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“Keys?”
“Huh?” He tilted his head.
“Do you want me to drive?”
“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” He dug the keychain from his pocket and tossed them to her.
Maya caught them and marveled at the easy way he handed them over. She’d never met a man that wasn’t strangely overprotective of his ride. Hell, it wasn’t as if she’d have given him the keys to her motorcycle no questions asked, at least not back when it was still in one piece.
She climbed behind the wheel before he could rethink it. The old Bronco was seriously cool. She loved the speed and the freedom that her bike gave her but there was something about the big old SUV that felt comfortable and relaxed to her. She liked it and as she adjusted the steering wheel, she smiled at the realization that she and Zander were sharing a vehicle.
They’d been sharing their past with one another for a few days now. They’d also been sharing shampoo, the sink in her apartment and steamy hot kisses that threatened to burn through Maya’s rapidly fraying self-control. They were sharing their past and their present so that someday soon, they’d be comfortable sealing the bond and sharing their future too.
Maya waited until Zander had climbed into the passenger seat and put on his safety belt before pulling the Bronco out of the driveway. He still hadn’t said anything so she let him ride in companionable silence as she weaved through the forest back towards town. She thought, momentarily, about turning the other way and heading to Crescent territory but they’d visited her family yesterday and she thought forcing Zander to deal with Leo and Darius two days in a row might be the thing to finally send him running.
She loved her big brother and his mate but she hadn’t appreciated them giving Zander the third degree. They were protective, of course they were. They’d helped raise her after all. But while she’d expected them to tease her and test Zander as if they had any say in if he was good enough for her, what she had expected was the way they’d zeroed in on the fact he had shown up in town at the same time the Umbra Pack Ambassador had gone missing.
The two events were unrelated. She knew that and so did they. Zander had been completely blind to the world he was walking into when he entered Noir. There was no way he’d crossed paths with the missing wolf shifter, somehow come out of a fight on top, and gotten rid of the body before carrying on to Noir with his sleeping niece in the back of his Bronco. She’d told her brothers that when Zander had stared at them all in confusion and ultimately they’d apologized but she wasn’t quite ready to forgive them for assuming the worst of her intended mate yet.
It wasn’t Leo or Darius that she itched to go and see now though. It was Nova. Her little sister had all but moved out of the apartment and back in with their brothers at this point. She said she was giving Maya her space and the time alone with Zander that she needed to realize fate wasn’t out to get her but Maya still missed having her around. They’d been so close for so long, as much a pair as Leo and Luna had ever been, and she found she missed having the know-it-all around all the time.
If Leo and Luna had helped to raise Maya then Maya had helped to raise Nova just as much. She was the one that had woken up to Nova’s screams of terror in the middle of the night for years after the ordeal with Maddox. She was just as much Nova’s guardian as their older siblings. They might fight and argue sometimes but there was nobody in the world that Maya loved more.
“How do you feel about kids?”
Zander’s voice surprised her so much that Maya very nearly jerked the wheel into the other lane. She sucked in a surprised gasp of air and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She’d known he was deep in thought about something but his sudden question still unnerved her.
“Ummm…” Maya refocused on the road in front of her, “To be completely honest, I’ve never been a big fan of random kids.”
“So you don’t like children?” Zander sounded strangely forlorn and Maya realized this wasn’t a random conversation to him.
She slowed the car and pulled to the shoulder. She put it in park and then turned to face him. She didn’t want to be distracted. She needed him to hear her and understand what she meant and she couldn’t gauge his reactions if she was looking at the road.
“That’s not what I said.” She frowned. “I like my nieces and nephews. I love spending time with them. It’s more… annoying kids that bother me. You know, the ones who scream in restaurants and terrorize the supermarket. You know, other people’s kids.”
“Violet is other people’s kid.”
Maya gaped at him, “No. No she’s not. She’s your niece. She’s Zoey’s niece. That makes her family.”
“But…”
“Zander.” Maya reached out and touched his knee, “Is that really what you’ve been worrying about this whole time? That I don’t like Violet? That’s crazy. Everyone who meets Violet adores her. She’s a great kid.”
“Okay, but would you be okay with her if she lived with us?” He glanced over at her for the first time and his gaze raked her face, “I’m staying in Noir. I don’t want to just dump her on Zoey anymore. I want to honor my commitment and live up to my responsibilities. I want to be the man Zenia thought I could be when she named me as Violet’s guardian.”
“Of course you do, because youarea good man.” Maya squeezed his leg where her hand still rested.
“I didn’t think it through though. I didn’t think about living arrangements and what that would mean for you. Fate may have chosen me as your fated mate but I only just convinced you to give me a chance. How could you possibly be ready for the package deal of me and a kid?”
Maya’s heart did that all new slow melting thing it had taken up since this man walked into her life. He was so sweet. She didn’t even have words for how his question touched the aching, empty places inside of her. He was walking away from the human world, leaving behind everything and everyone he had ever known. He was willing to accept her supernatural abilities and believed in the fact that fate that would bind them together forever. Yet here he was, worrying about how she was going to handle helping him raise his niece? She scooted across the bench seat until she was closer to him and held his gaze.
“Violet is part of your life and your life and mine are connected now. She’s just as much a part of my life too, Zander. I care about her and I want to be there to watch her grow up and become the strong, fierce, independent woman I know she’s going to be.”
“Raising a kid though… I don’t even know where to start with it myself.”
“I helped raise Nova.” Maya reminded him. “I can help you. That’s what a mate is for.”
Zander still seemed to be worrying, his brows knit, “Maybe she doesn’t even want to live with me. Maybe she wants to stay with Zoey and her girls. She loves having cousins to play with and I wouldn’t be far…”
