She parked on the side of the road and searched the interior of the car for anything she could use as a weapon. An empty glass bottle on the floor. She picked it up. Bleer? What was that?

It was better than nothing. She stepped out.

"Shoo! Go away!" She waved the bottle, but the birds didn't budge. She didn't want to throw away her only weapon, so she pulled off a work boot and threw it.

It hit the back of his SUV with a thud, dislodging a dozen birds and wounding a few that plummeted to the road.

She took off her other boot. A dark shadow fell over her, and she glanced up. Birds were circling overhead.

Oh no. She was totally exposed. They spiraled down toward her. She shouted and threw her boot at them.

Hooves clattered onto the road as a herd of deer ran toward her. She frantically waved the bottle overhead and managed to whack some of the attacking birds. The deer surrounded her, and she ducked down, letting them shield her. She winced as the poor animals were pecked and clawed. One of the deer kicked her bottle, and it rolled to the side of the road.

"Elsa!" Howard shouted.

She gasped as she saw him running toward her. His arms were raised to protect his head, but birds were bombing him, tearing at the bare skin on his forearms. "Howard, stay in the car!"

A screech of brakes sounded behind them. Greta had followed them. She climbed out of her car. "Elsa! Come with me."

"Call off your birds!" she yelled back.

"I won't let them hurt you." Greta approached. "Just come with me."

The birds ceased their attack on Elsa and the deer and flew high into the air.

She straightened. The deer sidled up against her, pressing their sides against her. Thank you for protecting me. Her heart squeezed at the sight of blood on their backs.

"You poor things." She ran her hand along a deer's back, then gasped when a sudden surge of heat shot down her arm from her birthmark. The heat gathered in her hand till her palm glowed. She skimmed her hand over the deer's wounds, and they healed.

She pivoted, quickly touching all the deer.

"Elsa, hurry!" Greta cried. "Come with me!"

She glanced up. The birds were now flying straight toward Howard. "No!" She ran toward him, the deer following.

"Elsa!" Greta shouted. "Come with me, and I'll stop them!"

Howard grabbed her by the shoulders. "Go with her so you'll be safe."

"I don't - " She hesitated. Was this the best way to make her aunt stop and to keep Howard safe? "Okay." She retreated, moving slowly toward her aunt.

With a great screeching sound, the birds shot away from the SUV and zoomed across the sky.

She glanced back at Howard. "Are you all right?"

He nodded, even though blood dripped down his forearms and trickled from a wound on his forehead.

She watched him trudge toward the SUV and climb wearily inside. He looked so forlorn. Did he think he had lost her?

"Come on!" Greta walked back to her car.

Elsa glanced at Howard's SUV, then her aunt's car.

The deer watched her expectantly. Go!

Go where? She asked them.

Go with your heart.

She ran to the SUV and wrenched open the passenger-side door. "Let's go!" She jumped in and closed the door.

Howard's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go!"

He stepped on the gas.

She buckled up. "Is she following us?"

He glanced in the rearview mirror. "No. Your buddies are playing defensive linemen."

"Huh?" She twisted to look out the back window. The deer had formed a line across the road.

"You healed them." Howard glanced at her. "I saw it."

She turned her hand over to study her palm. "I didn't know I could do it. It felt so strange."

"You're coming into your power really fast."

She winced at the blood dripping down his forearms. "Maybe I can help you." She touched a wound, but nothing happened. "Oh, I'm sorry." Apparently it only worked on woodland creatures, and Howard was currently human.

"Don't worry about it. I'll heal as soon as I can shift. I would shift now, but the bear is a lousy driver."

"You let him drive?"

"Only on Sundays."

She snorted. Humorous Howard. It was good to have him back. She pulled some tissues from a dispenser on his console and dabbed at his arm. "I'm sorry about my aunt."

"So am I. She tried to kill me."

"She doesn't know you."

He drove for a while, frowning.

Elsa bit her lip. "Please don't tell me you're having second thoughts again."

He sighed. "I don't want you to have to choose between your family and me. You would regret losing them, and I would be the cause of your regret."

"I won't lose them. And I don't want to lose you."

He pulled to a stop as the main road came to a dead end at a crossroad. "If I turn left here, we could go back to Cranville. I could drop you off at your hotel. And continue to court you."

She nodded. "We could do that."

He shifted in his seat to face her. "If I turn right, I'll take you into the mountains to my cabin."

"You have a cabin?"

"I'll make love to you."

She swallowed hard.

"And you'll be mine. My mate."

Her pulse speeded up. "What does that mean exactly? Do you expect me to become a . . . a bear?"

"Only if you want to." He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "I'm not sure you can, since you're the Guardian. I can't predict the future, other than the fact that I will always love you and protect you and cherish you for as long as I live."

Her heart melted. "That's a fact?"

"Yes." His eyes glittered an intense blue. "And it won't change whether you choose left or right. I'll always love you."

She touched his face. Dear, sweet Howard. "Turn right."

Chapter Twenty-five

Howard was already growing hard with anticipation. He would jump her in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the woods. And that was just today. Tomorrow - he realized he needed to make some calls before they drove out of range. Reception could be sketchy at the cabin. He normally took a sat phone there, but all he had now was his regular cell phone.

He called Jimmy. "You need to pick up Ian's car. It's on the main road."

"How did it get there?" Jimmy asked.

"Long story." Howard glanced at Elsa. He still couldn't believe that she'd endangered herself like that. He'd almost had a heart attack when he saw her standing on the road behind him, trying to chase the birds away. He'd leaped from the SUV to protect her, but the deer had reached her first.

She never ceased to amaze him. She'd fought for him. She'd healed the deer. And she'd chosen to be his mate. That had to be the end of the damned curse. They'd beaten it. And in another fifteen minutes, he would be stripping her naked.

