“What would you like to know?”
He gazed at me for a beat, then said, “Something simple to start. What’s your favorite color?”
“That’s a weird question, but okay. Purple.”
Levi nodded along, but something in his eyes told me he had been expecting a different answer. Strange.
“What was it like growing up in Idlewild? What did you do for work there?”
“My grandparents own a little secondhand shop. They sell a bit of everything. Vintage clothes, knick-knacks, furniture. Anything people don’t want that they can turn around and sell. I help out there.”
“Did you like it?”
I opened my mouth to answer but couldn’t come up with an appropriate response. Was it what I loved? No. Did I enjoy helping my family? Yes. Would I rather do something else for a living? One day, maybe.
Rather than go off on some deep existential tangent, I simply said, “It’s a job. I like helping my grandparents.” I paused, hesitating to say more, but I was here for this man’s help. Why not tell him everything?
“I suppose you could say it was nice. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get back there. Unless you’re able to help me.”
Levi’s lips curved. “It must have been bad. The way things went down, I mean. I know you told me what happened, but for you to be out here? It had to have been a tough decision.”
“It was my only decision,” I said. “I’ve got maybe a month before I need to figure out what to do about my grandparents. Ilove them so much, and my friend is helping out for now, but she has her own life. She can’t be saddled with the responsibility of assisting two people as they grow older. I need to learn to shift, so Ander will take me as his mate. It’s as simple as that.”
“Nothing in life is ever simple,” he said, that same sad half smile on his lips.
Sighing, I took a sip of wine, then glanced around. “Speaking of not simple, this whole place is incredible. What made you want to start it?”
Levi leaned back in his chair, eyes tilted toward the ceiling. Finally, he sat forward and chuckled lightly, as if thinking of an old joke. “I kind of fell into it, I suppose.”
“Fell into it?” I said, smirking at him and taking a bite of food. “Creating a village from scratch isn’t like ending up in the restaurant industry.”
“Fair,” he said with a nod. “I guess it was close to eighty years ago when I started. I’d been living in the woods as a wolf. I’d built this cabin,” he added, gesturing to the building we sat in. “but that was only to have shelter in the winter. I found a young woman out in the forest one fall afternoon. She was sobbing; I shifted and approached her. She told me her mate had been killed by a jealous man who wanted to claim her as his. The murderer was her alpha’s brother, and she didn’t think she would ever get justice. She couldn’t face living her life with the man who killed the man she loved.”
“That’s awful,” I said. My situation was bad, but it was nothing like that.
A distant look came into his eyes, as if he was drifting back in time as he spoke. “I saw how sad she was, how…rudderless and homeless. In that moment, I knew I could take care of her.” He winced. “Not in a romantic or sexual way, mind you. I never had any feelings toward Nancy—that was her name, Nancy Stevens. It was more that I wanted to take care of people the way I hadas alpha. I brought her back here, let her live in my cabin while I built another. She helped build the first greenhouse, then things started rolling. I found around six others that year, and Hidden Grove was born.” He smiled sadly as he pushed his fork listlessly over his plate. “Nancy died about fifteen years ago. She was a very kind woman all the way up to the end.”
“That’s a beautiful story,” I said.
Levi shrugged. “I feel like most people would have done the same thing if they were in my position.”
I highly doubted that. “Do you like what you do?”
He paused, fork halfway to his mouth. “I don’t reallydoanything here. Everyone else does most of the work. All I do is protect them.”
“That’s not what I hear,” I said. “You’re kind of a big deal. Everyone here—everyone I’ve met so far, anyway—thinks you’re a step or two away from some sort of messiah or something.”
If he was flattered by my words, he didn’t show it. If anything, he looked like the compliment was ridiculous.
“Anyway,” he said, “back to you. What’s something you like to do for fun? Do you like playing music or singing?” There was an almost hopeful lilt to his voice.
“Not really.” I chuckled. “I can’t carry a tune to save my life.”
“Oh.” Levi’s brow furrowed. “Huh.”
We continued on like that, eating and talking for nearly an hour. The conversation flowed about as well as could be expected with a man who spent so much time in his wolf form. While he was clearly rusty when it came to socializing, it was a pleasant and relaxing evening. The two of us were simply getting to know each other, though some of his questions seemed aimed at something deeper. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was like I was being tested and getting all the answers wrong.
“Do you think you’ll be able to help me?” I said, trying to get the conversation going in a different direction.
