Meant for forever (Pack Wars: The

Grangers Book 3) Vella Day

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/meant-for-forever-pack-wars-the-grangers-book-3-vel
la-day/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Meant for Her (Pack Wars: The Grangers Book 4) Vella

Day

https://ebookmass.com/product/meant-for-her-pack-wars-the-
grangers-book-4-vella-day/

Meant for Wolves (Pack Wars-The Grangers Book 2) Vella

Day

https://ebookmass.com/product/meant-for-wolves-pack-wars-the-
grangers-book-2-vella-day/

Feeling Forever (Tasting Madness Book 3) Albany Walker

https://ebookmass.com/product/feeling-forever-tasting-madness-
book-3-albany-walker/

The Four Day Fakeout (West Oaks Heroes Book 3) Hannah

Shield

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-four-day-fakeout-west-oaks-
heroes-book-3-hannah-shield/
An Imperfect Gentleman (The Notorious Nightingales Book
2) Wendy Vella

https://ebookmass.com/product/an-imperfect-gentleman-the-
notorious-nightingales-book-2-wendy-vella/

Trapped: Brides of the Kindred Book 29 Faith Anderson

https://ebookmass.com/product/trapped-brides-of-the-kindred-
book-29-faith-anderson/

Malfunction Junction: A Military Sci-fi Series

(Waymaker Wars Book 3) Rachel Aukes

https://ebookmass.com/product/malfunction-junction-a-military-
sci-fi-series-waymaker-wars-book-3-rachel-aukes/

A Taste of Forever: The Saints of Serenity Falls #3

Wildhart

https://ebookmass.com/product/a-taste-of-forever-the-saints-of-
serenity-falls-3-wildhart/

Dark Reign of Forever: A Vampire Suspense Romance (Dark

Destinies Book 3) S.K. Ryder

https://ebookmass.com/product/dark-reign-of-forever-a-vampire-
suspense-romance-dark-destinies-book-3-s-k-ryder/
 MEANT FOR FOREVER

PACK WARS: THE GRANGERS

BOOK 3
VELLA DAY
Erotic Reads Publishing
 Meant for forever

Pack Wars-The Grangers

Book 3

Copyright © 2023 by Vella Day

www.velladay.com
velladayauthor@gmail.com
Cover Art by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Edited by Rebecca Cartee

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of
the author except in the case of brief questions embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
 ABOUT THE BOOK

A woman on the run trusts no one in this sensual and gripping Pack Wars series spinoff by
Bestselling Author Vella Day…

Cassidy Evans flees her past in Wyoming and takes refuge in the rugged mountains of Montana. In her
quest for solitude, she stumbles upon a man lying injured and near death in the heart of a snowy forest.
Torn between her own safety and the stranger's survival, Cassidy manages to save him before
disappearing into the darkness.
Zach Granger, a forest ranger, remembers nothing but the face of the angel who saved him. His
friends claim she was but a dream, but Zach is convinced she is real. Desperate to find her, he enlists
the help of his best friend, Mike Halperin.
As Zach and Mike track down the elusive woman, they learn that some evil clan has driven her
from home. Despite her desire to be left alone, they can't shake the feeling that she is their mate.
When the evil werewolf pack comes for Cassidy, the men must be prepared to fight to the death
to protect her. Convincing Cassidy to trust them and accept her fate as their forever mate might be the
greatest challenge of all.
They might crave her touch, long for her love, and be willing to fight to the death for her…but
persuading Cassidy to trust them and convince her that she is meant to be with them forever might just
prove impossible.
 CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30

Excerpt—Meant for her

About the Author
Also by Vella Day
 CHAPTER ONE

“Are you serious?” Mike Halperin asked his best friend.

“Yes. It’s been driving me crazy. I need to know if I was imagining things,” Zach Granger
responded.
Mike leaned forward in the overstuffed chair, a beer dangling from his fingertips. “You really
think some beautiful mystery woman found you in the middle of the High Ridge mountain range and
dragged your unconscious body to safety and then left?”
When he put it that way, it did sound unlikely, but Zach wasn’t going to give up. “How else can
you explain that my sister, Liam, and Alex found me hundreds of feet from where I was shot?”
“Admittedly, the bullets those vigilantes shot you with were doused with a strong paralytic. That
explains why you didn’t jump up, shift, and escape. That being said, it’s equally as likely that
sometime later your inner wolf healed you enough to provide the energy to find that cave.”
“And then I passed out again? I never even shifted? That makes no sense.” Zach stabbed his
fingers through his hair. “I wished to hell I remembered more.” He scarfed down the last of the pizza
that Mike had brought over.
“Let me ask you this: What good will it do to return to the cave? Do you really think this good
Samaritan has been hiding behind some tree for two weeks, waiting for you to return so she can see
that you’re all right?”
“No,” Zach said.
“I’m glad you still have some common sense left. Just so you know, while I was playing forest
ranger in your place, I never came across any ski bunny near the climbing site searching for some
injured man.”
“Funny. If she did exist, she’d have no reason to stay near the cave. Obviously, it was a dangerous
place to be.”
“That may be, but it’s also possible she was some hiker enjoying the sights for the day. And if
she’s not from around here, she’ll be long gone by now.” Mike held up a hand to prevent him from
commenting. “However, to satisfy your intense obsession with this woman, I’m game to help you look
in the cave to see if we can find something that indicates she existed. Even if we spot some item, it
might not belong to her.”
Zach leaned back in his seat. His logical mind told him that Mike was right, but his heart wanted
to try anyway. “It’s just that when I saw this woman hover over me, I swear my teeth sharpened.”
Mike laughed. “Oh, really? This is getting better and better. Now you’re thinking she’s your mate?
I hate to tell you, buddy, but this is probably wishful thinking.”
“Not true. Have you ever known me to lament the fact that I haven’t found my forever woman?”
 Mike finished off his beer and set it on the coffee table between them. “No. Actually, just the
opposite. You are happy sitting on a mountain top daydreaming when you aren't helping some camper
light a fire. I can’t even remember the last time you dated someone, and heaven only knows I’ve tried
to fix you up enough times.”
They’d shared a few women over the years, but no one had been very memorable. “See? This is
why I think this memory is real.”
Mike got up and threw his bottle in the recycle bin. “I’m not leading any groups into the woods for
the next few days, nor do I have any ski lessons planned—unless it snows tonight. Then I might. Like I
said, to stop you from driving yourself crazy, I will help you look. I know you always check the
climbing sites anyway since it’s part of your job, so it won’t be out of your way to explore the cave.”
Zach stood. “I appreciate it. I have the following day off, too, so if you want, we can crash at the
cabin for the night. I’ll pack some food, some beer, and a pack of cards to keep us occupied.”
“Sounds like a plan. I haven’t been out to your family’s place in a long time.”
“No time like the present. Tawny, Alex, and Liam recently stayed one night, so I’m sure it’s in
good shape.”
“How about I meet you at the ranger station tomorrow morning?” Mike asked. “At say eight?”
Zach huffed. “Make it nine, and I’ll be there.”
“Nine it is.”
After Mike took off, Zach went in to take a shower. The hot water always helped him think better.
There were a lot of holes in his memory, and he needed to figure out how to mesh the puzzle pieces he
had. No one denied that he had been shot twice with paralyzing bullets long enough for two human
vigilantes to carve his family’s crest in his back. Thankfully, the scar was on the mend. So far though,
no one really believed a woman had helped him.
Yet Zach still did. Why? First, there was the fact that some branches had been placed on the
outside of the cave where his sister and her mates had found him. That would have been really hard to
achieve if he was inside, especially in his weakened state. Second, while Zach didn’t remember much
about his rescue, Liam said the cave was about a fifth of a mile from where he'd been shot. Could he
have made it over the rough terrain in his condition and not remember any of it? Not likely.
The only reasonable explanation was that someone had helped him. The big question was whether
his good Samaritan was a gorgeous woman or several people? But if he’d had some assistance, why
didn’t they call for help afterward? Zach had been near death—werewolf or not. If humans had found
him, they would have had more reason to get him help since they’d be unaware of his werewolf
healing power. And the people who shot him wouldn’t have tried to save him. So did that mean his
female savior was a werewolf and assumed Zach would heal on his own? Is that why he was left in
the cave?
He had no idea. What he did know was that he needed answers and fast. After Zach finished
washing up, he went back to the living room to locate his topographic map of the area. Liam and
Alex, his sister’s two mates, had marked the approximate location of the cave. The passageway was
the one to the right after the entrance. Hopefully tomorrow, he’d learn the truth about that fateful day.

“Let me see that map again,” Mike said. “I can’t believe you haven’t been back here since the
incident.”
 “For starters, I had to play dead for almost two weeks, which is why you had to play forest
ranger.”
“True, but once the people were arrested, why not check it out? If nothing else, being at the site
might have jogged your memory.”
“Don’t forget, these people were only arrested a few days ago, but hey, I’m here now!”
To be honest, Zach hadn’t wanted to relive the event. With Mike by his side, however, it didn’t
seem so bad. Not only that, since the snow had mostly melted, the area was peaceful and comforting.
It wouldn’t stay that way for long, however. December was notorious for bad storms.
“You don’t think there are other vigilantes out to get you, do you?” Mike asked.
Zach turned to his best friend. “I hope not, but even if there are, I’m not going to spend my time
looking over my shoulder or stop helping people in need because one of them might want me dead. I
have to get on with my life.”
Mike slapped him on the back. “Good. Just checking.”
Zach slipped the map from Mike’s hands. “I know where I was shot. From there, it’s a matter of
locating the exact cave.”
“I thought Liam marked it on the map.”
“He did, but the cave isn’t on any trail, and Liam said he had to guess its location. It could be any
one of a number of caves around there. Thankfully, my sister put some non-adhesive pink flagging
tape on the trees to help my dad and the rescue team find it. She asked that we take them down on our
way out.”
“Clever lady.”
Probably because it was winter, they didn’t run into anyone on the way to the climbing site.
“Around here is where I was injured. See that path?”
“Yeah, it leads to a rock slab.”
“Exactly. As I turned to take the trail, they shot me.”
“It gives me the shivers thinking about that.” Mike looked around. “Violence in a place so
peaceful is wrong on so many levels.”
“Amen.”
Zach spotted something pink hanging from a branch. “Over there.”
It was about two soccer fields away from where he was attacked, so it didn’t take long to reach
the cave.
“I see your point, Zach. If you were almost dead, I don’t know how you could have made it this
far.”
“Me neither.” A second strip of plastic tape led them right to the cave entrance.
When they stepped inside, Mike placed a hand over his nose. “Whoa. Something died in here.”
“You mean a lot of somethings died. I’m glad I wasn’t aware of much when I was in there.” His
werewolf’s strong sense of smell usually served him well. Now? Not so much. Zach couldn’t believe
he didn't remember the stench. He nodded to the passageway to the right. “It’s back there. Look for
anything that indicates my mystery woman was here. And yes, I’m aware it’s a long shot.”
“Your sister was here. She could have dropped something.”
Mike was good at punching holes in his theory. “I know.”
They had to maneuver around a lot of rocks to make their way down the passageway. No one
would hike there if they had a choice. After ten minutes, they reached an area that was larger.
“A fire ring,” Mike said. “Didn’t you say Liam lit a fire?”
“Yes. The black embers and unburned wood means they were here.”
 Mike looked around. “There’s too much debris to tell if anyone else was.”
“True, and I was treated by the paramedics in the front of the cave.”
“I’ll check ahead for a bit, in case she went up there.” Mike returned a few minutes later. “That
was a bust. I saw squat.”
“I checked this area in here thoroughly. Nothing either," Zach said. "How about we head back? I
need to breathe some clean air.”
His friend chuckled. “I’m with you.”
As Zach headed out, he became more and more convinced that he had help. If he’d climbed
around all these boulders, he would have remembered.
Once they exited, they removed the pink plastic tape where his sister had marked the trees.
“What’s the plan now?” Mike asked.
“I’m not sure. Even if we found some indication—other than the brush on the outside of the cave
—that I had help, I can’t imagine a woman would be staying in a tent for the last two weeks. More
importantly, why she would she want to? But I won’t give up.”
“I never thought you would. However, I don’t recall seeing any other caves nearby that anyone
would want to camp in. Mice, in particular, like to take shelter in them during the winter, not to
mention a few other critters.”
“True.”
“Don’t forget there is the Granger cabin,” Mike said.
“It’s locked. I doubt anyone would break in, especially with a bar across the path indicating it’s
private property.”
“If they are desperate enough, they wouldn’t care about that. Even if they did care, who could they
ask for permission?” Mike stopped in his tracks. “Come to think if it, are you certain the weather
hasn’t corroded the lock? Maybe a strong shoulder could open the door.”
“Tawny said she used the key when she, Alex, and Liam came, but I can’t remember if my sister
said she locked up afterward or not. She might have been too distraught over the fact I was missing to
be thinking clearly.”
“Did you remember the key?”
“Of course. No door breaking required. And as promised, I have some beer and food with me.
You still up for a quiet evening at the cabin?”
“Absolutely. It will be a nice change from my cramped apartment.”
What was he talking about? Both Mike’s apartment and the Granger cabin each contained about
five hundred square feet of living space, but Zach was just happy Mike was willing to stay there.
“Let’s go.”
The cabin was not on any path that a hiker would take in part because years ago, his Granger
ancestors had purchased a large chunk of the land in the forest. Just in case someone happened upon
it, they’d installed a bar across the path to discourage people from investigating what was back there.
As far as his family was aware, it had worked.
“I’m actually looking forward to living off the grid for a night,” Zach said.
“If I recall, we have to haul the water from the stream and then boil it using firewood we have to
chop.”
“Living in the wild requires some sacrifice, my friend.” He faced Mike. “Aren’t you the one who
takes people on wilderness excursions?”
“Yes, but I get paid for it.”
“Are you telling me that you’ve never wondered what it would be like to live in the woods?”
 Mike stepped next to him. “I’d enjoy it for a few weeks—in the summer—but I’ll admit I like
being able to drive to the grocery store and watch my sports on television.”
Zach liked that too. “I hear you.”
For the next half hour, they more or less hiked in silence, enjoying the peace nature had to offer.
The wind had died down, and the scent of the pine trees had sweetened the air. It helped relax Zach’s
mind.
At the entrance to the property, they climbed over the metal bar that had a No Trespassing sign
dangling from it. This was the first time he’d been back to the cabin all winter. The lack of electricity
and running water, not to mention the lack of insulation, failed to make it a desirable vacation
destination.
When they rounded the corner, they both stopped. Smoke was pouring out of the chimney. “That’s
not good,” Mike said.
He tried to think if any relative said they planned to stay there this weekend, but he came up
empty. “Unless it's some random cousin, someone is trespassing.”
“Are you going to throw them out?”
Zach looked over at Mike. “Either we leave or they do. I have no intention of sharing. It would
mean we’d have to stay in our human form, and Tawny said it was cold as ice upstairs despite having
a blazing fire downstairs.”
“Let’s see who’s there first before we decide.”
“I hope it’s not some vigilante with a gun who plans to aim it at my chest.”
“We won’t know until we go up and check,” Mike said.
 CHAPTER TWO

