Still, if I stay in the same room with her for much longer when she’s in nothing but a towel…there’s no way I won’t maul her again. Not with her smelling so sweet. With that in mind, I roll off the bed to root around for my discarded pajama pants.

“I’m going to go downstairs to check on the pipes,” I tell her, needing an excuse to get out of this room. “Are you hungry?”

She shakes her head. “I’m okay right now.”

I pull my pants up over my hips, then cross the space between us to give her a quick peck on the lips after shrugging into my shirt. “Okay.”

“What was that for?”

My lips curl. “Just wanted to.”

Her answering smile is brilliant, and I can’t help but press another kiss to her lips, one that lingers this time.

“Pipes,” she murmurs against my mouth.

I grin back. “I’m going.”

She shoves me along with a nudge to my hip, and I begrudgingly leave her behind to go make myself busy. It’s warmer now in the rest of the lodge, thankfully, so I don’t have to worry about making sure Tess keeps herself bundled up while the old ducts try to catch up to the waning snowstorm outside.

The snow comes down in soft flakes now, the sky clearing up to let the sun shine through, which tells me the roads are likely being plowed as we speak. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of giving up the little bubble Tess and I have made for ourselves, not quite ready to share her with others—even her family. I can honestly say I’ve never felt so possessive of another person, not even Chloe, and that thought should probably scare me. It should have me reevaluating things. But right now…it just brings me a sense of peace I’ve not had in a very long time, and I decide to enjoy it for however long I have it.

Because the idea of losing it is something I can’t bring myself to think about right now.

I’m busying myself under the kitchen sink sometime later when I hear a commotion out in the foyer, the front door creaking open, and the sound of stomping feet following. The sounds instantly have me on high alert, the thought of Tess upstairs, still vulnerable at the tail end of her heat, putting me on edge. I pull myself out from beneath the sink and hurry my way through the kitchen and dining room to the foyer, where I’m taken aback by the sight of Tess’s brothers piling in through the door with snow dusting their shoulders.

“Hey, man,” Thomas says, stomping the snow off his boots. “Some fucking storm, huh?”

Chase shrugs out of his coat. “I hope our sister didn’t freeze to death while we were gone.”

“Where is she, anyway?” Kyle asks.

A few things happen at once. Their friendly faces and welcoming smiles do something to my insides that is a far cry from what they should; instead of putting me at ease, they have me grinding my teeth, the thought of Tess upstairs and smelling like heat making my body go taut with tension. My protective instincts go into overdrive, and before I can even catch the words coming out of my mouth, my voice projects with an edge that seems unlike me.

“You need to leave,” I tell them, clenching my fists.

Thomas looks thrown. “Do what now?”

“Tess isn’t ready to see you,” I say, rising to my full height. The thought of someone seeing her like she is…it makes my alpha restless and agitated. “You can’t see her.”

Chase immediately goes on the defensive. “Excuse me? You can’t fucking decide that.” His head whips around. “Where is our sister? Tess? Tess!”

I don’t know what has me acting this way; logically, I know that these are Tess’s brothers and that they’re no threat to her, or to me, for that matter, but the idea of a male—any male—seeing her even at the end of her heat has me feeling out of sorts. I can’t make sense of it, but I also can’t stop myself from acting on the feelings.

“I said”—I bump Chase with my chest, feeling a rage building inside that is entirely new to me—“you can’t see her.”

“The fuck, guy?” Thomas says, his voice rising. “What the hell is your problem?”

I hear an actual growl leaving my throat, and my skin ripples as if getting ready to shift. There’s a humming voice inside me that screams protect and an even more alarming one that whispers mate—and there doesn’t seem to be a shred of rationality to be found as I grab Thomas by the collar.

“If you so much as touch a foot to that staircase, I’m going to—”

“Hunter!”

My head whips around, and I spot a wide-eyed Tess at the top of the stairs, looking down at the scene before her in shock. I stare up at her with a parted mouth for a span of seconds, my chest heaving as I try to gather my bearings. With her this close, the hazy red that was clouding my vision seems to part—and all at once I recognize what the hell I’ve just done.

I let go of Thomas immediately, stepping away with bared palms as I struggle to catch my breath. “I—I’m sorry,” I manage, still feeling a bit like I should be putting my body between theirs and hers. “I don’t know what happened.”

“You just tried to throw us out,” Kyle huffs. “That’s what happened.” He looks up at his sister. “What the hell is going on here?”

Tess isn’t paying attention to her brothers, rushing down the stairs to my side and pressing her hand to my chest, her eyes wide and looking as if she might be feeling as out of sorts as I am.

“Are you okay?”

Chase snorts. “Is he okay? Dude! He was six seconds away from hulking out on us!”

“Seriously, Tess,” Thomas presses. “What the hell is going on?”

I keep my eyes trained on Tess, my brow wrinkling. “I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I don’t know what came over me. I thought about someone being near you right now, and I just…”

“I get it,” she says with a nod. “It’s okay.”

“The hell it’s okay,” Chase says as Thomas roars, “Is someone going to tell us what’s going on?”

Tess takes a deep breath, looking resigned. She gives my chest a gentle pat, turning her head to peer back at her brothers. I know this isn’t how she wanted them to find out, and for that, I feel a pang of guilt in my chest. I’ll need to apologize for that later too.

“Boys,” Tess says with a sigh. Her hand glides down my forearm, her fingers finding mine and twining there, settling some of the restlessness still lingering inside me. “I can explain everything.”

If the way her brothers are eyeing our intertwined hands is any indication…there’s a good chance it will be me who gets my ass kicked here.

“So . . .” Chase starts. “You’re a wolf person?”

“She said not to call them that,” Kyle points out.

“I still don’t understand how the fuck this happens,” Thomas chimes in.

“I told you,” Tess explains. “It’s called a ‘late presentation.’ It’s just something that happens sometimes.”

“That doesn’t explain why our employer tried to maul us,” Kyle scoffs.

Tess shoots me a look, and I frown down at my lap, keeping my fingers firmly laced through hers. She seems to sense that doing so calms the more raging tendencies threatening to creep up with the close proximity of other males—brothers or no—and I’m grateful to her for indulging me, as ridiculous as it seems for me to be feeling these things in the first place.

“I’m sure you’ve heard what happens to shifter females,” Tess says slowly. “Periodically.”

“No.” Chase cocks his head. “What happens to them?”

Thomas grimaces, leaning over to whisper in his brother’s ear.

“Oh, gross,” Chase says, making an ack sound. He shoots me a disgruntled look. “You’ve been boning our sister?”

I grit my teeth. “It’s not so crass as that.”

“I’ve read it’s very painful for the female shifters,” Kyle says, eyeing me. “If someone isn’t there to…help.”