Page 54 of The Coyote's Veterinarian Omega

“We all do,” Cam said. “Cal, me, all the brothers. I think Aunt Caroline had one too—her daddy, my granddad, gave her the ranch where her and Aunt Karla live.”

“Oh,” I said simply.

“Surprise?” Cam asked, smiling. “Uh. So. Yeah, I asked Cal if … if the trust fund would cover the house, and he said there was no problem.”

I screwed my eyes shut. I tried to take deep, calming breaths through my nose. My head felt light, like it was going to float right off my shoulders. “You have a trust fund,” I repeated, even as dark spots danced across my vision.

“Yeah,” Cam agreed.

“And you just … bought a house. Like straight-up bought it, no … down payment or …”

“Wyatt?”

I slumped into one of the kitchen chairs. It seemed like I’d forgotten how to breathe; I couldn’t get enough air.

“Are you okay?” Cam asked. When I glanced up, he was kneeling in front of me.

“No. No, I’m not okay.” I drew another shaky breath. “You just told me you …”

Cam pressed his lips together. Worry clouded his eyes. “Is … Are youmadat me?”

I screwed my eyes shut and clutched at the table. When I was sure I wouldn’t just pass out, I shook my head minutely. “Just … shocked. People don’t just …mostpeople can’t just …”

Cam was silent. I sighed, looking away. “I just wish you’d, uh, mentioned the whole trust fund thing earlier.”

“Didn’t seem important,” Cam offered, slowly getting back to his feet. He pulled out one of the other chairs and sat down.

I crunched my brow. “Kinda is,” I muttered. I wanted to ask more—like how much Cam had actually paid for the house, how much was left in the trust fund if anything at all—but that seemed nosy. It wasn’t any of my business.

Was it? We were mates or whatever. Was that like … being married? Did that mean I was Cam’sspouse? Did that give me a right to ask about his money?

It didn’t feel right. And it didn’t feel right that Cam had just up and bought a house.

Ourhouse, he’d said. I swallowed, then lifted a hand to dash tears from my eyes before they could fall.

“Wyatt?” Cam’s voice was quieter than I’d ever heard him before.

“Yeah?”

“Are you … feeling okay?” He was watching me with keen eyes, that worry still etched in them. He sank his teeth into his lip, like he was hesitating. Then he said, slowly, “You’ve been kinda … off.”

I wanted to bristle at the idea he knew me well enough to know when I was “off.” We’d only known each other for three months.

At the same time, it was almost soothing to know that, in the span of three months, Cam had come to know me better than almost anyone on the face of the Earth. I could feel him through the bond. It had taken some getting used to, but the sensation had only grown stronger over time.

It wasn’t like I could read his mind or anything, but I couldfeelhim. At first it had only been strong emotions—like the first time we’d fucked after he’d bitten me, and I had felt the overwhelming heat of his love. Or when he’d gotten angry at Cal a few weeks later. I’d been out on a call, and quite suddenly, there’d been heat in my chest like the worst case of heartburn I’d ever had. I’d had to step away from what I was doing, because I suddenly couldn’t breathe.

More recently, I’d been able to feel gentler emotions too—sadness, kindness, even silence.

I had no doubt that Cam could feel me through the bond. He was probably more sensitive to it, being a shifter and all, so who knew how much he’d sensed?

And he had to know I was perpetually, low-grade worried about how I was sick and tired (literally) all the time. Maybe he didn’t know what was causing my concern, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t had plenty of opportunity to witness me suddenly clapping a hand over my mouth and rushing out of the room, or trying to breathe through the nausea or going to bed at nine o’clock whenever I could. I’d been trying to excuse it as just being overworked and stressed about money, because, hello, student loans and paying rent and shit, but …

“I’m fine,” I said, then offered him a wan smile. I reached for his phone, trying to summon excitement. “Why don’t you walk me through our new place?”

Cam grabbed the phone back, unlocking it and dragging up theslideshow. “Isn’t it great? It’s not the biggest, but y’know, I don’t think we need a mansion or anything, and this one is cute. And it’s not too far from here, actually, so it will make it easy for you to commute.”

I could practically see him wagging his metaphorical tail. Cute. He was so goddamn cute. I felt a smile soar across my face as I watched him scroll through the pictures, happily explaining each different room, then detailing what he was going to do to renovate the place.