"Yeah, that's true." Sabrina made a face. "Maybe the train isn't such a good idea after all."
Luke shook his head. "It's riskier, but…shifters need jobs too. Places to live, places they can be themselves. A dying sanctuary is no sanctuary at all. We need to move forward. And the more people who can be trusted with its secret, the better off we are, because those people help shape a town thatissafe for us."
"Right," Sabrina said thoughtfully. "So I need to add a really big gift shop to the train station so people can spend lots of money here without ever actually visiting the town and risking the shifters here."
"No! No, you're missing the point, you're—you're teasing me," Luke said as Sabrina started to laugh. "You're teasing me."
"I'm teasing you," Sabrina agreed, then tilted her head, studying him. "You love it here, don't you?"
"I do, yeah. I know it's probably not cool to think your home town is great, but I do."
"Ithink your home town is great. I fell in love with it the first time I visited, long before I knew it was full of magic! You've given me a lot to think about, too."
"And that," Luke said softly, "is my cue to leave for the evening, I think."
He stood, and Sabrina startled, looking up at him. "That wasn't what I meant."
"No, I know, but I still think it's a good idea. You really do have a lot to think about." He smiled. "Thanks for not freaking out. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Sabrina also stood, following Luke to the door more than walking him there. "Bright and early. Maybe not as bright and early asyou'llbe up, but I'll be at the site by nine, so…well. Lunch, maybe?"
"Text me when you're available and I'll meet you at Kate's." Luke hesitated, and Sabrina knew he wouldn't be the bold one, so she bounced up on her toes to steal a very quick kiss.
"I'll see you in the morning."
CHAPTER 18
The moment Sabrina's door closed behind him, Luke's rabbit said,I cannot. BELIEVE. That you. Did not. TELL HER. That she. Is our. FATED. MATE!!!!and spun on one back foot before flinging itself backward onto the chaise lounge that Luke still didn't feel belonged in his mental mindscape. He swore the rabbit was becoming more cartoonish by the hour, although it had always been incredibly melodramatic. It had just never had a fated mate to be melodramaticabout, before.
"It wasn't the right time," he said aloud, if softly, as he jogged down the apartment complex stairs.
She thought us being a bunny was GREAT. There was no better time! If you don't tell her soon SHE'LL LEAVE US FOREVER!!!!
He smiled a bit and shook his head. "That's not how it works, though, is it. Fate means we'll work it out. If she leaves forever, then I'll just have to go where she goes. So it's all right if I didn't tell her now. We've got time, and we haven't really talked that much about what we want from this…less-fake relationship thing."
She wants to be your real girlfriend!his bunny yelled in exasperation.She likes you! You like her! GO LUKE GO! Turnaround! Go back to her! Sweep her off her feet with your big muscles! Tell her everything! She can take it!
"If she can take it now, she'll be able to take it tomorrow, or next week," Luke said firmly. "Chill."
His rabbit gasped with insult and turned its back on him, trembling with emotional injury.
At least it wasn't yelling at him, Luke thought ruefully. For the moment, he would take that as a win. He headed home, avoiding his family sotheywouldn't give him the same third-degree that his rabbit was determined to, and went to bed with nothing but thoughts of Sabrina..
Habit awakened him early, and he snuck out to the gym without having to catch anybody up on his relationship status, too.Victory,he thought with a grin, while his rabbit sniffed. Apparently it hadn't yet forgiven him for the unbearable offense of telling it to chill. That was all right: he could do his workout without the rabbit cheering him on, as it turned out. That also struck him as funny, but he was beginning to suspect that the whole world felt like roses and sunshine to him right now. Any world with Sabrina in it had to feel like that, as far as Luke was concerned.
Two people approached him at the gym to set up training sessions. One was available to start right then, so after Luke's own workout, the next hour or so was spent determining the new client's fitness level. Luke promised him a workout plan for their first session, and went in search of breakfast and a quiet place to work on that plan.
He found one, anyway: the family B&B had great breakfasts, although Luke somehow ended up in the kitchen scrambling eggs and making toast instead of working on the client's plan. Fortunately it was Emmy, not their mom, who voluntold him to cook with her, and all she said was, "Things going okay with Sabrina?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I told her about the, you know, about me." Very few shifters mentioned shifting out loud where there was any chance they might be overheard, but Emmy obviously knew what he meant, and beamed at him as they cooked.
"Did you tell her all of it?"
"No, not about the whole fate thing. How did you manage that with Karl?" Luke asked a little desperately. "I mean, he's not from here either, andyou…"
"I was afraid to even leave the town boundaries," Emmy finished for him. "He was thrilled that the whole sudden love at first sight thing was really, like,real. Because…well. You know how they are."
They,in this case, were true humans. They wanted to believe in love at first sight. Some of them had even experienced it. But mostly it was kind of a wishful thinking, a fairy tale thing. They had a hard time believing it wasreal, when it hit them.
