25. Henley
HENLEY
“No, I can do this.” I felt steadier and like myself again, and all it’d taken was twenty-four hours of orgasms and cuddling.
Who knew that would be the solution to most of my stress and anxiety?
“I’ve got a list of new shows I’m curious about.” Blaine frowned. “New to me, that is.”
He was so cute.
“You are climbing the walls and shifting is only helping so much.” He was an amazing mate and was doing his best to downplay it, though. “You need to get out of the house, well, trailer. You need fresh air. You also probably need to run but I don’t know where that would be safe around here.”
That had him frowning. “I’m not sure who owns the land you found me on, but I don’t think it would be dangerous to shift and run there.”
It was actually a good idea.
“How did you find me?” Leaning back against the table, Blaine cocked his head. “Did you ever mention that?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging, I went back to putting my shoes on. “I started with pinpointing the sightings that seemed the most credible and the locations where livestock went missing on a regular basis.”
He shrugged, flashing me a grin. “A guy has to eat.”
“That’s not the point.” Getting out of the trailer was. “I scouted out a few different areas but that one seemed like the most likely place to find you. There was enough land for you to hide on and there were safe sections of land for you to use to travel between the farms.”
There was some word for it I’d forgotten, but they were basically undeveloped corridors where it looked like animals would be able to travel safely.
“At first I only found deer and some odd tracks I think might’ve been different shifters that aren’t native to North America.
Then I found a couple of yours and that helped me narrow it down too. ”
I was actually a pretty good tracker and it’d come in handy this time.
“What do you remember from when you found me?” He was being stubborn, so once I was ready, I picked up his shoes and handed them over. “I wasn’t sure what you were thinking at first.”
“Very little.” He sighed, but gave in and started putting his shoes on. “I’m only getting flashes of what I was doing before I met you, but I remember following a scent that turned out to be you and then feeling very possessive. Confused but possessive.”
Yeah, I bet.
“You did amazing at realizing I wasn’t lunch.” I kissed his cheek as he glared at the tennis shoes that were a bit too flashy for my preppy mate. “If walking around the state park sounds stressful we can always drive out toward Lumberton and see if we can find a shoe store.”
We’d reached the point where we officially needed to do more shopping for everything from clothes for him to food for us both. With me feeling less insane, it was time to start tackling a few things on the to-do list.
Like creating a to-do list, but one thing at a time.
“You smelled so good, I’m pretty sure lunch was the last thing on my mind.” He laughed as I groaned. “You still smell good, but you also smell relaxed and happy.”
“So?” I knew I’d won, but I was waiting for him to say it.
“So we’ll go on a walk first and then we’ll see how we’re feeling after that.
” He was the definition of stubborn, but the more dramatic I got, the more relaxed he seemed to feel about our outing.
“I might even be talked into a date if you’re feeling up to it.
I was promised a restaurant and I’ve yet to actually get a meal at one. ”
I was pretty sure that was a bribe for me, not a tease on how to please him, because I’d been the one frustrated about our lack of lunch options. “You’re right. I don’t know what I’ve been thinking.”
He smiled, looking like he was more comfortable with the plan, but I wasn’t satisfied until he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him in a tight hug. “I’m going to be paying close attention to your emotions.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that, so I gave him a quick peck and tried to look innocent. “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”
Hmm.
The eye roll said I should’ve tried another tactic.
“How frustrated will I be if you get upset and try to downplay it?” The way he was holding me reminded me of how patient he could be, so I didn’t drag my feet.
“Very and I don’t like upsetting you.” I also didn’t like feeling terrible. “I promise I’m feeling better, and if that starts to change, I will let you know.”
It was going to be a while before he got over how crazy I’d felt.
“The only things I can think of is that being in an open space might make me uncomfortable or that being around too many people might set off my anxiety again, but I really don’t think either of those are likely to happen.” Who knew what else could surprise me, though.
“Just talking it out helped and…well…something about us getting physically closer has made me feel a lot steadier too.” Being mates was weird. “I don’t have any stress over the idea of leaving the trailer and I even took a long shower over in the bathrooms after lunch.”
Because someone had gotten me sticky again.
Oh, that grin.
“I’m enjoying getting you dirty and I plan on doing it again later.” He was very proud of how dirty he could get me too. “But if you needlessly upset my mate, it will be nothing but a polite hand job and gentle kiss at bedtime.”
Ugh.
“There’s no need to threaten that kind of punishment.” I was going to behave. “But now I expect a reward for being good today.”
Fingers crossed everything went well so I could prove I’d been right.
“We’ll see what happens.” Blaine wasn’t even bothering trying to hide how skeptical he looked. “But no matter what, I’m going to enjoy spending time with you.”
Even if I had a mental breakdown while we were out.
“We’re going to have fun.” And I made a good start proving that as we drove over to the state park again, not even worrying about the ranger as we pulled down the long road leading to the trails. “See? Fine so far.”
He was watching me a bit too closely, though, and we were at the point where he was going to start worrying if I sneezed.
It was time for a distraction.
Pointing to the small statue and plaque, I tested out one option. “Are you really related to the guy they named the park after?”
“Yes.” Looking around, Blaine finally started to relax. “My family has been here since the beginning of the country. We came over from England and were given one of the original land grants in the Carolinas.”
“I never imagined those original settlers as being anything but plain human.” Had there been clues I just hadn’t paid attention to? “I need to go back and look at our history more.”
