Ever since she’d landed, the world had seemed tilted. She walked a fine line between staying upright and tumbling into an abyss. She shuddered to think of what awaited her there. Probably everything she’d put off for last seven years. Falling wasn’t an option.
“I thought you would be out here,” Ford grumbled.
Daphne didn’t take her eyes off the sky. “I’ll get out of your hair soon. Things are…uncertain right now. I just needed a minute to gather myself.”
He tugged at the tie holding his hair back before ruffling it. Mahogany strands fell to frame his face. Her heart thumped once before she tore her gaze away. His thick arms rippled with muscle as he moved. The thin t-shirt over his chest struggled to contain his bulky physique.
“You look like you could throw me in bed, ravage me until I can’t walk, and make me dinner after,” she found herself saying.
“I’m not looking for the mate experience again,” he said, though she caught the flare of light in his eyes.
She shrugged. “I didn’t say I wanted it either. One night is enough to let out some pent-up frustration. Right?”
“One night leads to a week, that leads to a month. Next thing I know, you’ve put your toothbrush next to mine, and I can’t get you to leave.” He shook his head. “Never again.”
She didn’t push the subject. Though she’d meant it more like a friendly joke, his aversion to the idea of being with anyone was more than evident.
“I have to change my brother’s mate tomorrow.” She dug her nails into her denim jacket. “I’ve helped dozens of new shifters acclimate to their lives, but I’ve never changed anyone before. What if…what if she doesn’t…”
Ford made a pained sound. Her attention snapped back to him. His lips were twisted in a grimace, his eyes distant like he was reliving a terrible past.
She never should have brought it up. This was her burden to bear. No one else had to deal with any of this. It was selfish to think that she could force someone into shouldering this with her.
“Sorry I brought it up,” she muttered.
He blew a breath out his nose. Smoke curled in the air around him. He rolled his shoulders before giving in to a full body shake.
“No worries,” he said finally. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on one person’s shoulders. Which one is your brother? I know the one shifter changed the bartender from up the street, so it can’t be him.”
“Casey. Big lumberjack looking guy. He started a home construction business here.”
Ford laughed. “The one that hooked up with the tattoo artist from The Grumpy Sailor? Oh, she’s going to be fine. She’s a spitfire. You wouldn’t believe the stories the locals tell about her.”
Daphne wasn’t sure. Just because Evangeline seemed stable and strong didn’t mean that couldn’t change after Daphne bit her.
She trudged across the street and lowered the tailgate on her brother’s truck before lifting herself up onto it. The alcohol singing through her veins would fade in a little while. Better to stay and wait it out than attempt to drive now. She didn’t think Ford would follow. He’d just gotten off what had to have been a long shift in the kitchen. Yet, he joined her, nonetheless.
“I’m sure everything is going to be fine,” he said.
She couldn’t find the truth in his words, like he wasn’t truly convinced things really would be fine. He kept a distance between them. She wished he would step up to stand between her legs so she could hug him and breathe his scent, but that was a lot to ask of a man she’d only just met.
“Why you?”
His question took her by surprise. With the alcohol still softening her thoughts, she tilted her head and stared at him in confusion. He didn’t move to sit beside her or even come any closer, but there was a softness in his expression that she didn’t expect.
“Why do you have to change the woman? Why can’t your brother do it? You seem stretched thin right now.” Alone, in the dark, Ford dropped his barriers to deliver a question that shattered her own.
Daphne sighed and tried to suck in another breath, but it did nothing to help her answer. Finally, she said, “That’s what everyone expects me to do. I’m the shifter that has everything together. Shifters look to me and see a woman who has never had a battle with her beast. They think I have absolute control and that I can teach others how to do the same. I went with it because that meant I got a position of power. Now, I’m wondering if I just made my life harder for myself.”
“So, you…change people? I thought you said you didn’t do that.”
She shook her head. “I’m in charge of new shifters. People who come to our clan after they were changed elsewhere, either by accident or lovers who didn’t stay. My job is to help them adjust so they can be of value to the clan.”
“That sounds like a lot of pressure on your shoulders.”
He wasn’t wrong. Daphne could never escape the constant expectations of her duty. Though she and her beast were on good terms, there were days when they butted heads. She could never let it show, though. She had to keep every internal conflict under wraps, so no one saw that she was just like everyone else.
“If you’re this strung out about it, you could refuse the job,” Ford said.
Daphne snorted. “This is one job I cannot back out of. This is my brother we’re talking about. Family comes first, right?”
“Not if they’re willing to sacrifice your health for the sake of their own desires.” Ford laid down wisdom like it was common knowledge.
The best Daphne could do was shrug it off. She didn’t have a choice now. Not this far in. Evangeline wanted to be changed, that much was very clear. If Daphne said no now, then Casey would still go through with it, and Daphne wouldn’t be there to make sure it went well. Daphne had to protect her brother and his mate.
She let her head fall into her hands. A groan trickled out of her. Ford made no sound as he approached. She didn’t know he stood beside her until arms closed around her. He tugged her into his embrace, so his warmth relaxed the knots in her tense muscles. She sighed and leaned into him.
“You don’t owe anyone anything,” he said quietly.
His words couldn’t erase what needed to be done still. He could whisper sweet, soft things all night, but when morning came, her job would still be the same. She savored his touch and the time he gave her while she could get it.
When his hands fell away, and he stepped back, she had to admit that she felt a little better. She wiped at her face with the back of her hand once she realized a few tears had slipped out.
“If only I could bottle that and uncork it when I really need it,” she said, jokingly.
Ford raised a brow. “Looks like you’d run out on day one.”
He wasn’t wrong. Daphne straightened her spine, rolled her shoulders back, and pulled herself together. The tear streaks on her cheeks were still drying, but they’d be gone by the time she got back to the cabin. She hopped down from the tailgate, pushed it back into place, and plucked the keys from her purse before twirling them around her forefinger.
“You really do pull it off well,” Ford said.
Daphne paused, the truck door handle in her hand, and tossed a glance back at Ford. “Huh?”