How had he gotten so close?

This was her fault. She’d spied him across the moor and the ever present loneliness had welled up inside her. Without thinking, she’d nudged Dubh nearer, but she’d never meant to get close enough to harm him.

Just to look.

She was pathetic.

But he’d been so beautiful, and as she had gotten closer, she had sensed the waves of anger and pain crashing off him. She’d wanted to help him. Fool—she couldn’t help anyone, only cause pain.

She’d kept to a safe distance. Even so, she should have left before he’d spotted her. But how could she have known he’d give chase, and that he’d be faster than anything she’d ever seen?

The howls cut off abruptly, and the grip on her mind relaxed its fierce hold. She was on her feet and running in seconds. But something stopped her. A shiver in the air, like she'd never sensed before. She came to a halt as though some invisible force called to her. Turning slowly, she swallowed her fear. He couldn’t be dead. Not this fast.

A gasp escaped her throat.

He crouched on his hands and knees, his spine arched, head thrown back. As she watched, a change came over him and his form shimmered and shifted in the clear afternoon light. A moment later, he vanished and a huge black wolf stood in his place. For long seconds, the animal stood, neck drooping toward the ground, his sides heaving.

He raised his head and dark eyes, flecked with gold, gazed at her. He blinked a couple of times as though to clear his mind and stared at her some more. Then he took a step forward.

Keira lost the ability to move. She stood, her feet fixed to the ground while the wolf padded across the distance between them. This couldn’t be real. That was why she wasn’t running.

But he was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, and he held her in thrall. His head came as high as her shoulder, much taller than a true wolf—further proof he couldn’t be real. Maybe her sad, pathetic mind had finally broken completely.

She probed his brain, sensing the man still there beneath the much simpler animal brainwaves. But he felt hazy, cut off from her.

Werewolf.