Page 74 of So I Won a Werelion

Something had spooked Bibi enough that she did something she hated—shifted into her wolf form—to find the cause of it. Just because she didn’t find it, didn’t mean Gabe had been dealt the same hand. He’d been gone too long.

“We should be filming this.” Marissa took a sip of her coffee. We’d rekindled the fire, dragging some more wood over to keep it burning.

“Is this something we want to share with the viewers?” I asked. Hugo had shifted into his wolf form, sitting with his paws at the edge of the water, but his ears were up and everything about him was on point. Bjorn and Lars never shifted back.

Lars was fascinating. I couldn’t tell if he was a bear, some sort of ape, or something else completely. Marissa, Bibi, and I had whispered our guesses—like whatever he was didn’t come equipped with supersonic hearing—and hadn’t agreed on anything yet.

“It won’t be shared on the website, but it will very much be part of your overall love story with Gabe,” Bibi said. “It’s a big story to tell, and we might have to make a two-part episode to get all the good stuff in there.”

“If we get to the good stuff.” I curled my knees into my chest and hugged them.

“We’re on a fantastic adventure for lost treasure, you have a sexy lion who looks at you like you’re his reason for living, and you’ve moved in with me temporarily. What’s not good about that?”

“What if he doesn’t come back?” Emotion stung my eyes. “Not saying that he’s been attacked or anything. But whatever he saw in those visions could have scared him away.”

Shifters had much better senses than humans, so he’d see more than I would.

“Wendy, on the way here he confessed his love to you in a way that made my heart flutter. He won’t leave his mate.”

“He did once before.” A pattern had emerged in my life, and the lion was following in its footsteps all too well.

But Gabe had always been there for me. So if the unthinkable happened…

No. He was coming back.

Bibi put her hand on mine. “He came back.”

“Because he got banned from snowboarding. Not for me.”

“He didn’t have to come back here. Gabe has the means to start his life over anywhere he desires. He’s smart, wealthy, and gorgeous. More than that, he came back here because he understands what’s important to him now and he wants you. Why do you think that he’d abandon you now?”

“Apparently we packed the hot seat for this camping trip.”

“The hot seat is a state of mind, and viewers will be very disappointed if you don’t answer the question.”

“Because everything amazing always blows up in my face.” And I didn’t need an ancient vision to usher in the déjà vu. “Being claimed by the lion I’ve been in love with for my entire life, finding the most important shifter artifact in history, getting the inside scoop direct from an ancient creature, and of course, staying with you…excuse me while I think things are going too smoothly. This is the part of the movie where the hero walks out of my life, and I’m left to pick up the pieces. Again.”

Hugo’s hackles stood at attention as he rose, his gaze square on the path we’d used to come from the parking lot. We had company.

A man with long, sun-streaked hair, and the most gorgeous naked body I’d ever laid eyes on.

He came back.

My legs were jelly as I ran to Gabe. I was barefoot and I’d never bothered to put my bra back on, which made this journey difficult. But I needed him. I needed to feel his body against mine. The heat of his breath. His…

We crashed against each other, kissing like there were no words for what he’d felt. His body vibrated with emotion. Passion.

Red hot fucking need.

“You scared me.” I could barely get out the words between kisses.

He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me away.

“Where are we going?” I whispered.

“I need to finish what we started. Now.” The last word was practically a roar. “Something tells me you don’t want an audience.”

He brought me down the path, and I couldn’t keep my lips away from his skin, like I would starve if I couldn’t have a tasteof him. He smelled like earth and animal and a little bit of blood, like he’d just fought. And won.

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