“I’ll move whatever you need out of the basement,” I told her. Her fear of spiders was extremely irrational, but I was smart enough not to tell her that. I also thought it cute, that I could be her white knight when it came to anything in her basement.
“Thanks. It’ll still take time to go through even if it’s all piled in the living room. I can do it this weekend.”
“Did you get a call from Willow? I gave her your number. She wanted to invite you personally to a barbecue at the big house. More procrastination for you.”
She nodded, her curls bobbing, then catching on the breeze. I couldn’t resist reaching up and tucking it behind her ear. “She did.”
“I think she feels bad that she hasn’t stopped by. I know you saw Audrey and Becky at Cody’s, but no one’s come over to make you welcome.”
“You’ve made me very welcome,” she replied with a sly grin.
Just like that, I was hard.
“You haven’t met anyone else in the pack besides Nash. I want you to meet the whole gang.”
“I did meet one other pack member. At least, I assume he’s a member based on where he said he lived. An older man came by to introduce himself and offer to buy the place.”
I stilled, set my hands on the top edge of the truck bed. What the fuck? “What do you mean?”
“A guy from the pack came over. The day you and Nash first came over. Said he’d give me a fair price if I wanted to sell.”
I had a guess who it was, but I had to be sure.
“How do you know he was from the pack?”
She rolled her eyes but thankfully wasn’t picking up on my change in mood. “He said he lived above Wolf Ranch. So I figured he must be. I know it hasn’t been long since you found out that I know about shifters, but I’ve known for most of my life. It’s pretty obvious now to me.”
I wanted to ask her how it was obvious because if it was clear to her, I wondered if it was to anyone else. But that wasn’t what I wanted to deal with now.
“Did he introduce himself?”
“Yeah, Nathan Brown. Older guy. Big gut.”
I nodded stiffly. “I know him.”
She studied me. “You don’t seem happy.”
Shit, I couldn’t hide my feelings from her. It would be impossible. Nathan Brown had shown up at my mate’s home. “I don’t like him coming by here. He’s not dangerous, but he’s kind of a dick.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” I rubbed my face. “I don’t like that he was making a grab for this place. It feels like he was trying to move in on Rob Wolf’s territory, you know? And—” I stopped myself. I didn’t want to infect Natalie with pack relation toxicity.
“And what?”
“Nah, nevermind. It’s probably not that big a deal.”
To me, it felt like a threat. Not outright but in a shifter way. Showing up and asking to buy the place. That was before he even knew she planned to turn it into a bed and breakfast. So he’d been interested in this property all along. His beef wasn’t about Natalie. It wasn’t even about me. It was about Rob, as alpha.
Natalie peered at me, brows lowered.
I sighed. “It’s complicated. He’s an old timer, and I don’t mean in age. He’s set in his ways, in the old ways of the pack. He probably doesn’t like that a human owns property that adjoins our hunting grounds. I know he doesn’t stand for stuff Rob’s doing as alpha.”
She frowned. “Like what?”
“Like mixing with humans.”
She stared at me, then ducked under my arm and walked back to the mailbox, then spun back around. “You mean mating humans.” Her face was flushed. Shit. I should not have told her about the division in the pack. “I knew it.” She tossed up her hands, the mail in her hand forgotten. “I told you this!”
“Nathan Brown is an asshole who likes to stir up shit. This has nothing to do with you, of course. His interest here was in your property. But he’s the type who’s pissed that almost every shifter match in the past two years or so has all been to humans. Guys like Nathan say that mix-mating means a diluted pack.”
“You mean kids?”
“Yes. Audrey and Becky have both had pups.”
“Pups?”
I ignored her question and kept going. “I’d think Marina will have one sometime soon. Maybe even Charlie. It’s just a trend in a direction Nathan doesn’t want the pack to go.”
I didn’t mention the fact that he was anti-B&B. It didn’t matter. Natalie didn’t want to run one. I didn’t need to have ESP to know it wasn’t her personality. It was a way to make money, but she was smart and resourceful enough to find an alternative. One that made her eager to get up in the morning. That fulfilled her. It wasn’t waiting on tourists, that was for fucking sure. Just like it wasn’t slinging drinks at Cody’s.
Nathan’s problem with the B&B really was about Rob’s leadership, not even the actual bed and breakfast, if that ever happened. He was always looking for a way to challenge Rob on his decisions.
Still, Nathan had approached my mate. She wasn’t going to be a pawn in his pack issues. I didn’t like it. Not one fucking bit.
“Look, Nathan Brown is not the welcome committee I or the alpha wanted you to have. If he comes by here again, I want you to let me know, okay? I don’t like the idea of him stopping by here whenever the hell he feels like it.”
“Okay,” Natalie said.
“We’ll go to the barbecue, and you’ll see what everyone’s like. Everyone who is important.”
Natalie nodded. “All right.”
“Good girl. Hop in the truck. I’ll drive you back to the house where I want a beer and kisses from my woman.”
When she turned to go around to the passenger side, I gave her ass a little smack. She gasped and looked over her shoulder. She wasn’t pissed any longer but surprised. And turned on.
I grinned. “Actually, the beer can wait. I want my woman.”
20
NATALIE
A few days later, I was covered in plaster dust from helping Rand with the electrical. I had to wonder if the project was ever going to end, and I was definitely second guessing making any other upgrades to the house. I wasn’t a do-it-yourselfer, and I knew nothing about wiring a house other than the fact that when I turned something on, it had power.
But I felt bad that Rand was doing it all on his downtime, which wasn’t tons. He worked hard with Nash at their construction business. The last thing I’d want to do in my off hours was wire an old house, but he was determined to see the house safe. At least from a wiring standpoint. And spiders. He was relocating any he found.
“You are going to have to take my money one of these days.” I leaned against the wall. Rand had poked five holes along it, so he could pull the wire across the room from the switch to the plug.
He was squatting by the outlet and looked up at me. “You’re mine, Red. That means I support your needs.”
Despite the kindling warmth his words produced, I refused to allow it in. I pushed off, set my hands on my hips and glared down at him. “I can take care of my own needs, thank you,” I snapped. “And this house isn’t something you are required to take on. Splurge for a dinner and a movie. That’s what a date does, not rewire a woman’s entire house.”