“WHAT!?” Barrett’s eyes look like they’re going to burst out of his skull. “Zach and I are in love,” Orsina says with a wide grin. “And we are going to be mated.”“No, no, no no no no no.” Barrett crosses his arms and shakes his head. “I’m on board to make a truce with the wolves, and see if this blessing thing is real, but I draw the line at a member of my own clan becoming mates with one of them.”“But that’s how we end this thing once and for all,” Orsina pleads.“This has gone too far. I won’t have it.” Barrett reaches out to take Orsina by the arm and pull her back toward him. “We’ll let your new wolf friends go, but we bears are going back to our camp site to talk this over.”“No!” Orsina yanks her arm back from Barrett and stands beside Zach. “I’m not leaving him.”“Well I’m not allowing this,” Barrett says. “Just because you kids found some cool rock down by the stream doesn’t mean we’re going to change how we do things after hundreds of years.”“But doing

Things are looking like they’re going to settle down in Montana, so Jasper and I decide it’s time to go home. But we don’t want to head straight back to the Santa Cruz tree house. It seems like Isaac and Regan have things well under control there, so we hop in with the San Diego caravan and plan for some relaxing beachside time.Jasper and I still haven’t actually sealed our mating bond, but our friends Sarah and Nash take it upon themselves to get us a beautiful hotel along the way, a massive penthouse all to ourselves, overlooking the granite cliffs and blue lakes of Glacier National Park.“Don’t worry about keeping up with the rest of the caravan,” Sarah tells me, pressing the lacquered wood hotel key into my hand. “We’ll have everything nice and ready for you when you get home.”“Take as much time as you like,” Nash tells Jasper. I can see in both of their expressions that Sarah and Nash are so happy for us, especially me, finding a new mate after the heartbreak of losing

It’s been a long morning out on the beach. We’re training wolf shifters, which mean we’re a bit more casual and friendly with them, more open about who we are, than when we’re with human clients. But this group has been slow to warm up to us. They’re from a wolf pack out in Maine, sent out by their Alpha to train with us, and it’s clear that not all of them were too thrilled to spend a few weeks out in California getting run ragged by Jasper and me.“It’s miserably hot out here,” one of the shifters whines as he grabs a towel and wipes his face. Santa Cruz isn’t exactly a tropical paradise, but there’s no shade out on the beach, and it’s probably warmer than wherever they’re from in Maine.“We can go for a swim in the water later,” I promise him, handing him a fresh water bottle.“That’s too cold,” he says.“Not in wolf form,” I tell him. “Have you ever gotten in the ocean as a wolf?”He shakes his head. “Always figured the salt water would be bad for my fur. Plus, the o

Orsina seems relieved that the plan ends up being to take them back to Montana. I can’t blame her. We leave Regan and Isaac in charge of Howling Wolf, which is much easier to do this time for a handful of reasons. One, I’m tired of dealing with the unhappy training clients from the pack out in Maine. Isaac, with his gruff, silent warrior personality, will probably be able to handle them better.Second, I know they’ll do a great job. Now that we’ve been working together for six months, I trust Regan and Isaac with every aspect of the business. I know that Regan had some past problems with Sarah and Nash, but all of that seems like water under the bridge, and since it didn’t even involve me, it’s easy enough to just be Regan’s friend and business partner.They see us off, waving from the driveway as Jasper, Orsina, Zach and I head out on the road, making our way back toward Montana.“I can’t wait to get to Clara’s,” Jasper says, watching as the mountains and cliffs of Montan

Orsina and I are trying out best to get out of the trailer. She’s shifted into bear form and managed to claw back a small metal panel, which I’m doing my best to pry open and unscrew using a blunt butter knife from one of the camper’s drawers.Suddenly, just as I’m about to give up on this plan and attempt something else, there’s a massive THUD against the side of the camper. We hear Zach and Jasper pounding on the windows, shouting for us.With their strength added to our efforts, they’re able to rip the window out of the camper’s wall completely. Orsina shifts back and scrambles out, with Jasper reaching in to help me do the same.“What happened?” I ask. Jasper and Zach both look bloodied and battered. I jump into Jasper’s arms and he holds me tight, obviously grateful to see me again.“We’ll tell you later,” Zach says, breathlessly. “For now, though, we’ve gotta get out of here.”We race through the woods, all four of us shifting into our animal forms to make better t