Cassidy Evans sensed the werewolf signatures before she heard them. Shit, shit, shit. No one had
come near the cabin in the last two weeks. And here she'd let herself be lulled into thinking she could
stay there all winter. Stupid.
When footsteps pounded on the porch, she looked around for a place to hide. With the fireplace
ablaze, they’d know someone was staying there. If they were merely two hikers needing some
warmth, she’d have a nice chat with them, and then they would leave. Or was she fooling herself into
believing this would be some innocent encounter?
Had she not sensed them to be werewolves, she would have grabbed a knife. Humans were
scared of sharp objects. They didn’t need to know that Cassidy didn’t have it in her to kill anyone.
Hunting for a meal was a different story, however.
A knock sounded. Damn it. If she hid in the bathroom, they might think she was out hiking or
hunting for food. Spending a night in silence in a small space wouldn’t be pleasant, but she’d do it to
survive. On the other hand, if they really needed help, could she turn them away? The best case would
be if they waited on the porch, hoping the occupant would return.
What was she thinking? If she could detect they were werewolves, they could sense she was one
too, assuming they were paying attention. Before she could decide on a sound plan, a key slipped into
the lock. Oh, no. Was this the owner? Would he kick her out, or worse, have her arrested for
trespassing?
Think! She eyed the stairs that led to the small loft that held two mattresses. She didn’t sleep up
there because it was too cold at night, but they might not think to check there. As the key twisted, she
raced up the steps, hoping their loud chatter covered any noise she made.
Cassidy rushed to the back of the loft and dropped down onto one of the mattresses. If nothing
else, she might get lucky and learn why they were there. Two werewolves entered.
“A fire! I like it. Did you tell someone we were coming?” the first man asked.
Cassidy didn’t dare look at them for fear they’d spot her.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” the second man said. “I doubt it is a welcome home party for me. Look
around to see if we can tell when he’s coming back.”
He? That was a good sign that maybe they weren’t looking for her. Cassidy tried to think what
she’d left downstairs. Oh, crap. Her backpack was next to the kitchen sink.
“Found something,” the first man said. “It’s his backpack.”
Good thing Cassidy borrowed a friend’s backpack when she left instead of taking her pink one.
“I hate to snoop, but he is trespassing. See if there is license or something to identify him.”
“Even if we learn he’s a John Walters from Bozeman, how does that help us?” the first man said.
 “I don’t know. Forget it. Look around. Maybe the person was injured and came here to heal.”
What an odd thought, though it was a possibility. If she’d been injured though, Cassidy might not
have been able to chop wood and hunt for her own food.
“I found two plates in the sink,” the first man said.
Her mom had warned Cassidy that her carelessness would be the death of her.
“I’ll see if maybe he stashed something in the loft to give us a clue as to why he’s here.”
Her heart beat hard, but she prided herself on being a quick thinker. Cassidy stretched out on the
bed with her back to the stairs pretending to be asleep. If he planned to harm her, there wasn’t much
she could do about it. A werewolf could easily tear her to pieces.
The footsteps on the stairs ratcheted up her fear. When he reached the top, he stopped, and she
waited for him to say something.
“Excuse me. Hello?” he said.
Okay, that wasn’t what she expected—an angry shout was more like it. Cassidy would have liked
to have pretended to be asleep, but eventually she’d have to face him. What she’d say, she had no
idea.
Cassidy rolled over and sat up. She didn’t have to fake being startled. The man was incredibly
gorgeous. None of the wolves in any of the local clans in Wyoming looked like him. He wore his hair
longer than she was used to, and it looked as if he hadn’t shaved in a few days, but those two traits
emphasized his rugged outdoorsy look. It was his broad shoulders and kissable lips, however, that
had taken her by surprise.
“Who are you?” she asked as if he was the trespasser.
“I’m Zach. This is my family’s cabin. Now it’s my turn. Who are you?”
Decision time. How much of the truth should she tell him? “My name is Cassidy.”
“Okay, Cassidy. How about coming downstairs and telling us why you’re here.”
“I’ll go downstairs, but there’s not much to tell. I saw the cabin and needed a place to stay. It
looked a lot warmer than a tent.”
“Regardless of the reason, please join us. It’s freezing up here.” His voice suddenly turned warm
like hot buttered rum.
The sexy man turned and headed down the stairs. Cassidy had little choice but to follow. When
she reached the main room, she checked out the other werewolf. His facial hair was fuller, and he
appeared to outweigh Zach by a good twenty pounds. However, he, too, did something to her
emotional balance. What the hell was happening to her? Control used to be her middle name.
She straightened her shoulders. It was best if she made the first move. Cassidy extended her hand
to the second man. “Hi, I’m Cassidy.”
“Mike. Nice to meet you.” He held her gaze and the handshake longer than expected, but
surprisingly she didn’t mind.
“I have some beer, if you want to join us for a drink,” Zach said.
They weren’t kicking her out? That was great news, unless they planned to stay there too. “I’m
good, but you go ahead.” When Zach’s lips pressed together, her answer must not have been what he
was wanting to hear.
If she hadn’t been so upset over these two finding her, she might have been a bit more cordial. “I
have some beef jerky, if you want some.”
“That would be great. I’m starving,” Mike said as he sat down on the sofa—a sofa that wasn’t
quite wide enough for three people.
She grabbed her backpack and pulled out her beef jerky sticks, hoping Zach would sit next to his
friend. When she counted how many sticks she had left, Cassidy realized it might have been a mistake
to offer them the last of her food, but she didn’t want to appear rude.
Once she handed them each a stick, Cassidy dropped down in front of the fire. It was her favorite
place to sit. She loved the warmth and the calm that it brought her.
Zach carried over two beers and handed one to his friend. “How long have you been here?” he
asked, sounding more curious than angry.
Sticking to the truth seemed to be the smartest way to go. “I don’t count days, but I’d say about
two weeks.”
“How did you get in?” Zach asked.
“I pressed the latch and pushed open the door.”
“No door kicking?”
“It wasn’t locked. If it had been, I would have looked elsewhere for shelter.”
He explained that his sister had recently stayed there, and that she must have forgotten to lock it
when she left.
“What do you do for food? Or did you bring several weeks’ worth with you?” Mike asked. “It’s a
long walk out to the parking lot and quite a drive to the nearest store.”
She wasn’t about to tell them that even if she reached the lot, she didn’t have a car. They’d then
ask how she got there. Stuff like that. “I hunt.”
Zach dipped his chin. “You hunt?”
Why did he sound so surprised? “Yes. Mostly rabbit. I have no use for anything larger. Besides,
winter doesn’t usually give me a lot of options. I love mushrooms and berries, but they won’t be
around for many months.”
Zach sat next to Mike and then leaned forward. “I’m curious how you trap them.”
“I don’t. I shoot them with a bow and arrow.”
“That’s impressive. Did you come here specifically to hunt?” Zach asked.
“No. I was just going to stay a few days, but when I found the cabin, I decided to remain a bit
longer.”
He looked over at his friend. She didn’t need to be a mind reader to see they were telepathing
with each other. Cassidy suspected they didn’t believe her. “Let me show you my equipment.”
Why did she say that? Was it to prove she was competent living in the woods, or did she want to
show off? Neither reason was a good one. However, she didn’t need them to think she was a liar.
She kept her hunting equipment in the hallway, next to the wonderful bathroom that actually had a
tub. While divine, it had been a luxury she only occasionally took advantage of since it took a long
time to heat that much water—not to mention the amount of wood she had to cut for the fire.
Cassidy carried out her handmade bow and arrow. To show them that she was a deadly accurate
shot, she placed one end in the string, pulled it back, and walked out with it.
Mike held up his hands and grinned. “Don’t shoot, please.”
That made her smile. To prove her competence, Cassidy decided to demonstrate. She walked over
to the fire, faced the men, and took aim.
“Cassidy?” Zach asked, actually sounding a bit concerned.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hit you.” Before they had the chance to move, she shot the arrow right
between them. It thunked when it hit the cabin wall. “Whoops.”
The men looked at each other. Dare she say she’d impressed them?
Actually, she wanted to let them know that she was no pushover. If Doug had figured that out, he
would have looked for someone else to bear his child.
 Mike held out his hand. “May I see that?”
She handed him the bow and then retrieved the arrow from the wall.
He ran his hand over the wood. “Did you make this?”
“Yes. My clan believes in living a sustainable life. We farm, have solar energy, and collect and
purify our rain water. We also hunt. It’s how I learned to make a bow and arrow. It’s crude, but I
wasn’t expecting to stay here long.”
“My cousin Drake is an architect. I bet he’d love to ask you some questions about sustainable
living,” Zach said.
Cassidy didn’t think being seen in public would be wise, but since these men didn't seem to be a
threat, she might have to reevaluate things. They were nothing like the Kitchener Clan back home, but
letting her guard down too soon wouldn’t be wise. However, if she could find a way to learn about
the Granger Clan, she’d feel better. Her best friend, Mindy, claimed that of all the people in the area,
the Grangers could keep her safe.
“He’s welcome to come here.”
“Or you could come to Wildwood and meet him. I’m the forest ranger here and commute daily.”
He lived here? That was good. It meant he wasn’t sent here by Doug—unless Zach was the one
who was lying.
“I’ll see.” That was a non-committal answer, but it would be a shame to have come this far only
to be found.
“I understand.”
Did he really? She turned to Mike. “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a part-time ski instructor. During the off-season, I take people on wilderness excursions.”
Wow. Both of these men loved being in the woods, as did she. “Sounds like a great job.”
“It is. What do you do, Cassidy?”
“I’m a firefighter.”
Zach’s eyes widened. “Really?” He looked over at Mike and then back at her. “Do I look
familiar?” he asked.
“No, why?”
“This might sound crazy, but by any chance did you happen to find a dying man lying in the snow
with his back carved up about two weeks?”
Cassidy swore her heart stopped for a moment. How could he possibly know that? Unless... She
studied him. The man she’d found close to death had been wearing a cap. To be honest, she hadn’t
paid much attention to his face other than to notice his eyes were closed and his breathing ragged.
Someone had slit open his jacket and shirt and carved something in his back. From the amount of
blood covering his skin, she couldn’t tell what it was. The severity of his wound had distracted her.
“Why would you ask that?”
“I had a theory about a firefighter and a beautiful woman.” Zach stood, pulled his gray cable knit
sweater over his head, and then removed his teal blue, long-sleeved T-shirt. She was about to ask
what he was doing, but his powerful body took away all thought.
He then turned his back to her. “Look familiar?”
He knew what she’d done. But how had he figured it out? It was too late now to deny her role in
saving him. Lying would only make things worse. As much as she wanted to trace a finger along the
outline of his scar, she wouldn’t. She didn’t dare. This overwhelming attraction was the last thing she
needed.
And here, she thought she believed she’d never feel again after the emotional damage caused by
Doug. “That was you?”
He turned around and put his clothes back on. “Yes.”
The fire crackled, and the heat suddenly became overpowering. Say something.
 CHAPTER THREE

“I’m really glad you healed,” Cassidy Evans said.

