Page 31 of Mated Exile

My heart twists again. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll make it clear to him that he's welcome to stay for as long as he wants."

It may make things awkward with the other guys, at least for a bit, given that none of them live with me. Werewolves can be territorial about things like that—and things like scent, which Bastian will be spreading around if he lays his head down here for long. But they'll get used to his presence, especially when they realize he's about as threatening as a baby kitty. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know that he's nearly six foot six, much less have any awareness of his incredibly handsome face or muscular body.

No doubt Cat will teach him a thing or two about his appearance once she gets the chance.

"Here you go." I set the finished iced latte on the table in front of Bastian. His eyes widen at it, and I take a seat opposite him, pulling my waffles and orange juice towards me. "We have plenty of espresso and milk, you know, so feel free to have one of these whenever you want."

"Oh-okay." He brings the glass to his mouth, takes a sip of it with his plush lips, and makes a thoughtful face as he swallows. "Huh. It's almost nutty and a little sweet."

"That's the fresh espresso." I smile at him as I cut into my waffles, enjoying the brand-new way he seems to look at the world. Cautiously, I ask him, "Would you mind telling me a bit about what brought you to the vampire lair in the first place? We should get to know each other, after all, since you'll be staying here for a while. In fact, I want you to know that you can stay as long as you'd like."

Bastian chews thoughtfully on his lower lip, a troubled expression in his face. "Just until I'm back on my feet."

I glance up at him. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to stay here too long. I'm—I would be a burden." He shakes his head, shoulders hunching inward. "I'll stay just until I can find somewhere else to be. Maybe the cabin where I grew up with my family, or maybe somewhere else."

"Okay." He looks like he's holding a lot of tension, so I try telling him gently, "It's okay if you need to stay here for a while. I don't mind. I mean, this house has extra rooms I can't use, and I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind if you—if you stayed in his room." I swallow around the knot in my throat. "You're a guest now. You should be comfortable."

"Really?" Bastian lifts his eyes to mine. "You don't mind?"

"Not at all."

He relaxes a bit, inch by inch, as my words sink in. Cat joins us a moment later, setting an entire platter of freshly-cooked bacon in the center of the table. She glances sidelong at Bastian, and shoots him a wicked smile.

"I don't know if you were planning on getting a haircut, but I think you should keep the length," she says, raising a brow in his direction. "The cave-man look works for you. There's something sensually primal about it."

I kick her underneath the table, mouthingmomin her direction. She just shoots me a look.

Bastian only seems confused by her words. "Thanks? I think. I haven't thought about what to do with my hair." Looking over at me, he says slowly, "As to your earlier question... how I came to be with the vampires..."

"Yes?" I try not to sound too eager, even though I'm insatiably curious.

"It's not a long story." Glancing down at his forearms, he says, "My family grew up outside the pack. It'd been that way for a long time. My father died when I was young, so my sister and I grew up with my mother in our cabin in the woods. Until one day she was killed, and we were taken by a vampire coven."

"Oh," I say softly, a worry coming to my mind. "Is your sister still being held by them somewhere? We could try to get her out if—"

"She's dead." He cuts me off, eyes fixed on the tabletop. I swallow, regretting my curiosity for the pain it causes him to tell this tale. "Another wolf killed her in the ring. After that, I—I stayed in my wolf form and I didn't shift back. Not until you showed up."

Feeling the need to comfort him, I reach my hand across the table and curve my palm over his fingers. "It's not your fault."

He jerks at my words, eyes flying up to meet mine. Taking in a ragged breath, he seems to try to center himself, and manages it slowly. Then he reaches across the table to grab a few slices of bacon and draw them onto his plate, eyes wide.

"The food here is way better than it was with the vamps," he says, giving Cat a happy, satisfied look that she eats up like the wicked woman she is. "They fed us so little that it stunted my growth. Who knows—maybe with enough time here, I might actually fill out."

I have nothing to say tothat,because the thought of Bastianfilling outany further is enough to make me think dirty thoughts. Thoughts that, as his genuinely innocent and new-to-the-world attitude make clear, have probably never occurred to him. Or at least, not since he was taken into the hellhole that is vampiric captivity.

I'm going to need a lot of cold showers if this hunk of a man is sticking around for a while.

* * *

Standing on the front porch of the house that used to be my father's, I take a deep breath and stare out into the town of Juniper. Across from the house is the winding road that cuts through town; further down the road is the town square, with all its shops. As the road winds through town, houses crop up in loosely-organized neighborhoods, each of them home to people I've grown up around.

Many of whom have gone to their graves since I last stepped foot in town.

But there are people here still living. Werewolves and humans alike, doing their best to eek out a life for their families. There are worried parents raising the next generation of female werewolves, counting down the days until the curse descends on them, hoping to outrun it.

Roarke is wrong. There is a way to save this pack from the curse without giving in to its inevitable ending. Now that I know what I am, I'll figure it out, and fix things.

---