For a moment he saw Jimmy's face as clearly as if he stood beside him again. Then he was back in the present standing over a dead man-a frozen corpse whose neck he'd sliced with his knife, just as he had the CO's all those years ago.

That little girl had never told anyone what had happened, though he and Jimmy had waited on pins and needles for several weeks. They could have killed her, too-but that would have made them as bad as the CO. Officially, he'd been killed by a sniper. He and Jimmy had snickered a little about that. Most snipers don't use knives.

He bent down and picked up the body. He couldn't let it be found with a knife wound. He'd take it somewhere a little more off the usual game trails.

He carried the corpse a mile or so and set it gently beneath a thicket of Oregon grape. He licked his lips and tasted blood. Startled, he glanced down at the body and noticed that the neck wound had been cleaned, the skin around it glistening just a little from saliva.

He grabbed a handful of snow and wiped off his mouth, torn between hunger and sickness-though he knew he couldn't have swallowed much because the corpse had been frozen through.

He walked away as quickly as he could manage without running.

* * * *

"Anna?" Charles finished zipping together the sleeping bags.

She didn't answer him. She'd shed her coat and boots, then climbed back on the rock. She stood barefoot, her wool socks in one hand.

If they'd been somewhere else, he'd have believed that she was enjoying the view, but they were tucked in the trees, where all she could see was more trees. She wasn't so much looking out as not looking at the sleeping bags and him. As soon as they'd finished eating, she'd started shutting down again.

The temperature had dropped ten degrees when the sun went down, and it was too bloody cold for her to be standing around barefoot and coatless. Werewolf she might be, but frostbite still hurt like sin.

But he wasn't going to get her into the bags without force or coaxing. He took his own boots off and stuck the socks into his pack. He took out two fresh pairs of socks and stuck them in the bottom of the sleeping bag, so they'd be warm tomorrow morning.

He'd packed an extra blanket, which he shook out and wrapped around his shoulders. Then he walked over and hopped up on the rock next to her. There wasn't a lot of room, but he managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

"My cousins courted their women with blankets," he told her without looking at her. She didn't say anything, just pulled her toes up and curled them together for warmth.

"It's called a snagging blanket," he said. "One of them would go up to the girl he was courting and slowly stretch an arm out-" He held on to the corner of the blanket and put his arm around her shoulders. "And he wrapped the blanket over her. If she didn't duck away, he'd snag her close." He tugged, and she took a step sideways until she was tucked under his arm with the blanket snug around them both.

"A snagging blanket?" There was amusement in her voice, but her body was still stiff.

Wolf, he thought, but not completely. If he hadn't been looking for it, he might not have smelled the distinctive scent of her wolf intermingled with the perfume that was Anna.

"My brother, Samuel, is even smoother with it than I am," he told her, moving a little more until she stood in front of him, her cold feet on top of his.

She inhaled and let the air out in one long frosty breath, her body softening against him.

"Tell me about mating," she said.

He tightened his arms around her. "I'm kind of a novice at it myself."

"You've never been mated before?"

"No." He breathed in her scent and let it sink into him and warm his chest. "I told you some of it. Mostly courting is just like it is with humans. Then they marry and eventually, usually, his wolf accepts her as his mate."

"What if it never does?"

"Then it doesn't." He was not nearly so sanguine as he sounded. "I had all but given up finding a mate when I met you." He couldn't help his smile as he thought of the bewildered joy of that first meeting. "Brother Wolf chose you as my mate the moment he laid eyes on you, and I can only applaud his good sense."

"What would have happened if you had hated me?"

He sighed against her hair. "Then we'd not be here. I wouldn't want to end up like my father and Leah."

"He hates her?"

He shrugged. "No. Not really. I don't know." How had they ended up on this subject? "He'd never say anything one way or another, but matters are not right between them. He told me once, a long time ago, that his wolf decided that he needed a mate to replace my mother."

"So what went wrong?" she asked, as her body softened into his.

He shook his head. "I have no desire to ask the Marrok that question and suggest you don't, either."

She thought of something else. "You said something about a full-moon ceremony."

"Right," he said. "There's a ceremony held under the moon to sanctify our bond-like a marriage ceremony, I suppose, though it is private. You'll also be brought fully into my father's pack then." He felt her stiffen; the pack ceremony, which included the sharing of the Alpha's flesh and blood-literally-could be pretty frightening if you weren't ready for it. And why would Leo have done that right when he'd done so much else wrong? He decided it was something they could discuss when he wasn't trying to get her to relax and come crawl into sleeping bags with him. "If you choose, we could do a separate marriage in the church if you'd like. Invite your family."

She twisted so she could see his face. "How can you tell that we aren't bonded?"

"It's almost like pack magic," he told her. "Some wolves can barely feel it. Pack magic is what allows an Alpha to draw on his wolves to give himself an edge in speed or quicker healing. It lets him control wolves under his power or find them if he needs to."

Anna stilled. "Or feed off their rage? I think Isabella did that; she liked it when the pack fought among themselves. "

"Yes," Charles agreed. "Though I've never seen my father do that. But you know what I mean?"

"Yes. Mating is like that?"

"On a smaller scale. It varies between couples. Sometimes it's just being able to tell where your mate is. My da says that's all he and Leah have. Sometimes it's more than that. One of the wolves in Oklahoma is mated to a blind woman. She can see now, as long as she's in the same room with him. More common are things like being able to share strength-or any of the other things an Alpha can get from his pack."