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Anger flared inside of him. “What do you mean?”
“No true crime. No girl power stories. No romances.”
He growled low in the back of his throat. “Romances? What did he think? That you would fall in love with some guy in a book and want to leave him?”
“Something like that,” she shrugged. “This is the kind of library I would imagine when I was sad.”
“Well, then, let’s stay in here all day. All week if you like.”
“Don’t you have to go back to work?”
He waved her off. “Yeah. Eventually I will have to go back, but I haven’t taken a holiday in years. I have good staff. Padma and Ian can take care of everything for a few days. And if things go bad, they can always call one of my siblings. Fuck knows I’ve bailed them out of jams more than once.”
She grinned. “It’s nice you have a big family. What was your favorite time as a kid?”
He considered her question for a few moments. “I think it was when we were all able to shift. Our parents would take us to the woods, and we would shift all together and play some silly game. Then we would go home and drink hot chocolate and watch a movie.”
Amelia sighed happily. “That sounds like bliss. If I have kids, I’m doing that.”
The image oftheirkids playing with the Wolverton cousins before Mom and Dad, who would surely be doting grandparents, gave hot chocolate and treats to everyone. “That is a good one. I also remember that at Christmas time, we would have a hunt for a lucky rabbit’s foot.”
“Oh?”
“It was this ratty little keychain that my grandfather hid in the Christmas tree every year. Whoever found it got a special treat, but when we got too old and too many to find it in a tree, Gramps hid it in the house. Later, it was on the grounds. It got pretty daring.”
“I bet it did. Did you have to shift to get to it?”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah. Gramps was a bit of a joker like that. It was fun, though.”
“You should do the same when you have kids,” she said softly.
Again, his mind filled with images oftheirchildren. Without meaning to, he asked, “Do you think you will ever get married again? For real this time? Have kids?”
Amelia closed her book and took a deep breath. “I do want to. I just didn’t think it would happen for a very long time. Now that I know it’s possible, it’s hard not to think it’ll be ripped away from me again.”
“I understand,” he replied soberly. She couldn’t know that he knew exactly what she felt. That he feared the very same but for very different reasons.
It was pretty terrifying the number of things they had in common, all the while having very different lives. It was clear fate had intervened in a big way. Who was he to go against fate’s wishes? Didn’t the fact that they were mates basically guarantee they would have a happily ever after?
He sighed. No. It didn’t mean shit. Most shifters never found their mates. It was really unusual that his parents and all of their siblings had found their mates.
What did make sense, however, was that his situation was more complicated. Of course, it would be. Everything was always more difficult for him. The alpha. The one who could take the heat. Take the pressure. Take everyone’s troubles and never complain.
“I know you understand,” Amelia said. “You’re not just saying it. I know you get it because you put a lot of pressure on yourself to be a perfect son, perfect CEO, perfect alpha. Not much beyond that gets through, does it?”
He chuckled. “For a woman who has known me for such a little while, you sure know me.”
She grinned at him and patted the seat beside her. He sat there, and she immediately laid her head on his shoulder. “I think fate brought us together.”
Wilder stiffened, but she wasn’t done.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t think I could have trusted anyone but you.” She moved to look into his eyes. “I’m not just saying that to make you feel better. I mean it. Who you are, how you are, I just trusted you. It’s nice to trust. I was scared I forgot how.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “You can always trust me, love. No matter what happens between us, I want you to know you can always trust me. I will always do right by you.”
“And I can tell you when you’re being a dick.”
He laughed as the tension of the moment broke. “Of course, love. Of course.”
