Immortal Ever After by Lynsay Sands

year?”
    Anders raised his eyebrows in question. “A training nanny?”
    “You might not have anything like that here,” she said with a frown and then explained, “We have a gal in Winnipeg who gets referrals from us. She takes puppies while the owners are working and helps train them. A dog sitter slash trainer . . . puppy nanny.” She pursed her lips and then admitted, “It can be a bit pricey, but it’s worth it.”
    “I’ll have to see if there’s anyone like that here,” he said thoughtfully and then they both fell silent as their attention turned to their food.
    Anders’s first bite of the chicken was a revelation. He’d thought the ice cream was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted, but the chicken was easily its equal and he had to wonder if it was the food or this life mate business. Perhaps everything would be the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted now. He supposed he’d find out the answer to that as he sampled more and different foods.
    As he ate, Anders thought perhaps he should stop being so hard on Bricker for his constant desire to stop for food here and there. He suddenly understood that desire. Although Bricker’s hunger was only because he was young enough to still eat.
    A satisfied sigh from Valerie drew his attention from his nearly empty container. His eyebrows rose when she pushed her half-finished meal away and sat back in her seat.
    “All done?” he asked, eyeing the chicken and fries remaining in the container.
    “I’m afraid so. My stomach really must have shrunk. I’m stuffed,” she said, and then offered, “Do you want to finish it?”
    When Anders nodded eagerly, she laughed and pushed the container across the table to him.
    “Thank you,” he said and quickly moved her left-over chicken and fries to his own container. He really shouldn’t have room for the food either. His stomach had to be the size of a pea after centuries without solid food in it, and truth to tell, he was already past full himself, but he just couldn’t seem to get enough of the tasty fare.
    Valerie smiled indulgently as she watched him eat her food, but she began to yawn as he was finishing.
    “You’re tired,” Anders commented as he returned both empty containers to the bag they’d come in.
    “Yes.” She grimaced. “I didn’t use to be such a lightweight, but I’ve been falling asleep all over the place today.”
    “It’s your body recovering. It’ll pass,” he assured her.
    Valerie nodded and then glanced to Roxy as the dog returned from a trip to relieve herself and settled at her side. Petting the German shepherd, she asked, “How long do you think I’ll be here?”
    Anders hesitated. They had told her she was here because her captor had escaped, and that was partially true. There was a slim chance the man might come after her . . . if she’d seen anything and was able to identify him. But they weren’t holding out much hope of that. None of the other women had been able to tell them much of use. If the rogue had half a brain, Anders thought he had probably moved far away to start over and was even now terrorizing others. The real reason Valerie was here and hadn’t been moved to the Enforcer house was because Anders had been foolish enough to admit to Lucian that he hadn’t been able to read or control her at the house. Lucian now suspected she was Anders’s life mate and wanted to find out for sure if she was, and if she would agree to be a willing life mate to him, before deciding how to handle her.
    If she couldn’t accept what he was, and was unwilling to be his life mate, her memories of her captivity and her stay here would be wiped from her mind and she’d be returned to her life. But if she was willing . . .
    Anders didn’t allow himself to think about that. It would be too easy to imagine a whole life around this woman as his life mate. He could see it now, eating ice cream and other foods that didn’t taste like sawdust, having a companion