Amber Keeley ran hard. Feet pounding the dirt path, head up, iPod blaring angry hard rock in contrast to the peaceful wooded setting of the outskirts of Homeland. She'd only been working for the NSO a little over a month, but already she loved it here. The pay was fantastic, the perks huge and the people, no matter that they weren't exactly human, were fairly awesome.

It could be scary, though. In fact, it was because of the scary part of her job that she was doing her morning runs at Homeland. She'd been attacked two weeks ago by some nut job who hated the New Species and everything to do with them. Amber had knocked the assha….well, on his stupid ass, but Justice North had personally insisted she do her runs on site for the rest of her time with the NSO. North was a great guy, if a little intimidating. Then again all of the New Species were a little intimidating. Not to mention hot as hell.

Amber snorted and dodged a low hanging branch that scratched her arm as she went past. Best not to think that way of her new co-workers. She'd get into trouble. Amber sucked at normal relationships. It sure as hell wouldn't be a good idea to get tangled in one that was bound to be more complicated right from the get go.

New Species were complicated enough just to work and be friends with. She was still learning how to handle them and their quirks. Like the sniffing, especially from the males. Her first day on the job, one enormous guy had yanked her out of the lunch room line and wrapped her long braid around his fist, sniffing every inch of it and moving on to her neck while she stood frozen. Eventually one of the other males had taken pity on her. He came up and ordered the other guy to let her go, eventually growling until the first male backed off. The Species who'd rescued her was a nice, soft-spoken guy named Brass. Brass had advised that Amber stop using her favorite coconut vanilla hair shampoo, unless she wanted to be accosted via nose every lunch hour. It seemed smelling like food was a bad idea around hungry New Species.

"Not that you won't smell good enough to eat without it," he had teased. Brass was a flirt. And a good guy. He'd also walked her through the need to take certain paths through Homeland on her runs. "You will be safe anywhere here, it's not like Reservation where we have damn near feral Species running around. But there are still certain ones here who like their privacy and might get annoyed if they ran into a human at the crack of dawn."

Amber knew 'annoyed' was probably Brass's polite way of saying they would scare the bejesus out of her. There were plenty of Species at Homeland that acted wild enough to her - so she took his advice very seriously and never deviated from the approved paths. It was gorgeous enough she didn't mind not wandering. Much anyway.

Amber had a degree in forestry and years of experience in forestry management for the State of California. That was why she'd been hired by Justice North. The NSO had already acquired a lot of land between Homeland and Reservation and were looking to acquire more. They wanted to learn how to manage their properties effectively and she was teaching them to do just that. It was incredibly rewarding work. The Species loved learning about the land and were very quick students. Justice wanted a team trained for both Reservation and Homeland. Amber got to be in the field most days, with only a few hours in the classroom, which is how she preferred it. She was an outdoors girl down to her bones. She inhaled deeply of Northern California dawn and smiled. It was going to be a perfect day.

She saw him a split second before he stepped onto the path. At first she thought he was a ghost. A big, beautiful ghost. But he turned out to be rock solid. Amber hit his massive chest and bounced off with a gasp. Strong hands encircled her upper arms and held her upright. She shook her head slowly, trying to clear the ringing in her ears over the blare of her music.

"Damn! I'm sorry, dude. Didn't you see me coming?" She reached up to yank out her headphones, giving the Species an exasperated look when he failed to release her. These guys had a lot to learn about personal space.

"I saw you." His voice was deep and low and caused a shiver to work down her spine to her tailbone. He smelled like sunshine and the musky scent of clean male sweat. Suddenly aware her breasts were smashed up against his bare chest, Amber tried to tug out of his hold. For a moment she thought he wasn't going to let her go. There was a dark flash in his eyes that made her hold her breath, then his hands relaxed and fell to his sides.

She studied him, still breathless from slamming full force into that hard body. These Species were so big they made Amber feel petite even though she was nearly 5'8 and hovered between 140 and 150 pounds. He was built, of course, pretty much par for the course for all Species, but this one had her mouth going dry.