“Dude, we found her! I can’t believe it,” Mike telepathed.
“Yes, but why is she so leery of me—or rather us?” Zach shot back.
“Ask her.”
Zach planned to, but he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already appeared to be. While
she’d answered his questions, she had watched her words. “Me, too, but I’m curious. Did you have
help dragging me into the cave? In all honesty, I remember very little.”
“No. Just me. When I saw you bleeding to death, I guess adrenaline flooded my system.” Cassidy
set down the arrow and returned to her place in front of the fire.
“I opened my eyes and saw you, but then I must have passed out.”
Mike leaned closer. “We checked the cave this morning. That passageway was full of rocks. How
did you drag him that far?”
“I carried him, but it wasn’t easy.” She looked over at Zach. “You are anything but fat, but you do
weigh a lot.”
Cassidy was at least five feet nine inches, which helped, but he was six feet three. “Werewolves
tend to weigh more than regular humans.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe you were able to
do that.”
“Like I said, my clan members are farmers. We work hard. It is probably why I make a good
firefighter. I’m strong.”
“Cassidy, why didn’t you call for help?” Mike asked. “Zach was in really bad shape.”
“I know. I should have, but I didn’t know who to trust. Someone was out to kill Zach. I tried to
convince myself that since he was a werewolf, he’d heal. Not only that, I didn’t have my phone, and
no one else was around to lend me theirs.”
“That makes sense.”
“I knew I had to get him to safety. I had the feeling that whoever did that to Zach was unaware
how to kill our kind. I bet they thought he was dead. I did too until I felt for his pulse. If they learned
he was alive, they might come after him again.”
Zach huffed out a laugh. “We all thought that. It was why I had to remain in hiding until those who
shot me were caught. But you’re wrong about one thing. They knew very well how to kill me. Lucky
for me, my twin sister and I have hearts that are located more to the right than most. They shot me
twice but missed my heart each time. I was lucky.”
“I’ve never been shot, but I’ve been told that while it hurts a lot, it won’t incapacitate you—
assuming it doesn’t nick your heart.”
 He explained that the bullets had been coated with a paralyzing agent. “Humans shot me, but they
were led by a bad werewolf clan, so we are guessing they knew exactly what chemical to use.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “I know all about bad werewolves.” Pain radiated off her.
“What happened to you, Cassidy? Why are you really here?” Zach asked as gently as he could.
She tilted her head, probably deciding how much to tell them. “I needed to get away from a bad
situation.”
That answered his question, but it was too general to satisfy him. “What kind of situation, if I may
ask?”
She bit down on her lip. “I’m not ready to say.”
If Zach’s body wasn’t going crazy with need right now, he might consider asking her to leave. He
wouldn’t though, but he thought about it. “Why can’t you say? Look, if you’re afraid of someone, we
can help. Hell, I just spent two weeks hiding at the house of my twin sister’s mates, Alex and Liam.
Who are they, you might ask? Only the best werewolf fighting team around. They have been teaching
as many of us Grangers as they can to fight in case the vigilantes who attacked me come back.”
“Did you say the Grangers?”
Her interest in his family intrigued him. “Yes. I’m Zach Granger.”
Her mouth was slightly open, and then her eyes widened. She looked over at Mike. “What’s your
last name?”
“Halperin, why?”
“I can’t believe it. Do you know Mindy Everwood?”
Mike glanced to the side. “Not that I recall. Is she from here?”
Cassidy’s shoulders deflated. “No. She’s from Wyoming, but she was on a wilderness hike that
you led last summer.”
“Mindy! Yes. Gorgeous green eyes, long blonde hair, but short. Really short.”
Cassidy laughed, and Zach nearly shifted. The joy altered something inside him.
“Yes, that’s her. She’s a smidgen over five feet, but to you, she’d be really short. Mindy is my best
friend. I don’t know how I get all the short girls for friends.”
“What did she tell you about me?” Mike asked.
“That I could trust you and the Grangers.”
“Mindy was right. The Grangers are solid people. How is she doing these days?” Mike asked.
Cassidy’s good mood evaporated faster than water on a hot pavement. “I heard she’s in the
hospital.”
“Oh, no. What happened?” Mike asked.
“I’m not sure. When I was on my way here to find you, I read in a newspaper that she’d been
attacked. The details were sketchy.”
Mike planted a hand on his chest. “You were looking for me?”
Her shoulders sagged. “Yes. You see I was frantic to get away from this man, Doug, and Mindy
said that I could trust you.”
“I’m honored.”
Cassidy turned to Zach. “She also said that the Grangers were upstanding people and that I should
seek them out.”
Zach couldn’t believe his luck. The woman he believed to be his mate wanted to meet him. “What
can we do to help?”
“No one can do anything. I just need to lie low for a while.”
Once more, she avoided telling them details. “Did Doug harm you? Is that why you ran away?”
 “No, but men like Doug don’t like to be told no.”
“Is he a werewolf?” Mike asked.
“Yes, but he’s never alone. Doug belongs to a large clan. In fact, his father is the Alpha.”
Well, that sucked, but it never stopped his family. “We’ve gone against large clans before. How
many wolves are we talking about here?” Zach asked.
“Doug’s inner circle consists of maybe twenty wolves. He may not be the Alpha, but he is
powerful in his own right. He would make sure he won any fight he engaged in.”
“Twenty is a big number. Is he wanting you to date him or what?” Zach asked.
“He wants to mate with me, but not only don’t I like him, he’s not my fated mate, assuming those
actually exist.”
Before he’d been shot, Zach might have thought fated mates were a myth, too, but no longer. When
he was staying with Alex and Liam, they’d told him that they had no control over how they felt as
soon as they met his sister, Tawny. When they were in her presence, their bodies would go wild with
need, and that was exactly what was happening to Zach right now.
“Did he claim he was your fated mate?”
“No.”
Something didn’t seem right. “Did you think he was going to harm you if you didn’t agree to be
with him?” Zach asked. “Is that why you left?”
“Not exactly. Doug said he’d hurt those I cared about if I didn’t do what he asked. I think he
realized that I didn’t care what happened to me.”
That was a disturbing thought, but she might have meant that she cared more about others.
“Have you spoken with Mindy about what happened to her?” Mike asked.
“No. I’m too worried what else Doug might do to her or to my family. Before you ask, I have no
proof he was the one to harm Mindy. The article didn’t say, but he’d threatened to harm someone I
cared about, and I believed him. Why? Because he had already done several little things to piss me
off when I wouldn’t agree to even go out with him.”
“Like what?”
“He slashed my tires. That was a royal pain to get them replaced. Once more, I couldn’t prove it
was him, though later on he bragged about it. About a week after that, I was returning home from
putting out a fire, when I found every window in my house smashed.”
Zach was horrified. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No. I live by myself.”
“Did you go to the police?” Mike asked.
“It wouldn’t have done any good. Doug is best friends with the deputy.”
“That sucks,” Mike shot back.
“So that’s when you decided to run away?” Zach asked.
“Not then. I was determined to wait it out. I thought he’d give up eventually. But then clever Doug
found a way to get into my house and plant cameras throughout to show me he knew everything I was
doing.”
“I can’t imagine,” Zach said.
“It was the last straw.”
“I hope you aren’t planning to return any time soon,” Mike said.
“I’m not ready to make any decisions about my future just yet. I thought that if I left, he’d forget
about me, but then he attacked Mindy.”
“Would you like to call your friend to see how she’s doing?” Zach asked.
 Cassidy’s eyes sparkled. “Yes, I’d love that, but I don’t want him to be able to trace my call. It’s
why I left my phone and computer at my house.” She lifted a hand. “Don’t worry, I replaced the
windows and put in a security system. If Doug tries to break in again, the company will have evidence
of his crime this time.”
The man was a criminal. How did he think Cassidy would want to be with someone like that?
“Are you sure it was Doug who installed the cameras?”
“Yes, because he showed me some of the feeds. He said that if I didn’t mate with him right away
that he would do something a lot worse until I gave in.”
“What a nice guy,” Mike said.
“Can you see why I had to leave?”
“I’m glad you had Mindy for a friend,” Mike said. “If she hadn’t told you about me, where would
you have gone?”
Cassidy looked lost and vulnerable. Zach moved next to the fire and knelt down in front of her. He
reached out and clasped her hand. “It doesn’t matter, because you are here now.”
Her chin trembled for a moment and then she sat up straighter. “Are you sure you two aren’t
figments of my imagination?”
Zach chuckled. “No, but I honestly thought you might be a figment of mine. I’ve dreamt about you
for weeks.”
“I thought you said you didn’t remember anything.”
“I saw your face for only a moment, but I remember my heart beating hard. Then I must have
passed out. I honestly thought I had dreamt you.” It was way too early to tell her the other physical
effects he had experienced that indicated she was his mate. “I couldn’t figure out how I made it into
the cave when I couldn’t even shift.”
“I guess it was lucky that I came along then.”
Mike placed his beer bottle on the small table in front of the sofa. “I’m glad you showed up when
you did, or I would have had to play forest ranger for a long time. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but
leading people into the woods and showing them how amazing nature is, is something I enjoy more.”
“I think it’s wonderful that you love your job. It’s the same for me.”
“Who did you tell that you were leaving?” Zach asked.
“Only my family and Mindy, but I told my parents they’d be safer if they didn’t know anything. As
for my work, I had vacation time coming, so I took it, but I never said where I was going or exactly
when I would be returning. I will need to let them know at some point.”
Zach couldn’t imagine what it would be like to leave everything you loved behind. That Doug
person was a monster. “You never did tell us where you are from. If you don’t feel comfortable
sharing, we’ll understand.”
Cassidy huffed out a laugh. “I think it’s too late now. I’ve probably told you more than you wanted
to know. I’m from Thomas Ridge, Wyoming. It’s a dot on the map.”
“Thank you for trusting us.”
“Thank Mindy.” Cassidy turned to Mike. “She thought you were amazing.”
“Then please tell her thank you.”
Cassidy smiled but then sobered. “If I see her again, I will.”
“Will you ever go back?” Zach asked, hoping she would say no.
“Like I said, I’m not sure of anything. My parents will be frantic if they don’t hear from me. They
know I left with just a backpack and some cash. I didn’t even take my credit cards. I’m no expert in
tracking someone, but I understand the basics. I also know that when I run out of money, I’ll need to
get a job, but it can’t be as a firefighter.”
Zach had no idea what it entailed to become invisible. “What are you going to do?”
“I think it depends on you.”
“You mean if I let you stay here indefinitely?” Zach asked.
“Yes.”
“The cabin doesn’t belong to me. It’s my family’s, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to stay here
in the winter.”
“Cassidy,” Mike said. “I have a possible solution.”
“What’s that?”
“I live in an apartment about this size. Zach, here, lives in a much larger two-bedroom house.
Family money and all.”
“Fuck you,” Zach said and then smiled. “I bought that house with sweat equity. Technically, the
bank owns it, but I pay monthly for the privilege of living there.”
“Whatever,” Mike said. “I bet Zach would let me crash in his second bedroom, and you could
move into my place. The apartment is a third-floor walkup, which will make it harder for anyone to
break in without you noticing.”
She stilled. Damn. They’d moved too fast. At least Mike hadn’t suggested she move in with him,
for which Zach was grateful. Cassidy had been through something traumatic and didn’t need the two
of them hovering over her.
Not only that, Zach hadn’t had time to speak with Mike about his friend’s feelings for Cassidy. If
the quick change in eye color and the thickening of his friend’s facial hair was any indication, he and
Mike had just found their mate.
 CHAPTER FOUR

