Rae drew a breath and spread her fingers, pressing her hand more surely to his sweater. The solidness of him threatened to rob her of the breath she’d just sucked in. Zander’s chest rose sharply, his warmth increasing.

Rae made herself meet his eyes. This close, his gaze was powerful. Zander was an alpha, she could tell, even though he had no one to be alpha over. He claimed to be under obligation to Kendrick and Dylan, but as she studied him, Rae understood that Zander chose to be obligated. No one could coerce this man to do anything.

“There?” Zander rumbled when Rae said nothing.

The deep timbre of his voice vibrated up her arm. Rae resisted the urge to snatch her hand away and made herself keep her fingers still. His heart beat swiftly beneath her palm.

“There,” she answered, nodding.

Zander’s expression didn’t change. He closed strong fingers around her wrist and moved her hand a few inches to her right. “There.”

The heartbeat strengthened, his life’s blood pumping. Rae’s cheeks went scalding hot.

Zander’s eyes stayed on her and Rae realized her fingers still rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat, absorbing his warmth. Her face burning hotter, she yanked her hand away. “All right, so I need a few lessons in anatomy.”

“One or two,” Zander rumbled. “If you’d stuck the sword into me there, I’d be screaming and flopping around. You need to get it right the first time, Little Wolf.”

“Will you stop calling me that?”

“Nope.” Zander heaved himself off the deck, rising to his full height. “You’re smaller than me and you’re a wolf.”

He bent to lift his empty plate and mug, giving Rae a terrific view of his backside, and headed for the ladder down to the cabin.

“How about if I call you Big-Ass Bear?”

Zander glanced behind him, amused. “If it makes you feel better. I’ve been called worse.”

“Yeah, I bet you have,” was all Rae could think of to say.

Zander shook his head and took himself down the ladder, balancing plate, cup, and himself with an ease Felines would envy.

Stupid comeback, Rae told herself. Was that the best I could do? But it was hard to think around the growling, arrogant . . . Big-Ass Bear.

Of course, his ass wasn’t big. It was tight and firm under those jeans, just like the rest of him. He was a conceited pain in the butt, though that didn’t mean Rae couldn’t appreciate a hard-bodied man when she saw one.

Not that she’d ever tell him she watched his broad shoulders and sway of his back as he vanished below. She’d never, ever let him know that. Or that his gaze held hers whenever she looked at him as much as she struggled to pull away. Or that she liked the contrast between the very white hair on his head with his trim dark beard.

Never tell him. He’d laugh and call her Little Wolf again, dismissing the interest of a messed-up woman who wasn’t much more than a cub.

Rae sighed and followed him below with her cleaned plate, pretending she didn’t feel a shiver when he turned around and grinned at her.

* * *

Zander helped Rae clean up from breakfast, then he shooed her out of the cabin to the stern deck, the only place there’d be room to train. High time she started learning something. The sooner he had her trained up, the sooner Eoin could come back and fetch her, leaving Zander once more in blissful solitude.

That’s what he wanted, wasn’t it? He could wave good-bye to Rae, never again seeing her gray eyes, sweet body, lips he could have kissed when she’d leaned to him and pressed her hand to his chest.

His heart had sped like a rocket. Her dark hair had fallen over her shoulder, a pucker creasing her forehead as she laid her palm on his breastbone. Rae’s face had been close to his, her eyes focused, lips parted. Only Zander’s hellaciously good self-control had kept him from sliding his hand behind her neck and easing her down to kiss her mouth.

Yep, training couldn’t start fast enough. Zander preferred living alone but that didn’t mean he was a monk. He had needs and Rae was a beautiful, desirable young woman.

Zander grabbed a few weapons of his own from a cupboard and followed Rae outside. The sun was high, the sky clear blue, and the boat rocked gently on the waves. A perfect day to sit around and fish, contemplate the universe—basically do nothing.

He briefly considered going along with Rae’s idea—heading to Anchorage to find some place for her to stay, leaving her there, forgetting about her.

Then he saw Rae. She’d stripped out of her sweater to reveal a tight, ribbed tank top that smoothed over her breasts and left her arms bare. Her dark braid swung against the white top as she struggled to unsheathe the Sword of the Guardian.

Goddess, Zander couldn’t leave her alone in the world. She was out of her depth, had no idea what to do with the new magic raging inside her.

Rae wouldn’t feel it raging, exactly, but she was different now. One couldn’t be Goddess-touched and ever be the same again.

The tip of the sword snagged on the sheath. Rae lost hold of the big hilt and the sword fell forward and clattered to the deck. As she wrung her hand and muttered swear words, Zander stooped over and retrieved the sword.

“No!” Rae cried, lunging for him. “It’ll burn you!”

Zander looked at the sword in his hand. The hilt rested easily in his palm, runes shimmering in the sunlight, but nothing happened.

He shrugged, handed the sword to the gaping Rae hilt-first, and slid off his boots and socks, then his coat and sweater. He rolled his shoulders, bared by the gray muscle shirt he wore underneath.

“It doesn’t like anyone touching it but me,” Rae said, her eyes wide as she gingerly clasped the hilt.

The sword didn’t seem heavy for her. Rae held it as though it had almost no weight but Zander had felt its pull. It was a hefty sword but Rae wasn’t bowed by it. The thing must truly like her.

“Creepy,” Zander said.

“That’s what I think. My dad tried to hold it for me after the Choosing and it burned his hand. Everyone’s scared of it. And of me.”

“Shifters.” Zander waved them away. “Bunch of superstitious sticks-up-their-asses.”

“Says the man with Goddess powers who lives alone on a boat.” Rae set the tip of the sword on the deck and rested her hands on the hilt.

Yep, if she came for him when it was his time to go, Zander didn’t think he’d mind. Her ribbed tank top hugged her curves, her hips were soft under her jeans, and sunlight touched her smooth face and the eyes he knew he’d never be able to get out of his mind.