He was huge, even bigger than Brass. His head was shaved, which was odd, since most Species, male or female, had oddles of thick gorgeous hair in various shades. The look suited him, though it leant him a dangerous vibe. His skin was a deep gold. No visible tan lines. He obviously spent a lot of time shirtless in the sun. Her eyes wandered to the flat hard V of his abdomen. His sweats were tied low over his hipbones, the smooth tan seemed to extend unbroken underneath… Her mind wandered for a moment, imagining what he might look like with the sweats off.

Damn.

Amber swallowed hard and forced her eyes back to his face. She blinked and stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Amber. Amber Keeley."

He stared at her hand, his thick eyebrows furrowed. She mentally smacked her head. "Sorry! You guys don't do the handshaking thing. You think I would get that by now, huh?" She smiled up at him, feeling nervous. She always yapped like a damn Chihuahua when she was nervous, "Sorry again for slamming into you."

No reply. She started to wonder if he was one of the anti-social ones Brass had warned her about and goosebumps rose on the back of her neck. "Look, how about I just finish my run some other…"

Amber had started to lower her hand when it was swallowed by a huge warm one. Her heart immediately started beating double time, then nearly stopped at the sound of that sexy voice.

"You are called Amber?"

"Yes," she smiled nervously again, her feet shuffling in the beaten dirt path. She needed to get a grip before Mister Sexy decided she was a lunatic. "And you are?"

"I am Vengeance."

He may have only been touching her hand, but her whole body felt electrified, as if a light current engulfed her from head to toe. In the interest of self-preservation, Amber tugged free again. "Nice to meet you, Vengeance." She was about ready to take off, desperately wanting to put distance between her and the unsettling New Species when that deep voice stopped her.

"Why have you been running here every day, Amber?" He seemed to taste her name as he said it, rolling the 'r' at the end. Amber shivered again.

"Just for exercise. To stay in shape." She eyed him, feeling silly and breathless. Amber, sweetheart, stop staring at the gorgeous man like you want to gooble him up, she scolded herself. "I tend to get roly-poly if I don't watch it, you know. Okay, maybe you don't know. You probably never gain an ounce that isn't pure muscle." She blushed as dark eyes narrowed.

"What is 'roly-poly'?"

"Oh, it's like fat, you know? Chunky? Big and soft and lumpy. "

Those eyes trailed up and down her body. "You are not this 'chunky'. You are small, and soft, but you are perfect."

Her blush deepened. "Aww, aren't you sweet? Thanks."

"But that is not what I meant," Vengeance continued. "I understand exercise, but why do you only take the same path - every day exactly the same?"

"Oh, I was told not to wander. That it might not be entirely safe around here."

His jaw clenched. "It is safe if you are with me. I will not let anyone harm you." His words were fierce, though his expression seemed mild enough. "We should run together. There is a lake close by, have you seen it? It is beautiful. I will show you. Come."

Amber hesitated, even though she was tempted. She'd heard of the lake and seen it on the topographical maps she had of the area, but no one had yet had the time to take her to that sector in person. And while this big New Species no longer exactly frightened her, he definitely pinged all her 'watch-your-ass-Amber' alarms. He was delicious, sweet and made her do the breathless and giggly thing. The breathless and giggly thing always meant trouble. Amber rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding? She loved trouble.

"Okay, big guy, lead on. But you better not get me fired."

He set a slow easy pace. A little too easy, in Amber's opinion. He obviously didn't think she could keep up with him. She probably couldn't, but she wasn't exactly geriatric yet either. Amber finally pushed her way to the front as they rounded a corner.

He grunted as she passed. "What are you doing?"

"Eat my dust, Vengeance!" She laughed as she darted ahead.

He watched her run off, resisting the immediate urge to give chase. Vengeance knew she was fast, for a human. He'd been watching her for awhile now, after all, but she was no match for him. He could take her down in seconds if he chose to.

He didn't chose. Instead, he watched.

