Page 28 of Hunted

He places me on the toilet and kisses the top of my head. “And you’re still as light as a feather. I’ll wait outside to carry you back since you have this thing about me not being in the same room as you when you pee.”

It doesn’t make sense when I know Mack can hear it even from outside. It’s just one of those things I will probablynever understand, I guess. Mack doesn’t care. He’s open about everything.

He leaves me to use the bathroom, closing the door after him. Smiling faintly at the door, I shake my head and focus on peeing, hoping that Thumper doesn’t spend tonight stamping on my bladder or kicking my kidney like she prefers to do most nights.

I hope, but I’m not holding my breath.

Then I hurry up and use the bathroom so I can eat with the man I love and he can hold me until I fall asleep.

10

MACK

At breakfast the next morning, I put more pancakes, eggs, and bacon on Aerin’s plate as usual and pretend not to notice her eyes narrowing.

“This is excessive. Even for you,” she says.

She’s beautiful, as usual, her braid hanging over one shoulder and a far too distracting dusting of freckles over her nose that I always want to kiss as I count each one.

I grin at her. “What do you want to do today?”

She takes a sip of tea and picks up her fork. “Uh, not sure. What happened yesterday?”

I mentally sigh.

I had hoped to avoid having to tell her the full extent of the territorial shifter, not that there’s even much to tell her with how little we found out.

After we ate dinner last night and went to bed, I was awake for another couple of hours thinking about what to do, but I fell asleep with no real answers and no clue how to resolve a problem I feel is forming.

“Mack?” Aerin prompts.

She still hasn’t eaten, and from the lines creasing her forehead, she’s worried.

“I have a problem and I’m not sure if it’s even a problem or I’m reading more into something than I should.”

She tilts her head, scrutinizing me. “Maybe talking it out would help. My dad did with Moses.”

Everything I know about her father, Douglas Boone, convinced me that he never leaned on anyone for anything. The man likes control far too much to cede even an inch of it to anyone. “Really?”

Aerin nods. “He didn’t exactly tell everyone, but although Dad made all the decisions, but occasionally, I’d pass by his office, or he’d walk into whatever room I was in and he’d be bouncing ideas off Moses.”

“I think that’s what I need,” I explain. “Bennett is a great beta. I couldn’t ask for anything more from him, but the way he thinks is similar to the way I do. I’m going to lay out everything that we saw yesterday, and I want you to tell me what you think.”

Instantly, she looks worried.

Taking her hand, I squeeze. “I’m not asking you to make a big decision about something and there’s no wrong answer. I just want your opinion.”

Aerin told me a lot about her childhood. She didn’t have much to say about anything. Her dad was controlling in the sense that almost all her decisions were made for her. Even when she started showing signs of being an omega, her dad sent her to another omega for training without even asking Aerin whether it was something she wanted.

Now she occupies one of the highest positions in a pack, and that comes with a whole host of responsibility. Like anyone who has been handed responsibility, she worries that she’ll do something wrong, a product of her childhood, but also courtesy of her cruel former mate who made her feel worthless.

She’s still adjusting to her role, doing great at it, but it can still be overwhelming for her.

“Okay,” she says, sitting up taller in her seat, and looking even more beautiful in her pale purple tank top. When she wears something formfitting, she likes to say that she looks like someone stuffed a pillow down her top, but I think she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.

I take a few bites of my breakfast, quickly chew and swallow, since I’m starving, and then I tell Aerin everything that happened since we arrived at the hotel and the tracks leading out of town.

She sits quietly for several seconds, her expression thoughtful rather than the alarmed I thought it would be.

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