“But I broke it,” Rae reminded him. “I used the sword wrong and I broke it. Maybe that means the Goddess takes back her choice.”

“Nah,” Zander said. “With the Goddess there’s no backsies. You’re Guardian, and the rest of the world has to get used to it. Tell the Guardians to suck it up and let you into the database.”

Rae’s heart beat faster. He was always so sure. “Just like that?”

“Why not? Guardians are weird and full of themselves.”

A laugh left Rae’s mouth. “Thanks a lot. Anyway, so are you.”

“Everyone Goddess-touched is,” Zander said, unoffended. “Didn’t Daragh ever look you up in the database? Figure out your lineage?”

“If he did, he never found anything.” Daragh had never come to her and given her any kind of revelation.

“Or, he just didn’t tell you. Maybe he saw you had come from a Guardian line and kept that to himself.”

“Daragh wouldn’t . . .” Rae stopped herself saying, lie to me. Daragh had sometimes been an enigma. He might have been troubled by what he discovered and said nothing in order to protect her. Or, more likely, he hadn’t found anything at all.

“Want to go back to your Shiftertown?” Zander asked.

Rae jerked her attention to him. “What are you talking about? I’m supposed to be learning how to be Guardian. That will take the rest of my life, right?”

Zander turned his back to the railing, resting his elbows on it. “There’s more going on here than the Goddess Choosing the first female Guardian, Little Wolf. You drew the short straw for a reason and I’d like to know why. We’ll go to your Shiftertown, grill your dad, and then call a gathering of the Guardians.”

He looked so casual saying that—Let’s question the authority of a Shiftertown leader and then tell the Guardians we want to talk to them. All of them.

“You’re crazy,” Rae said.

“It’s your right, Little Wolf. Guardians get to call a moot. Which is a very old word for meeting. Any time they want, about anything they want. Doesn’t happen often, because a true Summoning forces Shifters to come whether they wish to or not. It’s painful. So you might ask them to volunteer before you invoke a Summoning.”

“Seriously, seriously crazy.” The Summoning was rarely used these days. Only clan leaders and Guardians could invoke it, and they did so sparingly. Once the compulsion to obey wore off those who’d been Summoned, the clan leader would have to deal with some very pissed-off Shifters.

“I know I’m crazy,” Zander answered calmly. “It lets me get away with a lot of shit. So does being a healer. We live outside the rules.”

“Yeah, you’re a badass,” Rae said. He was telling her how much power she had now, power she’d never dreamed of as a clan-less young Lupine. It shook her.

Zander’s eyes held promise. “Someday I’ll show you just how bad I am, sweetheart.”

“Sure,” Rae said, deadpan. “Can’t wait.” She frowned. “I don’t know much about you at all, actually. You came from the Shetlands, you love Alaska, being a healer is hard on you, and you like to fish. That’s it.”

Zander’s look turned guarded. “What else is there to know?”

Everything. Rae wanted to learn what made him laugh or grow sad, whether he liked action movies or sappy ones, what he liked to eat—besides fish and sandwiches—how he’d met Piotr, who his other friends were, and had he ever fallen in love? Zander was old enough that he might have had a mate, though he didn’t hold the profound sorrow of one with a severed mate bond, so maybe not. But he must have had a girlfriend or a lover before this—maybe that was why he preferred being alone, to nurse his sorrow.

All that information might be in the Guardian database.

“All right,” Rae said abruptly. “The Guardians do need to let me into the database. I’m one of them now, whether they like it or not.”

Zander’s grin returned. “That’s my girl.”

Rae warmed under his smile—which was large like everything else about him. “I’m not your girl, you big lug.”

She’d meant it to be teasing but Zander lost his amusement. He swung around and had his hands on either side of her on the railing before she could draw another breath.

“Yes, you are my girl,” he said in a rapid voice. “Don’t you forget it.” His eyes held ferocity as he gazed straight into hers.

Zander curved over Rae, trapping her in place, but she had no desire to duck under him and run. The sword, still on her back, pressed into her shoulder blades.

Rae reached up and touched his face.

Zander’s growl turned savage. He bent to her, his hands never leaving the rail, and he kissed her.

His body was warm, cutting the chill from the wind and water. The boat swayed but Zander held Rae firmly, his mouth opening hers. The sword’s sheath against her back kept her stiffly upright.

Rae’s blood fired, the mating frenzy never far. It wasn’t going to go away, that frenzy. Not before it was sated.

Rae moved her hands to his hard shoulders, then his chest, then his abdomen. Zander’s kiss turned fierce, robbing her of breath. Rae slid her hands to his waistband, everything he had in easy reach under the thin sweats.

Zander broke the kiss and jerked his head up, his teeth scraping her lips. His was breathing hard, his cheekbones flushed.

“No, no, no, we won’t go down that road again, Little Wolf. We’ll burn up.”

“I don’t care,” Rae said softly. She cupped his cock through the sweatpants, heart racing as she found him hard, big, and wanting.

Zander pushed himself from her and slammed against the wall of the cabins. “I care,” he said, the words coming out stiffly. “If I don’t back off, I’ll be going for a swim in icy waters again. Unless you want another cold shower?”

His eyes glinted with so much heat and mischief that Rae wanted to laugh. He’d do it. Zander took a step toward her as though ready to haul her off to the showers right now.

Rae drew the top half of the broken sword and held it in a defensive stance. “Back off, bear.”

Zander snarled. The rumble tore out of him, full of anger and mating frenzy, and Rae held the sword more firmly.

“Put it away,” Zander said. “Get your ass back to the stern for some more training. You need it. I’ll be there in a minute.”