A trick of light, some crushed grass from a passing animal.Nothing more.
But she appreciated Avi and Crew taking it seriously, and that helped to heal some of the worry that was rearing its ugly head.
He gave her hand a squeeze as they reached the rows of corn used to feed the animals.“I’ve got you, sweetheart.Always.”
“I’ve got you too.”She wasn’t much in the fighting department, but her jaguar had claws and fangs, and she’d use them if she had to.To protect her mate and the herd.
Whatever came next, no matter if it was Colton or Otto, she wasn’t facing it alone.
And that’s what really mattered.
“Date number two, huh?”Grey asked with a smile as he held the ladder while Avi replaced a bulb in the lights strung up around the interior of the barn.
“Yep,” he said.He switched out the burned bulb and tested it with the app on his phone before he climbed back down.“I wish my cousin wasn’t such an ass.”
“So you could take her somewhere for real?”
“Yeah.”
“I know, I feel the same way.Tatum and I run and grab food after I pick her up from the library, but we don’t go anywhere because we’re not sure how safe it is.One of these days, Colton will get the hint that he’s not going to take control of our farm and he’ll hit the road for good.”
“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
Because Avi really wanted to take Fallon out on a date.A real one.With dinner at some fancy restaurant and a moonlit stroll somewhere romantic.Maybe even a night away at a nice hotel.
“Have you guys decided about the joining ceremony and party?”
Avi carried the ladder to the hooks on the wall and hung it up, then began to move around the furniture he’d brought from one of the storage rooms in the farmhouse: a coffee table and a futon with a plush mattress topped with lots of pillows and fluffy blankets.
“Actually, we were talking about that earlier, and we’re going to have the party Saturday night, with a shift and run after.I can’t wait to see her in her shift, I’ve never seen a jaguar before.”He was sure she was gorgeous, all sleek and powerful.Normally, the females would ride their males in their stallion form, but since Fallon was also a shifter, he wanted to run around with her in the pasture.
“That’s cool,” Grey said.“Ford is really getting grumpy about not finding his soulmate yet.I don’t think he figured he’d be the last one.”
“It’ll happen when the time is right,” Avi said.“I wouldn’t have imagined that my soulmate would come to the farm because she was fleeing an arranged mating.”
“It’s easy to say it’ll happen when it happens when you already have your soulmate in your arms,” Grey pointed out.
“True.Well, I hope it does happen for Ford soon.Then our herd will be complete.Six males with six soulmates, and a safe and secure territory to raise our families.”
“The future’s looking pretty damn bright.”
Avi and Grey moved the furniture to face one of the walls where they’d hung a white sheet to use as a screen for the projector hooked up to Avi’s phone.He’d rented a still-in-the-theaters movie from a streaming app that Fallon had said she’d like to see, and had a menu planned for their night in that included a burger Sunny said would be a hit with Fallon.
“I think that’s everything,” Avi said.“I should go clean up.I need to pick up my sweetheart for our date.”
“Did you ever notice how we all call our mates sweetheart?”
Avi hummed.“You know, I didn’t notice.Maybe hearing Dexter call Nancy sweetheart all these years just stuck.”
“That’s possible.I never really thought about it.It’s funny the things we pick up without realizing it.”
“True.”Avi gave one last look around the barn.It wasn’t perfect—he wouldn’t consider a date perfect until he could take Fallon out of Little River safely without worrying about Colton or Otto—but it would be great nonetheless.“Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime.I’m going to steal this idea for a date with Tatum.She’s been wanting to do a movie marathon for some trilogy from her childhood that I never saw, and this would be a perfect place to just veg out and watch them.”
“I’ll help set up whenever you do it.”
They parted ways, and Avi headed into the house to get ready for his date.