Cassidy didn’t know what to say. Chopping wood, hauling the water from the stream every day, and
hunting for her food had been hard. Dare she move to a town, though? What if Doug learned where
she was staying and came after her?
“How big is Wildwood? I know I should have Googled it before I left, but I was kind of in a
hurry.”
“Five thousand residents, give or take a few hundred,” Mike said.
That was actually big enough to get lost in. “Your offer is very generous. Having hot water that I
don’t have to haul up from the stream and heat at night would be a luxury, but I don’t have much
money. What little I have, I’ll need for food. I don’t think I mentioned it, but I don’t have a car either.”
“How did you get to the park?” Mike asked.
“I hailed a cab.”
“How did you get from Wyoming to Montana?” he asked.
She blew out a breath. “I took a lot of buses. And by a lot, I mean about ten. In order to fool Doug,
I headed south to Colorado, changing buses a few times. Then when I thought no one could find me, I
headed north again. It was scary when we had to go near Thomas Ridge again, but I made sure we
passed through at night.”
“I’m impressed,” Zach said. “I’m not sure I’d be that careful.”
“When your life, as well as those you care about, is on the line, you do what you need to do.”
“You are something else, Cassidy. When you landed on the outskirts of Wildwood, what did you
do?”
“Like I said, I hired a cab to come here. I know Mindy said to find Mike, but I wanted to chill for
a few days.”
“Did you find me on your first day?” Zach asked.
“I did. When I realized you were a werewolf, I thought maybe Doug had me followed, but then
reason intruded. If you were with Doug’s clan, who would have harmed you?”
“Thank you for thinking that through.”
“How did you know where the cave was?” Mike asked.
“I didn’t at first. Once I learned that Zach was alive, my firefighting skills kicked in. I dragged
him as far as I could. The thick, soft snow made it easy. That's when I noticed the cave's entrance.
Since the blood on his back was starting to ice over, I knew that if I didn’t get him inside, he might
die.”
"Our friend spotted some blood on a tree."
"Yes, I leaned him against it while I checked out the inside. I wanted his exposure to the ground to
be as little as possible."
Zach looked over at Mike. “I told you a firefighter had saved me.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?” she asked.
“I was certain a woman had saved me since I saw her—or rather you. Because you didn’t call for
help, you probably believed that as a werewolf, I would heal on my own. Secondly, while werewolf
females are stronger than the average woman, it would take someone extraordinary to lift me. That’s
when I figured you might have been a firefighter.”
She dipped her chin. “Now, I’m the one who is impressed.”
Zach grinned, and her insides swirled. Lust in this quantity was not something she’d experienced
before. Until the whole issue with Doug was finished though, she needed to steel her heart. But damn,
that was going to be hard.
“Cassidy, it’s about four o’clock now,” Mike said. “If you’re going to take me up on our offer, we
should leave now. It’s either that or we’re all going to spend the night here.”
Conflicting emotions shot through her. Being with two men who could have her back would be
smart, but it was hard for her to rely on anyone too much. She had been brought up to be independent.
Then the image of a hot shower formed in her mind’s eye, as did a nice meal.
“I can’t pay you much rent until I get a job.”
Mike waved a hand. “No rent needed. I’m not paying Zach anything to bunk with him.”
Zach’s eyes widened, but the small lift of his lips implied he didn’t mind. “We’ll see about that.”
If she said no, would the men leave? If they did, she’d be in this uninsulated cold cabin for the
next few months. She inhaled. Her father always told her to trust her instincts. “Okay, but I will pay
you, I promise.”
Mike held up a hand. “Whenever you can will be good enough.”
Zach faced Mike. “When we get back, you owe me a card game.”
“Oh, joy. I so enjoy losing to you.”
Cassidy laughed, loving their wonderful relationship. She could see why Mindy had said Mike
was the salt of the Earth. “Well, if I’m leaving, I need to pack and clean up the cabin.”
“What can we do?” Zach asked.
“Wash the two dishes in the sink?”
“You got it.”
It took less time than she’d expected to stuff everything back into her pack and strap on her bow
and arrow—not that she’d be using it in town. “Do you think people would like to learn how to hunt
with a bow and arrow?” she asked.
“I bet they would, but didn’t you say you wanted a job that Doug would never guess you’d have?”
"You're right."
“Don’t worry,” Mike said. “Zach’s relatives own half the businesses in town. I’m sure we can
find something for you.”
“Really?”
“Mike is exaggerating, though we are well-connected. When we get back to Wildwood, how
about we stop at my parents’ house? My twin is a little shorter than you, but I’m sure there’s stuff at
the house she never took with her when she moved out. You could spend the night there while Mike
and I straighten up his place.”
“You don’t have to do that for me.”
“Trust me. We do. I love this big hulk of a guy, but he’s not the best housekeeper.”
Mike acted affronted. “I’ll have you know that I’m a busy person.”
 “And I’m not?” Zach said.
“You’re a control freak. That’s why your place is so neat.” He turned to her. “Zach insists that I
recycle my beer cans when I’m at his place.”
She chuckled. “I love it.”
Zach turned to Cassidy. “Just to be clear, what he means by neat is that I pick up my clothes
instead of leaving them strewn around.”
Mike gave him the finger.
“Okay.” Zach chuckled and then faced Cassidy. “Ready to start your new adventure?”
She prayed she was doing the right thing. “Yes.”
Once Zach locked up, he led while Mike walked behind her. They didn’t have a lot of daylight
left, but Cassidy didn’t mind hiking in the dark. She had her headlight to help guide her.
The walk was incredibly beautiful. Because few of the trees had leaves on them, the sky gave
them a wonderful light show. She swore every star in the galaxy had come out to say goodbye.
While the air was downright cold, she didn’t mind since they were moving at a fast enough clip to
keep warm. If Cassidy hadn’t been with the two men, they might have shifted, though what they would
have done with their packs, she didn’t know.
It was close to seven before they emerged from the forest. Only two vehicles remained in the lot.
“Which truck is yours?” she asked, happy that Doug’s truck wasn’t there.
“The black one.”
“Mine’s the beige one,” Mike said.
They walked up to Zach’s truck, and he held open the door for Cassidy.
“What? She doesn’t get a choice? Maybe she wants to ride with me,” Mike said.
“Oh, boy. Do you two always fight like this?”
“No,” they said in unison.
“I think we’re a little nervous being around you,” Zach said. "Or rather I am."
“Nervous? Why? I promise I am no threat.”
Zach smiled. “That’s not what I meant. I’m sure if Mike and I teamed up, we could take you down.
It’s that I don’t date much. I’m more of the loner type. Mike, on the other hand, is the gregarious one.
It’s why I’m a bit nervous.”
That took some guts to admit that. “How about I go with you this time and Mike the next?” That
seemed like a nice solution.
“Fine,” Mike said. “We’re going to your folks’ place, right, Zach?”
“Yes. I’m sure Mom will be thrilled that one of her kids wants to visit.”
“How many siblings do you have?” she asked.
“Four. I’ll give you a rundown as soon as I call my mom. I know she’ll appreciate a heads up.”
“By all means.”
Zach took Cassidy’s backpack with her bow and arrow attached and stashed it in the back seat.
Once he put his gear back there, he climbed into the truck. When she closed the door, the lack of wind
was welcomed.
“Let me crank up the heat.”
“Thanks.” Cassidy thought she wouldn’t have any problem staying in the cabin for three or more
months, but now that she was headed to a soft bed and a warm shower, she might have overestimated
her ability to sustain adversity.
Once Zach placed his phone on the hands-free holder, he dialed his mom to let her know to expect
company.
 “Zach, is that you?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised. Yes, it’s me.”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
How nice that his mom still worried about him, though it made sense. He had recently been close
to death.
“I’m great. I called because I found the person who dragged me to safety.”
“You did? That’s wonderful. Who is he?”
Zach glanced over at her and shrugged. “Her name is Cassidy. It’s a long story, but could we stop
over for dinner if it isn’t too late? Mike is with us.”
“Of course you can. In fact, your dad just got home. You know how much I love having my kids
stop by.”
“And do you think Cassidy could spend the night? She’ll be moving into Mike’s place tomorrow,
but he needs to straighten it up first.”
“Oh. I didn’t know he knew her that well.”
Cassidy wanted to explain to Mrs. Granger that Mike wouldn’t be there, but Zach would tell her
at some point. “He just met her. Listen. We’re leaving the forest now and heading straight to your
place.”
“Oh, my. I need to get cracking. Bye.” And then she hung up.
Cassidy chuckled. “Your mom sounds wonderful.”
“She is.”
“You said you have four siblings. What are they like?”
Zach went through the list starting with his twin sister. “Tawny, who is mated to the two men I told
you about, runs the Wildwood Rescue Center in town.”
“Really? That sounds amazing.”
“We can always ask if she can use more help, though she did just hire someone. He's the brother
of my cousin's mate, in fact.”
“Then I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“I get it. Next is Dan. He’s twenty-eight and a high school math teacher.”
“Your family has quite diverse interests.”
“True,” Zach said. “Next comes Mason. He is a private investigator. I’m hoping he can dig up
some information on this Doug guy that might help us.”
“I'd like that. And the last sibling?”
“Brandon. He runs a car dealership in town.”
“Does he sell used cars?”
“He does, but I’m thinking we can find you a loaner to get you started.”
“That would be great.” Zach was too good to be true. Did he and his family open their arms to all
strangers?
The trip out of the forest was a bit disconcerting, only because she wondered if Doug had been
able to convince Mindy to tell him where Cassidy was headed. Would he be waiting somewhere in
town? Maybe Zach’s private investigator brother could ask around for her.
About twenty minutes later, Zach pulled into a nice neighborhood. With Mike right behind them, it
gave her a sense of security. When Zach drove up the drive of a sprawling ranch house, she relaxed.
“This is nice.”
“Thanks. To me, it’s just home, sweet home. My folks have lived here since they married many
years ago.”
 He cut the engine, jumped out, and opened Cassidy’s door. She never waited for anyone to do that,
but she had been lost in thought for a moment.
Zach held out his hand and helped her down, not that she needed it. “Ready to meet my folks?”
 CHAPTER FIVE

