How kind that he’d actually asked. She filled with warmth and a happiness she never thought she’d find. “Yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
One week later.
Fall colors in Montana glowed bright with golds, reds, and even orange leaves falling to the ground. Leah sat contentedly on the porch of her sprawling log cabin, rocking in a handcrafted wooden chair with a cup of coffee in her hand.
She waved as Ivy jogged out of the forest, holding a plate of what appeared to be pumpkin-shaped cookies. It had been a year since she and her friend had been together, and she had missed her every minute.
“Hey.” Ivy bounded up the stairs, her strawberry-blond ponytail swinging, and her green eyes sparkling. “I made cookies.” She handed the plate to Leah.
“Thank you. Have a seat.” So far, the only furniture Leah had were the two rocking chairs on the front porch and the bed.
Ivy happily sat and reached for a cookie. “How are you liking Montana?”
“It’s beautiful.” Leah breathed deeply. “I finished my list of traffickers to take down, and it’s nice to have a little break.” Andbreakwas exactly what they’d done to the bed the night before. “I need furniture.”
“Nia’s bringing you a catalog later today,” Ivy said happily. “I think Odette already ordered you a kitchen set. I hope you don’t mind.”
Odette was Jasper’s mother and seemed like one of the kindest people on the planet. “I don’t mind at all,” Leah admitted. “Picking out furniture doesn’t interest me. If anybody else wants to do it, I’m fine.”
“Oh, good, because I think Nia actually bought you a sofa set.” Ivy winced. “I might have picked out your dishes.”
Leah threw back her head and laughed. “That is absolutely fine with me. Seriously, I haven’t tried to keep a home for almost nine decades. You all go right ahead.”
“Excellent.” Ivy munched happily on a cookie, straightening. “Hey, there they are.”
Nia and Odette walked out of the forest from the other cabins, hand in hand and laughing about something. The two women were truly stunning. Nia stood to probably a couple of inches over five feet and had gold-flecked brown eyes, a cute smattering of freckles, and a wild mane of coiled black hair. Her delicate bone structure was angled perfectly, and her skin was a dark tawny, kissed by the sun. It was impossible to tell her heritage, but a slight Scottish brogue danced in her tone. Of course, the woman was three thousand years old and had probably lived many places.
In comparison, Jasper’s mother had platinum-blond hair and pale, peach-tinged skin. Her eyes were a deep blue-green, similar to Jasper’s but darker. She stood to about five-foot-six and had been incredibly kind so far.
The women reached them. “We bought you furniture,” Nia said without preamble. “We hope it’s okay.”
Odette’s face scrunched up in a frown as if she was worried about insulting her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
“Sounds great to me,” Leah said honestly. “Buy all you want.”
“Wonderful.” Nia clapped her hands. “I’m thinking flowers out here.”
Ivy angled her head to look at the grassy area. “Not until spring.”
“Oh, good point,” Nia said. “Anyway, we have a mission.”
Leah perked up. “I’m on a bit of a vacation, but I wouldn’t mind hearing about a mission.”
Nia sat on the stairs on one side, and Odette took the other. “We’re worried about Dax,” Nia said. “He’s almost four hundred years old and hasn’t found his mate. I don’t want to see him get weak and die.”
“It’s such an odd curse,” Leah murmured. “No other immortals have this?”
“Nope. It’s called the Maxwell Curse,” Nia said. “I assume these days we’d say it’s a genetic mutation and not just a deadly hex.”
Odette leaned forward and snagged a pumpkin cookie from the platter. “Nobody understands it, and mating does put us in danger. Now that you’ve fully mated and spent time together, you understand what happens if you and Jasper are separated for any length of time, right?” Her eyes grew serious.
Leah nodded. “I do. We both go insane and die. It sounds crazy. It’s absolute torture.”
“It is, but that’s why you can’t be kidnapped.” Nia almost made that sound like another curse. “I mean, a good kidnapping is fun once in a while, you know?”
Leah shook her head. “Not really, but I’ll do my best not to get kidnapped.”
