Page 72 of Pack Kasen: Part 2

As Finan walks away with our new prospect, I motion to the creek. “Let’s sit beside the water.”

It hasn’t passed me by that Kat likes to spend more time there than anywhere else.

That’s another thing we have in common.

It’s one of my favorite places to relax, alone or with the pack.

“Are you in the habit of letting strangers wander into your home?” she asks, taking a seat on the grass beside me. Not as close as I’d like, but the fact that she’s sitting with me with barely an argument is, in itself, a victory.

“We have sharp eyes and ears. Someone is always watching and listening. If he were a threat, he wouldn’t have made it this close without someone stopping him.”

“You were wrong about me.”

I focus on her. “You were the exception, Kitty cat, not the rule. We do not let strangers wander into our home. This is my pack and Iprotectmy pack.”

“But you acted like he could have been the campus killer.”

“I had an inkling it could be. Ihopedit would be.”

“So that you get to go hunting?” she says with an expression on her face that I can’t quite decipher. If I had to guess, I’d say it was excitement with a touch of bloodthirstiness.

My mate likes to hunt as much as I do, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.

I look her in the eye. “So I got to tear him limb from limb and give you his head.”

She snorts. “You’re being dramatic.”

“Am I?”

We stare at each other for two beats, then she shakes her head and looks away, wrapping her arms around her raised legs.

“Shame it was just a guy from Indiana looking for a new pack. I wouldn’t have minded ripping someone’s limbs off myself.”

“Because he killed a bunch of people?”

Does she still have feelings for Doug, her dead ex? Is that why she’s determined to track down the killer?

“Because he killed a bunch of people I cared about.”

“Cared?” I ask quietly.

Past or present?

That’s important.

“You heard me,” she says, not looking at me.

“We don’t get new prospects often.” I turn to face the water.

I want to tell her this is one of my favorite places in the world too. Then she’d know we had that in common along with the hunting. But Kat is stubborn. I have a feeling if I were to tell her that, she’d discover a new favorite place and that would be as far away from the creek as she could get.

“Because you’re high maintenance?” she asks.

Smiling, I don’t take offense. “Some shifters have a surprising love of Starbucks, and our Wi-Fi is spotty.”

Her husky laugh surprises me.

When I look at her, she’s staring down at the ground, hiding her expression from me.

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