29. Henley
HENLEY
“Well, at least we won’t have to stop for cash on the way out of town.” Serena really thought of anything her clients could need—from a coffee maker so fancy it looked like it could take off to a stack of well-used bills that would keep us safe for months if we were careful.
Chuckling, she looked lighter than she had the entire time we’d known her. “My contact pointed out that it might be useful.”
Interesting.
“His family is related to the coven, so he’s familiar with Mr. Singletary.” Eyes sparkling a bit too much, she glanced between us. “He also said he’d throw in a new identity for your mate if that ever becomes necessary.”
It just might, so I wasn’t going to burn any bridges.
“I hope we don’t need it but please tell him thank you.” Hmm. “But having a second set for Blaine under a completely different name might not be a bad idea.”
My wonderful mate winced but nodded. “Given your…well…I think that’s a good idea, but what about giving me a few weeks to grow out a light beard before we do another set? I think that will make me look different enough for it to be helpful.”
Smart men were sexy.
“Perfect.” Serena was still smiling but looked like she wanted to shake her head at us. I wasn’t sure if she thought we were cute or ridiculous, so I tried to keep us on track. “What else do we need to iron out?”
She’d already heard about our run-in with the hunter, so she understood the need for us to get out of Dodge before the next round of crazy hit.
Gesturing to a stack of folders on her desk, she sighed. “Unfortunately, a lot.”
She wasn’t kidding either.
Between signing, reviewing, learning, and discussing we spent nearly two hours going over the details of the trust and what Blaine owned before we came to the last folder. She’d kept moving it down to the bottom of the pile until she didn’t have anything left to hide it under.
Based on everything she’d talked about and what we’d read online, I was pretty sure I knew what was coming next and I got why it was so weird for her.
“This is difficult but I would be remiss as your financial advisor if I didn’t bring it up.”
His will.
“I need you to talk about what should happen to the trust if something happens to you, Mr. Singletary, or to your mate.” Glancing between us, she sighed. “I have to know what name to put for him if you want me to have the assets transferred to him upon your death…so…”
Ah.
Okay, so smart people were frustrating sometimes too.
“I’ve been thinking about this as we reviewed everything.
” Blaine made it sound like he hadn’t spent the last couple of days reviewing every option out there.
“I would like us to wait until we get my mate another set of identification. That will be the one we use to list him as my husband for the legal documentation and he’ll inherit it all that way. ”
Husband?
Hmm.
Was that something we’d have a serious discussion about or could I just use it to fuck with him?
Serena seemed relieved to have that out of the way and looked like a weight had been lifted off her. “I think that’s a good plan.”
Did she have a therapist?
As they went through the necessary details and fought about having the coven listed as the next in line to inherit if something happened to both of us, I zoned out until Blaine’s voice went up.
“You don’t understand. My mate’s family can never get access to this much money.
It has to be ironclad that someone else like the coven gets the money if we’re killed. ”
Oh.
Had she thought it was weird that the coven should get the money if I couldn’t inherit?
Her eyes just kept getting wider until I raised my hand and smiled. “Oh yeah. I know it feels weird to you for the coven to get the money if something happens, but if we’re killed before we die of old age, my family probably did it.”
I wasn’t hiding my identity because I was paranoid…they were dangerous fuckers who’d made me paranoid.
She just blinked like her brain couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing. That was probably what made me weak, but I had to make sure she understood. “They’re dangerous and insane. If they get their hands on this much money, I don’t know what they’d do.”
Was that enough?
She’d spent all her life trying to fix Blaine but she seemed kind of na?ve.
I glanced over at my frowning mate, trying to see what he wanted me to do.
When he shrugged and put the ball back in my court, I sighed.
“Monster hunters exist. I know most of your people around here think they’re weird urban legends or larpers online, but they’re real.
My family is dangerous and can’t ever get this much money. ”
Or there wouldn’t be anywhere on Earth I could keep my mate safe.
“Everyone here is genuinely safer not knowing my name. I know it’s coming across as quirky or as a paranoid human, I’ve run into those so I understand how strange humans who know about your world can be, but I’m trying to keep us all safe.”
