Alaskan Sanctuary. Teri Wilson

That’s why he’d come to Alaska all those years ago. He’d wanted to a build a life in the most majestic place on earth. The kid who’d spent his childhood with his face pressed against hotel windows had beaten a trail to the Last Frontier as quickly as he could.

      Where had that fearless soul gone?

      Ethan stabbed at a pile of straw with the pitchfork and heaved it into the wheelbarrow. Then he did the same thing again, and again. With each jab, he felt the muscles in his arms and back loosen, then begin to burn. But it was a good burn, the kind of sharp ache that came with physical work.

      He made short work of cleaning out Tundra’s pen. Piper seemed genuinely surprised, and possibly even a little impressed, when he told her he was ready to move on to the next enclosure. She even smiled as she escorted Tundra back to her pen. And the way she did was altogether different from the sassy grin she’d greeted him with earlier. This was a genuine smile, full of sweetness and light. Looking at it brought about an ache in the center of his chest that made him forget the burn in his biceps.

      But Ethan knew better. The smile was for the wolf. Not for him. What he didn’t know was why it made him feel so empty inside.

       Chapter Four

      “Is this true?” Posy lowered the morning edition of the Yukon Reporter and, mouth agape, stared at Piper. “Did you really make him clean out the wolf pens?”

      Piper swallowed. “He put that in his article?”

      “Yes. It says so right here.” Posy tapped the front page with her index finger.

      Piper hadn’t been able to bring herself to read Ethan’s account of his first day volunteering at the sanctuary, even though procuring a copy of the newspaper was precisely why she’d driven into town.

      That had been the plan, anyway, when she’d headed down the mountain. She’d intended to grab a newspaper at the corner store and then head right back up. Instead, she’d found herself at the church with three coffees in tow—hers, plus one each for Liam and Posy. The church had been quiet, though. The parking lot had been empty and the doors locked.

      She should have headed straight back to the wildlife sanctuary. She had work to do. Loads of it. But when she’d driven past Posy’s ballet school and seen the warm glow of light through its windows, her car had somehow parked itself in the closest parking space.