Page 11 of Lost Fate

Leander’s words interrupt my spiral of self-pity, and I’m weirdly grateful. I shrug. “I don’t know. I assume no, but I could just as easily assume yes, because either way, the impact was the same. I don’t know my dad. Like, I don’t even know who he is. Or was. Literally nothing.”

Leander’s frown deepens. It makes the skin between his eyebrows crease a little, and I have the insane urge to lean in and wipe the little wrinkle away. “I think… maybe he didn’t know.”

Something in me sharpens. “What? Why?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Just a feeling, I guess. But either way, Ember, you’re… Anyone would be thrilled to have you as a daughter. You’re tough and smart and cool as hell, and if I had a kid, I’d want her to be just like you.”

I blush at that. Literally.

I duck away so Leander can’t see me, but I don’t know what to do. His compliment sits on my skin, making it feel like bees are buzzing over my nerves.

It’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me, and he doesn’t even know me. Outside of Terra and Rylan, and Terra’s mom, I don’t think anyone has said anything like that.

Ever.

“And I don’t know if I have someone that I’d be… someone who would be upset by this, Ember. I don’t think I do,” Leander says.

The way he murmurs it, goosebumps explode over my skin.

“But,” he adds slowly, moving so that he’s behind me. Normally, I’d be annoyed at being in such a vulnerable position. However, with Leander behind me? At least he won’t see me blush.

I feel his fingertips brush against my hair, pulling it aside. Then, I jump, because he’s right behind me, and I can feel his lips against the shell of my ear as he whispers in it.

“If I did have a mate, I’d want them to be just like you, too.”

Chapter 4

Leander

The trip to the mountain lake haunts me.

I can’t stop thinking about it. The way her body wrapped around mine in that ice-cold water leaves me hot and bothered every damn time. I’ve dreamed about it for days, and every time, I wake up hard and panting and with one thought in my mind.

I want Ember.

It’s so fucked up, honestly. She’s being nice. Kind. She saved my fucking life. And here I am, absolutely desperate to fuck her.

I want more than that, though. The little life we’ve built together in the last few weeks is deeply satisfying to me. I like being around her. I like showing her tai chi and having her show me what she knows about hand-to-hand, which she is terrifyingly good at. I’ve been trained as an enforcer since childhood, since that’s my family’s role in our pack, but I like having her show me the moves, anyway.

I like when we wake up together and when we eat dinner together. I like all of this, and I don’t know how to tell her.

Do I want to be able to be a little more than friends? Hell yes.

But she has a point. If I had started seeing someone in the last few weeks, then this feeling that’s simmering between Ember and me is a non-starter. I know I’m not the type of guy to go for another woman when I’m with one. I know that I hate guys like that, actually.

But deep down inside myself, I really don’t think that’s the situation. I think that Ember and I have something. And I really want to act on it.

This morning, I come back from my now typical morning run and find Ember sitting on the porch. The smile she gives me is every bit as bright as the morning sun, and it makes my heart clench with joy.

Yeah. She and I have something.

If I am with someone else, I need to figure that shit out. Fast.

“How was it?” she asks.

I nod. “Good. Nothing to see out there.” I’ve been doing these morning runs as a human, just in case I come across another one of her pack members in the woods. I could at least plausibly argue that I’m some kind of tourist, at least until they smell me and all hell breaks loose.

“Well. Let’s see how you’re healing up, yeah?”

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