Page 62 of Ranger's Justice

I nod, my fingers clenching at my sides. “I will.”

I don’t regret it—not even for a second.

The claiming bite was inevitable, whether it happened today, tomorrow, or months from now. The second I touched Cassidy, she became mine. The second she let me inside her body, let herself come undone for me, it was already done.

I glance at the darkened SUV where she sleeps, curled up in the seat where I moved her from the SUV’s cargo area. She doesn’t know it yet, not completely, but she’s bound to me in every way possible. She’ll feel my pain, my fury. If I get caught in a fight, if I bleed, she’ll feel it too.

And if I die? My wolf growls at the thought.

I push off the SUV and head toward her. I need to see her. Need to touch her. Need to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to keep her safe when every instinct I have is screaming to drag her into my arms and never let her go.

The others are still watching me—Dalton, Gideon, Gage—but I ignore them. Whatever they have to say can wait. Cassidy is the only thing that matters. With a nod, they get back in their SUV and head back to the ranch.

I open the door quietly—careful not to wake her too fast. The light slipping through the windshield illuminates her face, the soft curve of her lips, the delicate angle of her jaw.

But it’s her hand that makes me go still. She’s awake and tracing the mark with her fingers, brushing the fresh wound where my teeth sank into her skin, her expression unreadable. Not fear. Not anger. Just quiet contemplation, as if she’s trying to process what it means.

What I’ve made her. She feels it. Maybe not fully, maybe not like I do, but the bond is there. A tether she doesn’t quite understand yet. She tilts her head slightly, her fingers still ghosting over the bite as she finally meets my gaze. There’s no accusation in her eyes. No horror or disgust. Something else. Something that makes my wolf still, watching.

I step closer, bracing one hand on the doorframe, blocking her in without touching her. Not yet. If I put my hands on her now, I won’t stop.

“You’re awake,” I murmur.

Her fingers still, resting against her skin. “Hard to sleep when I feel…” She trails off, her brow furrowing slightly, like she doesn’t have the words.

I exhale slowly. “Like something shifted inside you?”

She casts me a wry smile. “Something like that.”

She doesn’t sound scared. Just curious. I should explain. Tell her what I did, what it means, what’s going to happen next. I should warn her. Instead, I reach out, brushing my knuckles over her cheek, watching the way her breath catches. The way her pulse jumps beneath my fingertips.

She wants this. She might not understand it yet, but her body does.

“You marked me.” Her voice is quiet. Not accusing. Not angry. Just… a fact.

I nod, my thumb tracing her jaw. “I did. Do you understand what that means?”

“I have a vague notion based on what’s in the paranormal romance books.”

I chuckle. “They get a lot wrong—the whole cracking bones, sprouting fur, et cetera—but the stories about the claiming bite are true. The transition affects different people in different ways.”

“I have two questions. The first is, are you what’s known as an alpha and is that knot thing real?” I laugh. “And the second is that in a lot of the books I’ve read, women who are transitioned never have to worry about watching their weight again.”

That makes me laugh harder. “Both are true.”

She grins, something flickering in her eyes—something unreadable. “What now?”

My fingers tighten slightly.

“Now,” I repeat, my voice rough, raw, “you don’t have a choice.”

CHAPTER 17

CASSIDY

Istudy him in the dim glow of the SUV’s interior, the play of light and shadow carving the sharp lines of his face into something raw and untamed. Rush Rushton, the man who has just irrevocably altered the course of my life.

He stands just outside the open door, his body braced in a way that makes it clear he’s holding himself back. He clenches his hands, his chest rising and falling in slow, controlled breaths, as if he’s forcing himself to remain still.

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