Mike couldn’t wait to see how the interaction between Cassidy and Zach’s parents would play out,
though he could guess how it would go down. Mrs. Granger would fawn all over Cassidy, asking all
kinds of intimate questions, like when she and Zach would be getting together. Mike had been through
that scenario a few times. Only this time, it would hopefully be the last girlfriend his parents would
have to meet.
Meeting someone’s parents was never easy, though Cassidy probably wasn’t thinking along those
lines. She was there for food, a hot shower, and a good night’s sleep. That’s all.
Now that Mike understood that Cassidy was Zach's and his mate, Mike hoped he didn’t end up
rushing her and messing things up. She was skittish enough as it was—not that he blamed her.
What a shame murder wasn’t legal, or he’d drag Zach and a few of their friends down to Thomas
Ridge, Wyoming, and teach this Doug guy a lesson. Having such angry thoughts at the moment
wouldn’t do anyone any good. He needed to focus on the positives. Hell, maybe he should thank Doug
for chasing her away, right into his arms and hopefully into his bed.
On the way to the Granger family home, Mike had called Tawny and explained the situation. He
let it slip that Cassidy was their mate. Since her brother had basically offered Cassidy some of
Tawny’s clothes, he thought she might like to meet this mystery woman. Needless to say, Zach’s twin
was thrilled and excited to help.
He pulled behind Zach in his parents’ driveway. Mike and Zach had been best friends forever, and
Mr. and Mrs. G were like his second parents—or rather his mom was like a second mom. Zach's dad
could be rather stuffy at times. Then again, he was the town sheriff. Come to think of it though, it
wouldn’t do anyone any good to have a sheriff who was a pushover or who visited the bars every
night—not that Mr. G could get drunk if he tried. Werewolves had a high tolerance for liquor.
Zach knocked on his truck window. Shit. Mike had been lost in thought. He pushed open the door.
“Sorry. I was thinking about something.”
“I totally understand. I’m having a hard time focusing myself. Come on.”
Cassidy was waiting next to Zach’s truck with her backpack. Mike slipped it from her fingers.
“I’ll carry it.”
“Thanks.”
Zach knocked on the front door and then entered. “Hey, Mom,” he called.
His mother came out of the back where the kitchen was located. Mrs. G instantly focused on
Cassidy. She smiled and rushed up to them. “I’m so glad you came over, Zach.” She held out her hand
to Cassidy. “I’m Zach’s mom, Teresa.”
“Cassidy. Nice to meet you.”
 She then turned to Mike and then gave him a warm hug. “And you! I haven’t seen you in ages. You
promised you’d stop by more often.”
“Sorry, Mrs. G. I’ll try to do better.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
If he and Zach were lucky enough to be in a relationship with Cassidy, Mike imagined they’d stop
by more often.
“Something smells good,” Zach said.
“Come back into the kitchen and find out.”
Cassidy leaned over to Zach and asked if she could shower first. She had whispered the question,
but Mike had heard her.
“Sure.” He turned to his mother. “Cassidy has been holed up in our cabin for two weeks. Would it
be all right if she showered first?”
“Oh, my, yes. Your sister won’t be here for another ten minutes. I believe she is bringing some old
clothes for Cassidy.”
“Really?” Cassidy said. “That is so nice of her.”
“Let me show you where you can clean up. I know there are some clothes Tawny left that she'll
never use again. I should have donated them a long time ago, but I keep putting it off. Zach said you’ll
be staying the night.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course not. Come with me.”
Mike handed back her backpack. “Hurry.”
When she smiled at him, Mike could feel the hairs grow thicker on his face. He placed his hands
behind his back so she wouldn’t spot his nails growing.
As soon as Cassidy was out of sight, he stepped next to Zach. “This is crazy.”
“What is? I mean, it’s all surreal, but what specifically are you talking about?”
“That Cassidy is my mate.”
Zach grinned. “You mean our mate.”
“Yes, our mate. So, what’s our next step?”
Zach wrapped an arm over Mike’s shoulder. “After we have dinner and make sure Cassidy is in a
good place, we go back to your place and clean it like it has never been cleaned before. We don’t
want her to be turned off before we’ve had a chance to prove to her that we all belong together.”
“Don’t you have some relative that owns a maid service we could hire?”
Zach laughed. “Not that I know of, but maybe Cassidy would like to start such a company.”
“Let’s see what interests her first. I was thinking about asking my folks if they could use someone
at their landscaping company.”
“I like it, but is there much to do in the winter?”
“They have a greenhouse where they grow flowers. The problem is that since her clan grows their
own food, it might be too close to what Cassidy does at home.”
"We'll keep that option open, but we should call around for other options." Zach nodded to the
stairs. “Mom’s back.” He turned to his mother. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t it be? Come into the kitchen. We need to talk.”
That didn’t sound good. Both of them followed Mrs. G into the kitchen.
“Where’s Dad?” Zach asked.
“He’ll be down shortly.”
Knowing Zach’s mom, she probably had asked Mr. G to stay away until she had the talk with her
son.
“Got anything to drink?” Zach asked.
“In a moment. Sit down, boys.”
“I feel like I’m ten-years-old again,” Zach telepathed.
“I kind of like it. Your mom’s kitchen—and your mom—are always warm and inviting.”
Zach narrowed his eyes and then turned back to his mother. “What do you need to talk to me
about?” Zach asked.
“Zachery Adam Granger. How can you ask that? You bring home a woman your sister says is your
mate. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Zach kicked Mike’s leg, and it took some effort not to respond. Yes, Mike had told Tawny that
Cassidy was their mate, but Zach said he'd sensed it long before they found her at the cabin and had
mentioned that fact to his sister. It wasn’t as if Mike gave away some secret.
“I didn’t want to say anything with Cassidy sitting next to me. And for the record, we just found
her a few hours ago. When could I have told you?”
A slow smile spread across her face. “I suppose you couldn’t have mentioned it to me when you
called. Anyway, I can’t tell you how happy I am for you two. Tawny is the happiest I’ve seen her, and
I wish you and Mike the same success.”
Before Zach could respond, the front door opened.
“Mom?” That was Tawny.
“Back here, dear.”
Tawny came back with both Alex and Liam. “Guys, nice to see you again.” Mike stood, not sure
where they were all going to sit.
“Move over to the kitchen table, so we have room,” Zach's mom said.
Tawny stepped next to Zach. “Where is your mystery woman? I can’t wait to meet her. I put a bag
of clothes for her next to the front door.”
“I appreciate it. She’s taking a shower. She’s been in the cabin for two weeks.”
“She must have been ripe,” Alex said.
Mike chuckled. “She took a few baths, but Cassidy said she spent hours hauling the water from the
river and heating it.”
“I bet.”
Tawny looked over at the entrance. “What’s her story?”
Just then Mr. G came in. “Hello, sweetheart.” He leaned over and kissed his daughter’s forehead
and then placed a hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Liam, Alex, and Mike. I didn’t know we were having a
party.”
“I told you that Zach called and said they found the woman who saved Zach’s life.”
He looked around. “Where is she?”
“Upstairs cleaning up, but Dad, please don’t grill her. Cassidy has been through a lot. Some
asshole in Wyoming attacked her car, her home, and her best friend. She’s on the run.”
“Oh, my.”
“Shh. She’s coming.” Zach jumped up, most likely to let her know they were all in the kitchen.
Mrs. G went over to the stove and pulled something out of the oven that smelled divine. “Cassidy,
have a seat next to Zach,” Mr. G said when she entered.
While their mate looked much better after the shower, the stress around her eyes hadn’t lessened.
No one was making any introductions, so Mike gave a little summary of each person, including
what they did for a living. “And Zach’s dad is the sheriff of Wildwood.”
 She froze. Oh, shit.
“Cassidy,” Zach said. “My dad can help, as can a few of my other relatives.”
“I don’t want anyone playing hero. I just need time to figure out how to handle Doug.”
“Excuse me, young lady, but I’m a little lost here. Would you mind filling me in?”
Mike thought Zach had done a good job, other than leaving out some details.
“You mean how I found Zach or about Doug?”
“You can start with Zach.”
Cassidy told them how she happened upon Zach. “Seeing how someone had tried to kill him, my
instincts as a firefighter kicked in, and I half dragged, half carried him into the cave.”
Mrs. G placed a lasagna casserole on the table, along with a salad, and garlic bread. It looked
amazing, though when she’d had time to prepare the meal, he didn’t know.
“Eat up before it gets cold.”
“We already ate, Mom. I just stopped by to give Cassidy some clothes.”
“Tawny, that is so nice of you. Thank you. Your mom said this outfit belonged to you.” Cassidy
tugged on her T-shirt.
"It did, but it looks better on you," Tawny said.
"I appreciate the loan."
“No problem. As far as the rest of the clothes I brought, I was planning on donating the clothes
anyway. They are just some T-shirts and drawstring pants that will probably be too short on you.
They’re from my rescue center.”
Cassidy smiled. “I’m not picky. I didn’t have time to pack a lot. What little space I had, I filled
with food as I didn’t know how long it would take me to find something to hunt.”
That resulted in a lengthy discussion about how she accomplished that. As the others peppered her
with questions about farming and sustainable living, Cassidy slowly relaxed. The food on the table
just seemed to disappear.
After two hours of everyone getting to know their mate, Mike could tell Cassidy was working
hard to stay awake.
“I think we should let Cassidy get a good night’s sleep. She’ll be moving into my place once I
give it a good cleaning. I’ll be bunking with Zach.”
“If anyone has any ideas for a job for Cassidy, please let us know,” Zach said.
“That is so nice of you all,” their mate said. “It can’t be anything related to firefighting though. If
Doug learns where I am, that’s the first place he’ll look.”
“Cassidy,” Tawny said. “If Doug does find you, what do you think he’ll do? He wants to mate
with you, so he won’t harm you, will he?”
“Probably not, but the man has proven time and time again that if he wants something, he doesn’t
care what he has to do to get it.”
“Not to be rude, but why you?” Liam asked. “You said you aren’t his fated mate. Why not look
elsewhere?”
“I wish I knew. However, my father is the Alpha of our clan. I imagine Doug is thinking that if the
two clans join, we will supply his clan with food, water, and possibly labor. We are hard workers.”
“What would your clan get out of such a union?” he asked.
“The Kitcheners are a very wealthy clan. We could use some modernization.”
“What does your father think of the union?” Mr. G asked.
“He’s against it. Vehemently. No one should be forced to be with someone, especially if they
aren’t a nice person.”
 Mr. G’s lips pressed together. “Do you have a picture of this young man? We need to make certain
he doesn’t find you.”
She let out a long breath. “Unfortunately, no. I left my phone and computer at home. I didn’t want
him to be able to trace my whereabouts.”
“What about social media?” Mike asked. “Most people are on it.”
“I’m not, so I don’t know.”
“I’ll call my son Mason,” Mr. G said. “This young man’s name is Douglas Kitchener, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can you give me a description of him? Mason is a private investigator, but if he can’t learn
enough about him and his whereabouts, we know of another man who runs a white-hat hacking
service. He has access to all sorts of things we don’t.”
“That sounds great. Doug is thirty, and as I mentioned, he’s a werewolf. Tall, maybe six-feet-two
and a bit chunky. He works at a bank, so he’s not out in the woods getting into shape like the men at
this table are.”
Mike sat up straighter. He was pleased she’d noticed they weren’t slouches.
“Tell you what, Cassidy. Have a good night sleep and leave this Doug person to me.”
As if she’d been told Doug had been removed from the face of the Earth, joy radiated off her. “My
friend Mindy was right. The Grangers—and Mike—are the best.”
 CHAPTER SIX

