Page 9 of Autumn After

I led him over to the couch, sat him down, and joined him.

Willow’s breath came in heavy pants, and his eyes darted around the room like the boogeyman might jump out at any moment.

“What is happening? Did I get into a car crash? Is this part of the coma dream? Cause I was on board when the coma dream was sex with the most perfect specimen I’d ever seen, with a dick the size of my arm, but I am not sure about the whole wolf-man thing.”

My lips twitched into a smile at the mention of my dick. “No. You weren’t in a car accident. Lavendar broke down, remember? I found you in the rain. And my dick is real. I promise.”

“Okay. Okay, that all makes sense. What about the wolf man? I just need coffee, right? I didn’t actually see a person change into a wolf or vice versa. Or whatever I saw, right?”

“So, the thing is, I’m not exactly human.” Not the best way to begin, but it was all I could think of.

He turned and looked at me. “Don’t... don’t mess with me. I just saw... just... no.”

“Willow,” I cupped his cheek, holding his head still so he could focus on me. “I’m not messing with you. Promise. Have you ever heard of a shifter?”

He stared at me like I had five heads.

“A shapeshifter? A werewolf?” Neither were accurate terms for what I was, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“Shit! A werewolf? Are you going to bite me and turn me into a monster?”

Why the heck did I say werewolf? I knew better. I was messing up every single part of this.

“No! Werewolf isn’t even the right term. I was just trying to find something that you could connect with.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, willing the right words to come to me. “Shifter is the real name—wolf shifter to be specific. Werewolf was the fictional name for shifters, and I thought... never mind. Let me start from the beginning.”

And I did. I told him where we were, who I was, and he listened to me, his body stiff as if he wasn’t sure what to make of it. But then he asked me a question I wasn’t expecting.

“So, does that mean you didn’t really like me? It was just a wolf thing? Like you need to take a m—take someone to bed?”

His question near broke me. I pulled him right onto my lap and hugged him close. “No, no, it means the opposite. When I met you, I recognized you. I saw you as the person for me. I don’t just like you, Willow. I would take my last breath protecting you, providing for you, taking care of you. You’re my mate.”

“Mate?”

“Yeah, mate. Yesterday, when I knotted you, that was fate’s way of showing us that we were meant for each other. I already suspected, knew in my heart that you were, but that showed me I was right.”

There was so much more to tell him, but my brother picked that moment to knock on the door.

“Cedric, I know you’re in there,” Sid called.

“Crap. Give us five minutes!” I yelled back. “Let’s go get cleaned up, because he’s not going to leave until we talk to him.” By now everyone in the pack probably knew I had a human in my cabin.

A quick shower later, and we were letting my brother in. What a day it had been already, and I hadn’t even had my coffee yet.

Chapter 7

Willow

“My brother says his mate is here.” A woman’s voice came through the open window. The cool fall air gave the cabin a crisp and earthy scent from the mixture of dried leaves that whirled around outside.

I swung open the door, piecing together quickly that this was Fern, Cedric’s sister. Even if she hadn’t mentioned her brother, I’d have known. They had the same eyes and smile. I hadn’t met her yesterday since Cedric’s family was giving us some space for me to come to terms with all the things, but Cedric had saidshe’d probably be coming around. I just hadn’t expected it to be when he was out running a quick errand.

“Your brother was right. I’m Willow. You must be Fern.” I gave her my best smile. Cedric assured me his family would love me, yet that didn’t stop my nerves from going into overdrive. Usually, I had weeks to work up the courage to meet the family of the guy I was dating. Not this time. And based on what I understood about mates, this would be the last time I was meeting the family.

Cedric was my one and only. I felt more sure of that than I had about my dream to own a food truck, and I’d been pretty locked in on that goal.

“I am, and check us out. We’re both trees. Tree-ish... I’m more of a plant, but whatever. We are green.” She held up a plate. “I brought muffins.”

“I like muffins.” I stepped out of the way, and she came in.

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