Page 37 of Arctic Panda's Secret Mate
“What’s wrong withAlaska?”
“It makes my face hurt to go outside!” Tristan protested. “Did you think I was going to give up a dream job in paradise to movehere?”
Uh-oh, Tristan’s bear said.
It was the wrong thing to say, and Tristan didn’t know how to un-say it. “I’m sorry, it just makes the mostsensethat we would move to Shifting Sands. I should have asked, I guess, but I just thought it was really obvious.”
Haisley bristled at him. “Maybe I don’t love working for the guy I work for, and maybe this job isn’t at a fancy resort for shifters-only, which by the way, did you think might be really awkward for me to work at as a boring old human? But I love this place, and I love Alaska, and I even love how it makes my face hurt, and maybe if you don’t know that about me, you don’t know me nearly as well as you thought you did!”
“Obviously I don’t!” Tristan said. He hastily followed with, “But I want to! I want to know all about you and figure out why you love this place and maybe love it, too.”
Haisley looked like she still wanted to be angry but wasn’t sure if she was, so Tristan pressed on. “I want to be where you are. If you don’t want to come to Shifting Sands Resort, I’ll stay here. It’s more important that we’re together than where we are.”
Haisley pursed her lips and glared at him for a long moment, then sighed. “Well, I can’t be mad at you after you say all that nice stuff, can I? But you don’t get to decide if I’m leaving with you, and even if you thought I was, you should have at leastsaidso, so that I could start thinking about it. I’m not saying I will or won’t, yet. I’m going to go take a shower, now that I don’t have to worry about everyone hearing me, and figure out what to do.”
A shower?Tristan’s bear loved water.
“A showerby myself,” Haisley amended, as if she could hear him. Maybe Tristan had looked hopeful.
“Cinnamon rolls will be ready soon,” Tristan suggested, as if it was a peace offering.
“I’ll be out,” Haisley said. “But you know, this would have been much easier if youhadall just been black market animal smugglers.”
33
HAISLEY
Haisley felt much better after a long, hot shower where she didn’t feel like she had to sneak around getting dried off and dressed afterwards.
She couldn’t stay mad at Tristan for jumping to conclusions. She had skills clearly applicable to the place that he worked, inhousekeepingif nothing else, and he had talked aboutforever,even after she said she wasn’t promising it. What did finding your soulmate mean, if it wasn’t for being together with that one person that made you feel more whole?
She found herself looking around her room—so recently hated as a prison—with fresh nostalgia. She loved the chalet, and the land around it, and the magic garage. She loved all the rustic old logs and the northern lights in the winter. She loved the forest and the wildlife and the midnight sun.
She didn’t hate the idea of a milder climate and fewer mosquitos, but her heart washere, and she couldn’t imagine herself this happy in any other place.
But Tristan, damn him anyway, had made her realizethat she might never be happy withouthim. Were they at an impasse? Would she give this all up to follow him to a magical island full of magical people, knowing that she wasn’t one?
She put on a festive dress and her favorite holiday apron, ran her fingers through her damp hair in a futile attempt to style it, then went out of her room feeling like she was facing a jury.
She passed the doors to the dining room and kitchen and paused at the end of the hallway, listening to the voices in the great room. Finally, she gathered her courage and strode boldly out. Two new faces turned to meet her, but they weren’t all unfamiliar.
“Ah, Miss Haisley!” Breck rose to greet her. “Tristan is getting more wood for the fire. Having a mate brings out a shifter’s nurturing habits, you’ll find. This is Lydia and a half, the glowering man rubbing her feet is Wrench. The rest of the party is in the kitchen or still sleeping in.”
Lydia was a gorgeous Latina woman and the half was the swollen pregnant belly that her hand was resting on. She waved with her opposite hand. “I am delighted to meet the chalet ghost!” she said kindly.
Wrench grunted in what Haisley assumed was his idea of a polite greeting. He had an alarming number of tattoos showing at his neck and wrists.
“I’m happy to meet you,” Haisley said, keeping her chin high. She wasn’t going to let them intimidate her, and none of them seemed inclined to quiz her about why she’d been hiding. “I thought I could help out in the kitchen.”
“Chef has been dying to quiz you about flour moistures or something,” Breck said.
“I’m happy to answer any questions I can,” Haisley said demurely.
Was that it? They were all going to pretend that theywere all perfectly ordinary people who did not change into animals or sneak around in locked rooms?
Haisley felt a slight release in the buckle of tension that had been sitting around her chest since they arrived as she went into the kitchen. Chef was chopping vegetables, Breck was setting the table, and Darla was taking cinnamon rolls out of the oven, breathing in the spicy aroma.
“They look divine. Can I help frost?” Haisley offered. There was already a bowl waiting, full of cream cheese frosting.