The next morning, when Zach arrived at Mike’s place, he looked around. “Dude, you need to hire a
maid on a permanent basis.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“For you, maybe, but what about Cassidy? What kind of impression do you want to make on her?”
“Fine. I’ll clean it. I’ll even change the sheets and wash the towels.”
He’d even change the sheets? “Let’s fast forward a few weeks or whatever time it takes for
Cassidy to trust us enough to want to be with us permanently. If we live at my place, you have to clean
up your act.”
Mike held up his palm. “I can do that, but what if she doesn’t want to move to Montana? Ever.
Her life is in Wyoming.”
“Did you forgot Doug and the Kitchener Clan? Do you think she’ll want to be where they are?”
Zach asked.
“I’m hoping we can come to an agreement with Doug. If we’ve mated with her, he’ll have to find
another woman to be with.”
“Good point,” Zach said.
“Not that Cassidy isn’t a catch, but why did he push her so hard to be with him? Hasn’t he heard
of the concept of dating?”
“Maybe he thinks he’s some super mate material. She said Doug’s father is the Alpha and that
Doug is a banker. Maybe he plans to be next in line for the job of running his clan.”
“If he does, he might become more egotistical,” Mike said.
“True. I know Dad said he’d try to find out about this guy, but maybe her friend Mindy can give us
some details. How about we ask Mason to stop over at my parents’ house with a burner phone for
Cassidy to use? I'm sure she'd like to speak with her friend.”
“I bet she’d appreciate it.”
Mike left to grab the sheets off the bed, while Zach picked up the clutter in the living room. While
the one-bedroom apartment was nice, was it really all that safe? He supposed he and Mike could take
turns watching the apartment complex to make sure no one bothered her, but they wouldn’t be able to
keep it up for long. Even werewolves needed sleep sometime.
Mike returned with an armful of laundry. “Do you think she’ll like staying here?” Mike asked.
“It’s a lot better than the cold cabin. However, for her to be happy in Wildwood, we need to find
her a job.”
“You’re the one with the connections. What about Will? I imagine with the high season upon us, he
could use more waitresses.”
 His cousin owned a bar, but would Cassidy like doing that? “If Doug comes to town, he’ll
probably stop in there for a drink or a meal. If he spotted her, that would be bad.”
Mike placed the laundry in the washing machine, poured in the soap, and turned it on. “You’re
right. How about if she worked for Brandon?”
“He sells cars. While people might come to ogle her, how much does she know about the different
vehicles?”
“You’re making this hard.” Mike snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. Brittany. Your cousin sells real
estate. I doubt she’d ever run into Doug.”
“As a realtor, Cassidy would have to understand contracts and be knowledgeable about the area.
I’m not sure she qualifies.”
Mike faced him. “Then you come up with a solution.”
“I don’t have one. Yet. I would suggest she work for my dad, but if Doug comes looking for her,
he’d either pay Mason to locate her or ask at the sheriff’s office.”
“Your Uncle Garth owns a mining company. Maybe there is something she could do there.”
“Possibly,” Zach said. “Let’s see what she’d like to do first. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be in the
public eye .”
Mike grinned. “I've got it. She could work for Alex and Liam.”
“Doing what?” Zach asked.
“I bet they could use someone to schedule their appointments and maybe help with advertising.”
“Advertising? As in take an ad out in the paper saying that Liam and Alex train werewolves?”
“No, you dork. She’d promote their company as an elite training camp. If humans show up, that’s
okay. Alex and Liam separated them before when they worked in Canada.”
“True. Let’s finish cleaning and then head on over to Mom’s. Cassidy needs to have a say in this.”
“Sure.”
Zach tackled the kitchen while Mike claimed he could clean a bathroom better than anyone. After
Zach inspected the apartment and found it to be presentable, Mike packed up a few things that he’d
need.
Once the sheets dried and were returned to the bed, Zach and Mike went over to Zach’s house to
drop off Mike’s truck and his gear. Zach then drove them both over to his mom’s place.
“How about calling Mason and explaining that Cassidy needs to contact her friend without fear of
having her location discovered?” Zach asked Mike. “Put him on speaker.”
“Can do.”
The conversation was a short one mostly because Dad had already given Mason the lowdown on
this Doug Kitchener guy.
“Where is she now?” Mason asked.
“At your parents’ house,” Mike said. “We’re heading over there now.”
“I’ll stop over shortly.”
“Thanks, Mason,” Zach said a second before Mike disconnected.
“I have an idea. Do you think Cassidy would be upset if I spent the night at the apartment in my
wolf form—for security purposes only, of course?”
Zach almost swerved off the road he was laughing so hard. “Who are you, and what have you
done with Mike the ladies’ man?”
“Fuck you. I can control myself.”
“She is our mate. What happens to our bodies is mostly out of our control. Don’t you get it? It’s
actually dangerous to be around Cassidy.”
 “We’ve managed so far,” he shot back.
“Because we’ve either been hiking or at my parents’ house. If she’s in bed and you’re nearby, do
you honestly think you’d have that much control?” Zach asked.
“Then you stay with me. We can help each other remain in control.”
"That might work." It didn’t take long before they reached the house. “Remember to take it slow
with Cassidy. Once she trusts us, maybe we can see about taking her out for a date.”
“Both of us?” Mike asked.
“I think she’d feel safer if there are two of us. As much as I’d like to jump her bones right away, I
don’t think Cassidy would like that.”
“Fine.”
Zach parked, and they rushed up to the front door. From the way the clouds were swirling around,
a storm was brewing. If enough snow was dumped, Mike might be spending a lot of time on the ski
slopes, and Zach would be looking for ill-prepared campers who thought snow camping was a smart
idea. Where would that leave Cassidy?
Zach pressed the latch on the door, but it was locked. “That’s odd.”
He knocked and a moment later, a smiling Cassidy opened up. She looked beautiful. An image of
being in bed with her nearly caused him to lose his balance. “Hey,” he said.
“Come in. You’re letting in the cold air.”
They stepped inside. “Why is the door locked?”
“Your dad is at work, and your mom didn’t want to chance Doug showing up.”
“I guess she’s learned a thing or two being the wife of the sheriff. Where is my mom?”
“She’s making something in the kitchen.”
He relaxed. This was how things always were growing up—his mom cooking. “How are you
doing?” Zach asked her.
“Good. That bed was amazingly soft. I slept in past nine, which is not something I often do. It
actually seemed odd not to get up, down a cup of coffee, and then rush outside to either work in the
field or take off for the firehouse.”
“Speaking of work, Mike and I wanted to talk to you about a job.”
“You found one?” The excitement in her voice tore at him.
“Not yet. We wanted your input.”
“Oh, okay.”
When they reached the kitchen, his mom looked up and smiled. “Come to steal Cassidy away?”
“Our plans are flexible. It’s what we wanted to speak with her about.” Zach motioned that she
have a seat at the table.
Mike walked over to Zach’s mom. “Can I grab a cup of coffee, Mrs. G?”
“You sit down, and I’ll fix you some. I was just making lunch for Cassidy and myself, but I can
make a few more sandwiches for you boys.”
“Thanks.” Mike sat down at the table, reminding Zach of junior high and high school.
“Has your father learned anything about Doug?” she asked.
“I haven’t spoken with him today, so I’m assuming no.”
“Oh.”
Why did she sound so disappointed? “What are you hoping he’ll find?”
“There’s something I forgot to mention yesterday.”
“What’s that?”
“The Kitchener Clan follows this ancient law that most other clans have abandoned.”
 “What kind of ancient law?” Mike asked.
“It’s a succession law, like if the President of the United States is unable to perform his duty, the
Vice President assumes the role.”
“That kind of applies to a lot of clans. If the Alpha can’t perform his duty, the Beta takes over.”
“And that’s the problem. There is a loophole.”
“Which is?” Zach asked.
“If their Alpha dies or can’t perform his duties, his son—whether he is the Beta or not—shall
become the Alpha automatically if he has a mate who has or is about to bear him a child.” She
pressed her lips together.
It took a second for the information to sink in. “Oh fuck. Is Doug’s father dying? Is that why he is
in such a hurry to mate with you? He wants a brood mare, so to speak?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward. “All I have to do is stay away from him until his father passes. Then
Doug will have no use for me. Chris Wentworth, who is the Beta, will become the Alpha. He is
already mated, and they have three children—not that it’s a requirement for him.”
“All of this is about Doug wanting to become Alpha?” Zach asked.
“Yes.”
“I thought you said the Kitchener Clan wanted to unite with your clan to make one super clan,”
Mike said.
“That would be a side effect. I suspect Doug will be shunned if he fails to find a woman who
wants him.”
Mike chuckled. “That would suck for him, but he should try treating a woman better.”
“I don’t think it’s in this clan’s makeup. Kitchener clansmen are aggressive by nature.”
Zach’s mom set the coffee pot and four cups on the table. She then carried over a plateful of
sandwiches of all different kinds. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome. Now eat up.”
When she moved back to the stove, he told her to join them. His mom would think she was
intruding, but she wouldn’t be. “We can use your wisdom.”
She grinned and joined them. “I don’t know about that, but I’ll help anyway I can.” She turned to
Cassidy. “You asked if Adam found any information on Doug. Did you ask him to look into Doug’s
father’s health?”
“No.”
“If he calls, I’ll suggest it to him.”
“Mason is coming over to bring Cassidy a burner phone so she can call her best friend, Mindy.
Maybe we can learn something from her about Doug's dad's health.”
Her eyes lit up, causing Zach’s cock to instantly harden. That was embarrassing. For some reason,
he had the sense his mom might notice and say something.
"He's bringing a phone that's safe?"
"Yup."
A knock sounded, and a moment later Mason stepped into the kitchen. Zach must have forgotten to
lock the front door.
Mason handed her the phone. “I’m Mason, Zach’s older and better brother.”
Cassidy smiled and shook his hand. “Cassidy Evans.”
Evans? She hadn’t told them her last name. Then again, they hadn’t asked.
“I promise that no one will be able to trace this burner phone.”
She looked over at Zach and then Mike. “Would you mind if I call Mindy now?”
 “Of course not. I would ask that you be careful about using the Granger name, though. While the
call can’t be traced, no telling if Doug has bugged Mindy’s house.”
Cassidy’s mouth opened. “I hadn’t even thought of that. Thank you.” She pushed back her chair. “I
won’t be long.”
As soon as she scooted out of the room, Mason’s eyes widened. “That is your mate?” he
telepathed.
Zach couldn’t help but grin. “Both of ours.”
“Damn, bro. Good job.”
Their mother cleared her throat. “You know what I said about using your telepathy at the table.”
They all cracked up.
 CHAPTER SEVEN

“Mindy, it’s me. Cassidy.”

