in their homey little kitchen, savory scents floating around the room when she would turn around to reveal a shredded mess of a face. That’s when his subconscious would remember that she was dead and that the baby he heard crying in the other room wasn’t real.Jackson awoke in a cold sweat to the soft glow of an alarm clock on his bedside table. It was 3:45 am. Frustration spread like

Chapter 19Jackson broke the tension first. “You ready to go?”“Yeah.” Lana headed out toward his pickup. She’d driven one of the streak’s extra cars out here, and she wouldn’t be sorry to leave it behind for a while. “So, you own the restaurant?” Lana asked after they were on the road. She stared out at the sunset and the highway flashing by.“Yeah,” Jackson replied, also looking anywhere but at her. “Bought it a few years ago. The place practically runs itself. I have a really great staff there.” Jackson laughed slightly and leaned forward to glance out the windshield, up at the stars. “As much as they bug me about my love life, I know I can depend on them to get their jobs done. How about you? Are you