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came to an abrupt halt when Rafe grabbed my arm. I hadn’t seen him move. That, too, was a result of the initial change: a swiftness that was beyond human. Bringing his arms around me, he tucked me in against his chest, supporting me. I knew I should have pushed him back, should have welcomed falling to the ground. I knew standing so near to him was wrong, but he felt so good, so strong. Why did this feel so different from when Connor held me? Connor was a Dark Guardian. He wasn’t someone to be messed with. But I felt so safe with Rafe holding me, as though nothing could ever hurt me.
    “Just give your legs a minute to adjust,” Rafe said quietly, and I heard him inhaling my scent. Smell is one of a Shifter’s most powerful senses. We aren’t into perfumes or artificial fragrances. Pheromones, the very essence of a person, appeal to us.
    “Why aren’t your legs unsteady?” I asked, wondering why I sounded breathless when I hadn’t been running. Being near him made it difficult to breathe, no doubt adding to my sudden embarrassing inability to stay upright.
    “Because I’m used to riding.”
    I could smell his earthy scent. It was richer, more powerful than anything that could be bought in a store. He was wearing a T-shirt that clung to him like a second skin, and I could feel the comforting warmth of his body seeping through it. Even though today the sun had warmed Earth longer than on any other day of the year, here in the forest near the Canadian border, the night was cool.
    I wanted to stay nestled against him all night, but there were too many reasons why I shouldn’t. Or maybe there was just one powerful reason: Connor. I could never cheat on him, and I fought to convince myself that being here with Rafe now wasn’t a betrayal. I hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of. Where was the harm in simply riding a bike, even if it was with a hot guy who had visited my dream last night? I couldn’t control my dreams, could I?
    “I’m okay now,” I said, pushing against him just a little.
    I felt his reluctance to let me go as his arms slowly eased away from me. Suddenly I feared that I was on far more dangerous ground than I’d realized. Maybe to Rafe I wasn’t just a convenient solution to a boring night.
    Skirting around him, I walked carefully and slowly to the edge of the cliff, testing the ground with my toe to make sure it was firm before I gave it my full weight. I’d grown up near these woods. They’d been my playground. I was comfortable in them. Looking down, I saw only the black abyss, but I knew trees and shrubbery followed the steep slope down into a valley. Only the stars served to delineate the ground from the night sky, which was so vast that I felt incredibly small.
    On silent feet, Rafe came to stand beside me. “Guess it’s too late to make a wish on the first star,” he said quietly, but his deep voice still carried on the light breeze that was stirring my hair.
    “The first one came out hours ago.”
    “Which one do you think it was?”
    Rafe was a warrior, a protector, a Dark Guardian. He didn’t strike me as someone who believed in the whimsy of wishing on stars. But still, I pointed upward. “That one right there, near the tail of the Big Dipper.”
    “That’ll do. I wish—”
    Quickly, I pressed my fingertips to his warm lips. “If you say it aloud, it won’t come true.”
    “Since it involves you, it won’t come true anyway, unless you know what it is.”
    Not for the first time, I regretted leaving the festivities, regretted that I’d put myself in this position. I loved to be adventuresome, but I was moving out of my comfort zone now. We were traveling into unexplored territory that was both thrilling and terrifying.
    “You shouldn’t say anything that you might regret,” I warned him.
    “I spend a lot of time thinking about kissing you.”
    Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Oh, who am I kidding? Every girl wants to believe that a great guy thinks about