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"Yes, everything's fine. I do need your help though. I need a large cabin or several cabins. Probably fairly remote, close to the coast though. Enough for fifteen people. Well, not people." He grinned at her.
She grinned back. "I understand.”
Everleigh found several properties, and Tristan just went ahead and rented the best one. He was sure that he was being a bit controlling. But you know what? They didn't have to live in the cabin. He was trying to be a good father in the only way he knew how.
"Can you print off a few papers with the specs and the address for me? Oh, and a few photos?" he asked.
“Of course."
“I really appreciate it. I don't know what Roman’s told you, but my mate is back in town."
"Yes, he did tell me that."
“Well, I just found out that I have a daughter,” he said. “She’s six." He had to tread carefully here because Everleigh herself had concealed her daughter's existence from Roman.
The papers fell from her hands. She braced herself against the desk. Her skin went a little pale. “Oh. Well. How do you feel about it?"
"I'm extremely excited. I can't wait to get to know her. We went to a park today," he said proudly.
Some of the color returned to her face.
She picked the papers up and stacked them together. She stuck a paperclip on them and handed them to Tristan. And then she came around the desk and hugged him tight. "Congratulations. I'm happy for you. I hope it works out as well for you as it has for me and Roman."
"I hope so too." He had a feeling they would have a bit of a bumpy ride. Once Roman and Everleigh had decided they wanted to be mates, it had been mostly smooth sailing for them. He had a feeling Violet might never want to settle down. But he could deal with that as long as he could see his daughter.
He took his papers and left the real estate agency. He texted Violet and let her know he was done. They’d planned to meet up again so he could see Arabella.
He thought more about what she’d said. What if she never wanted to be his mate? Would he be content to live a life of celibacy? With no love and no affection? It was either that or date someone he didn't truly want to be with. That would not be fair to the other female. He could probably find another female somewhere who had lost her mate and wanted companionship. But then that would make it hard for him to be with Violet if she changed her mind.
It really wasn't fair. But it was his choice. And he would go into it with his eyes open.
Thirty minutes later, Violet and Arabella walked into the arcade.
"Hi again,” Tristan said. “I picked this place because it has a play area. But if you prefer to find something more secluded, then we can do that too."
"No, this is fun," Violet said, looking around.
The arcade noise would make it hard for anyone to overhear what they said. If they were playing outside, it was possible Arabella would overhear them, unless she was pretty far away.
He winced as a beeping siren went off. The clanging sounds were pretty loud to shifter hearing. "Are you sure? If you're used to living out in the wilderness, I'm sure this is pretty annoying."
“No. I've waited tables at casinos. I've worked at two day cares. I can handle just about anything."
“In that case I got these." He handed her the papers with the details about the cabin. She took the papers and flipped through them. Her expression remained serious. "This is very generous, but you know I don't stay in one place for long."
“I know. Right now, it's just rented. There's enough space in it for all fifteen of you. But it's not huge, so it won’t be hard to take care of. If you decide you're interested, we could buy it, and it could serve as a home base."
She nodded. “Thank you. I'll talk to the rest of the group tonight, but I have a feeling they'll be ecstatic. Especially the witches; it's much harder for them to hunt. They have to cook their food.”
"There'sone more thing I need to talk to you about. It's about the curse you put on me. Roman has agreed that you are not an enemy of the pack. But I need to know more about that artifact. He's told me I have to warn the pack that those types of spells exist, but I will not be using your name. And no one else knows besides the pack leaders."
She gripped the edge of the table with her fingers. He could tell she was fighting the rising panic, but she seemed to breathe through it. So it must not have been a bad one.
"It's not a spell. It's not a curse. It's an artifact." She seemed to fidget and scooted closer to the wall. "I bought it from a witch in Arizona. One of our pack saw a vampire down there and we all got a little freaked out."
"A vampire?" His hackles rose immediately. After what they'd been through with Kyra, he was loath to hear the word vampire. "Have you seen the vampire again?"
"No. I never saw it in the first place. Onyx saw it. She's a member of my pack, a witch. It spooked all of us." She studied him. “It looks like it's spooked you too."
