Fine, But I am tracking you. Oh, and the kids are safe and sound asleep.

Della

Okay, good. See you soon.

“You finished in there, Sweet Girl?” Kris’ voice came through the door, startling Della into dropping her phone.

“Shit! You scared the crap out of me,” she said, scrambling for something to wear.

There was a sweatshirt hanging on the hook and she grabbed it and put it on, ignoring how it smelled delicious.

Just like him.

She eased the door open, pretending a sophistication she didn’t have and a calm she did not feel.

“Hey,” he said, offering a slow grin and pulling her close. He kissed her temple.

“I know you’re wanting to get back to the kids. Let me use the bathroom and I’ll drive you. Oh, and they’ll be too big, but help yourself to my sweats. Third drawer,” he told her, kissing her temple once more before he nudged her gently out of the way.

And didn’t that just take the wind right out of her sails?

She’d been all ready to have an argument or something, and there he went, being all sweet. Della did not know what to do with a man who looked at her with adoration instead of scorn.

What the actual heck?

Trusting someone, especially a man, was always going to be a problem for her after she’d left the Murder. She knew that. Her therapist knew that. And they were working on it.

But that didn’t mean she was ready to discuss any of it with Kris. They’d had sex, but so what? Sex did not a relationship make.

But maybe the part where your Crow claimed him did?

Fuck.

She’d almost forgotten about the part where she’d clawed his back. See, Crow Shifters seldom bit to claim their mates. No, they scratched, but only when the moment was right.

Della stayed quiet during the seventeen minute ride home. She thought he would get angry or snarky or something. But maybe Kris chalked it up to her being tired. Or maybe he just wasn’t interested in conversation.

The point was, he didn’t question or push her, he just let her be. And she had no idea what to make of it. So she sat and stewed.

Her younger self might have felt ashamed for what she’d done tonight. Having sex with a virtual stranger. And even worse, having the audacity to enjoy it.

Della had been raised by very strict parents. Crows were not like Wolves. They had very harsh views about the proper roles of males and females within their community.

The Murder she’d been born to was the opposite of modern or enlightened. And that was putting it mildly.

They believed women had one function. To obey men and be bred by them. Sex was for procreation only. Women were not to enjoy it.

Oh, it was backwards as fuck.

Hell, that was why she left when she was eighteen and didn’t look back. She wanted more than to be someone’s broodmare.

But the second Murder she found was almost as bad. The males there treated women like property. It was awful, but better than where she’d come from.

It was not long before Della knew something was wrong with the whole situation. She’d been going to school and reading a lot, and well, when she questioned it—that was the first time Cade had hit her.

She was embarrassing him, he’d said. He apologized and begged her not to leave. He said he wouldn’t do it again, and stupidly, she believed him.

Stop, she told herself firmly.