Page 41 of Stealing Sloane

The man standing in the doorway from the backyard grinned. He was about Jacob’s age, tall, blond, with piercing light brown eyes. “Hello, Jacob.”

“Hey, man.” He strode over to his cousin and enveloped him in a hug.

Growing up, they had been the two youngest boy cousins and were both hybrids, and so they’d been quite close. But he hadn’t seen his cousin in months, not since the final battle with the mages, but even before then, it had been a very long time since Gunnar had stepped out of the Shenandoah territory. A few years back, there had been an accident at a club he owned in New York City where he had lost his control of his powers and knocked out all the patrons, and thus he had to come here for his and everyone’s safety.

Guilt crept into his chest. Truly, he had forgotten about Gunnar all this time, which made him feel like an asshole. “Man, I’m sorry I haven’t visited. Before or even in the last few days since I arrived.”

“It’s all right, I understand.” Light brown eyes peered at him. “Jack told me you were here, but I didn’t want to interrupt or anything.”

“Interrupt? What?”

He flashed Jacob a cryptic smile. “Nothing. But, I was curious about your guests, Grams. I hope you don’t mind me just showing up.”

“Ah yes, I’m sure Jack talked your ear off about them.” Grams snaked her arm into his. “And of course I don’t mind. I told you, you’re always welcome here. This is your home. I’m glad you finally decided to come here, after all this time.”

Jacob frowned. “You’ve never come to the house for breakfast?” If he had been in Gunnar’s shoes, he’d be here every day just to eat Grams’s cooking.

Gunnar looked at Lily sheepishly. “No.”

“He wasn’t ready then.” Lily’s voice cracked, and her eyes turned misty.

“Hey, what’s going—Gunnar?” Cliff blinked as he stood in the entryway, Stella beside him. “Dude, is that you?” He walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good to see you, man. This is Stella, my True Mate. Stella, this is my cousin, Gunnar.”

“Hello, Stella, nice to meet you,” he greeted.

“Nice to meet you too. Are you visiting?”

“Not quite. I?—”

“Oh God,” Sloane moaned dramatically as she entered the kitchen. “Stel, I can’t believe you talked me into waking up so early—oh, hello.” Sloane eyed Gunnar appreciatively. “Who are you?”

Jacob gritted his teeth as his wolf, too, growled unhappily. Of course she would notice his cousin—Gunnar took after his father and with his large stature and blond hair, he looked like a dreamy hot Viking on the cover of a romance novel.

“You must be Sloane.” Gunnar’s eyes flicked at Jacob reassuringly. “I’m Gunnar, nice to meet you.”

“He’s our cousin, he lives here too,” Cliff explained.

“Why don’t you all help get the food ready so we can eat?” Lily suggested. “Everyone should be coming down any moment.”

They all busied themselves as they set the table and put the food out, and soon Jackson, Jordan, and Jack came down, and they sat down. The Alpha initially seemed surprised at the new addition, but said nothing.

Jacob eyed Gunnar, itching to ask him what he’d been doing for the last couple of years. If he’d understood it correctly, he never came to the house to join them for a meal. But, everyone around him acted normal, and there didn’t seem to be an opportune moment to bring it up.Maybe I can ask him myself later.

Though breakfast was usually a quick affair since there was a lot of chores and training to be done, Jackson had seemingly allowed it to go on a more leisurely pace. Eventually, though, he stood up and subtly reminded everyone that they were just starting their day.

“It’s really nice to see you, Gunnar,” he said to his cousin after they finished cleaning up the kitchen. Since everyone else had to go work or training, the two of them volunteered to wash up.

“Yeah, it’s nice. I should get back to my cabin, though.”

“So soon? Why don’t you hang out? Are you coming back tonight for dinner?”

“I don’t think so, but thanks for asking.”

While he was disappointed, Jacob understood. From what he’d heard, after what happened back in New York, he had a hard time being around a lot of people, which is why he decided to live out here in Shenandoah.

“But you can visit me anytime. Just ask for directions to my cabin.”

“I might just do that.” Like he promised to Grams that he would visit more often, he reminded himself to stay in touch with Gunnar. “Let me see you out.”

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