“I’m sorry.”
She sighed and walked out from behind the screen that separated the bedroom from the main room.“It’s okay.”
He handed her the mug and said, “It’s still early, but it’s warm and the sun is pretty coming up over the trees.”
“Sounds great.Lead the way.”
They walked out of the barn and around to the gardens, where Zara had created a tea garden and Tris—the herd’s caretaker and stallion Khyle’s wolf shifter soulmate—harvested the other gardens and nearby trees for fresh fruits and vegetables.
They stopped at the split-rail fence where the cows and the herd mascot Daisy the goat grazed, and looked out over the farm’s territory.
“All this belongs to the herd?”she asked as she sipped on the coffee.
“Yes, we own a few hundred acres.A lot of it is forest, but we’ve cleared the pasture for the animals and also for planting crops.I’m the one who handles the planting and harvesting.Grey is the resident animal guy and handles the livestock.Crew pretty much does everything—a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak—and Ford is the farm mechanic.”
He told her about Zara coming from another herd, and how Grey had met Tatum when she’d moved to town to work at the local library.
“Tris and Khyle, and Dexter and Nancy, have homes about a mile down the road.”
“It’s nice that your herd is so close.”
They watched the sun slowly rise, bathing the pasture and trees in peaches and pinks.He really did enjoy watching the sun rise.
They moved away from the pasture and walked toward the man-made lake and fields in quiet, comfortable silence, making a loop around the lake before heading to the farmhouse and showing her around inside.
Tris was already in the kitchen with Zara working on breakfast, and after Tris was introduced to Fallon, he and Fallon sat at the table in the big kitchen and finished their coffee.
“What do you think?”he asked her.
“About what?”
“The farm.”
“It’s really nice here.I can see why you like it.Where do you go when you shift?”
“We shift in the barn and run around the pasture.The trees are pretty dense, so it’s not easy to run through them, but we can meander if we’re inclined.We normally run at night when we shift as a herd.We’re not compelled to shift at any particular time of the month, but Tris is a wolf so we usually go out on the full moons.”
“I do love a good full-moon shift and run,” Tris said as she set a plate of blueberry waffles in front of them.The moment the plate hit the table, the other herd members joined them.
Everyone included Fallon in the conversation around the table, about the weather and the animals and the crops, the plans for the day and week ahead.She was mostly quiet, eating the fluffy waffles topped with blueberries, warm syrup, and whipped cream, along with sausage links and crispy bacon.
When the meal was over, Tris shooed everyone out of the kitchen and Avi rose to his feet and smiled at Fallon.“Would you like to hang out with me in the garden?Or you can go back to the apartment if you’d rather.The day is yours.”
Her brow furrowed for a moment, and then she smiled softly.“I’d like to hang out with you.”
They thanked Tris and Zara for breakfast and walked outside.His stallion wanted to shift and run around in happiness, but he tamped the feeling down.He didn’t want to rush anything with Fallon; she seemed like a doe about to bolt.She watched everything like she expected someone to come out of the shadows and snatch her.
Somehow, he’d make sure she knew she was safe with him.
But for now, he’d just be there for her, however she wanted.
* * *
Fallon knelt on the other side of the row of tomatoes, picking ripe ones and setting them in a bucket as he did the same.She hadn’t spoken much since breakfast, and he didn’t push.He just worked beside her, pretending not to notice how she startled with every noise and kept one eye on her surroundings.
She stood and dusted off her jeans, and he followed her lead, pulling off his gloves and tucking them in his back pocket.
She looked around and her gaze landed on a wooden bench near the barn.“Want to take a break?”he offered.
