Page 27 of The Guardian's True-Mate

“Sometimes, but I’ve also seen them gather en masse to eat spilled French fries outside of a Mama Dragon’s restaurant too.”

“Are you calling me paranoid?”

“No, not exactly,” Dakota shook his head.

“Then what?” I asked, keeping the growl out of my voice.

“It would just be nice if you didn’t run off to chase birds every time we got a minute alone,” he said.

“I don’t,” I shook my head. “We’ve done --- we’ve spent---”

“Yep,” he nodded. “Exactly.”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to spend every minute with you, because I do,” I said, “but someone has to keep everyone else safe.”

“From de—”

“Don’t say from dead birds!” I snapped.

Dakota flinched and my heart fell into my stomach.

“Let’s just finish this up and you can do another sweep,” Dakota said.

“What am I supposed to do? Ignore my job? My vows?” I asked him.

“No, keep us safe from the dead birds,” he shook his head.

“I’m not some hyped up chihuahua barking at the wind,” I said. “This time they were dead animals, but next time they could be someone more serious.”

“They could. It could also be a deer eating grass or a dog on a walk,” Dakota said.

I swallowed down a growl. Why didn’t he get that I had to keep him safe!? Everything inside me tightened up and the thirst burnt down my throat.

“You make it sound like you don’t think safety is important,” I said, forcing my words to come out smooth.

“It is, but there has to be a limit to it, Alpha. There has to be a time when you can shrug and say invisible birds are invisible and leave them alone. What are you so afraid of?”

“Of someone killing you like they killed Laurni!” I snapped and dropped the bag.

Dakota flinched again. I was an asshole. All my training to keep my cool and I couldn’t even talk about Laurni without snapping.

“Your chosen mate?” Dakota asked, dropping the plastic cup he used to scoop flour and pushing himself upright to his bare feet. His scent tinged with anger.

“I’m so---” I started, but he spoke first.

“I don’t know what happened to him, but I’m sorry it happened,” he said.

“Why are you so mad?” I asked him a second later.

It was easier to focus on Dakota’s scent than to talk about Laurni.

“Because you’re hurting, Cardian. You can put on this angry look, but you’re not mad. I’ve smelled angry men before. You’re not mad. You’re aching.”

I stepped back as he stepped forward. He reached out and took both of my hands in his as my feet slid onto the grass outside the shed.

“It’s okay to miss him,” Dakota said. “It’s okay to want to keep people safe too. It’s a pack instinct. I moved here because Scott is my friend and I want him to be safe from all the things that can go wrong in a pregnancy of multiples. I want him to be safe from the stress of Trista and Travis. I want you to be safe and everyone else too. Maybe I chose the wrong thing to pick at. The invisible birds were creepy. I get that. I’m frustrated in so many ways. I get it if you need time before our claiming vows. You can say that. You don’t have to run off every time we’re close to them.”

“I’ve been annoyed at the damn birds always interrupting us,” I admitted. “I kept trying to find whatever dead thing they were eating. Crows will often lead you to the other army on a battlefield and I ---”

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