The squeal on the other end did wonders for Cassidy’s frame of mind. She missed her friend
dearly.
“How are you?” Mindy asked.
Cassidy knew it would be unwise to say too much. “Great. I have a warm bed to sleep in and
good food. The details aren’t important. I…ah…read that you are in the hospital?”
“Oh, Cassidy, it was horrible, but they released me a few hours ago.”
“That's a relief. The article said you were attacked. What happened?”
“It was in the newspaper?" she asked.
"Yes."
"I had no idea someone wrote about it,” Mindy said.
“Considering our town is so small, an assault will make the news, but it didn’t say what really
occurred.” Cassidy told her what few details were listed.
“That’s more or less the gist. I was coming home from work when someone jumped me in the
parking lot. He wore a mask—but it wasn’t Doug, that much I can say for sure. This guy was shorter
and stockier and had a different voice. However, he was a werewolf.”
“What did he say?” Cassidy could guess.
“He wanted to know where you were.”
Damn. “I am so sorry. This sucks. Doug claimed he’d hurt someone I cared about if I didn’t agree
to be with him, but I didn’t think he meant assault. What did you tell him?” She held her breath,
hoping her friend hadn’t said too much.
“I said I didn’t know where you were. All you told me was that you needed to get away, and that
the less I knew, the better. Even you weren’t sure where you were going.”
“Way to think on your feet. Did he believe you?”
“Considering he attacked me, I don’t think so.”
Cassidy blew out a breath, her heart aching. “Did he hurt your beautiful face, break any bones,
or…” Cassidy couldn’t bring herself to list that last option.
“No, he didn’t violate me, but he held a knife to my throat. The cut won’t leave a scar, thank
goodness. I do have quite a lot of bruises though.”
“I am so sorry, Mindy. This is all my fault. I just thought that if I left town, Doug would give up.”
“Apparently not. On the plus side, I heard his dad took a turn for the worse.”
“Good." Now she didn't need Zach's dad to research it. "I know that sounds terrible, but if he
dies, then there will be no reason for Doug to want me anymore.”
 “Cass, that might be wishful thinking.”
She stilled. “Why do you say that?”
“Doug is a proud man. Chances are he’s told everyone that you are excited to be with such a stud.
He probably bragged that he was going to be the next Alpha.”
That sounded like him. “I wonder what Chris Wentworth thinks about that. Being the legitimate
next in line, he can’t be happy that Doug is using some ancient rule to usurp his power.”
“Probably not, but I haven’t heard of any gossip about them fighting, though it’s hard to pick up
any facts being in the hospital.”
“You said you were released. Are you back home?” Where someone could attack her again?
“No, I’m staying with Mom. She took some time off to help me heal. I won’t be going back to
work for a while.”
“Maybe I should just come back. If Doug hurts anyone else, I won’t be able to live with myself.”
“No!” Her friend practically shouted over the phone. “For starters, what’s done is done.
Secondly, you’d be miserable if you were with him.”
“You’re right about that.” Cassidy was dying to tell someone about Zach and Mike. “Here’s the
irony of this whole mess. I met my mates, I think.”
“What!”
“Shh.” Not that anyone on her end could hear Mindy or so she hoped.
“Is it Mike?”
“Yes. He is charming, nice, and considerate. He is the total opposite of Doug.”
“I am so happy for you, but now you can never return.”
“Why?”
“If you came back here, Mike would be devastated. I don’t know if the lore about mates is
correct, but if he and you don’t stay together, he’ll be miserable for the rest of his life. You wouldn’t
want that for him, would you?”
Cassidy hadn’t considered that. “No.”
“Hold on. You said mates, as in plural?”
Cassidy almost giggled. “Yes. His best friend is Zach Granger.” She whispered the last part, not
wanting anyone to hear her talking about him.
“Are you kidding me? Mike said his family is super rich.”
“I wouldn’t know. Listen, I shouldn’t say anything else.”
“Tell me this. How did you know they were your mates? Was it instant lust? Did your body go
crazy like they say the men’s bodies do?”
Cassidy had to think about it for a second. “I was instantly drawn to them. I remember that much,
but who wouldn’t be? Both men are gorgeous. As far as recognizing them as my mates, I was too
distracted to think along those lines. Anything I felt, I pushed to the side. I didn’t trust anyone or
anything.”
“What changed your mind about them?” Mindy asked.
What had it been? “For starters, when I found out who they were, I knew I could trust them. Then
it became the little things that made me think they both could be my mates. They were kind and
considerate. Their actions spoke to me.”
“Oh, Cassidy. I am happy for you. At some point, after you’ve mated with the men, you should
send a thank you note to Doug.”
She chuckled. “Why would I do that?”
“You never would have met them if he hadn’t been such an ass.”
 “You’re right.” Cassidy sighed. “I miss you so much. You help me focus on what is important.”
“Ditto. Can I call you sometime? I’m assuming this phone is safe?”
“It is,” Cassidy said. “But I don’t know the number. Zach’s brother said it was a burner phone.”
Some laughter sounded in the kitchen. “Hey, I need to go. I’ll call again when I can.”
“I love you.”
“Love you back.”
When Cassidy hung up, bitter sweetness filled her. She missed Mindy so much, but it was better to
stay as far away from Thomas Ridge as possible for the time being.
Cassidy should have called her parents, but to be honest, she wasn’t ready to hear the pain in their
voices. They’d ask when she was coming home, and she didn’t have the heart to say it might be quite
a while.
As soon as Cassidy returned to the kitchen, everyone stopped talking. She stilled. “Is something
wrong?” She placed the borrowed phone in front of Mason.
“No,” Zach said. “How is Mindy?”
She told them that her friend had been attacked in the parking lot of her apartment, but that she was
now out of the hospital.
“Was it Doug who hurt Mindy?” Mason asked.
“No, but Mindy is convinced that he sent one of his goons. Doug wouldn’t chance being caught.”
“What else did she say?” Mike asked.
“Doug’s dad isn’t doing well. We then discussed whether he would stop searching for me even
after his dad passed.”
Mike’s brows furrowed. “I take it Mindy thinks he won’t.”
Cassidy didn’t want to think that it might be true, but she needed to be realistic. “Possibly. Doug
is arrogant. It will be terribly bad for his image if the woman he wants—me—rejects him.”
“I imagine it would,” Zach said. “What are you going to do? You’re welcome to make a new life
in Wildwood.”
Cassidy had spent most of last night contemplating that concept. “I might, but I’d miss my parents
and Mindy terribly.”
“Invite them here,” Mike said.
She smiled. “I wish it were that simple. Dad is in charge of the clan, and Mindy has a good job.”
Mason slid the phone back to Cassidy. “Keep this for as long as you need. I would keep it near
you at all times so that no one has access to it. You’re welcome to have me do a scan on it to be sure
it’s clean.”
Who were these men? They were way too nice. “Thank you.”
“Cassidy, we’ve come up with a plan,” Zach said.
She pulled up a chair and sat down. “Oh. What is it?”
“We’d like you to stay at Mike’s like we said, but we don’t feel right leaving you alone.”
She worked hard not to smile, thinking about what their answer to not being alone might entail.
With Zach’s mother at the table, it would be awkward if they stated details. “Mike said it’s a third
floor walkup. I’m sure I’d hear someone coming.”
“You probably heard Mike and me coming up the stairs to the cabin, and yet you couldn’t hide or
get away.”
He had a point. “What are your proposing?”
“Mike’s place is a one-bedroom apartment, but one of us will stay with you at night. Don’t worry.
We’ll be in our wolf form guarding the door. That way no one can get to you.”
 “I love that idea. I would feel a lot better knowing I was safe.” Then images of what she could do
to entice them to shift shot through her mind until she remembered her promise to herself. It wouldn’t
be fair to be with her mates until this whole Doug thing was settled.
Or would it? Like Mindy suggested, if Cassidy was able to convince them to mate with her, then
she’d be useless to Doug. A woman couldn’t be mated twice. At least that was what she'd been taught.
Then her twisted logic sunk in. What a horrible reason to be with someone—except that the more
she was around Zach and Mike, the more she wanted them. It was crazy, yes, but it just proved that the
three of them were fated for one another.
“Great,” Zach said. “Mike and I cleaned his place the best we could, so it should be good.”
“I can clean, you know.”
“We don’t want you to have to.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll need to buy food, so I guess I’ll need a car.”
“We do have food delivery services, even in Wildwood,” Zach said. “Just call it in and they will
drop it off at the door. As for going out, until this whole Doug thing is settled, one of us can pick you
up.” He lifted a hand. “The last thing you need is to be run off the road by some Kitchener Clan
member. Just ask Tawny. She was almost killed that way.”
“That’s terrible.”
Zach turned to Mike. “I forgot to ask if you have anything edible in your house.”
He held up his middle finger. “I do eat.”
“Michael James Halperin. Watch your manners,” Zach’s mom said.
Cassidy thought it adorable that Mike actually blushed.
“Sorry, Mrs. G. I forgot you were there.”
His mom winked at Cassidy.
Now that Cassidy would be with these men, she wanted to look her best. Too bad makeup hadn’t
been an essential item when she'd packed. “Do you think we could stop at a drugstore on the way to
Mike’s? I’m going to go out on a limb and say Doug doesn’t know where I am, so a quick stop
shouldn’t be too dangerous. How long that will last, I can’t say.”
“Sure.” Zach looked over at his Mom. “Thanks for letting Cassidy stay here.”
“Anytime. Now that Tawny is busy with her men, I miss the girl talk.”
When all of this was over, Cassidy would have to make it a point to stop by more often, in part
because Mrs. Granger was a lot like her own mom. When her chin trembled, she had to remind
herself why she wasn’t in Thomas Ridge, nor would she be for a while.
“Ready?” Zach asked.
“Yes.”
After Cassidy finished packing the clothes Tawny had given her in her backpack, she went
downstairs.
“Bye, Mom,” Zach called out.
His mom rushed out and gave each of them a hug. “Don’t be strangers. Any of you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mike said.
It seemed to have turned colder overnight, but Cassidy wouldn’t complain. She was happy she
didn’t have to stay in the cabin any longer than she had. Those two weeks had been hard, especially
trekking the water from the river to the cabin. The hunting was fun, but it could be cold at times.
Mike held open the door to Zach’s truck. “Ladies first.”
These men were spoiling her, but she loved it. Cassidy had been brought up to serve others—not
to be doted on.
 Once Zach started the engine, he glanced over at her. “We have a few ideas for jobs, but we
haven’t contacted anyone yet. We didn’t know what you’d like to do.”
“Besides be a firefighter?”
“Yes.”
“I need money. I’ll do anything.”
The two of them went through the list of possible jobs from working at the Double G Bar to
possibly starting a maid service company.
“Wow. I think I’d like to start with something less ambitious than running my own company, only
because when and if this mess with Doug is resolved, I can return to what I love.”
“That makes sense.”
“I know nothing is guaranteed, but how about asking Alex and Liam first to see if they could use
an assistant? I would be surrounded by men who can fight.”
Zach smiled. “We’ll talk with them tomorrow.”
 CHAPTER EIGHT

Zach pulled up to his place to let Mike out. “I know you are not happy with me right now that I'm
the one staying at your apartment and not you,” Zach telepathed, “but don’t take out your anger by
trashing my place.”
“I would never do that. No promises it will look as good as the way it is now, but I will try my
best.”
Mike’s tilting up of his chin had Zach smiling. “See you in the morning.”
“Behave,” his friend shot back.
“Always.”
Once Mike went inside, Zach continued onto Mike’s place.
“He didn’t seem happy. Why?” Cassidy said.
“It’s his apartment, and he thought he should be the one to guard you.”
“So why didn’t he?” she asked.
Zach wasn’t about to say that Mike would have shifted into his human form and given some
excuse to crawl into bed with her. Knowing his best friend, Mike would probably say that he feared
Cassidy would have a nightmare, and that if he was by her side, he could hold her and console her.
“I volunteered first. He’ll probably take the shift tomorrow. We like to share.” Shit. That had
slipped out. Just because Zach knew that both he and Mike were Cassidy’s mate, she might not be
aware of it.
“I like sharing.”
Adrenaline sped through his system faster than one of Cassidy’s arrows could fly through the air.
What did she mean she liked to share? As much as Zach wanted to ask her about making love with
both of them, he didn’t dare. If she was against it, that would make things a lot more difficult for them.
All wasn’t lost, however. His twin had said she wasn’t interested in being with two men either at
first, and look at her now? She adored Liam and Alex.
Once they arrived, Zach insisted on carrying Cassidy’s backpack up the two flights of stairs to the
third floor apartment. He probably should have gone in to his place and grabbed a few toiletries and a
change of clothes to change into tomorrow when he dropped off Mike at his house, but Zach hadn’t
been thinking. This woman disrupted all of his rational thought.
When they entered Mike's apartment, Cassidy smiled. “What a wonderful place.”
Really? None of Mike’s furniture matched—not that his did—but he and Mike were guys. Mike
had a few framed photos on his walls that he’d taken of the mountains, but other than that, it was a bit
sterile. Zach would have thought Cassidy would have liked something a bit more upscale, though she
did say her family lived mostly off the grid.
 “The bedroom’s in there.” Zach carried in her pack, placed it next to the bed, and then walked out.
“We can watch television if you like.”
Cassidy crossed her arms. “You don’t have to babysit me, you know. You’re welcome to go home
and return at say ten tomorrow morning, if it makes you feel better.”
“You said you’d feel better if one of us guarded the door.”
“I know, but I hate to impose. You’ve done so much for me already.”
“You aren’t imposing. In truth, I’d feel better knowing you were safe, but perhaps tomorrow we’ll
give you a little more space. For now, how about we enjoy the evening?” Like an old married
couple. “If you want, we can order some food. I’ll give you a list of the best places that do take-out.”
“Does Mike have any food we can use to cook with? Ordering out is expensive.”
He understood that she needed to watch her money. “Whatever Mike doesn’t have, we can pick up
at the grocery store if you like. Can you cook?”
Cassidy planted her palm on her forehead, acting as if that was a ridiculous question. “Can I
cook? Are you kidding? My second love besides being a firefighter is being a chef.”
Jackpot! “Who knew?”
“What about you? Do you or Mike cook?”
He loved that she asked about both of them. “Even though my mother is amazing, or rather because
my mother is amazing at preparing food, I never really learned. I mean, I get by. I can make a mean
omelet, and I can grill steaks, hamburgers, and hot dogs, but that’s about it.”
She smiled. “What about Mike?”
“As a wilderness guide, Mike has to be able to use what's available to make a good meal, but I
wouldn’t say he’d make a living being a chef in any restaurant. However, Mike is definitely a better
cook than I am.”
“Good to know.” She glanced at the clock. “How about you take me shopping, and when we get
home, I'll whip us up a meal? I doubt that Doug would ever step foot in a grocery store. That’s
women’s work.”
Zach whistled. “I don’t divide work by sex. Whoever wants the chore or whoever is the most
competent, gets the job.”
“I like it.”
“Before we go, we should take inventory of what Mike has. You can then make a list.”
“Perfect.”
She seemed happy to be able to contribute something. Most likely he’d be paying, but for a good
meal he didn’t mind. While he didn’t look carefully at what she’d purchased at the drugstore, she had
bought quite a lot of things. Since money was tight for her, she needed to watch what she spent.
Zach found some paper and a pen for her to take notes. Cassidy did a thorough job of jotting down
what Mike had in the refrigerator as well as in the cabinets.
She faced him. “Pasta, fish, chicken, or red meat?”
“I will eat anything.”
Cassidy tilted her head. “Work with me here, ranger.”
Zach chuckled. “How about chicken with some kind of marinara sauce?” His mom often made it
and said it was easy to make. “I can check on line for a recipe unless you’ve memorized how to make
it. Mike’s computer is on the table.”
“Go for it.”
Once he found what looked like a simple recipe, he took a picture of it on his phone. “Ready
when you are.”
 “Let me get my coat.”
Zach couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to a supermarket with a woman. It might have
been a few years ago when Mike decided that Tiffany would be the one for them. At the time, they
hadn’t even discussed the concept of a fated mate. It was only when Cassidy walked into their lives
that he realized she existed.
Cassidy didn’t say much on the way to the store, and he wondered if she was having second
thoughts. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“I’m worried about Mindy and my parents. I know Doug said he’d do what he needed to do in
order to convince me to mate with him, but I never thought he’d resort to violence.”
Pain and guilt flowed off of her. “It’s not your fault. If he’d asked you out in a nice manner, you
might have said yes.”
“I suppose. It’s not that I haven’t dated, but in the back of my mind, I knew I was biding my time
until I met the right person or persons.”
Zach forced himself not to look at her. If he did, no telling what his physical reaction to her would
be. Cassidy had just admitted that she was waiting for the right man or men to enter her life. Was she
aware that she’d already met them? His sister had more or less told him that the moment she met Alex
and Liam she knew they were the ones for her.
While the physical reaction wasn’t quite the same with the females of their species, they were
still effected by the mate draw.
Zach should answer her, but he had no idea what to say. His family members were right. He had
spent too much time in the woods and not enough with the opposite sex.
Thankfully, Abbott’s grocery store came into view before he had to talk any more about mates.
“Ready to make us a gourmet meal?”
“I’m more than ready. Not that rabbit isn’t tasty, but it gets rather monotonous after a while. Your
mom’s lasagna helped break the boredom.”
“Mike buys all of the food for his hiking group. No hunting allowed—with guns that is. I don’t
remember any law against hunting with a bow and arrow.”
“I’m just glad I wasn’t arrested in case it was illegal.”
He finally looked over at her and smiled. “I’m sure I could have put in a good word for you if you
had been.”
“I bet you could have.”
Zach parked close to the entrance. Before he could race over to Cassidy’s side to open her door,
she slipped out. So much for being chivalrous.
Zach couldn’t believe he was nervous. A home cooked meal was a big deal, though he understood
she wouldn’t want to be at a restaurant right now. Once he told Mike about Cassidy making dinner, his
friend would not be happy that he’d missed out.
Zach debated calling him to see if he wanted to join them, but she might not be ready for that, even
though today she actually seemed relaxed. Having a good night’s sleep and being surrounded by a
warm and loving family must have had an effect on her. Being able to speak with Mindy also seemed
to have elevated her mood.
“What do we need?” Zach asked. “I shop here, but I can’t say I know where everything is.”
She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Relax. I enjoy walking up and down the aisles to see what
they have. You’re footing the bill, right?”
“You cook. I pay.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
"I saw one Thing this morning," said Wentworth grimly. "I don't like to
think about it. If they're bringing it over to snap us up when this can
is lifted off us, we're up against plenty of trouble. You keep your
finger on the flight-button! That Thing was bigger than the Galloping
Cow! I'll try to tip McRae off as to what's happened."
He settled down by the communicator. Every ten minutes he tried to
call the expedition's ship. Every time there came a monstrous roar of
static as the set came on, and no other sound at all. Aside from that,
nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.
The flier lay on the ground with an unnatural assortment of reflected
and re-reflected light-beams from the twin landing-lamps. There
were four clumps of skit-trees sharing the prison with the flier and the
men.
Silence. Stillness. Nothing. Every ten minutes Wentworth called the
Galloping Cow. It was an hour and a half before there came an
answer to Wentworth's call.
"—llo!" came McRae's voice through the crackling static. "Down in—
gain—no sign—sort anywhere—"
"Get a directional on me!" snapped Wentworth. "Can you hear me
above the static?"
"What sta—voice perfectly clear—" came McRae's booming. "Keep
—talking...."
Wentworth blinked. No static at the Galloping Cow? When his ears
were practically deafened? Then it made sense. All of it!
"I'll keep talking!" he said fervently. "Use the directional and locate
me! But don't try to help me direct! Take a bearing from where you
find me to where a fifty-foot dirt embankment sticks out from a
mountain-spur to the north. Get on that line and you'll hear the static,
all right.
"It's in a beam coming right here at me. Follow that static back to the
mountains, and when you find where it's being projected from, you'll
find some skit-tree planters with all the artifacts your little heart
desires. Only maybe you'll have to blast them."
He swallowed.
"It works out to sense," he went on more calmly. "They built up a
civilization based on generating instead of building the things they
wanted to use. Our force-fields are globular, because the generator's
inside. If you want a force-field to have a definite shape, you have to
generate it differently. Their cities and their machines weren't
substance, though they were solid enough. They were force-fields!
"The generators were off at a distance, throwing the force-field they
wanted where they needed it. They projected solidities like we
projected pictures on a screen. They projected their cities. Their
tools. Probably their spaceships too! That's why we never found
artifacts. We looked where installations had been, instead of where
they were generated and flung to the spot where they were wanted.
There's a beam full of static coming from those mountains."
Light! With all the blinding suddenness of an atomic explosion, there
was light. Wentworth had a moment's awareness of sunshine on the
brittle stalks of skit-trees, and then of upward acceleration so fierce
that it was like a blow. The atmosphere-flier hurtled skyward with all
its lift-jets firing full blast, and there was the Galloping Cow lumbering
ungracefully through atmosphere at ten thousand feet, some twelve
or more miles away.

