Wild Invitation

could see him withdrawing, his wolf refusing to meet her gaze.
    But there was something important in what he’d said, something he was too close to see. “You said the nightmares started up around the time you began to court me seriously.”
    A nod, jaw clenched.
    “It’s because I matter, Cooper.” It made her heart hurt tounderstand how much. “You worry about me in a way you haven’t worried about anyone since you were a boy.”
    Cooper didn’t say anything for a long time. “I’m always going to worry about you.”
    “Ditto.” Pressing her fingers to his lips, she said, “But maybe the nightmares won’t come when you know beyond any doubt that I’m safe and sound. I can’t get much safer than in your arms.”
    He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t fight her when she asked him to come to her bed again the next night. She knew he didn’t sleep properly, determined to hold the darkness at bay, but by the third day, he was so exhausted he crashed. This time, it was Grace who didn’t sleep. She knew what it would do to him to wake up screaming—so she’d kiss him at the first sign of trouble, seduce him until he forgot what had originally disturbed his sleep.
    It was the only answer she had, and if it failed, she didn’t know what they’d do. Cooper was so proud, it would savage him if he couldn’t win the fight against the nightmares, because a fight was how his wolf saw it. He needed to beat this challenge, needed to protect the woman who was his own against the shadows in the dark.
    To her endless relief, he slept like the dead.
    And woke amorous.
    Grace smiled as she wrapped her legs around his hips, met his sleepy-eyed kiss. Maybe she was wrong and the bad nights would return, but she didn’t think so. Not when Cooper had spent the night with her tucked up tight against him, his arm locked around her waist. “Possessive beast,” she murmured when he bit her throat hard enough that she’d wear the mark all day.
    She felt his lips curve against her as he licked over the brand.
    •   •   •
    TWO weeks after their return from the station, and with the den’s power supply back to full strength as of five days earlier, Grace came home to find a bath in the room she now shared with Cooper. An honest-to-goodness bath, clawed feet and all. Filled with steaming water that carried a heady floral scent, delicate pink petals scattered over its surface.
    Grace stared. She had no idea how he’d even gotten the thing into the room, much less how he’d arranged it so the water would be the perfect temperature when she arrived home. Shucking off her clothes, she slipped into it with a groan of pure pleasure. No one could say her man didn’t know how to court a woman—the entire pack was wondering why she was leading her lover on such a chase, even as they applauded his tactics.
    The fact was, it had taken an agonizing level of self-control on her part not to surrender to the bond. She’d been teetering on the cusp of it the morning at the station, but after his confession about his nightmares, she’d known she had to wait, no matter if the hunger to bond with him was a constant ache inside her. Never did she want him to wonder why she’d accepted the bond, whether she’d done it only so he’d always know if she was safe.
    He’d been a little shaky the first few days, his wolf waiting for the ax to fall. But as the nights continued to pass, dreamless and peaceful, he began to get aggravated by her resistance to the bond. She’d danced in joy when he restarted his relentless campaign, complete with deliveries of romantic handmade chocolates…inscribed with sexual favors on the backs; the sudden appearance of a coveted new tool in her toolbox; and daily love-song requests on the internal SnowDancer radio station that had every adult in the pack—and some clever juveniles—tuning in at 9 p.m. to see what he’d ask for next. And how.
    Her favorite was the time he’d dedicated it to, “The obstinate she-wolf who thinks I should learn the meaning of patience.” A pause before his growl turned silky. “Though last night, she threatened to murder me when I tried to demonstrate how good a student I’ve been.”
    Mortified by the intimate tease, she’d blushed her way through the next day…but secretly, she liked being an “obstinate she-wolf,” loved that he never used the careful voice on her anymore, demonstrating his rock-solid belief in her emotional strength with every