He shifted his weight in the driver's seat. His pants were becoming uncomfortably tight. "I'm going to my cabin for a few days," he told Jimmy. "Let Ian and Shanna know. They won't mind. They wanted me to take some time off."

"Okay." Jimmy passed the news to his brother and they both snickered. "You're not alone, are you?"

He gritted his teeth. "Tell Alastair that Elsa is taking a few days off, too."

Her eyebrows lifted. "A few days?"

"Talk to you later." He hung up when his cousins started making strange barking noises. "Crazy kids." He dropped his phone on the console.

"I like them," Elsa said. "I gather they turn into bears like you?"

"Yes." His mind raced. Did he have any food at the cabin? Enough to get by, he hoped. He didn't want to stop to buy groceries now. In fourteen minutes, he'd be stripping Elsa naked.

Thank God he'd taken care of business that morning. He had e-mailed the rest of his incriminating evidence to the editor at Northern Lights Sound Bites. Mr. West had e-mailed back, claiming that the war on Rhett Bleddyn had begun. The first article on Rhett's embezzlement had been published in the morning edition. The mainstream media was predicting he would be arrested soon.

He's going down, Harry. You will be avenged.

Howard turned onto the gravel road that zigzagged up the mountains. Thirteen minutes to go.

"I sorta bumped into one of your cousins, and it made my birthmark burn," Elsa said. "I guess that happens with any berserker the first time I touch him."

"You don't have to worry about them," he assured her. "They're harmless."

"That's what I figured. They're really cute."

He tamped down on an urge to growl.

Her mouth twitched. "But no one is as handsome and sexy as you."

"Damned straight." His grip tightened on the steering wheel. Another twelve minutes. To hell with that. He stepped on the gas.

In eight minutes, he screeched to a halt behind the cabin. "Let's go." He jumped out and ran up the steps to the back door.

"It's very nice." Elsa approached slowly as she looked around. "Peaceful and rustic. Beautiful trees."

"This is the back." He unlocked the door. "The view is better from the front porch."

"Oh. I'd like to see it." She climbed up the steps to join him.

"Later." He lifted her in his arms and carried her inside.

She grinned. "You're treating me like a bride."

He kicked the door shut and strode through the kitchen area to the front of the cabin.

"Nice open floor plan. Can I have a tour?"

"Later." He turned into the bedroom and deposited her on the bed.

"Howard." She sat up. "You're forgetting. You need to shift to heal those wounds."

"Later." He kicked off his shoes.

"But your arms are bloody."

"Oh." She might consider that a turnoff. He pulled his polo shirt over his head and used it to wipe the blood.

She winced. "You're smearing it. Is there a bathroom where I can clean your wounds?"

"There's a shower." That would work. He grabbed her hand and led her into the adjoining bathroom.

"Very nice." She looked around as he pulled off his socks. "Lovely tile work." She removed a hand towel from the towel bar.

By the time she had it dampened in the sink, he'd dropped his pants and underwear.

She turned toward him with the wet towel. "Okay, let me see - " Her mouth fell open.

He took advantage of her surprise by unzipping her jeans and pushing them down, taking her panties with them. "Step out of them."

"Huh?" Her eyes were still focused on his erection.

He turned on the water in the shower to give it time to warm up. "We're going to shower, right?"

"I thought I was going to clean your wounds."

"You can. In the shower." He grabbed the wet towel and tossed it onto the counter. Then he pulled her T-shirt over her head and unhooked her bra. "Let's go."

He tested the water with his hand, then stepped into the tiled stall, leaving the door open for her. Quickly he rinsed the blood off his arms and forehead.

"Where do you keep the washcloths?" She peered in at him.

He pulled her inside and closed the door.

"Aagh." The spray hit her in the face.

He moved her against the tile wall, brushed her wet hair out of her face, and kissed her.

With a moan, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

He devoured her mouth as his hands slid up and down her wet, slick body. He palmed a breast and squeezed.

"I want you," he whispered, nibbling on her lips. "I can't wait."

Her breaths panted against his mouth. "I noticed you were ready."

"How are you?" He slipped a hand between her legs and caressed the soft folds.

She shuddered.

He rubbed her clitoris as he nuzzled her ear. "I love it when you get juicy. I can smell it, and it drives me wild."

With a groan, she seeped moisture onto his fingers. "Howard."

He grasped her rump and lifted her. "Put your legs around me."

She did. "Will this work?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I've never done it like - ack!"

He drove deep inside her and froze. Holy crap, she was so tight and sweet.

She blinked, staring at him. "I guess it does work."

He adjusted his grip on her rear. "I don't think I'll last very long."

"Completely understandable. After all, it's" - she whimpered when he dragged himself out to the tip - "our first . . . agh!"

He plunged back in.

"Oh, Howard. You're so - " She gasped when he pushed into her again. "So - "

She gave up speaking altogether as he pumped harder and faster. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and her heels pressed into his back. With each plunge, he ground her against him.

She tensed and her breath caught. He pulled her hard against him, and she cried out. Her body shuddered, her inner muscles spasmed, and with a shout, he thrust into her, releasing his seed.

Mine. He held her tight. The bear inside him purred like a kitten. My mate.

Elsa woke the next morning with the feel of Howard's big body pressed against her back and his fingers gently teasing her nipples. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes. The man was insatiable.

After the shower, he'd taken her to bed, claiming he needed to thoroughly examine his mate. He'd pushed her onto her stomach, and then he'd counted her toes and tasted them. He'd nibbled the entire length of her legs, tickling the backs of her knees. He'd nuzzled her rear and licked a path up her spine. And he'd told her numerous times how beautiful she was.