Page 41 of Broken-Hearted

Nathan tosses him the keys. “It’s mostly the right side, Marshall.”

Marshall gives me a friendly wave and drops to a crouch beside the car, tilting his head to study the claw marks from the wolf attack in Dawley. “I’ll have to take it into the shop to fix her up. Should have her back to you tomorrow.”

“Marshall owns the shop in town,” Nathan explains.

I nod, recalling him saying he had the worst of the damage fixed in Dawley, but would wait until he was back in Hardin to fix everything else. Now it makes sense. He has a mechanic packmate.

Hallee, a woman in her mid-twenties with silky mink brown hair, bumps her shoulder with mine. “Hope Nate didn’t drive you crazy on the drive up here.” She rolls large brown eyes. “If you want to murder him, that’s okay. We’ve all considered it at least once.”

Identical toddlers draw my attention. A boy and a girl in matching navy blue outfits. They must be Angel and Patrick. Both have fat cheeks, light blue eyes, and dark blond hair. They are adorable as they continue their incomprehensible chatter with each other. When the little girl with pigtails isn’t chatting with her brother, she’s energetically stuffing handfuls of a pretty woman’s long dark hair into her mouth.

“Quit that,” the woman mutters, gently pulling her hair away. She smiles at me. “Try to get Angel to eat food and it’s a battle she will fight with everything in her. My hair? It’s like the dessert tray to her. I’m Talis. Hi!”

I smile. I don’t have any experience with kids. Not because I didn’t like them. Just never stuck around anywhere long enough to get to know any. Nathan doesn’t seem to have that problem. He’s moving toward Talis and Angel. “Want me to take her?”

Even before he’s offering, Angel is twisting toward him and holding her arms up in a ‘right now’ motion. “Nat!”

“Come on, trouble. You’ll be coughing up hairballs like a cat soon. Leave Mom’s hair alone.” Nathan grins.

Nathan has his black duffel hanging off one arm. He pushes the bag further up and lifts Angel, tweaking her button nose, which makes her giggle as he wanders up to the house. Halfway there, he stops and twists to look at me. “Don’t forget your bag.”

“Mybag?” I frown. The only bag I had was the one I left behind in Dawley when I took off.

He points his chin at the car. “The stuff in the white paper bag is yours.”

I stare after him, confused. I’d thought he’d made that quick shopping trip in the mall to grab stuff for himself. But it was forme?

“He didn’t drive you too crazy with endless jokes on the way, did he?”

I turn away from Nathan as he disappears into the house, coming face to face with a large blond-haired man with ice-blue eyes and a short dark blonde beard, currently holding Patrick.

Patrick is not trying to eat hair like his sister. He observes me with quiet intensity through serious blue eyes. They look so alike, but from this brief introduction to them, I have a feeling their personalities are very different.

I shake my head. “He was a little quiet, but…” My voice trails off as everyone stares at me.

“Nathanwas quiet?” The large man asks, doing nothing to hide his surprise.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Strange.” He stares at me a little longer, then shakes his head. “I’m Dayne. We’ve got you set up in Savannah’s old cabin.”

A blonde woman waves at me. “That’s me. My mate Jeremy and I are staying at the house, so you have my old cabin for as long as you want it.”

“But before you go check it out, you’re just in time for dinner.” Dayne turns toward the house. “We eat early here so we can get the twins down to bed. We’re like hobbits around here with second and third dinners. If you’re hungry later, stop by the house. Someone will always be in the kitchen eating something. They’ll share.”

Talis wraps her arm around his waist and rubs her cheek along his arm. “As if you’re not in the habit of doing midnight fridge raids of your own.”

That’s Dayne.

Martha was afraid of him, and I told her I wasn’t afraid, but a part of me was a little wary about meeting him. I met him and didn’t even realize it was him until he was walking away from me. “I’m not hungry enough for a second dinner, but food sounds great. We ate lunch not that long ago.”

It was more greasy fast food. Even if I’d eaten five minutes before, I’m not about to turn down a proper meal. There’s only so much fast food you can handle before you crave something homemade.

“I’m Eden.” Another woman flashes me a friendly smile. “I can take your bag to the cabin now if you want?”

“Uh…” That mystery white bag that I did not know was mine until now. I’d love to riffle through it, see what’s in it, but Iamstarving. “Thanks.”

As Eden and her mate Luka grab my bag from Nathan’s car and head into the forest, presumably towards Savannah’s cabin in the woods, I follow the rest of the Blackshaws to the farmhouse to eat an early dinner.

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