Chapter 9
Daisy
I woke up warm and cozy, not wanting to move. It felt like a weighted blanket enveloped me like a swathed infant. Add all of that together with a soothing scent in the air and I had no desire to open my eyes.
Something beside me did though.
I stiffened and slowly opened my eyes.
There was a strange arm wrapped around me, and I couldn’t remember where I was or how I’d got here.
My first thought was that someone had drugged me.
I pushed the arm away and screamed bloody murder as I thrashed about.
“Jesus, Daisy. It’s too early for this shit.”
Gulping hard, I rolled over to see who had just spoken.
Mate, my wolf growled in my head. I startled at first, but then remembered—my wolf can talk.
Oh no. It wasn’t a dream.
“Cruz?”
“Yeah. Who else did you expect?”
I didn’t expect anyone to be in bed with me.
“What happened?”
“You really don’t remember anything?”
I gulped hard, trying to get a read on my body. What had I done? I was sore all over, especially between my legs. My mind was in panic mode, and I couldn’t remember anything as I begged myself to calm down.
Cruz rolled away from me and propped himself up on one arm.
When I dared to look over, I saw he wasn’t wearing any clothes.
My eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.
“Did you rape me?” I blurted out.
He nearly fell out of bed as he jumped up and held his hands in the air.
“Hold up. Rape you? What the hell, Daisy?”
“You’re naked.”
“Shirtless, not naked.”
A blanket was still draped around his lower half and when he pulled it away, I saw he was wearing gym shorts.
The tension in my body eased some, but I couldn’t seem to stop staring at him. He was hard and defined, like a rock that had been sculpted by an artist. He was beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.
I started to curl into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest.
The clothes he’d given me to wear were still swimming all around me.
“We just slept, Daisy. Nothing else. Why would you even think that?”
“I-I was just confused, and I hurt all over. Especially between my legs,” I confessed.
He relaxed and bellowed with laughter.
“Sorry. It’s just that I’m used to regular riding, but after that push we made to beat the storm, even I’m a little sore in the legs today. I don’t imagine you’re used to riding horseback, are you?”
I shook my head. I’d never really ridden a horse, at least not without someone else controlling the beast on a rope.
Horses didn’t seem to like me. They seemed to get spooked, and I always assumed they could sense my wolf. Animals were much more in tune to such things. So after one instance, when one had tried to throw me off of it, I’d mostly just stood beside them if necessary for a shoot.
It hadn’t even dawned on me that Clementine had been unfazed having not one but two wolves riding her.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine in a day or two in your skin, or you can shift and heal it faster. Up to you.”
My jaw dropped.
“I can’t shift.”
“That’s a lie. I literally found you in your fur. I know you can shift.”
“You don’t understand. I’m not allowed to shift. I hadn’t shifted in a really long time. It’s not safe, but I was in the middle of nowhere, so I didn’t expect to be caught.” Yet you found me anyway, I thought.
“There’s nothing wrong with shifting, Daisy.”
“There is in my world.”
“You don’t have a Pack?”
I shrugged. “I suppose I do. I’m not really sure. I haven’t been back there since I was young.”
“So you live in the human world?”
“Yes.”
“I can see where that could be dangerous. Actually, I’ve lived that life. Being unable to shift for fear the humans will discover your secret is no way to live. It sucks.”
“My life doesn’t suck, it’s just different.”
“Well, here you can shift anytime you need to. I probably wouldn’t advise doing it right in the middle of town because we do occasionally have humans coming through. But here at home, and out there on the range, it’s completely safe.”
I had a hard time believing that.
“I know it’s a Pack town, but you’re telling me everyone here is a shifter?”
“Yes. Wait, no. Katherine is an exception, but it’s okay to shift in front of her.”
My eyes widened in surprise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Shift in front of a human? Are you insane? That’s asking to be killed.”
“It’s not like that. The sheriff that pulled me over when I started falling asleep at the wheel last night, that’s James. James is mated to Katherine.”
“Katherine the human?”
“Yeah. They’re true mates.”
That wasn’t possible, was it?
He must have noticed the skepticism on my face.
“I’m serious. True mates. It was hard for any of us to grasp at first, but it’s true. They are fully mated and everything.”
“How does that work?”
