Page 63 of Broken-Hearted

Ah. A certain conversation I had back in Dawley suddenly makes perfect sense. “Regan said she needed to prepare me for the car ride. She told me that no matter how frustrated I got, could I please not shove him out of a moving car? He would be missed.”

Dayne laughs. “She said that?”

“She did.” I smile, but it soon fades. It’s one of the reasons I took off as soon as Adrian attacked. I didn’t want anyone else hurt protecting me, especially someone who drove miles to come pick me up.

I saw the claw marks on Nathan’s car. If Jackson and the others hadn’t gotten to him as soon as they did, Nathan would have died.

“You look thoughtful,” Dayne says, returning me to the present.

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”

His raised brow tells me he’s not buying my lie. “The reason I brought you out here, where Nate wouldn’t try to climb a tree and eavesdrop, is to say that his newfound happiness has everything to do with you.”

I blush, looking away. “I haven’t done anything.”

“I’ll have to disagree.” He gives me a probing look. “But I wanted to ask ifyou’rehappy here withus.”

“Us?”

He nods at the cabin. “Building a cabin is hard work. It’s stressful, but the results are amazing. Building a pack? Infinitely more rewarding.”

“You want me to stay? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

He nods. “I do. So do the others. Not just because you make Nate happy.Youfit withus.”

I look at the cabin and I think about being a Blackshaw, because that’s what I’d be. “Ty is building a cabin for Martha in Dawley.”

“I heard about it. I’ve been pondering if I want to build more here. Marshall and Jenna were going to live in one, but they prefer to be in the house so their little one can grow up alongside the twins. Savannah and Jeremy will probably want to raise their baby at the house as well when they’re ready to tell us they’re having one. But space is going to be an issue.”

I hear the resigned note in his voice and I swallow my smile. “You’re not looking forward to building those cabins, are you?”

“Absolutely the fuck not,” he says, making me laugh.

“It’s different here.”

I feel Dayne look at me as I study the cabin and the love that went into building a structure that would have been easier to knock down or walk away from.

Dayne didn’t knock it down or walk away from it. He saw it through to completion because his mate’s happiness mattered more to him than his frustration with the build. Just like I see him building whatever cabin his pack needs, even though he’s probably dreading it with every bone in his body.

“How so?” he asks.

“In Dawley, everyone came from somewhere different. Lone wolves learning how to be a pack. Being together was hard when everyone had gotten used to being alone, so the cabins were needed more there than they probably are here. Staying would be different.”

Maybe I’ve forgotten how to be in a pack. It’s been years. A long time.

I haven’t had a pack since I lost mine when I was too young to appreciate the safety, security, and comfort of having a place where I truly belonged.

“We’re family. We’ve had years of driving each other crazy, but we’d never choose to be anywhere but with each other. There’s a place here for you if you want it, but you have to want it, Clara.”

He bumps his shoulder with mine. “Come on. Let’s grab something to eat at the house.”

We walk back to the house, and along the way, Dayne fills me in on his plan to extend the house by adding another floor. He’d extend at the back, but they’d lose a big chunk of the backyard and they like to have football games there.

With the way his pack is growing, more cabins are going to be needed eventually.

“Hire a project manager for the builds,” I tell him as we jog up the porch steps. “Pass the cabin builds for someone else to manage.”

He grins down at me as he pulls the door open. “You interested in the job?”

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