you
need
to know?”
God, he wished he could just speak the truth.
Because if that baby is a shifter, it changes everything.
If the baby is a shifter, there’s nothing stopping us from getting to keep you forever. Both of you,
his bear added breathlessly.
Soren kept his mouth shut and waited her out.
A bird sang in the bushes, and a light breeze whispered through the trees. A fish splashed at the surface of the lake, sending ripples in ever-widening circles across the wobbly reflection of the sky. And for some strange reason, he thought of the baby, bumping his hand.
If that baby was a bear shifter, it was his to take care of as part of his clan.
If the baby was human, he would have to stick to the original plan of finding Sarah a place far away to live her life without him. It would be safer for her and the baby not to mix with shifters and draw the attention of the Blue Bloods.
I want it to be a shifter,
his bear whispered inside.
I want it to be, too,
he found himself agreeing.
But if it was? Crap, how would he ever explain?
“I’ll tell…if you promise to listen,” Sarah said quietly. “You have to promise to listen to everything.”
He stuck out his jaw. Shit, he didn’t want to listen to how she’d screwed some other guy.
“All of it,” she insisted. “From beginning to end.” She waved a hand. “I mean, why. Why it happened.”
He stared at her. What did she mean, why?
“Promise,” she insisted.
His heart ached, because they’d never made each other promise anything before. They’d always just trusted each other. When did that end?
He figured out the answer a moment later. It ended the night he’d told her he was leaving. The night he’d forced himself to tell her it was over, even though he wanted her more than anything else.
God, what a mess.
“I promise,” he said in a choked voice.
Sarah stared a minute longer, then started pacing along the trail at the edge of the lake.
“A little while after you left for the East Coast, my cousin Ginger came to visit. You remember her?”
He scowled, walking alongside her. Yeah, he remembered Ginger. The one with the bad dye job who’d come on to him the second Sarah turned her back. As if he’d be interested in anyone but his mate.
“Ginger said I’d done enough moping about you, and I needed to have some fun. That it was your birthday and you left me alone and you were probably out partying with someone else…”
He scowled deeper. He’d spent that night alone in the woods, longing for his mate.
“…so I should have some fun, too. So she took me to Lafayette. To that techno bar.”
He stopped short. “Dart’s?”
She nodded.
A thousand alarms went off in his mind. “Jesus, Sarah, don’t you know how many women get their drinks spiked there?”
She looked straight at him without saying a word, and his heart sank. Her drink had been spiked while she was there?
“No, I didn’t know. Well, I didn’t know at the time,” she said bitterly.
Well, Soren knew all too well. He’d heard of the place through a friend of a friend. A place to keep clear of, from the sound of it, if guys were slipping women who knew what kind of drug. Not just the usual date rape drugs, but aphrodisiacs, too, according to the rumor mill.
“These guys kept coming on to us, buying us drinks,” she started.
Jesus! Todd was supposed to keep an eye out for that kind of thing. Where the hell had Todd been?
“They were totally not my type.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “But they were Ginger’s type, apparently.”
“Ginger,” he couldn’t help cursing. He’d never liked her.
She gave him a sharp look and spoke in a hushed voice. “Ginger was staying over at my house when it happened — the fire. She died in the fire.”
Soren ran a hand through his hair. Shit. It’s not like he would wish that on Ginger. Not Ginger, not anyone.
His mind flashed with an image of the smoldering remains of the shop and the body bags being carried out.
need
to know?”
God, he wished he could just speak the truth.
Because if that baby is a shifter, it changes everything.
If the baby is a shifter, there’s nothing stopping us from getting to keep you forever. Both of you,
his bear added breathlessly.
Soren kept his mouth shut and waited her out.
A bird sang in the bushes, and a light breeze whispered through the trees. A fish splashed at the surface of the lake, sending ripples in ever-widening circles across the wobbly reflection of the sky. And for some strange reason, he thought of the baby, bumping his hand.
If that baby was a bear shifter, it was his to take care of as part of his clan.
If the baby was human, he would have to stick to the original plan of finding Sarah a place far away to live her life without him. It would be safer for her and the baby not to mix with shifters and draw the attention of the Blue Bloods.
I want it to be a shifter,
his bear whispered inside.
I want it to be, too,
he found himself agreeing.
But if it was? Crap, how would he ever explain?
“I’ll tell…if you promise to listen,” Sarah said quietly. “You have to promise to listen to everything.”
He stuck out his jaw. Shit, he didn’t want to listen to how she’d screwed some other guy.
“All of it,” she insisted. “From beginning to end.” She waved a hand. “I mean, why. Why it happened.”
He stared at her. What did she mean, why?
“Promise,” she insisted.
His heart ached, because they’d never made each other promise anything before. They’d always just trusted each other. When did that end?
He figured out the answer a moment later. It ended the night he’d told her he was leaving. The night he’d forced himself to tell her it was over, even though he wanted her more than anything else.
God, what a mess.
“I promise,” he said in a choked voice.
Sarah stared a minute longer, then started pacing along the trail at the edge of the lake.
“A little while after you left for the East Coast, my cousin Ginger came to visit. You remember her?”
He scowled, walking alongside her. Yeah, he remembered Ginger. The one with the bad dye job who’d come on to him the second Sarah turned her back. As if he’d be interested in anyone but his mate.
“Ginger said I’d done enough moping about you, and I needed to have some fun. That it was your birthday and you left me alone and you were probably out partying with someone else…”
He scowled deeper. He’d spent that night alone in the woods, longing for his mate.
“…so I should have some fun, too. So she took me to Lafayette. To that techno bar.”
He stopped short. “Dart’s?”
She nodded.
A thousand alarms went off in his mind. “Jesus, Sarah, don’t you know how many women get their drinks spiked there?”
She looked straight at him without saying a word, and his heart sank. Her drink had been spiked while she was there?
“No, I didn’t know. Well, I didn’t know at the time,” she said bitterly.
Well, Soren knew all too well. He’d heard of the place through a friend of a friend. A place to keep clear of, from the sound of it, if guys were slipping women who knew what kind of drug. Not just the usual date rape drugs, but aphrodisiacs, too, according to the rumor mill.
“These guys kept coming on to us, buying us drinks,” she started.
Jesus! Todd was supposed to keep an eye out for that kind of thing. Where the hell had Todd been?
“They were totally not my type.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “But they were Ginger’s type, apparently.”
“Ginger,” he couldn’t help cursing. He’d never liked her.
She gave him a sharp look and spoke in a hushed voice. “Ginger was staying over at my house when it happened — the fire. She died in the fire.”
Soren ran a hand through his hair. Shit. It’s not like he would wish that on Ginger. Not Ginger, not anyone.
His mind flashed with an image of the smoldering remains of the shop and the body bags being carried out.
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