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“I…I don’t want to talk about it,” she hedged, making his brow lift curiously. “I just wish I had someone that cared about me the way you care about your family. With all that you carry on your shoulders, I’m glad you have them though, that you have their love.”
“If you change your mind and want to talk about it, I’m here for you. If there’s someone that’s trying to force you to do something you don’t want…” he added making her eyes widen a bit in surprise. “That’s it, isn’t it? Someone is pushing you to be their mate and you don’t want them.”
“Yes,” she said, glad she could admit at least that much without it causing her issues.
“Can you tell me who?” he asked and as desperately as she wanted to answer, tell him, a slice a pain raced through her at even the attempt to say the word yes, this time. “Okay, it’s okay. For tonight, let’s just leave it.”
“Thank you,” she said resting her head against the sofa cushion as he brushed the tendrils that’d escaped her braid from her face.
“How about you help me decide what to get my nephews that will be turning eleven soon what to get?”
“How many are there?” Aubree asked at the way he said it.
“Two that will be eleven soon, in total…well, Katya and Brian have six kids, three boys and three girls. Jacob and Lena have seven, five boys and two girls, one who is just now one,” he said, and she couldn’t help the little sigh that escaped from her. “You like kids?”
“I love them. When I get to help in the nursery it’s my favorite time,” she admitted.
“So do my siblings, the twins both have three boys each, and then Landon and Shelby had their fourth last year, so little Kelli is just one as well, but they have one boy and three girls in total now. So, there’s twenty-three grandkids I think it is, with fifteen boys and eight girls.”
“I bet Brian’s relieved that his girls will have to wait to meet alphas when they’re old enough,” she mused pulling a laugh from Heath. “What?”
“You just reminded me of something Katya told us. Their twins were four when one of them said that one of the little boys in their pack was their mate. Katya said Brian’s face was completely white for a moment even though he knew the boy couldn’t be her mate because his father was actually a human. The twins are nine now, but they’re definitely kept close whenever they’re out somewhere. Likely because they look so much like Katya, Brian can’t imagine what he’d do if something happened to them, but he’s even worse with Kami. Everyone says that Katya and our sisters look alike, but Kami is Katya’s twin entirely, and she is never far from Brian’s side, even when they’re just up visiting us.”
“Protective daddy, that’s sweet,” she said pulling a nod from him that brought her eyes to the clock behind him. “Oh, my stars, is that really the time?”
Heath glanced behind them, his brow rising, and she blushed furiously when he gave a little shrug.
“The summit starts tomorrow after breakfast, you’ll want to get some sleep I’m sure,” she added, going for the tray, but his hands stopped her.
“I’ll be more than fine with just a few hours sleep, little doe. I enjoyed talking with you far more than sleeping,” he stated, calming her. “Leave the tray. It would look suspicious if it was gone in the morning without me calling for the other woman to come get it, wouldn’t it?”
“Ellen,” she reminded him.
“Right, Ellen.”
Aubree couldn’t help the grin that appeared, certain he wasn’t likely to remember the woman’s name come morning. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow with breakfast.”
“I’ll see you later this morning with breakfast. Tell Ellen to add whatever you’d like to the tray as well. I imagine they don’t serve the same thing to the omegas working as they will for their guests, but I want you to have what you want most,” he said, making her heart flutter wildly as she went back to her room, asleep almost before her head hit the pillow for once.
Chapter 4
Heath prowled the room back and forth waiting for the soft knock on the door that would tell him Aubree was there. That knock made his body awaken in a way he didn’t quite understand. She wasn’t his mate, but she was everything else he’d wanted. Her sweetness was mouthwatering, let alone the sweet scent that surrounded him when she was near. He wanted nothing more than for her to tell him everything, tell him who was trying to make her their mate so he could stop them and claim her himself.
Never before had he imagined wanting to claim someone that wasn’t his star given mate, but now he couldn’t imaginenothaving Aubree as his. It’d only been four days since he’d first seen her, four days since she’d made him feel more relaxed and alive than ever before, and four days since he’d had to start stroking himself off multiple times a day to get the tiniest bit of relief.
Before now, he’d never had that great of an urge to even self-pleasure. Not since he was a teenager and his dick started getting hard. Back then, his wolf enjoyed it, thinking of how it would feel to be inside their mate rather than just his hand, but by the time he was eighteen, neither of them wanted it any longer. Not until now, that was. Not until they met his little doe.
His wolf was pushing for him to claim the girl. To get closer to her wolf which he never expected possible. Hell, his wolf was always the one immediately turning them away from girls that he found attractive, but yet he was the one that was urging him on whenever he came up with excuses to call Aubree up to his room.
If he didn’t know better, he’d have sworn she was a witch and the oils she put in his bath that first night lured him under her spell. Shit, he’d gladly stay there if so, especially if he could get even closer. But he’d felt drawn to her long before her hands were on him in the most innocent way.
Besides, by scent alone he knew that his sweet little doe wasn’t anything but a pretty wolf shifter. Mason, their Charlie Squad leader’s, mate was a witch and had given them all amulets to wear when they were out that would keep curses from touching them, but she’d also mixed up a potion that would keep them from falling under a spell—verbal or liquid. One drop of it in their drink a day and they were safe from any potential danger.
The only reason Mason wasn’t here with him for the summit was because one, his wife was a witch which other shifters looked down upon, but also because she was nearly due with their fifth baby. For a man that swore he’d never take a mate, let alone have pups, he couldn’t keep his hands off his mate, or his pup out of her.
He understood his desire for it though. Every day now, his wolf’s urgings to claim Aubree as his was getting harder to ignore. He held back simply because he wanted her to tell him who was frightening her, causing her so much anxiety that she needed those oils to calm herself before he suggested she become his.
Simon and his brother Sebastian had been quietly snooping around during their downtime from the summit and they’d learnt the local alpha was the true asshole his father warned him he was. They said the pack was hiding something, something big, but no one could talk about it, which meant the alpha was involved. Which meant Heath was going to have to get involved.
