Right Wolf, Right Time by Marie Harte

not a seamstress or an Internet genius or a rich clothing designer.” Not like the women of the catamount pride. “I’m just me.”
    “That’s all I ever wanted,” he said softly. “Just you.”
    They smiled at each other. Monty helped her lock up and they left hand in hand.
    The next week was the best in Sophie’s life. She and Monty played together. They did normal things at her home, spending their time apart from the rest of the world while they learned more about one another. Monty liked adventure movies while she liked romantic comedies. They both enjoyed a good steak, but then again, they were wolves, so no surprise there. He liked watching her dress as much as undress, and he especially liked brushing her hair, which turned her on all the way to her toes.
    For a gruff, scarred and battered wolf, he was so gentle with her…when not fucking her into exhaustion. Only when he kissed her with tenderness or slowed down enough to stare into her eyes while they climaxed did he call it making love .
    To Sophie, anytime with Monty was lovemaking. The more time they spent together, the more time she wanted to be with him. He made her laugh without trying. All the stories he told of his life in the pride warmed her from the inside out, showing her a man who valued family and close ties. He missed his father, who’d died in the old pack wars before she’d come to Cougar Falls. The cats he now called blood seemed like a bunch of characters. And she liked that he had a tight relationship with them. Monty had been good friends with Burke for years, both before and after he’d come back to town. To hear Monty tell it, he only tolerated Grady and Dean. Yet he talked about them like they were the brothers he’d never had.
    She’d danced close to his past once and only once, but he’d shut down so fast and turned so cold she’d immediately backed off. Heck, she didn’t want to talk about her history either. But she couldn’t help her curiosity. What little she knew about his time away from his current life could fill a thimble. He’d spent his life in the wolf order until he turned nineteen, and then he vanished. He’d apparently worked with other orders around the country, tracking and killing Hunters for the past few years until he’d returned to Cougar Falls a few months before she’d arrived. A large block of unaccounted time had never been answered for, that she knew of.
    Even Julia and Gabby had remarked about how their mysterious pridemate refused to discuss his years away from the town. They said it gave him more appeal, but Sophie saw nothing but pain in his hidden past. A pain she owned as well and refused to face.
    The only fly in the ointment, as far as she could tell, was a growing fear that danger pressed closer. If her uncle ever found her, if the others knew where she’d come from and what she’d done… They’d kick her out of town before she could say boo . And then she’d be on the run from the sociopaths she called family.
    She shivered, and Monty clutched her hand tighter while he stared down at his cards. Time ticked away in her kitchen as they spent the rest of their Saturday together, before the big dinner.
    “You know, we don’t have to rush this. We can have dinner at the pride some other time.”
    She wished that was all she feared. Sophie took a deep breath and let it, and all her tension, release. She smiled at her mate, pleased that her wolf had fully accepted him. Their scents merged, even though Sophie still had reservations. More about being worthy of a strong wolf like Monty than any perceived weakness of his. “I’m good. I’m a little nervous, but I want them to know you’re mine.” She said that with a straight face. Her words weren’t loud, but by the smile on his face, she knew they didn’t have to be.
    “Awesome. Oh, and Uno.”
    She drew another card and watched him win. Again. “I still think you’re cheating.”
    “Prove it.” He winked.
    She laughed and