Page 55 of Watch Me Burn

He’s the only wolf shifter in Dyea. Unless one of the wild Alaskan wolves are hunting me through the caves, it has to be him.

Butwhy? And the howl… what was up with the howl?

In all the times that we’ve spent down here together in the caves, I’ve never heard a sound that wasn’t one of us or the creaks and skittering of the loose rocks sliding. Even when Conall snuck up behind me, grabbing me, I never knew he was there until his hands were on my waist

This is the first time he’s alerted me to his presence before he just appeared, scaring the shit out of me in the process. Who knows? Maybe I’m more in tune to the grump…

No.

It was the howl echoing through the cave system, vibrating the loose rocks under my boots with the force of it as I scramble to my feet.

I don’t know what I should do. The warning howl gives me a few seconds to decide, and thought part of me was hoping that he’d come searching for me eventually if I stayed down in the caves after dark, but now that he’s here…

I can’t escape him. I don’t even know if Iwantto. After how he’s ignored me ever since our kiss, there’s a better chance that I lured him down here on purpose.

We need to hash out this—whateverthisis—for once and for all.

Does that mean I’m going to give him any advantage. Hell, no. So though I don’t try to outrun him, taking off deeper into the caves, I decide to hold my ground in a cage large enough to confront Conall.

And then, tapping into my temper and my hurt, I summon a ring of fire around me just in time for Conall to pop out from the small tunnel leading from the previous cave into this one. It’s easy since he’s his wolf, but the second the beast sees me beyond the flames, he shifts.

And there he is.

Conall Hunt.

He’s naked.

He’s naked, and he’s hard.

He’s naked, and he’shuge.

I figured as much. I mean, I already saw him when we was soft, but as he walks with a predatory gait toward me, eyes flashing, clawed fingers flexing, Adam’s apple bobbing in time to the slight bounce of his massive erection… if I wasn’t so mad at him, I might actually whistle in appreciation.

He wouldn’t care, other than to be proud that I’m almost instantly turned on by his body. Nudity isn’t a big deal around shifters. I figured that out shortly after I watched Conall go from wolf to man out in the woods. It didn’t bother him at all that he was standing out in the Alaska cold, free-balling it. Since then, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone out into the village, only to see one of the other shifters who live there walking around with their tits or their ass out.

Clothes don’t survive the shift. When I asked Conall during one of our long treks back, that’s how he explained it. If you’re dressed and have to suddenly let your beast out, your clothes gopoof. Most shifters don’t bother getting dressed if they know they’re going to shift, and if they need to turn back to human, they do, barely even noticing that they’re naked.

The only time it counts is when there is attraction involved. He wants to prove himself to be a prospective mate for me so he’s kept his clothes on when I’m around. The only exception was when he followed me out of the sanctuary as his wolf, so worried I’d get in trouble, he shifted from his fur to skin just to tell me off.

He must’ve done the same thing now. Relying on his wolf to get him through the woods, then the caves faster, it was his beast that howled when it caught my scent. It found me, ceding control back to the man since I obviously can’t communicate with his wolf, and here we are.

Conall is naked, and he is the most glorious sight I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Good thing I have the fire wall surrounding me. It’s a reminder that I’m pissed at him, and that as beautiful as my rugged wolf is, I can’t just fall into his arms because he’s here and the relief that he found me is palpable.

“Stay over there,” I warn him.

“I won’t hurt you, Bridget.”

I didn’t think he would.

“I know. But that’s not the point. I don’t know what you’re doing here?—”

“It’s Lou’s fault,” Conall says, his voice harsh and raspy, almost like how I’d imagine his wolf would sound if it had a voice. “I told him during the last full moon that predator shifters can only be contained by silver chains. He got iron chains from the local mill instead. They could hold a prey shifter. Maybe even a delta wolf. But I’m an alpha. They didn’t do shit to keep me in my den once the Luna was out.”

I think I understand about half off that. The most important part, though?

“Chains?” I squeak out. “Mayor Lou put you inchains?”

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