Page 29 of Hunted

I eat more of my breakfast and prompt her to start on hers. She’s eaten three bites of her pancake when she puts her fork down.

“It sounds like a test,” she says slowly.

I blink, surprised. “What kind of test?”

I love watching her speak. She doesn’t rush. She takes her time figuring out what she wants to say, and she always has something valuable to say.

“Dad has been Alpha for a long time. Because he held the position for so long, no one could ever strike at him openly if they wanted him gone.”

“Yes?” I think I know where she’s going with this, but I wait for her to tell me.

“It sounds like someone is testing our responses.”

Which is worrying.

Testing defenses is the first step before attacking.

“But?” I prompt her when it seems like she hasn’t finished.

“It could be a lone shifter who thought they’d found somewhere nice to settle down, realized that another pack calls this place home when they picked up more of our scents and realized they couldn’t fight us all, so they left.”

“But it could also be someone testing our defenses before they launch an attack?”

She nods. “It could. Right now, I’m feeling emotional and helpless and worried. I want to think the worst because I’ve never been the most glass half full person in the world. But I know assuming the worst when we have so little evidence of something bad is probably just as bad a reaction.”

“I like the way you think, love.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

Partners. I never realized that’s what we were until now.

“What?” Aerin cocks her head as she studies me. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”

I take her hand and brush a kiss across her knuckles, turning her cheeks pink with pleasure.

“Just loving you and what we have,” I say. “Now eat. How about we get some gardening done this morning while we ponder this lone shifter? We’ll let our subconscious work on the problem for a bit.”

“I like the way you think too,” she says, smiling.

As the sun beats down on us, I slide my arms around Aerin, leave my palms flat on her rounded belly, and nibble her earlobe.

Her breath gushes out of her and she sighs, tilting her head back in a sign she wants more of my caresses. “Mack, we’re supposed to be gardening.”

“Gardening?” I mock growl, nipping her throat and drawing a sweet moan from her. “Who can think of gardening when he has a beautiful woman this close to him?”

Her lips tilt in a smile. “I don’t see her.”

I kiss her. “You must not be looking properly because she’s impossible to miss.”

Her expression softens as she frames my jaw with both hands. “I see a woman who cries at the drop of a hat. I’m sure you must be getting pretty sick of it. I know I am.”

She’d gotten tearful when we came out and saw how well the plants were doing. I don’t even want to imagine what it must be like to have hormones going into overdrive the way she’s going through.

Her frustration is right there in her eyes. I gather her in my arms and carry her to the plastic lounger Bennett will never get tired of warning me we’ll break. He’s probably right about that. Will I stop sharing it with Aerin? No.

“We’re going to fall,” Aerin warns me, reading my mind.

---