McRae's voice came out of a communicator which now picked up no

static whatever.
"What the devil?" he boomed. "We saw something that looked like a
big metal tank, and it vanished and you went skyward from where it'd
been like a bat out of a cave."
"Suppose you follow me," said Wentworth grimly. "The skit-tree
planters on this planet, anyhow, don't want us around. By pure
accident, I got a line on where they were. They lured me away from
their place by projecting a city.
"I went to look, and it vanished. I played hide and seek with it until
they changed tactics and let it stay in existence. Maybe they thought
we'd land on it, high up, and get out of the flier to explore.
"Then the city would have vanished and we'd have dropped a mile or
two, hard. But we landed on the ground instead, and they clapped a
jail around us.
"I don't know what they intended, but you came along and they let
the jail vanish to keep you from examining it. And now we'll go talk to
them!"
The flier was streaking vengefully back to the embankment to where
only that morning, before sunrise, Wentworth had seen something
he still didn't like to think about.
The Galloping Cow veered around to follow, with all the elephantine
grace of the animal for which she had been unofficially christened.
She'd been an Earth-Pluto freighter before conversion for the
expedition, and she was a staunch vessel, but not a handy one.
The flier dived for the hills. Wentworth's jaws were hard and angry.
The Galloping Cow trailed, wallowing. The flier quartered back and
forth across the hills, examining every square inch of ground.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The search went on. The communicator
boomed.
"They're playing 'possum," McRae's voice said. "We'll land and make
a camp and prepare to hunt on foot."
Wentworth growled angrily. He continued to search. Deeper and
deeper the flier went into the hills, going over and over every bit of
terrain. Then, quite suddenly, the communicator emitted babbling
sounds. Shoutings. Incoherent outcries. From the ship, of course.
There were sudden, whining crashes, electronic cannon going off at
a panic-stricken rate. Then a ghastly crashing sound, and silence.
The flier zoomed until Haynes and Wentworth could see. They
paled. Wentworth uttered a raging cry.
The Galloping Cow had landed. Her ports were open and men had
emerged. But now a Thing had attacked the ship with a ruthless,
irresistible ferocity. It was bigger than the Galloping Cow. It stood a
hundred feet high at the shoulder. It was armored and possessed of
prodigious jaws and gigantic teeth. It was all the nightmares of
mechanistic minds rolled into one.
It must have materialized from nothingness, because nothing so
huge could have escaped Wentworth's search. But as Wentworth
first looked at it, the incredible jaws closed on the ship's frame and
bit through the tough plates of beryllium steel as if they had been
paper. It tore them away and flung them aside.
A mainframe girder offered resistance. With an irresistible jerk, the
Thing tore it free. And then it put its claws into the very vitals of the
Galloping Cow and began to tear the old spaceship apart.
The crewmen spilled out and fled. The Thing snapped at one as he
went but returned to its unbelievable destruction. Someone heaved a
bomb into its very jaws, and it exploded, and the Thing seemed not
to notice.
Wentworth seized the controls of the flier from Haynes. He dived, not
for the ship, but for the space between the ship and the mountains.
He flung the small craft into crazy, careening gyrations in that space.
And then the communicator shrieked with clacking static. The flier
passed through the beam, but Wentworth flung it back in. He
plunged toward the mountains. He lost the beam, and found it again,
and lost it and found it.
"There!" he said, choking with rage. "Down from the top of that cliff.
There's a hole—a cave-mouth. The beam's coming from there!"
He plunged the flier for the opening, and braked with monstrous
jetting that sent rocket-fumes blindingly and chokingly into the tunnel.
The flier hit, and Wentworth scrambled to the forepart of the little
ship and leaped to the cliff-opening against which it bumped. Then
he ran into the opening, his flame-pistol flaring before him.
There was a blinding flash inside. The blue-white flame of a short-
circuit created a gigantic arc. It died. The place was full of smoke,
and something small ran feebly across the small space that
Wentworth could see, and fell, and kicked feebly, and was still.
Wentworth could hear a machine come to a jolting stop. And
crouching there fiercely, he waited for more antagonists.
None came. The fumes drifted out the cave-mouth. Then he could
see the Thing on the floor. Clad in a weirdly constructed space-suit,
the creature he had knocked over was not human and looked very
tired. It was dead. Next he saw an almost typical tight-beam
projector, linked with heavy cables to a scanning device.
He saw a model—all of five feet high—of the city he and Haynes had
tried to reach. The model was of unbelievable delicacy and
perfection. But the scanning system now was focused on a metal
object which was a miniature Thing with claws and jaws and armor.
It was two feet long, and there was a cable control by which its
movements could be directed. A solidity which was controlled by that
ingenious mechanical toy could dig canals, or gather the crop from
the tops of skit-trees—when enlarged in the projection to stand a
hundred feet high at the shoulder—or it could tear apart a spaceship
as a terrier rends a rat.
There was more. Much more. But there had been only the one small
Inhabitant, who wore a space-suit on his own planet. And he was
dead. Haynes' voice came from the flier at the cave-mouth.
"Wentworth! What's happened? Are you alive? What's up?"
Wentworth went out, still in a savage mood. He wanted to see how
the Galloping Cow had withstood the attack. What he had seen last
looked bad.
It was bad. The Galloping Cow was a carcass. Her engines were not
too badly smashed, but her outer shell was scrap-iron, her frame
was twisted wreckage, and there was no faintest hope that they
could repair her.
"And—I'm engaged to be married when we get back," said Haynes,
white-faced. "We'll never get back in that."
Less than a month later, though, the Galloping Cow did head for
home. Haynes, unwittingly, had made it possible. Examination of the
solidity-projector revealed its principles, and Haynes—trying forlornly
to make a joke—suggested that he model a statuette of the last
Inhabitant to be projected a mile or two high above the skit-tree
plantations now forever useless.
But he was commissioned to model something else entirely, and in
his exuberance his fancy wandered afar. But McRea dourly
permitted the model to stand, because he was in a hurry to start.
So that, some six weeks from the morning when Wentworth had
seen an impossible Thing moving in the gray dawnlight on an
unnamed planet, the Galloping Cow was almost back in touch with
humanity. Two weeks more, and the outposts of civilization on Rigel
would be reached.
A long, skeleton tower had been built out from the old ship's battered
remnant. A scanner scanned, and a beam-type projector projected
the image of Haynes' modeling to form a solid envelope of force-field
about the ship. It was much larger than the original hull had been.
There would be room and to spare on the voyage home. And
Haynes was utterly happy.
"Think!" he said blissfully, in the scanning-room where the force-field
envelope was maintained about the ship. "Two weeks and Rigel!
Two months and home! Two months and one day and I'm a married
man!"
Wentworth looked at the small moving object on which the scanners
focused.
"You're a queer egg, Haynes," he said. "I don't believe you ever had
a solemn thought in your head. Do you know what wiped out those
people?"
"A boojum?" asked Haynes mildly. "Tell me!"
"The biologists figured it out," said Haynes. "A plague. The last poor
devil wore a space-suit to keep the germs out. It seems that some
wrecked Earth-ship drifted out to where one of their explorers found
it. And they hauled it to ground. They learned a lot, but there were
germs on board they weren't used to. Coryzia, for instance.
"In their bodies it had an incubation period of about six months, and
was highly contagious all the time. Then it turned lethal. They didn't
know about it in time to establish quarantines. No wonder the poor
devil wanted to kill us! We'd wiped out his race!"
"Too bad!" said Haynes. He looked down at the small moving thing
he had modeled for a new hull for the Galloping Cow.
"You know," he said blithely, "I like this model! I may not be the best
sculptor in the world—as an amateur I wouldn't expect it. But for a
while after we land on earth, I'm going to be the most famous man
alive."
And he beamed at the jerkily moving object which was the model for
the hull of the Galloping Cow. It was twelve hundred feet long, as it
was projected about the old ship's engine-room and remaining
portions. It had a stiffly extended tail and an outstretched neck and
curved horns. Its legs extended and kicked, and extended and
kicked.
The Galloping Cow, in fact, exactly fitted her name by her outward
appearance, as she galloped Earthward through emptiness.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKIT-TREE
PLANET ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in
these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of
this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept
and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and
may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the
terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of
the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given
away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree
to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from
the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in
paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a
few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with
Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in
the United States and you are located in the United States, we do
not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing,
performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the
work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of
course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely
sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name
associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of
this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its
attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without
charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms
of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™
work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or
with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is
accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived

from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the
United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must
comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of
this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that
s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
 copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and
discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project
Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™

electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may
be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except

for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph
1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner
of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party
distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this
agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and
expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO
REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF
WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE
FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY
DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE
NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it,
you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity
that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a
replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may
demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in
paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the
Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the
Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any
volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability,
costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or
indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur:
(a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b)
alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project
Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of

Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.
It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and
donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a
secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help,
see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project

Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to

the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can
be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the
widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small
donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax
exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and
keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in
locations where we have not received written confirmation of
compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of
compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where

we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no
prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in
such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of
other ways including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project

Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed

editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how
to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.