Eleven
Daphne
He waved them off, grabbing me by the arm.
“You left me with them so I’d be begging for your protection by the time you came back, didn’t you?” I said.
“You see right through my evil plans.” Killian jiggled his eyebrows comically, making me laugh.
“Aw, we’re not so bad.” Gage left with a grin, the rest of his company in tow, aside from Max, who kept working in his kitchen.
I noticed a cooler hanging over Killian’s shoulder. “Max made this for a bit of a take-out lunch for the two of us.”
“Take out?”
“I figured you and I would go for a bit of a walk. A hike into the woods.”
I arched an eyebrow. “My mother told me not to go into the woods with strange men.”
“I assure you no harm will come to a single hair on your pretty little head if you follow this big, bad wolf into the woods all alone.”
He took me by the hand, as firm and yet gentle as he always was. And I felt that attraction again, that pull toward him.
I wouldn’t call it some overwhelming magical force like all this fated mate nonsense was suggesting, but I couldn’t deny that there was something between us that I’d never felt before.
The two of us headed away from the shifter village area and walked along a forest path.
“Are we going somewhere special?”
“Pearl Paw Clearing. A little place where my parents first got to know one another.”
We soon made our way to the grove. The area was lit by the sun above, the air crisp with a light breeze.
Killian laid out a blanket from the pack he was carrying and gestured at me to sit.
I obeyed, and he unveiled a tray of sandwiches. Expertly crafted on some delicious-looking bread, they were good, with prime cuts of roast beef and chicken on those sandwiches.
“Eat up. I can sense you’re famished right now.”
I hadn’t eaten anything yet that day, and I barely ate anything the day before outside of those kebabs. I dug in immediately.
We finished them off and nibbled on some of the homemade chips that came with them.
And finally I leaned back and patted my stomach in satisfaction. “Delicious,” I said. But I still had a million questions.
“So… those three goons who were causing us a bunch of trouble. You said they were my brothers?” I grimaced at the memory.
“Half brothers, but yes.”
I frowned. “Through my father. The one I never met.”
“Exactly. His name was Clive.”
“Was? That means he’s…”
“Dead, yes. He passed a few months ago. Your brothers are his heirs.”
I made a face. “And because of that, they think they own me?”
