“Mastering your powers, I remember. And my Momma can still help with that. It’s just… Nightfell is a pretty traditional place with a complex relationship to the Old Magic that lives here. What we do affects it. That means, well, Momma will only teach family.”
“We can’t be mates though. I’m…”
She left it hanging long enough that I leaned forward, needing to know what she would say. Fallon dropped too many sentences for her not to be hiding things. I only saw her change the conversation with her face because I had mapped it so well.
“We’ve been together this long and nothing has happened. I would feel something, right?”
I couldn’t hide my full-body flinch. Luckily, she contemplated her boots. She really felt nothing at all? I was always in the kitchen with her. And my teasing invariably made her smile. I didn’t imagine that shiver when I ordered her on my back. We were mates, despite the complications. That had to be a start. Our goals aligned, mostly. I would do anything to help her, even if she was stubbornly mad about it.
“We can pretend! Like a game. And I need your support too. I might’ve been expected to leave to find you… my mate, I mean. If I come back without one, I’m not sure they will let either of us stay.”
That put a stricken look on her face when I shouldhave been reassuring her. I hated that. It cracked something inside me, but I wouldn’t waver. With that level of anxiety, how would I ever explain the other obstacles in this plan?
“You know me so well. It shouldn’t be hard. We’ll save that for the cooking stuff.”
“Will it be challenging to learn?” She meant the food, but I wouldn’t pass up my chance to extol my virtues as a mate.
“I’ll be an easy mate to get along with. I don’t snore and I brush my teeth three times a day. Just think of all the game I can bring to your door. I love your cooking already and…”
Each box I tried to tick only grew the corresponding tick in Fallon’s jaw. She took a deep breath and I held out my hands in surrender.
“You’ll do fine with the food. I promise it won't get complicated.”
But the situation had already turned complicated. Beyond our secrets, I loved her the second I met her. I figured out she was my mate the same day. I had to believe we would sort this out. Fate had drawn us together. Fallon was it. There would be no other for me for as long as my soul and magic continued. I just knew she wouldn’t appreciate that information thrown in her face at that moment when I was still trying to figure out how we could be together.
“How is us pretending to be mates not complicated?I need a full outline of what you expect me to do. You know I’ll put in my share of work if that’s what this takes to tame my magic and get back to Evie.”
I wanted to laugh so badly, but I understood Fallon was completely serious. “I can work on an outline. In the meantime, you can just relax and I’ll tell you when you have to do something.”
“Never in the history of the Harrowlands has a woman relaxed when told, Declan.”
“We’ll do fine, Fallon. Trust me. If I were your mate, for real, what would you make me for dinner?” Because Goddess knew we needed a change of topic.
She didn't hesitate. “Beef cheek in a tomato reduction with grilled bread and flaked salt. Maybe a cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread if I hadn't been roped into some insane fake mating situation.”
I would die for this woman. She rattled off my favorite dishes without a thought and insisted we weren't actually mates? I didn't know if she couldn't sense the bond because she wasn't a shifter, or if pain had closed off every part of herself before I came along. It didn’t matter. I wasn't afraid to bind her to me in any way I could.
Most of the time, if I got her talking about work, she relaxed on her own. So as I asked more questions about the pull-apart bread, she slowly drifted to my side.
When her steps grew clumsy, she was close enough that I scooped her onto my back with minimal protest and shifted.
“I can still be mad at you and let you carry me.”
You’ll see,I told her as I hopped a little to force her to dig her hands into my fur.I’ll be the easiest box on your list.
My siblings yipped as they shifted too. They surrounded us to rub fur and sniff at Fallon, who tried her best not to insult them by pulling away.
Do they have to come quite that close with those large teeth?she asked.
You’re not afraid of mine,I reminded her.
You have cute, razor-sharp teeth.
I couldn’t fault her for any logic that complimented me, even if it didn’t make sense. As my family dodged and wove through the forest, racing each other and playing tag, her grumbles slowly melted in the face of the fun we were having. She even leaned forward, shouting directions as we played hide and seek in the pines. Pointing out the bush Eilie did her best to hide behind, we calmly trotted past only to have Fallon wheel me around to nip her on the tail. Only Briggs snuck up behind us and pinched me in return.
Pouncing my sister into the dirt was the most entertainment I’d had in years. As Fallon reared back in laughter, it was worth it to get a hind paw to the jaw. My lady knew how to hold a grudge, just as I discerned how to wait out her bad moods.
We set out again at a brisk pace with the sun setting. My siblings darted back and forth on the trail, bringing me snippets of their lives while I was away and askingme about my adventures. Ned milled around my legs, keeping close when he wasn’t nosing Fallon. I told some lighthearted stories that satisfied their curiosity and passed the hours while we made good time to the cabin situated halfway home.
