The memory still burns in my mind, like a scar etched deep into my instincts. Five years ago, I was broken tainted by a man who had no regard for my life or my wolf-blood. After that night, men no longer held any pull over me. My son, Jared, was my world, my pack, my heartbeat. Marriage, love, Alpha bonds none of it mattered. Not then.
Nigel had always been just a friend, a reliable presence in the periphery of my life, until the day fate drew us together in fire and smoke. I was on my way to meet a client when I saw his car engulfed in smoke from an accident. My wolf instincts screamed before my mind could even process, and I raced forward. Without thinking, I yanked him out of the driver's seat, feeling the heat of the car and the unnatural vibration of imminent death.
