“You’re talking about the Hunter program? Razor told me he was born into that awful laboratory and that he’d escaped with some of his brothers when he was very young. He hasn’t said much more than that, though.”
“These aren’t men who easily talk about their feelings or what they’ve endured. There are still things that Knox won’t talk about with me,” Leni said, a shared understanding in her voice. Her gaze lingered on Willow, studying her with quiet intensity. “You care about him very much, don’t you?”
Willow hesitated to answer, even though the truth of how she felt about Razor sat at the tip of her tongue. “We hardly know each other. It’s only been a few days.”
Leni’s expression softened. “Still, when you know, you know. Time is irrelevant when it comes to the heart.”
“It sounds like you’re speaking from personal experience. Is that how it was with you and Knox?”
She nodded. “I was drawn to him immediately, even though getting involved with a seemingly dangerous man was the last thing I ever thought I’d want. My sister had gotten mixed up with dangerous men and it nearly cost Shannon her life. But Knox was different. As lethal as he is, he’s even more honorable and kind. He’s protective of the few people he allows into his heart. I’d only known him a matter of minutes before he came to my defense in the diner the first night he arrived. We’ve been together ever since, and in that time he’s shown me his goodness in a thousand different ways.”
Willow couldn’t help but smile at her new friend’s obvious joy. “I’m happy for you, Leni.”
An inquisitive light shone in the woman’s hazel eyes. “We weren’t supposed to be talking about me. I’d asked how you feel about Razor—unless you don’t want to tell me. Sorry, I’ve never been much good at socializing. If I’m prying, just—”
“No, it’s okay,” Willow said. “It’s actually nice being able to sit and chat around a kitchen table like this. It’s the first time I’ve felt something close to normal these past few days.”
Leni nodded sympathetically. “Have you and Razor been on the run this whole time?”
“Yes. It was too dangerous to stay in Colorado after . . .” She couldn’t finish the thought. Leni reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly, giving Willow a chance to find her voice again. “My sister secretly rented a storage unit. She gave me the key, saying if anything ever happened to her I should open it, that I’d know what to do once I did.”
“She knew she was in danger,” Leni replied soberly.
Willow nodded. “She refused to confide in me about it. She said it would be safer for me the less I knew. When Razor and I got to the storage unit the only thing inside it was a book. It was ours when we were kids. She’d left me a code in the pages, something only I would know how to solve. The answer sent us to the orphanage in Quebec City where we found that flash drive. Laurel and I once lived there as kids after we lost our parents. A Breedmate shelter.”
“Oh.” Leni’s eyes went a little wider at that. “I didn’t realize.”
“Yes. I’m a Breedmate.”
There was a time, not so long ago, that Willow would’ve rather swallowed her tongue than accept the fact that she was a Breedmate. Now, sitting here with Leni, a woman who was also part of that rare number and clearly happy to be mated to her Breed partner, made it easier for Willow to start thinking of herself as who—and what—she truly was.
To be honest, it was being with Razor that had brought her the furthest in accepting she’d been born with the teardrop-and-crescent-moon symbol and all the other extraordinary gifts that came with it. Her ability to heal others. Her half-Atlantean blood that was uniquely suited to accept an eternal bond with one of the Breed and bear his children.
All things she had been trying to run away from for as long as she could remember.
And now?
She wasn’t ready to consider how she felt about blood bonds and being mated to someone like Razor. No, not someonelikehim.
Him, specifically.
Since she was being honest with herself about all of that, she also had to consider Razor with a clear eye. It was becoming so easy to let herself feel close to him, to long for something more from him, especially after they had kissed.
The intensity of her emotions and her genuine care for him was making it harder to remember that her Breedmate mark was the reason he was still with her at all, still doing everything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. Without it, she was all but certain he would have left her back at the motel in Cheyenne or somewhere else along the long road they’d traveled together so far.
Still, regardless, he hadn’t known about her mark when he helped her escape Colorado. All he’d known then was that she was Laurel Townsend’s twin sister and she was in danger. That had been enough for Razor to act.
As for the two of them and where they’d be once Razor had the truth about who had killed Laurel and what had happened to his friend, Willow couldn’t guess. Nor did she want to.
She had to mentally shake herself back to the here and now as her silence stretched and her thoughts swirled around all the questions that were in need of answers.
She lifted her gaze to Leni’s and gave a mild shrug. “Razor and I are both committed to the same thing—finding out who killed my sister and why. I don’t know where we’ll go from there.”
“Hm.” Leni’s smile said she suspected otherwise, but she didn’t press.
They ate for a few minutes more, then Willow helped clear the table and load the empty plates into the dishwasher. She couldn’t stifle the yawn that overtook her once everything was put away and tidy once more.
“I’m sorry, you must be exhausted,” Leni said, drying her hands on a towel and leaning back against the counter. “The guys could be out there for a while yet. Why don’t you let me show you to our guest room upstairs? It’s not much, just a little attic studio.”
