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Henry went to check on Zara, who was sleeping in her bassinet in the living room. Scanning the room, a sense of relief flooded him when he assured himself that everything was normal.
“We’re okay,” Kirsten said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Henry turned to her, giving her a once-over. Her large brown eyes stared back at him, worry causing her brows to draw down.
“The bear?”
“A friend.” She shrugged.
“Explain.”
“While Zara and I were out for our morning walk, a bear shifter approached us. He said he was from the village,” she said, leading him to the kitchen.
He followed her, pulling out her seat before grabbing the one beside her and sitting down. He knew he should have waited to go to the post office. He didn’t even want to imagine what could have happened if the wrong shifter had seen him leaving the property.
“What was his name?”
“He didn’t say, but he said you were an honest man, and so was he, so out of respect, he wanted to let you know that Sher is behind the bear shifter that’s been spying on us.”
“How does he know?”
“Not sure, but he said the bear shifter was hired by Sher. Why would she do that, Henry?”
Henry thought about the woman he once called his mate. A wound he had buried long ago fought for air somewhere inside him. He knew when he saw that female tiger that the possibility of it being her was high. It looked like she got tired of waiting for her friend and decided to do some digging of her own.
Henry wondered what she would have thought seeing Zara and him with Kirsten. Instinctively, the urge to protect Kirsten rose. He knew how territorial female tiger shifters could be. Even though she had chosen to leave them, he doubted her tiger agreed with the choice.
“Sher is ... unpredictable,” Henry started.
“Still, why not just come to the front door and ask to see Zara upfront? Why hire a shifter to spy on us for weeks?” Dissatisfaction laced her voice.
“She was probably being cautious. She has always been the suspicious type, and she most likely didn’t know if it would be safe to come back here.”
“Why wouldn’t it be safe?”
“When Sher left, she broke our bond. It’s only natural for her to think that I would be angry with her. Honestly, I still am.”
Kirsten moved to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight embrace. He didn’t often allow himself to be vulnerable with people, but Kirsten was his. Actually his. She wanted him and Zara just as much as they had wanted her. He pushed back the doubt he felt.Kirsten wasn’t anything like Sher, he reminded himself.
“You’re allowed to be angry,” Kirsten said.
“I want to know why she’s back. A part of me hopes that it’s because she realized that abandoning Zara was a mistake.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
Her large doe eyes held his gaze, a mixture of assurance and something more. Henry dared to allow his desires to reach his eyes. He was desperate for Kirsten to understand just how much she meant to him. But he didn’t often show it. It was held in place by the possibility that she, too, would wake up one day and decide that he and Zara were no longer what she wanted.
“The plus side is that maybe Zara will have a female tigress to help her adjust when it comes time for her to shift,” Kirsten said, alleviating the sudden weight in his heart.
“You are a smart woman,” he said, smiling at her. “It will definitely be easier learning from a female when puberty comes.”
“How different is it for a male shifter and a female shifter?”
“About as different as it is for any other species with a few extra tidbits.”
“Oh, anything interesting you want to share?” she asked sweetly.
“Well, for instance, females will have to understand how to handle their heat cycle. Males have no such thing,” he said, his lips scrunching at the thought.
