“I beg to differ. Being left for dead but surviving for round two is my idea of a new start.”
“I’ll give you that,” she agreed, cutting into her perfectly cooked medium rare steak. She put a bite in her mouth and chewed appreciatively. “This is good,” she said, taking another bite.
“Tomorrow’s your turn.”
She looked up at him suddenly. “You won’t be here tomorrow.”
“Sure I will.”
“Says who?” she asked.
“You. When you saved me. Then left me — though it’s now understood why — and made me chase your ass all the way down here when I could still barely move.”
She looked doubtfully at him. “It’s been two months. It took you that long to get here?”
“No. I laid up for a while healing— in the water. Salt water burns like a bitch, but it’s great for healing. It took me two weeks to get here after I was strong enough to make the effort.”
“How’d you find me?” she asked.
He chewed his steak as he considered his answer. He didn’t feel it was appropriate to tease her about being his anymore tonight. She was still upset about her cousin almost dying. Instead he shrugged. “Followed my gut, and there you were, letting some Alpha hug all over you. Only took a couple of days for you to show up.”
“He’s my cousin, too.”
“Oh. I guess that explains why it’s okay for him to hug all over you when he’s got a pregnant female in his house.”
Hellen choked on her food. “Tempest is pregnant?!”
“I don’t know. Who’s Tempest?”
Chapter 4
“You left early last night.”
Bailey looked up from the tray of cinnamon rolls she was placing one at a time in the glass case for customers to see. “Hi, Shaun.”
“You missed a good time. We cooked marshmallows, and hot dogs, and drank blackberry wine, and had a good ole time, until the rain sent us all running and put out the bonfire.”
“Ohhh, I’m sorry it ruined the bonfire. From what I’ve heard it’s an important part of y’all’s celebrations.”
“It’s actually the first one I’ve been to. We only joined the clan just before Christmas.”
Bailey looked at him, her brows bunching up clearly showing her confusion. “Clan? You mean the compound?”
Shaun realized by her response that she wasn’t aware that they were part of a shifter clan.
“I’ve never heard it called a clan. Just a family compound,” she said.
“We just call it that amongst ourselves. I just figured Remi mentioned it.”
“No, but I think I get it. Like the clans in Ireland, where they started with families, but if you marry into it, you’re part of the clan.”
“Yep. You’ve got it.”
She smiled at him, then went back to finishing up transferring the cinnamon rolls to the front glass case.
“So, I only ever see you here. Do you ever go out at all?”
Bailey shook her head. “I used to, a little. But I have a feeling that’s coming to an end,” she said sadly, without looking up at him.
