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better than the beer we drink here. She’s a real lady, and ladies deserve for men to do sweet things for them.”
    Kellen looked innocent and baffled in the waning evening light. He also looked a little upset.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, relief flooding her until she was lightheaded. “Every time you spoke of Brooke, I thought you were talking about her because you loved her.”
    “I don’t have a mate.” Now he sounded offended. “I don’t deserve one, and it isn’t my fate to protect a woman like that. All I’ll have is Brooke, my friend.” His shoulders drew up near his ears, as if he was embarrassed, and a soft blush touched his cheeks.
    “Hey,” she said, desperate to comfort him. His uneasiness was her fault for making assumptions. She jogged down the stairs and touched his hand, then looked up into his eyes, now churning silvery-blue again. “I made a mistake. I didn’t know.”
    She squeezed his hand, and he looked down at where their palms touched with a confused frown.
    “I’m glad she isn’t your mate,” she whispered.
    His startled gaze crashed into hers. “Why?”
    Uh oh. Okay, she shouldn’t have admitted to her feelings like that. She wasn’t in a position where she could pursue a relationship with anyone, much less with someone who felt as dangerous to her heart as Kellen.
    “I don’t know why I said that.” She shrugged and dragged her gaze to the toes of his scuffed work boots.
    “No games. Why are you glad?”
    Her breath trembled as she was caught by his eyes, demanding she be honest.
    His chest heaved under the T-shirt that clung to the sharp angles of his defined chest. He squeezed her hand again and whispered, “Why?”
    “Because…” She wasn’t good with words and couldn’t think of any way to explain how strongly she felt for someone she’d just met. Instead of speaking, she pulled his hand over her racing heartbeat, just under her collar bone. “Because this.”
    A slow smile stretched his lips as he canted his head and felt her pounding pulse against his hand. Slowly, he drew her hand over his breastbone and pressed it against the hard muscle there. His heart was racing hers. “Me too,” he murmured.
    “Kellen?” the man from the truck, Tagan, asked. “Who is she?”
    Kellen swallowed hard, breaking the spell and pulling his hand away from her. “Tagan, this is Skyler.”
    His alpha gave him a long, hard look and blinked slow, then brought his icy blue eyes to hers. “I know what you are, and I’m pretty sure I know who your mate is too. Roger Crestfall?”
    Skyler nodded but was compelled to explain. “He isn’t my mate. Not yet. There’s been no ceremony.”
    “And your face. Did he do that to you?”
    Brooke stood right behind her mate, looking at her with ghosts in her eyes.
    Skyler’s breath hitched at having to explain something so painful to people she wanted to like her. “He pushed me. The counter helped with the coloring.”
    “Your people could bring trouble to mine,” Tagan said low.
    “Tagan,” Brooke said, her delicate eyebrows drawn down. “She’s been hurt.”
    “Which is why I need to know what you are doing here, seeking sanctuary with my Second.”
    “Second? Kellen, you are Second to your alpha?” Skyler hadn’t realized he was so high in the crew.
    Kellen’s nostrils flared as he inhaled slowly. “I took her,” he said, turning to Tagan. “She was hurt, and I couldn’t stand taking her back to him—to Roger.”
    “You took her?” Tagan asked, his eyes narrowing to dangerous looking slits.
    “Wait. He kidnapped you?” Brooke asked, turning her attention to Skyler. “Against your will?”
    Lying was out of the question because shifters could hear a false note of a half-truth. Dammit. “Kind of?”
    “Kind of?” Tagan roared. “Kellen, you can’t take someone’s mate!”
    “Not Roger’s mate yet,” Skyler squeaked out.
    “You know what Skyler’s last name is?” Tagan asked, his voice too loud for