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Staring out at the most stunning view I’ve ever seen, I suck in a deep lungful of fresh air. The lake glistens in the evening sun and I watch with wonder as a flock of birds swoops low over the water. The trees and mountains in the background are bathed in a warm glow, and a serene feeling settles over me, sinking into my bones.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Leah comes to stand beside me at the end of the dock and soaks in the calming energy of the lake. “Did you know Hayley hired Cooper to help her redecorate this place? That’s how he wooed her.”
Laughing, I turn to face Leah, but she’s deadly serious. “He slept up on that hill for weeks before he spoke to her, spent every day painting and fixing her porch… and then he refused to mark her, because he thought she was only agreeing out of some kind of trauma response.”
Crazy. Cooper Jones is handsome, smooth, and an alpha that plenty of women dreamed of bagging. It’s hard to reconcile that persona with the man Leah describes.
“Ethan was here, too, pretending to be a carpenter and keeping an eye on Hayley when Cooper couldn’t. He even followed her to our childhood home and schmoozed my parents when she had a row with Cooper. I think my mum wanted to adopt him by the end of that trip.”
Smiling, my heart warms at the thought of Ethan working his charm on Hayley’s parents to keep his friend's mate safe. I look at the house, imagining them here, all part of an elaborate ruse to allow Cooper to spend time with Hayley, and I laugh. Ethan has friends here. Why would he give this up?
“Ethan was there that night, when Cooper saved Hayley. He was there for me when I really needed him. Before he left, he even convinced Bodhi to come out of the forest and babysit me, so I’d be protected and Rex could stay sane while he works in the packhouse.”
Feeling a bit more sombre now, I smile sadly at Leah.
“I know he’s a good guy. And he’s the beta. I get that he feels like it’s his job to protect the pack, but…”
Trailing off, I shrug. My thoughts are jumbled, and I don’t know how to straighten them out. I know Ethan hasn’t had any intimate contact with Lucia. Deep down I know if I called him and told him to come here, he'd drive straight to my door. Do I really want that? At what cost? I’m a protector, too.
“It’s hard. I get it.” Leah doesn’t judge, doesn’t offer any excuses or words of wisdom; she just listens. “Did you know the night I was attacked, Rex left me here to go see his fated mate? The one who rejected him?”
“Nooo…” Stunned, I can’t hide my shock.
“I wasn’t sure if he was going to come back to me.”
He left her to go see his mate?”
“Wow. You guys really don’t know anything about each other! I’m amazed you even know what pack he’s from.” Leah links my arm and steers me back toward the house. “She rejected him when he told her he intended to pass on the alpha role, but he never accepted her rejection. He never got the chance to. When we started having some fun, I guess she could feel it. Not like he could feel her, because that was torture, but she must have sensed he was moving on and came back to cause trouble.”
I’m itching to ask a million questions about how he coped with the rejection, but I keep my mouth shut. This isn’t the time.
“I was a wreck. The mate bond was hard for me to understand; all I knew was that I was in love, and I was so afraid he’d fall back under her spell the second he saw her. Or maybe I should say when he smelled her.” She wrinkles her nose, trying to decide which is the best terminology.
“And did he?” Now that I’ve experienced the mate bond, I can’t even imagine how anyone could resist its pull.
“No. She wanted him back, but, to him, she wasn’t his mate anymore. Then we found out that I was his second chance mate.” Beaming, she bumps me with her hip. “But, deep down, I always knew he would come home, my faith in him just had a little wobble. That man is too stubborn to be that stupid.”
Before we go inside, she pauses, releasing my arm.
“Deep down, you know that he wants you or you wouldn’t be here. Maybe it’s not meant to be a straight road for you two, either. Can you deal with that?”
The crunch of gravel distracts us from our conversation, and we turn in unison to stare at the big truck pulling into the driveway. Bodhi comes out of the house to stand on the porch, immediately there to protect Leah and check who has arrived. Folding his thick arms over his barrel chest, his lip twitches into an almost-smile when another big, burly shifter climbs out of the truck.
“Hello, brother. Care to tell me why I’ve been summoned?” This bear's thick, almost black beard is full and neatly trimmed. His keen brown eyes take in every detail as they sweep around the property. Leah shrugs, looking a bit confused herself to see him standing there.
“Who’s this?” His attention swings to me and then back to Bodhi who smirks, enjoying his brother’s irritation at being out of the loop.
“Jeez, Marcus. Have some manners. Belle, this is Marcus Lennox. Marcus, this is Belle. Ethan’s mate.”
Eyes bugging out of my head, I look from Bodhi to the man-mountain at my back, and back to Marcus. Brothers. This is Marcus’s brother. I’m surrounded by Lennox offspring.
Marie emerges from inside and claps her hands together. “Fantastic. Now we’re all here, let’s get down to it. Enough is enough, and I want all my boys back together. If Ethan won’t come home until this is all over, we need to help him figure it out.”
I’m touched, but also very confused. Judging by the looks on the faces of everyone but Marie, I don’t think I’m the only one.
Marcus scrubs a hand over his face, smoothing it over his beard. “Marie, with all due respect, what do you think we’ve been doing for the last year? You think I don’t want to catch these fuckers? They kidnapped my mate.”
All the pieces of the puzzle are slotting into place as I work out who’s who. This is the local sheriff, mated to Leila Jones. I knew he was a bear, but not that he was a Lennox. The plot thickens.