She was a graceful runner, like a doe, springing like through the morning woods. The long, dark braid bounced and twisted down her spine, the tail of it brushing her ass as she ran. Need tightened inside of him, but he pushed it away with a growl. He would not frighten another female. He was past that now. When she was closing in on the lake, he ran her down deliberately, timing it so he would catch up just as she reached the ridge. His lake was small, but lovely, tucked away in this far corner of Homeland. The flush of dawn was still in the sky and mist hovered in rose and gold over the pale blue water.

Vengeance knew every inch of the tiny shoreline like the back of his hand. He loved it here. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she took in the view. A smile curved his lips when her face lit up.

"Oh my god, it's gorgeous!"

Her eyes flickered to his, a huge smile on her face. His hands tightened at his sides as he forced himself to keep from reaching for her. From hauling her over his shoulder and taking her back to his small home behind the lake and tying her to the bed so she could never leave him.

But that wasn't the way.

Slow, he reminded himself. Very slow. They completed the run around the lake and back to the point he'd purposely let her run into him. He was careful to match his pace to hers, but she must have been pushing herself because when they stopped, Amber was gasping like a fish out of water. She bent over holding her stomach.

"Do you need assistance?"

She snorted at him over her shoulder and shook her head. After a moment, she straightened. "Damn! That's what I get for trying to keep up with the big boys."

Vengeance could hear her heart racing from where he stood. Her face was flushed as she finally straightened. "You could have ran that twice in the time it took me, right?"

He shrugged. "Three times, probably. But your legs are shorter than mine."

"Oh, so I am stubby, am I? What happened to perfect?" But she was laughing as she said it.

He stared at her, somewhat puzzled. "Your legs look good on you. My legs would not."

She laughed harder. "You are absolutely right. We should keep our body parts to ourselves." Then she choked, going bright red.

It was his turn to smile as he took a step toward her. "Should we?

"I think so. For now. Yes." Amber stuttered, looking up at him in a panic. His nostrils flared. She was nervous and excited, but not scared. Good. Ven relaxed. Then she reached up to pat his shoulder. "Thank so much for showing me the lake. Do you run every day, too?"

Yes." He sure as hell did now. Ven held very still, not willing to lose the contact of her fingers on his bare skin. He wanted to close his eyes and revel in the feel of a female touching him of her own free will. "I can show you more trails if you want, there are many."

"Oh that would be awesome! Same time tomorrow then? Just don't jump onto the trail like earlier, okay? I may break something if I run into you again." She laughed again, squeezed his shoulder once and ran off, at a slow jog this time, he noted. She was tired. He would make sure to run slower tomorrow.

Amber laughed a lot. And smiled more. He liked her, very much.

And she was attracted to him. Ven had smelled it on her, more than once. He bit his lip, reining in his impatience as he watched Amber fade away, back into the heart of Homeland. She would be back. She'd practically promised him. And he would be patient. He would be careful. He didn't want this one to get away from him. More than anything, he didn't want Amber to be scared of him.

Vengeance knew very well that the other males didn't trust him, though most of them pitied him. They thought he was dangerous and they had been right. But Vengeance did not want to be that male anymore. He was learning to control himself, to stop reacting blindly from the pain and loneliness that still very much haunted him. He preferred to stay out here, away from the others. In fact he had almost decided to go to Reservation after that fight with Tiger. Almost.

He rubbed his smooth scalp, missing his hair and the gentle fingers that had once threaded through it. Vengeance raised his head and took a slow breath as he stared up at the bright blue sky. His mate was gone. Dead. Slaughtered by those Mercile monsters in human form. He had been confused and in pain when he attacked those other human women. Out of his head. Ven was deeply ashamed of what he had done, but he was better now. Lots better. And Amber was special. He'd known that the second he'd caught her scent in the woods last week. He'd come to the ridge and watched her every day since. She fascinated him.

She would be his. Amber was the one he'd been waiting for.

Please.

Let her be the one I've been waiting for.