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“Don’t try to understand it. I told you – I don’t expect you to say anything right now. This is a lot. And there’s so much happening already. Focus on that first. We’ll figure the rest out as we go.”
I consider this for a moment, wondering how he can be so calm about it all. “You’re so…level-headed,” are the words I come out with.
“I guess you could say so. I’ve never really thought about it. I just am who I am.”
“Yes.” I consider this, too. There’s something reassuringly stable about this man. A steady strength that draws me. Like he’s got it all figured out…life, the world, his place in it.
If only I could figure out mine.
“Tell me about your world,” he says abruptly, as if he’s decided to change the subject, and this is the way he intends to do it. “Tell me about how things were before…all this happened.”
It takes me a moment to pull the threads of my memories together. Like I’m looking into another world occupied by another person. That person was me. I remind myself of that now. “Not much to say, really. Things were quite simple. Most of our families were farmers.”
“Sounds nice.” His smile is encouraging.
“It was. Uncomplicated. Down to earth. We lived in touch with nature. Of course, we had our issues.” I’m pretty sure my expression darkens because concern flits across his face. “The females in our pack are…different.”
“I’ve heard that. Sierra and Savannah…”
“We bear twins. Always. And we don’t need a bond to conceive.” I feel my cheeks warm as if these details are too personal.
“People view you as breeders.” His jaw clenches.
“Yes. It’s why they used to take us. Why we had to move around so much. So they couldn’t get us and—” I swallow hard.
“Stop.” He puts his hand on my cheek, looking into my eyes. “Tell me about the good stuff.”
“Not much to say, I guess. I had a happy childhood – even though my mom lost my twin before I was born. I was an only child, and I guess I was indulged because of it. My mother adores me and we were very close to Aunt Juliette and the others, so I was always surrounded by family.”
“And your father…?”
“My dad passed when I was very young.”
“I’m sorry.” He looks apologetic.
“Don’t be. I was so little I barely remember him. He was a good man, though.” I want to add “like you,” but I don’t. “So good that my mom never found anyone to fill the space he left.”
“That’s a pretty intense kind of love.” His eyes lock with mine, and I sense something unspoken.
“Yeah. I think it’s amazing.” It’s true, I do. But I don’t tell him that I hope to have something like that myself someday. Something all-consuming. It seems a little too close to home. “Anyway, that’s my story.” I stop there because the rest feels too interwoven with the abduction and all that happened after. “What was your life like?”
“Much the same, I suppose. Pretty average shifter upbringing. Ordinary folks. Stable pack. The only difference was that I didn’t fit in.”
“Why not?”
“My parents didn’t know what to make of me.” He changes position, rolling onto his back and propping pillows behind him. I’m suddenly aware of the intimacy of this situation. “There’d never been an alpha in our line. I guess I was an anomaly. When I came of age, the pack leaders gave me the choice to bow down or to leave. I chose to leave.”
“Alpha…” I tilt my head. “I… I sensed that. But then Jagger…?”
“He’s our leader. But not the only one. There are a lot of us at Steel Lakes. We’re kind of a melting pot, I guess. The ones who didn’t fit in anywhere else, so we had no place to go.”
“Oh! That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”
He shakes his head. “It’s okay. Some of the others here had it hard, but it wasn’t like that for me. I’d just drifted for a while until I felt that it was time to put down roots. This pack takes in alphas…anyone who needs a place.”
“A home.”
“That’s right. And I like it here. They let me do my own thing.” He puts a hand behind his head, stretching out, entirely at ease.
