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Charlotte turns to face him with a broad smile, raising a hand.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she says. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you up this early when it’s not a Sunday.”
“It didn’t seem fair to give you this task without contributing myself,” he says. “And I wanted to check in.”
More like check up on me.
“I’m not up to anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I deadpan. “Just trying to get this grass mowed so we can get started on your little pet project.”
“Maybe I didn’t come to seeyou,Tilda,” he says. He wraps Charlotte in a one-armed bear hug, and I furrow my brow as I try to figure out what’s going on. “Maybe I wanted to lend a hand to my niece.”
Ah…maybethat’swhy she doesn’t seem as freaked out by me as the others do. Is she trying to butter me up for him? “Alright,” I say. “Shall we, then?”
Reyes nods. “I’m ready when you are.”
?
We spend the better part of the morning mowing…but that’s just what you have to do when you’re starting from scratch. A few more lycans join us as the morning wears on, and we take turns with the tow push mowers. Gasoline is in high demand, and they have to save it for their cars in case of emergency, so we’re left to do it manually.
And that work ishard.
I’m sweating buckets by the time I finally take a seat on the ground, looking at the newly cleared field. The plot is small, but as far as I can tell there are only fifty or so people living here—it will be enough to feed them.
Charlotte plops down next to me after handing her mower over to Reyes’ snarky redheaded buddy, then passes me a cup of water. I have no idea where she got it. I have to presume there’s a well nearby, and I’ll have to ask so we can irrigate the plot. The water is cool and refreshing, though, and I try not to worry too far in the future as I drink deeply.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she says. “Reyes says you’re not…that you don’t want to be here? And that something happened between the two of you.”
“‘Something happened’ is a funny way to say ‘I bit someone and turned them part lycan,’” I deadpan.
“Yeah, I could scent the bite on you,” Charlotte nods. “Sorry, but it’s kind of a—”
“Wolf thing, I know,” I interrupt. “That’s what people keep telling me.”
“For what it’s worth, I get it,” she says. “It’s not exactly the same, but I didn’t know I was lycan until I came here. Andunfortunately, it was during my heat, which was…not great.”
“You talk about it like it’s so normal,” I mutter.
“It is now,” she shrugs. “But it wasn’t at the time. And I wasrealmad at Elijah—my mate—for keeping my nature secret from me, even though he didn’t really know himself.”
“Your mate,” I echo. “Is that what y’all call your husbands around here? I heard a couple people use that term last night too.”
“It’s…kind of like a spouse?” Charlotte says. “But different. Like…you can tell exactly who you’re supposed to be with from the moment you meet them. And they smell incredible.”
My mind flashes right to Reyes’ scent. Even now, that potent mixture of incense and wine washes over me, combined with the smell of sweat rolling off him.
I can’t seriously consider that right now, though. It’s too weird. Too…wolfy.
“I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be used to how much y’all talk about smelling people,” I snort. “I’ve never been told more about how I smell than I have in the past three days.”
“You get used to that too,” Charlotte says. “I think the thing that helped me get through it all was that I realized it’s notthatmuch different than being human. We’re just not as shy about telling people when we’re horny, when we’re happy, when we smell something nice. It’s not all bad.” She blushes. “And of course, there was Elijah to help me through it.”
The girl is smitten; it’s obvious. I barely know her, but I urge her on, thinking about how Enid blushes when she’s talking about a boy she likes.
Fuck, I miss my sister.
“I know you want to tell me about him, so tell me,” I laugh. “Who is this Elijah?”
“It’s hard to explain,” she says. Her cheeks are still flushed, her smile contagious. “I kinda hated him when we met, but the more we talked, the more I realized how good of a man he was. And by the time we got here and I found out what I was, I was already indeep. There was no way I was giving him up.”