Blaine reached over and ran his hand over my head as we made our way to the back of the park where we’d have the most privacy. “Some of the groups were just human but a lot of the original settlers were more than human in one way or another. Shifters. Magic users.”
As he looked around, I wasn’t sure if he was seeing the present or the past. “There are a lot of different groups that made this home because of the space. Even back then it was getting hard to find places to run and shift in England.”
“It sounds like your family knows a lot about the history of nonhumans who came over.” It’d be interesting to learn more about it even if we had to do some research. “From what I’ve seen online, some groups focus on history more than others.”
Nodding slowly, he trailed his fingers around my ear as he processed. “My mother loved genealogy and family history. She married into it but threw herself into learning everything she could about that side.”
That was interesting. “Was she a panther too?”
I didn’t think he’d said but he hadn’t talked a lot about them yet.
“No, she was a witch but they met at college and her family’s coven was down in South Carolina.
She used to go down a few times a month and never really connected to the coven here.
” His petting slowed as I parked the truck, but he smiled as he talked about her.
“She was kind of feisty and my father said that drove the other women here nuts.”
The feisty outsider got the catch of the county…I could see why there would be some issues.
“I just remember her being loud and happy and always running around doing things, but she passed away when I was young.” He tried to keep his smile in place, but I could almost feel other emotions right under the surface.
“My father always talked about her as I was growing up and Ida made sure I heard all the stories about the trouble she’d gotten into. ”
I reached out and ran my hand over his head that time. “I think she sounds like a wonderful woman and mother.”
Smile looking brighter, he nodded. “She was beautiful too.”
Oh…and it was dimming again.
“We’ll have to find where the pictures are stored then and you can show me.” I wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk about that yet, but it felt like we needed to inch toward the conversation. “I’m curious to know who you look more like.”
“My father.” Taking a deep breath, he leaned into my hand as he let it out slowly. “He always said I was more like my mother in personality, though.”
It sounded like I would’ve liked her.
Before I could decide how to take the conversation, he looked out at the woods. “Ready? I don’t have any memory of the lake here, so I’m curious.”
He was also ready for a change in topic, so I nodded and let the conversation shift. “Yes. It’s not big but it’s pretty and there’s a long deck out so you get good views of the area.”
I rambled about what I’d seen before and my favorite parts as we climbed out of the truck and started walking down the marked trails.
Unfortunately, over the weird sandy soil that got everywhere and around the overgrown bushes that blocked the best views of the water.
But the trails were easy to navigate so they didn’t require a lot of attention.
I wasn’t sure that was good for him, but I told him stories about getting startled by a bird the first time I was there and how I’d run into a couple when I’d been out on the dock before.
“I think they were looking for someplace romantic to go. They just had that look to them. I was going to let them have the dock but they turned around before I could leave.”
Blaine reached out and ran his hand over my head without seeming to realize it. “You’re allowed to enjoy it too.”
“Well, yes, but it felt like they should have it.” I wasn’t sure why, though. I’d been enjoying it and there was more than enough room for someone else. “I might need you to point out if I do that more than I think.”
“You mean not doing something you want or giving away something because you think someone else should have it?” When I nodded, he smiled and I knew I’d missed something. “You kept trying to buy cake mix instead of the brownie one because I looked at the box too long.”
Oh.
“It would’ve been okay to get cake instead.” I’d just wanted to do something fun for us. “I wanted to make sure we’d get something we both enjoyed.”
Shaking his head, Blaine actually leaned over and kissed me as we rounded a curve in the trail and got closer to the dock. “You are still trying to justify making me happy instead of getting what you wanted. You wanted the brownies. I could tell how much you wanted them. I can smell it. Remember?”
Ugh.
I kept forgetting that.
“Fine. I wanted the brownies.” They were just objectively better than cake and everyone knew it unless they were ridiculously stubborn. “But I wanted you happy more than I wanted something specific.”
He was a pain in the butt and needed to stop giving me that look.
“I meant save me from other people. Not from you.” That should’ve been obvious. “I’m allowed to give you what you want because you’re my mate.”
We’d had that compromise conversation.
If he kept snickering I was going to do something rude and end up losing my bribe later. “I don’t need you to save me from you. I like giving you what you want.”
His sigh said he was going to be stubborn about that. “My mate, I’m pretty sure it’s my job to save you from me, yourself, or anyone else dangerous that you happen to collect.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a dig about the serial killer, my family, or my murder kitty, but either way I was pretty sure I should be offended.
And I was going to tell him all about it once he stopped smiling at the lake. “This is beautiful.”
Ugh.
He needed to stop being so cute.
“I thought you’d like it.” He needed new happy memories and we were going to make them together. “From the end you can see all around the lake.”
It wasn’t huge but it felt peaceful in a way I hadn’t felt before. I’d never really had a home, but if I had, I thought that feeling would be part of it.
“Oh. Be careful. You need to keep an eye out for something moving under the water.” The color was just dark enough that it was impossible to see very deep. “I’m pretty sure there’s something big in here because I saw eyes looking up at me from the water.”
“My mate.” Groaning, he gave me a teasing glare as we headed out onto the long deck that led to the dock. “Are you trying to get eaten by some kind of lake monster or are you just looking to get an invitation to go over for coffee?”
“Neither.” I had him to protect me. “I can’t swim.”
I was exclusively a land-based monster hunter.
“But if you want to help me figure out how to say hello, I wouldn’t talk you out of it.” Hmm. Did another sigh say he was willing to help or not? “We’re just going to be polite. Manners never got anyone eaten.”
Hopefully.