**Eighteen Years Later **
**Sacramento, California**
Trey looked at her picture again, and he felt his heart race in the way that had now become familiar to him over the last several weeks. What was it about this woman?
At first, he didn't want the assignment because he was an undercover detective, not a glorified babysitter. After one look at her picture, he quickly changed his mind. He not only wanted to be on the assignment, but he demanded to take the lead.
The picture he was looking at was only her DMV photo, but he could still see the sadness in her eyes. Trey desperately wanted to be the one to take that sadness away.
It scared him that he was so drawn to her, not due to his feelings but because he was afraid she would reject him if he ever told her how he felt. Who would want a strange man walking up to them and telling them they were infatuated with them?
Trey was a werelion, but he was also a detective. None of those he worked with knew he was a werelion, with the exception of his sergeant and his sergeant's wife. The others didn't know anything about shifters or other supernatural beings in their world.
Trey had decided to use his strength and desire to help others in the best way he knew how. He was a detective who went undercover to help rescue children and young adults being trafficked. Trey's lion Atlas loved the adventure of their work and taking down the bad guys.
Atlas believed the object of Trey's obsession was their mate. Werelions were different from werewolves when it came to identifying their mates. They couldn't go by their scent. It was more about the first touch. If the sparks were there, they knew they'd found their mate.
Caterina was beautiful with long jet-black hair, a full pouty mouth, and pale blue eyes. Her skin was creamy white that looked like porcelain. She was so petite that Trey felt an overwhelming desire to protect her, especially when he saw the sadness and fear on her pretty face.
She was easy to keep under surveillance because she never went anywhere. The two places she went to the most were work and the market down the street from her apartment. Trey's team had her under surveillance for protection, and he took most of the shifts himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust the others on his team. He just wanted to be the one to watch her.
Trey glanced down when she came out of the store. Caterina walked past him as he leaned against the building next door. He caught a whiff of something floral when she walked by. It wasn't one specific flower, but more like he was standing in a meadow on a warm summer day, and the scents of many flowers surrounded him.
Whatever it was that left the appealing aroma was now his new favorite scent. Caterina hadn't looked in his direction, even though she was only a few feet away. His heart was thumping so hard in his chest that he was surprised she couldn't hear it. Trey had to be careful while following her because she was always looking around like she could tell someone was watching her.
He liked that Caterina was so cautious, but it worried him that she may give him a hard time when he could finally approach her. Clearly, she had no man in her life, but that was not a surprise, seeing as Detective Cummings had said that she didn't allow anyone to get close to her. Trey did feel a ping of jealousy when he saw other men looking at her admiringly. However, she never seemed to notice.
The look on Caterina's face deterred any admirers from trying to talk to her. She seemed cold as ice when she looked people in the eye, but he knew she had a soft side hidden in there somewhere. Trey was convinced she just needed someone she could trust to break down the barriers she'd built to protect herself, and he was up for the challenge.
As he followed her home, Caterina's long hair swayed from side to side, hypnotizing him. He imagined what it would feel like to run his fingers through it.
He watched as she entered her apartment building, and he thought about following her in but quickly changed his mind. He glanced in as she was getting on the elevator, and she looked out the window. When her eyes briefly met his, he froze, but it was as if she was looking right through him. Trey could tell that she didn't really see him.
Her eyes held so much pain and sadness in them that it broke his heart. Even though the eye contact didn't last more than a few seconds, it seemed like time stood still. Trey could've drowned in those beautiful eyes and would have died a happy man. After she got into the elevator, he walked to his truck.
He would have to make a decision soon because he wasn't comfortable knowing that people were hunting her down and could strike at any moment. It made Trey feel like someone punched him in the gut when he thought about anyone getting close enough to kidnap Caterina. It was his mission to make sure that didn't happen. He got into his truck which was parked in front of her building, and sat there looking at what he knew was her balcony. He thought several times in the past couple of weeks about kidnapping her himself and hiding her where no one could find them. However, he determined that wouldn't be a good way to earn her trust.
As Trey continued to observe her apartment, he began to get an idea. His team wouldn't be happy about it, but he didn't care. Caterina's safety was all that he cared about.
From the first time he saw her picture, he knew there was something special about her. Caterina now filled every crevice of his mind to the point that nothing else mattered. He would do whatever he needed to keep her safe, and hopefully, when they finally met, she would feel the same connection he felt.
Trey's team thought he was crazy for not reading over her case files to learn about her past and what was done to her, but he couldn't do it. He only knew the facts he needed to do his job. From his experience, survivors often left key information out of their statements due to embarrassment and shame. When he could finally get Caterina alone, he would work on her trust so that she would tell him everything herself. His team didn't know he had an ulterior motive to make her fall in love with him while keeping her safe.
He began eyeing the parking garage because he knew she would be leaving soon to go to the hospital, where she worked the night shift as a nurse. He had decided what he would do, and if he was going to make a move now, he would need help.
There was only one person on his team that Trey trusted enough to help him without saying anything to his sergeant right away. He quickly texted Ellie, telling her to pick him up from his apartment and bring something with kiwi in it. She replied just as quickly with ok and a question mark. Trey replied back with nothing more than a winking emoji. He was taking a risk by going rogue, but he didn't care. Now that he had a plan, he felt the excitement building at finally getting to talk to Caterina.
Trey saw the black Honda Civic come out of the parking garage, and he followed her. He would take her from the hospital parking lot if he thought she would go along with it, but he knew that may be too risky. Getting himself admitted to the hospital and catching her off guard would be better.
He felt his phone vibrate and looked down at it as he sat at the stoplight. His sergeant was letting him know that one of the men they had been watching just went to the emergency room at the hospital where Caterina works. That was all Trey needed to hear to know he was making the right decision. It was time to move before someone else had the chance to get her. He would do it tonight, and he didn't care about the consequences. He had to protect Caterina.
After watching her enter the hospital, he left and headed to his apartment to meet Ellie. Atlas was running around in Trey's head with excitement. Trey had to remind him that Caterina was human. They would have to take it slowly so they didn't scare her away. If she were his mate, they would be introducing her to a world she knew nothing about.
He understood it may be a lot for her to take in at once. Not only will she find out that people are hunting her down. She will also discover that the person meaning to protect her is her mate and is a werelion. Trey shook his head as he drove. If he was Caterina, he would think one of them had just escaped from the looney bin.