Page 42 of Protector Dragon's Shattered Mate

Sofia’s eyes softened. “Without hesitation.” She nodded. “That does make sense.”

“So, stay here until you know what you want. If you want to visit Rhett, he’ll have you any time,” Levi said.

That night, Levi moved back to his house. It was quiet—he didn’t have any pets or animals living with him. For one thing, he often kept long hours at the clinic, and when he wasn’t at the clinic, he was visiting farms and ranches and barns. So, it wouldn’t be fair to any pets he might adopt. But after being withsuch a large group of people for so many days, he felt the lack of having any other living being with him.

He would enjoy living close to Kellan and his brothers. That would help. But he missed Sofia. Her absence was a hole in his gut, with an ache worse than the gash in his chest. He didn’t allow himself to call her. He did text her to say goodnight, and then he went to bed.

The next day, he went to Kellan’s to check on the sheep, and Daisy in particular. He behaved as he usually would have, chatting with Kellan and Clara, and not going out of his way to find Sofia. Oh, he wanted to, but he had promised himself that he wasn’t going to apply any pressure at all.

Once he’d finished with Daisy, Kellan invited him inside for lunch, and of course, there stood Sofia. She was unpacking groceries. She smiled sheepishly. “I’m trying to find some way to help out.” She leaned close. “It’s hard when you’re living with a billionaire,” she whispered.

“But it’s also hard to be a burden on a billionaire too,” he said, knocking shoulders with her. Like they were friends. Or buddies. The word left a sour feeling in his stomach.

He pushed away the dark cloud that threatened to descend from looking at the four happy couples in the kitchen. Kellan was slicing a ham, Clara was pouring iced tea, Quinn was hugging Juliana, Liam was rubbing Brynne’s shoulders, and Brennan and Fallon were peering closely at a photo Rowan had sent them.

Family was great, friends were great, but he wanted his mate.

Stop it.You can’t force it.

Those were his own words because his dragon sure as hell wanted him to force it. Levi couldn’t make his dragon understand that Sofia had been through a lot of turmoil, and that she needed space. His dragon could only think of what would make him feel better, and that was his mate.

Patience. That felt like the only thing he had left.

And focusing on work, and on the clan, and keeping up with the wolves. Kellan had experience making treaties with witches, and so he led the effort. All of the wolves, minus Koryak, got rounded up and locked in that warehouse.

Then Max, Davi, Rhett and Henrick flew them back to Siberia and made sure they went back to their compound. Kellan even donated resources to them. And just like the group of mafia shifters who were being monitored on the island off Peru, this group would be as well. Davi had volunteered to check up on them once a month.

It was the best solution they had.

23

Sofia

Four weeks. That’s how long it had been since the battle with the wolves. In that time, much had changed. The wolves were back in Siberia. Davi and Max had already been to check on them once.

The wolves had chosen a new alpha, one that would listen to a Council of Elders, and not try to rule with fear and tyranny. No one thought enforcing the treaty with the wolves would be smooth sailing, but they were more hopeful than they had been with the witches’ coven. Many of the younger wolves had confessed to Davi that Koryak had been far too brutal for their tastes, and had latched onto the new system.

Levi had healed. To her shock, he was as good as new.

He had also become her friend.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to think about that. He talked to her, he texted her, he even invited her out on a few of his veterinarian calls. But he never flirted or touched her. And he sure didn’t try to kiss her.

He also never sent her any telepathic messages at all.

Isn’t that what you wanted?

She’d been in limbo for so long. She wasn’t surewhatshe wanted, not anymore. Part of her thought she’d gotten so used to refusing to make a decision that it had become her permanent state of being.

She had to make a move soon. She couldn’t stay in Kellen’s house permanently. As long as she was with Kellan, she was hiding. She wasn’t moving forward.

She wanted to spend more time with Levi. She wanted to date him. Or have him court her, as the older bears in her clan had called it.

But did Levi still want that?

He’d laid his heart bare. He had been vulnerable with her, and told her exactly how he felt about her, time after time. And what had she done?

Not a damned thing.

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