The Beta’s Ward: A Steamy Paranormal Shifter Romance (Pine Ridge Shifters Book 2) by Trinity James

The beta who hasn't needed anyone in twelve years just met the woman whose magic won't let him get close — and whose silence makes him need to.Marcus Stone built his life on three things: silence, solitude, and fixing whatever was broken. Twelve years as the beta of Pine Ridge, a bear in a wolf pack, the steady one, the man who holds the line while everyone else falls apart. He's good at it. He learned the hard way what happens when you let someone in.Then Lucy Anderson shows up at the edge of his territory with wards older than any shifter pack and a need for sanctuary that brought her a week early. She's not asking for help. She's asking for a place to stop running.But Lucy's wards don't just protect her from the ancient force hunting her — they push back against anyone who gets close. And the closer Marcus gets, the harder the wards push. Until they don't. Until her magic decides he belongs inside the walls she built to keep the world out.When the threat chasing Lucy reaches Pine Ridge, the pack faces a fight that teeth and claws can't win. The wards are failing. The clock is running. And Marcus has to choose between the walls he built to survive and the woman who makes him want to tear them down.The Beta's Ward is a steamy paranormal bear-shifter romance with forced proximity, fated mates, and a found family that fights for its own. Book 2 in the Pine Ridge Pack series. Complete standalone with HEA.