Eoin had broken about ten laws bringing Rae to Zander, and they both knew it. Didn’t matter so much out on the water but now they were in a human town, with human police.

Rae’s worried look returned as she nodded, but she took up the sword and quickly went below. They’d have to disguise that too.

Zander’s engine barely murmured as he pulled into the slip he leased. The advantage of not wearing a Collar was that he could do human things like rent space for his boat—buy a boat at all. Really what had Collars done for Shifters?

Rae came topside again. She’d found one of his flannel shirts and a jacket, both of which were big enough to hide her neck. They’d be too warm for this time of year but Zander would explain to his acquaintances if necessary that she came from the lower forty-eight. They’d laugh. Non-Alaskans had a hard time with even a mild Alaskan summer.

The engine went silent. Zander left the wheelhouse to tie off, and the two fishermen in the next boat spotted him.

“Zander!” one yelled.

“Where you been, man?” the other said almost on top of the first man’s word.

“Out.” Zander stepped over the rail to the dock to secure the lines. “Fishing.”

The two men sitting on their deck, a beer cooler between them, made a show of looking over the stern of his boat. “Where’s the fish?” the first man asked.

“Ate ’em,” Zander said, not glancing up from his task. “I was hungry.”

The men laughed. They were good guys who liked to fish, drink beer, and talk about how hard-ass their wives were, whom they adored in truth.

Rae peered out from the pilot house. Zander beckoned to her—might as well. People had to see her sometime.

The men on the next boat stopped in mid-laugh as Rae walked out to the deck. They took in her curved body, which the lumpy shirt and coat couldn’t hide, her dark hair, and her unforgettable eyes. They gaped, and Zander felt a surge of pride. Eat your hearts out, my friends.

The second man cleared his throat. “Fishing, eh?”

“Yep.” Zander let himself grin. “Caught me a beauty. Rae, come and meet the boys.”

Rae was shy—how could she help it, having been buried in Shiftertown all her life? Zander had told her he’d show her the world and suddenly he had a great longing to do it. Right now. Take her away from what she had to face and present to her the wonders of life. He wanted to see the wan look gone, the sparkle return to her eyes, the laughter to her voice.

She had grit though. When Zander held out his arm, Rae stepped onto the deck, her head high, and let Zander pull her against him. She looked straight at the men on the other boat and said “Hello” in a friendly voice.

The men’s surprise returned and their leers went away. They recognized, in the way humans seemed to, that Rae was a “nice” young woman, not a hook-up.

“Hello,” the two men said, less certainly.

“Rae, that’s Tanner and that’s Johnny. They’re losers who hang out here when they have perfectly good homes to go to. This is Rae. A friend.”

Johnny and Tanner grinned and waved. “Hi, Rae,” they said at the same time.

Zander liked having Rae in the circle of his arm. “Ready to go, sweetheart?”

“Sure,” Rae said. She was rigid in his half embrace but she looked up at him and gave him a perfectly believable smile.

Zander drew her back into the pilot house, where she’d left the sword. He’d had an idea how to disguise it, and now he zipped it into a long fishing-rod case. The case was a little bit short but he wrapped a piece of canvas over the top, hiding the hilt. Now if the damn thing would stop humming.

Humans couldn’t hear it, he was pretty sure. Zander could hear the sword and Rae could, from the scowls she kept shooting it. Humans, though, were usually oblivious to Goddess magic.

Rae reached for the case but Zander turned from her and slung it over his shoulder. If she took it, Johnny and Tanner and other humans would wonder why he was making his woman tote his gear.

Zander led Rae out onto the deck again, closing and locking the cabin and the pilot house, shutting down the power. Johnny and Tanner lifted beer cans in salute as Zander stepped off the boat and helped Rae to the deck. Zander knew they’d make sure anyone who wasn’t supposed to come to the boat kept away.

Rae wobbled a little, getting used to unmoving land after a day and night at sea. Zander felt a little rubbery himself but he knew he’d be over it by the time they reached their destination.

They had to drive. The Shifters who’d called lived inland between here and Anchorage. Beautiful country but their place was hard to reach.

Zander kept a pickup at the docks. The one road from the marina would take them into town and from there they’d ride into wild country. On the other side of the mountains that split the peninsula were the fjords, jagged folds of land that were both beautiful and deadly.

Zander had to stop and greet other men and women who were either heading out to fish or heading home. He hadn’t realized he knew so many people but they all seemed to be around today.

Finally they were at the truck, a hefty 350. Zander opened the door for Rae to get in, earning a puzzled look, but she went along with it. Shifters weren’t supposed to let their females enter a building, vehicle, or wherever first, in case there was danger.

Zander boosted Rae in, giving her a nod that acknowledged he understood her confusion. Then he went around to the driver’s side, sliding the sword from his shoulder and laying it across the seat, the hilt resting on Rae’s lap.

He climbed in and started up, waved at more acquaintances, then he was driving out of the lot and up the narrow road toward the main town.

Rae looked around, her balled hands easing open as she took in the scene. Sunlight danced on the waves on either side of the narrow isthmus, turning the long sands golden and brushing the black green of the woods in the distance.

“It’s beautiful here,” Rae said. “I understand why you like it.”

“When it’s not freezing, wet, drizzly, snowy, or windy as hell, sure,” Zander said, concentrating on the road. “Not to mention earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and huge chunks of ice threatening to fall on you all the time. This is Nature’s place. She barely tolerates humans—or Shifters—living here.”

“Isn’t what humans call Mother Nature our Goddess?”