Chapter Fourteen
“It’s nicer than I expected,” Blake said as they walked in the front door of Dawnie Reed’s summer cabin with an armful of groceries.
It wasn’t fancy—Dawnie didn’t believe in putting on airs—but it was swept clean, and the furniture was new. There were reclaimed barnwood cabinets and carved pine tables and chairs with nail-head accents. The chairs had woven cushions with pictures of bears. There were animal head trophies on the walls and bear-skin rugs, which Krista personally found a little creepy.
“It’s all right, I guess. I just hate not knowin’ if I’m walkin’ on someone I knew,” Krista said, carefully stepping around the rugs. Then she threw her hands up in the air. “Agh! I can’t believe it, my holler accent is coming back.”
“I think it’s sexy,” Blake said. “My little country fox.”
She swung around to face him, hands on her hips. “Am I your little country fox?” she asked heatedly. “Or am I an assignment?”
They’d spent the day with the tension twisting between them. They’d stopped off and say hey to what felt like half the town. They’d subtly prodded, but nobody had anything useful to give her. Oh, everyone was buzzing about the missing boy and the lions who were stomping around searching for him, but they genuinely didn’t seem to have a clue what could have happened to him.
And then Blake and Krista had driven up to the cabin in tight silence, with Krista slapping aside any of Blake’s attempts to talk to her.
Blake put the groceries down on the counter. “Come on,” he growled. “You really have to ask? I nearly bit some geriatric fox’s head off because he got too close to you.”
Krista tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help herself. “You did. What the hell were you thinking? Were you afraid old man Harold was going to sweep me off my feet and run away with me?”
“He better not try—”Blake went part-wolf before he could stop himself, and he looked so ridiculous with a wolf-head on his human body that Krista burst into laughter. Blake shifted back, shaking his head in frustration.
“Damn it, Krista! My wolf goes crazy at the thought of another man touching you. Besides, look who’s talking. Who went full fox in zero seconds flat when some skank tried to lay her paws—hey!” He was looking down at a snarling fox at his feet. Krista’s clothing was puddled all around her. Glaring, she wriggled out of her shirt and then shook herself hard, and her red fur sank back into her skin and her snout shrank back into her face.
When she was herself again, she quickly started pulling her clothing back on.“No need to hurry,” Blake said. “I’m admiring the view.”
“There’s a lot to admire,” she said self-consciously, glancing down at her wide hips and jiggly tummy.
“And I love every inch of it.” He leaned over and kissed her stomach.
“Thank you. But I have some baking to do,” she mumbled, embarrassed. “If I show up without a pie tomorrow, I’ll be run out of the holler for sure.”
She started to head over to the kitchen counter, but Blake grabbed her and backed her up against the wall, his hands on her shoulders.
“Krista. Why are you fighting this so hard? Why don’t you believe in us?” he demanded.
“I do! I mean…” She squirmed in his grip, but his hands tightened.
“I’m not letting you go until we talk this out. I will stand here all night.” His voice was stern.
“All night? What if I have to pee?” She tried to make a joke of it. Anything was better than facing her feelings.
But he wasn’t budging, and he wasn’t smiling.
She stared at him, letting the seconds tick by. His gaze didn’t drop. It was so hot that she felt its burn.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I feel the fated mate connection as strongly as you do, and I shouldn’t keep questioning that at every turn. Here’s the thing, Blake. Here’s what I’ve seen of mates. My mother said that my daddy was her fated mate, but he turned into a mean drunk who beat her and cheated on her and then left us, and that should have been a blessing. But then my mother completely fell apart. I spent my high school years taking care of not only of myself, but a hysterical, weeping drunk who frequently fell asleep face down in her own barf, and who brought home man after man who tried to paw at me.”
He grimaced, and his hands dropped to his sides. “I hate that it happened to you, Krista, but look at you now. Look at what you’ve made of yourself. You are not your mother.”
“I know.” She managed a smile. “And after I ran away from my mom’s house, I ended up at Dawnie’s house. Did you know Dawnie killed her mate?” His eyes widened in surprise. “Open secret around here. Happened before I moved in with her. He tried to beat on her. He had a vicious temper, and he drank way too much of his own product, and one time he went too far. It was legit self-defense, actually. But he was supposed to be her fated mate, too.”
She shrugged. “And if I’m being fair, I have also heard that your fated mate is kind of your match. If you’re a terrible, criminal person, that’s the kind of mate that fate will hand to you. So maybe that explains Dawnie and her mate. But still… what about my mother and father? Believing in the fated mate thing and then having it ripped away is what destroyed my mama. It’s easier for me to just leave the whole thing behind, to say it’s an old-school superstition and fate doesn’t tie us to anyone, and we’re free to make our own choices.”
Then she looked up at him, at his handsome, loving face, looking down at her so patiently.
“Itwaseasier,” she said quietly. “But I feel that you’re the one for me, I feel it right down to my bones, stronger than I’ve ever felt anything in my life. When I even think about you with another woman? I completely lose control of my fox. I’ve never had that happen before.”
“My turn,” he said, and his voice was hoarse. “I never believed in fated mates either, because I didn’t grow up in a pack and I never got to see healthy matings. I was in a foster home since I can remember. Parents were low-level criminals; I think that’s why I’ve always been attracted to the military, a law and order kind of life. I never had a pack. I never had a home. But you… since I’ve been with you… you feel like home. Wherever you are, that would be my home. My refuge.”
