What the hell was going on in Haenvale?
After Orson left, without watching a movie with me, but with the crystal on him to watch it at home, I took a walk to the lake near my house.
The day was scorching and I planned for a dip to cool off now that my foot was all better. All traces were gone from that night, aside from the baby.
I still felt like crud. I hoped a little vitamin D would help with that.Not the D I wanted necessarily,I laughed at my thoughts, feeling a little unhinged from being cooped up so long.
There were decisions I had to make, and soon. Did I let this fledgling bond, because that’s what it was, I’d looked it up, fade away, or did I hunt my mate down?
Was I willing to give up on fate?
Hell no.
I’d take another day or two to sort my head out, then go find him.
At the water’s edge, I stripped off my t-shirt and cargo shorts, left my shoes next to my abandoned clothes and walked intothe water in my smallest pair of swimming trunks. May as well show off my body while I still had a flat stomach!
Not that anyone was around to see anyway. Most of the tourists were probably at the beach, the residents of the town were split between nocturnal and daytime hours and probably had work if they were awake.
I had the lake to myself and the water was heavenly.
“Didn’t know they made trunks that small, or that quokkas could swim,” the most delightful rumbling voice said behind me.
Turning, I saw my mate, delicious chest on show, his wet, white briefs clinging sinfully to his hardening cock, wading in my direction, his gaze hot.
Maybe, just maybe, he was feeling this, too.
Fourteen
Imri
Withtimebeforemymoms arrived with the paperwork I needed to keep the town off my back and the kids safe, I roped Rowan and the twins into getting more of the house and yard ready for our visitors.
We talked every day with one or the other of my parents, even my brother and sister called to say hi to their niblings. The cousins were introduced to each other, and my siblings made plans to visit us later in the summer, before school started, so everyone could hang out together.
At no point did I discuss having a fated mate. It was a point of contention between me and Rowan. He didn’t understand why I could trust our family with my kids and not my mate. I even shut down conversation with him over it.
My mate was my business. The less I thought about Sully the better. My entire body achedwith a need to hunt him down and claim him. I missed him with a fierceness I thought impossible before I met him.
How could I claim such a sweet little quokka when I was a dingo, literally a quokka’s main predator in the wild?
I made a couple of trips into Haenvale under coercion. We needed supplies, and no one wanted to make the two hundred mile round trip to get supplies elsewhere. Rather than wait for a delivery, it was quicker to just go get it.
Unable to risk taking the kids into town just yet, I went alone, head constantly on a swivel, looking for any sign of Sully. I was in real danger of just appearing at his house.
He wasn’t anywhere, and there was no one in the town I could ask about him. Not that I should. We were a one and done, no matter what my traitorous heart said.
What I did spot was more of a divide than I’d first noticed. The service predators received compared to neutral supernaturals and especially prey ones was usually surface level polite, where everyone else got warmth and interest. The few prey/predator couples I saw while exploring the town were mostly out of towners. They had a look about themwhich screamed tourist. The ones who lived there were subdued, as if afraid to take up too much space and attract unwanted notice.
It only worked to make me more sure of my decision to keep away from Sully.
“Imri?” Rowan called. He was speaking to Mama on the phone. “Gaga says they’ve finally tracked down their witch friend. She can get the documents in a few more days. A week tops.”
Yes, my moms had chosen their titles. Mama was Gaga and Mom was Noona to my kids, the same as their cousins, my niblings.
Rowan had a playful grin playing about his mouth while he held the phone to his ear. I wondered what Mama was saying to him. He knew he was winning our bet. My moms had tried to find this witch for days with little success.
“Cool. Gives us time to get the flooring down in the spare room if you’re up for it.”
