Page 13 of Fated to Him

“How long ago since you were at home?” I ask.

“Eight years,” she says.

“You’ve been on your own for eight years?” That makes her twenty-four now. And it means she must have started working underage. Unless she was working elsewhere first. “In bars?”

She doesn’t respond. That’s answer enough for me.

No wonder she developed a tripping habit. My mate is beautiful. Too beautiful not to attract male attention wherever she went.

After a moment, her eyes return to mine to discover I’m still staring at her. “What?”

I scoop up my cell phone that miraculously survived my shift, and push myself to my feet. I’ll deal with the destroyed clothing some other time. Or someone else can.

After I bit Delilah and saved her life, I had Benji grab some others to clean up the blood behind the brewery.

If I’d known Jerry would park down the road and sneak around the back of the bar to wait for Delilah, I’d have gone after him instead of waiting for her. A pang of guilt—and regret—hits hard at Delilah’s loss of her old self. That’s a mistake I’ll have to learn to live with.

Benji has her bag, and she’ll have her ID in that bag. He needs to start tracking down an address for the stepfather so I can put him out of his misery.

That man has lived far longer than he has a right to.

I try not to feel smug when Delilah’s gaze latches on my cock, and the sultry scent of feminine arousal circles me, making me harder. She’s shy about her body in a way no shifter ordinarily is. That will change. Delilah has a beautiful body, sleek and lean, with gentle curves. She has no reason to want to hide it. Even if I want to be the only one who sees it.

I hold out my hand. When she makes no moves to take it, I grasp one of hers and pull her to her feet. “The door on your left leads to the bathroom. You’ll find everything you need to get clean in there. There are clothes in the dresser. Mostly sweats. Since everyone uses this cabin, you’ll have to dig around to find something that fits.”

I wait, hoping she won’t ask who everyone is. Soon, probably tomorrow, she’ll meet the rest of the pack when I take her to the pack house and introduce her as Luna.

Her eyes dart to the window behind me. I step in front of it, blocking her view. “Try going out of the window, and I will chase you down, Delilah Stacey. And when I catch you…”

I feel myself harden at the thought of chasing Delilah, pinning her beneath me, and claiming her under the moon.

I try not to read too much into the sultry scent of her arousal, a sign of her excitement at the thought of me chasing her. If I did that, there’s no way I’d be leaving this room. We’d be making use of the bed beside me.

“So I use the shower. Then what?” she asks.

I turn and walk away, conscious she’s staring at my ass. “You come to the next room. Food should be ready by then.”

“You’re cooking?” Her shock draws a smile to my face. It would provoke the same reaction in the rest of my packmates. I don’t cook for anyone. Ever. As Alpha, that’s not my role.

Now I do. For my mate, and only my mate. “Yes.”

“Like that?”

Yep, she’s still staring at my ass. I have sweats in the next room I’ll slip into, but if the thought of me cooking for her in the nude excites her this much, I’m not about to admit to the sweats. Since the idea of her showering excites me, I guess it balances things out.

At the doorway, I peer over my shoulder, catching her yanking her gaze away, her cheeks flushed. “Delilah?”

I wait until she refocuses on me, though she keeps her eyes centered on my face. “Yeah?”

“I’m Alpha here,” I say, letting her hear the steel in my voice.

“So?”

“Being Alpha means I’m the fastest, the strongest, and the most strong-willed shifter in town.”

She doesn’t quite manage to hide her gulp from me. “I need to know this why?”

“So you know exactly who you’re dealing with if you listen to the little voice in your head telling you to run.” I pause, letting her absorb my warning and my promise.

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