He shrugged. “I don’t pretend to understand it. But despite being human, she’s one of us—Pack. And their kid is the cutest. He wants to be sheriff someday, just like this father. You’ll see him on ride-alongs with James around town pretty often.”
I softened a little. Cruz clearly liked kids. Was there anything sexier than that?
My body began to relax, and I let go of my legs, letting them fall to the sides to sit cross-legged.
“I’m sorry if I scared you this morning.”
“I’m sorry, I freaked out,” I told him, and I honestly meant it. “I must have slept hard because I’m used to waking up in new places, but not with a half-naked man draped across me.”
“I apologize for that. It was not my intention to cuddle up with you in the middle of the night. I did tell you that I hadn’t furnished much of the house.
There might be three additional bedrooms, but I have only needed this one.
I was exhausted, and you fell asleep. It’s a big bed.
I didn’t know I was going to find you in my sleep. ”
This time he had a perplexed look on his face.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head, but it was clear he was thinking hard about something.
I didn’t press him to tell me what he was truly thinking. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“So you’re telling me there’s only one bed in this enormous house?”
“Yeah. But don’t worry. Once the storm is over and we can get out, I’ll buy a new bed if you want your own space.
Hell, you can furnish the whole house any way you like.
I won’t pretend to be rich or anything, but I do okay, and I’m good with saving money.
I can afford to support the both of us. If you want to work, it’s okay, but you don’t ever have to feel like you have to work. ”
“Cruz, you don’t have to say things like that.”
“No, it’s true. You are my mate. And so it’s my job to protect you and take care of you.”
“I’m not . . .”
“Shh. You don’t have to say anything. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. The sun is just starting to come up. We seem to have slept half the day and all the night away.”
Cruz left before I could find the words to explain things to him. He didn’t have to feel like it was his responsibility to protect me. I may not know how to access my money, but I knew I had plenty of it tucked away somewhere.
I knew that there was a company that handled all my business expenses as well as my personal account that invested all the money I personally made. How much that was or how to get ahold of any of it was a whole other issue.
I got out of bed and walked over to the window to peek out. The view across the backyard as the sun rose was breathtaking. The snow was still coming down hard and looked as if it had been for hours. Everything was blanketed in white, and there were open fields for as far as I could see.
“Do you like it?” Cruz asked.
I jumped because I hadn’t heard him return.
“It’s spectacular.”
“And that’s why I agreed to this monstrosity of a house.”
I could feel his presence close behind me and it sent little prickles of awareness up my spine, making me jump with unease. Although, if I were being honest, unease wasn’t exactly the right word. I wasn’t even sure I fully understood what exactly I was feeling. That made me jittery.
I tried not to show it, but when he put some distance between us, I knew he had noticed.
Normally anyone but my band made me insanely nervous when in close proximity.
Maybe it was because Ronnie had drilled into me the dangers of letting anyone close to me. He’d reminded me at least once a day for the last decade or more not to trust anyone. It made me nervous and a bit skittish about people.
With the exception of Knox, I even kept my distance from the band. Well, as much of a distance as you can when traveling on a bus together.
Knox had always been different, mainly because he had no concept of personal space. After a while I’d just gotten used to it. He was a touchy-feely kind of guy. But he meant no harm by it, and I trusted him implicitly. He was truly the best friend I’d ever had.
“I put some bacon on. How do you like your eggs?” Cruz asked.
“You’re cooking?”
“What? I can cook.”
“I guess that makes one of us.”
“You can’t cook?”
I shrugged. “Never learned.”
“How are you gonna take care of me when you can’t even cook?” I suspected he was just teasing, but I didn’t know him well enough to be certain. “Guess it’s up to me to teach you then. I’ve got breakfast, but you can help with lunch later.”
I scowled. I’d never even made a sandwich for myself before.
He chuckled. “Relax. It’s not so bad. Fun even. Now how about those eggs?”
I shrugged. “Over easy, I guess.”
“I can do that.”
He left me alone once more, but I didn’t stay in the room this time. He’d said I could make myself at home, so I wandered around the upstairs level, looking in each of the rooms. They were all empty except his bedroom.
Heading downstairs, I found a furnished living room with a big screen television. I sat down and flipped it on, but he had no local channels, only subscription packages.