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“I’m sure you suspected, given our talk before.”
“Will you be angry if I admit I’d hoped it was a passing thing? Infatuation?”
A tiny shard of hurt speared her stomach. “Why would you hope that? Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“Of course I do! I just— Look, I’m not going to beat a dead horse. You know my reasons
for being skeptical of a wolf-vampire union. But if you’re certain Nick is your mate—”
“He is. I pretty much knew it the moment we met.”
“Does he know?”
“Yes. We’ve discussed it, but only briefly,” she admitted, biting her lip. “He ran. And that’s the problem—how can we work things out when we’re so far apart?”
“All right. I’ll do all I can to support you,” he said gently. “You can trust me.”
She relaxed, some of the anxiety dissipating. “I know. Thanks, big brother.”
“Let me think about it, okay? Maybe I can suggest some type of training exercise for coordinating during emergencies.” He paused and added thoughtfully, “That might not be such a bad idea, anyway.”
She beamed at her brother. “Genius! Get them here for a few days and I can do the rest.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “I like your confidence.”
“More like optimism.”
“Same thing.”
Pushing to her feet, she went around her brother’s desk, threw her arms around him, and hugged him tight. He hugged her back fiercely and kissed her temple.
“I only want you to be happy. Nothing else matters.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said affectionately. “Out of my office, brat. I’ve got a million things to do.”
“Oh, whatever. I see that Candy Crush app minimized on your tool bar, you slacker.”
“Damn.”
Giggling, she let him go and made her way out, feeling a whole lot lighter. Tarron would schedule the training, and Nick wouldn’t be able to avoid her. It was a win-win all around.
What to do now? She would go back to the school area, except classes were done for the day. She might as well go for her daily walk. In fact . . . Yes. She’d go back to the waterfall—hers and Nick’s—and relive every single moment of their rendezvous. That sweet memory would keep her going until they met again.
On the way out, she was confronted by a guard. To her annoyance, she couldn’t dissuade him from accompanying her, no matter what she said.
“Graham, come on. I’ve been walking the mountains and forests around here for quite some time, and I’ve never encountered a single problem. I won’t tell my brother that you didn’t go with me if you don’t. He’ll never know.” She gave the guard her best winning smile. It fell upon stony ground.
“Princess,” he said, arching a brow, “I would know. The hunter problem is rampant, and it’s dangerous. Are you going to allow me the pleasure of your company, or should I inform your brother?”
Annoyed, she uttered a very unladylike curse under her breath. With no choice but to give in, she huffed, “Fine. Suit yourself.”
Graham was like a sticky burr on her sock the entire way to the falls. His presence “seriously sucked,” as the teenage students would say, and she snorted to herself. She’d been hanging around with kids far too long when she started thinking in their slang.
Being with Nick would fix that!
She picked her way down the path, doing her best to ignore Graham and focus on the beauty around her. After more than four hundred years, there was still wonder to be enjoyed and she counted herself fortunate she felt that way. So many of her kind had soured on their existence long ago and sought peace in death.