If they didn’t take this seriously, some curious local was going to get us all killed.
Finally letting out a breath, she closed her eyes. “Why couldn’t you have just been weird?”
Nothing I could do about that.
“I am. I’m just weird and from a very dangerous family.” I shrugged as she finally opened her eyes. “Just think about it this way…this isn’t something that you can blame your family for.”
The way she rolled her eyes finally made her look normal, not like the woman who was always the most functional person in the room. “Alright, that is nice.”
She was going to need a raise.
“You need a name and a cover story.” She waved her hand toward me, making sure we all knew which crazy man was frustrating her this time. “Most people are still focused on magical elements, but sooner or later the mating thing will take center stage.”
We really needed to leave town.
“Alright, new to-do list.” The way Serena’s gaze dropped to her notebook had me wanting to sigh. “We can do this.”
Women were really scary…and Type-A women with something to prove were the most dangerous. However, we managed to escape after another hour of planning and designing the background she was going to start slowly dropping in hints around town.
“Do I look like the been-to-jail type?” I had to remind myself to focus on the road, not the mirror, as we drove back to the trailer. “I’ve always thought I look too innocent for that.”
Blaine couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or groan. “Avenging your first love will get you a lot of leeway in the South…not even that much could’ve changed. It will also provide a good cover story and will help make everyone want to keep your past hidden.”
We definitely weren’t coming back until this had all died down. In fact. I hated saying this. “I know we’ve been working down the to-do list very logically, but—”
Blaine cut me off with a matter-of-fact tone. “But we need to leave tonight.”
“I think that’s for the best?” I’d been trying to let him work his way through dealing with his past and the grief I knew he must be feeling, but my anxiety was flashing like a neon sign and I could just feel something ready to go wrong.
“You don’t have to dance around this.” Taking a deep breath, he focused forward but reached out to take my hand, sending mixed signals about his mental state. “It’s necessary and will make us both more relaxed about the situation.”
Had my stress been that obvious?
I hadn’t lied about it…but that was mostly because he hadn’t asked about it.
“Besides, you’ve got a surprise for me and I think we’re both ready for a change of scenery.
” That actually rang true but the way his fingers were barely caressing over mine said he was processing something.
“I just have one thing I need to do first, so…so how about we pick a drive-thru before we leave the big city of Lumberton and then…”
Pausing, he took a breath as his hand squeezed mine again. “And then I’d like us to stop by the hospital.”
To see his Ida.
She seemed to have almost been another parent for him, and based on what he and Serena had said, she’d known him most of his life. She was also the only parental figure he could actually see and talk to, which had to be traumatic for several reasons.
“We can do that.” Giving him space while I got us more burgers since his shifter side seemed to prefer more meat-heavy meals, I did my best to actually stay quiet.
My goal was to let him process but before he was halfway through his second burger, he glanced over at me. “I know you’re trying to be nice but the quiet is actually creepy.”
Great.
“You needed time to think, not me blabbering about everything that comes in my head. I was being understanding.” I was kind of annoying to most people, and even though he didn’t seem to mind, eventually he had to need some quiet from me. “You’re supposed to thank me for it.”
He winced. “No. My mate always talks to me because it makes both of us happy. He likes sharing in a variety of ways but talking is one of the key types. This actually feels like you’ve been replaced by a pod person.”
Before I could ask him if he knew what that reference was, he glared at me. “I had to look that up because someone online said it and now I might have nightmares. You’re making me have to relive my trauma.”
He was very dramatic when he was trying to distract me…and himself.
“And I had a surprise for you. I was going to have you take me to the adult store in Lumberton, but we’ve got to leave town because people are nosy and ridiculous and your family will find out about all this somehow.”
I should’ve focused on the family thing but I was an easily distractable squirrel. “What did you want to buy?”
His groan said I just had to wait out his drama a bit longer but his stubbornness kicked in once he wasn’t upset any longer.
Being distracting worked against me.
“No, there will be other stores we can stop at as we drive.” Five minutes of pestering and all he did was shrug. “I have it on good authority that those stores are located along every major interstate.”
Technically he wasn’t wrong.