Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
As Vaden parks outside the farmhouse, Savannah is waiting at the bottom of the porch stairs with Madi, Dean’s mate.
Before I’ve gotten out of Vaden’s car, Savannah is outside my door, taking my hand and steering me away from Vaden and toward the house.
She announces, “Jeremy told me what happened, and I have stuff for you,” leaving Vaden staring after us, mouth hanging open.
“We’ll bring her back!” Madi says, laughing as she takes my left hand and propels me along. “But it probably won’t be for a while.”
I twist around to face Vaden, finding him watching with a smile tugging at his lips.
“See you back at the cabin?” he says.
I return his smile shyly. “Okay.”
Then Savannah nearly sends me flying when she yanks me into the house.
“Sorry,” she apologizes. “Forgot you weren’t—”
“Entirely human?” I cut in.
“Yeah.”
“Where are you taking me?” I ask.
Savannah peers over her shoulder as she leads the way upstairs. “Jeremy told me what happened to your stuff, and we figured Vaden would offer to get you more, but there’s no need. I have a bunch of clothes.”
“You don’t need to give me clothes, Savannah,” I say, grateful for the offer but determined to refuse.
“She has plenty to share,” Madi says. “They’re literally bursting out of her closet.”
“There’s no need.” I tug on her arm, slowing her as we pass through her bedroom toward her closet. “I don’t—Holy crap.” My mouth hangs open as I take in the jam-packed closet.
“She used to be a model,” Madi explains, moving to the rail on the left while Savannah drops my arm and goes to the one on my right.
I stare; all I can do is stare.
Savannah pulls out a pink skirt and offers it to me. “I’m taller than you, but we’re around the same size. I think this will fit.”
I start to take it, then recoil when I glimpse the tag. “Is that Chanel?”
Savannah pushes it toward me. “Yeah. But I don’t wear it anymore. Most of the time I’m in one of Jeremy’s shirts and sweatpants.” She scans the rails. “Honestly, I should probably sell some of this stuff, but I’m lazy.”
Jeremy silently appears at the closet door, startling me. “You are not lazy, baby,” he says, proving just how good shifter hearing is. “You’re pregnant and tired.”
With her protruding bump, she’s definitely in the later stages of her pregnancy, so she can’t have much longer to go before the baby comes.
Savannah smiles at him. “Any trouble?”
He bends his head and touches his lips to hers. “None. Missed you.”
“Missed you too,” she whispers, looping her arms around his shoulders.
It’s a sweet moment, but this closet is nowhere near big enough for a couple to have a romantic reunion—even though they just saw each other an hour ago.
“I should go,” I say, starting to leave.
Jeremy lifts his head. “Don’t go. I just came up here to say Marshall finished replacing the front door lock on Fisher’s house. Dayne called another meeting for after dinner to talk. Dean is still working on his computer stuff, so maybe he found something.”
“Okay.” I’m not hopeful Dean will find anything. My boss would have destroyed any bit of evidence linking him to the embezzlement ages ago, especially after I went to the cops and tried to get him arrested.
“I’ll leave you ladies to it,” Jeremy says, then walks out after giving Savannah another kiss.
Savannah returns to rifling through the rails and tossing clothes onto the floor.
I peer over my shoulder. “He’s sweet.”
Savannah pulls a mustard sweater dress from the rail, and it joins the rest of the clothes on the carpet. “Honestly, he was the biggest asshole in the world before.”
I blink at her. “Uh, what?”
Madi laughs.
“Shifters can be possessive and overprotective,” Savannah explains. “Especially alphas. The more dominant they are, the more overprotective they become.”
I look at Madi, who shakes her head. “Not Dean. He’s not dominant. I mean, he’s still overprotective, but he was nowhere near as bossy as Jeremy when we first met.”
“And Vaden?” I ask, getting seriously concerned with how many clothes Savannah and Madi are tossing into a pile in the middle of the closet.
They can’t all be for me, can they?
“Very dominant,” Savannah says, “but I can already see him softening for you. That’s what they do. Get soft and sweet, but only for their mates.”
Now that I think about it, that does seem to be what’s happening. Yesterday, Vaden was literally growling at me in the street, trying to claim me. Today, he took me out on a date and didn’t push me to accept new clothes when I really thought he would.
“That should do it,” Savannah says, hands on her hips.
I look from Savannah to the pile of clothes in front of her. “Please tell me that isn’t all for me.”
Her cheeks dimple. “Then I won’t.” She turns to Madi. “Can you ask Talis if we can borrow a suitcase?” She eyes the clothes. “Uh, better make it two.”
“I can’t accept all this.” What’s crazy is that the pile on the floor has barely made a dent in her jam-packed rails. It’s insane. Were they giving her clothes for free?
“Yes, you can.” She wraps her arm around my shoulders and steers me out. “Come on. Let’s go hang out in the kitchen and get the guys to pack this stuff and send it to your cabin.”
“But I can do it.” I resist.
She’s a hell of a lot stronger than she looks because she doesn’t even slow down. “The guys are always offering to help with something. They won’t mind.”
“The guys won’t mind what?” Gavin asks as we walk into the kitchen, where he and Nathan were chatting at the dining table.
“I’m giving Shelby a bunch of clothes since hers were destroyed, and she wants to take them to her and Vaden’s cabin.”
“No need.” Nathan drains the last of his coffee from his mug and gets to his feet. “Are the clothes in your room?”
Savannah nods. “On my closet floor. Madi went to ask Talis if we could borrow a couple of suitcases.”
“No problem.” Gavin finishes his coffee and heads out of the kitchen with Nathan to pack up the clothes and take them to Vaden’s cabin.
“See. Told you they wouldn’t mind helping.” Savannah takes a seat at the dining table. “Now tell me how you and Vaden met. Averie just keeps laughing when I try to get the story out of her.”
I leave the farmhouse with a smile, feeling lighter and happier than I ever have.
My date with Vaden was nice. It was exactly what I needed after my clothes were destroyed in Fisher’s house. Hanging out with Savannah, Madi, Blair, and Eden in the kitchen, drinking tea, and talking was something I had never had before in foster care. A friend group.
I didn’t intend to stay at the house for so long. Fifteen minutes turned into an hour, and even though I kept expecting Vaden to show up, especially after Gavin and Nathan returned from taking the suitcases of clothes to his cabin, Vaden didn’t come back with them.
As I walk down a narrow path Savannah pointed out to me so I wouldn’t get lost, the sound of chopping wood reaches me before I step out into the clearing around Vaden’s cabin.
A small stack of chopped wood is neatly piled in the covered storage shed beside the cabin. Vaden, the person responsible for the wood, lifts an ax and brings it down smoothly, splitting more of it on a tree stump.
Once again, he’s not wearing a shirt, and once again, all thoughts empty out of my head.
His tan skin shimmers with a light sheen of sweat.
It’s warm enough that he changed out of the jeans he was wearing before and into a pair of black shorts.
Nothing else. Just black shorts, bare feet, and glistening skin.
He sets the ax down, collects the split wood, and stacks it neatly. Then he looks at me, does a double take, and a smile spreads across his face. “Hey! Back already?"
I stick my hands in my pockets as I drift toward him. “I’ve been gone a while. Gavin and Nathan brought clothes that Savannah gave me. She didn’t even give me an option to refuse.”
He finishes stacking the rest of the wood in the storage shed. “Yeah. Gavin asked me to go to the house. Figured you might appreciate the time getting to know the others. They’re a friendly bunch.”
He places another large piece of wood on the stump, picks up his ax, and brings it down, neatly splitting it.
“How’d you learn how to do that?” I ask, trying not to get caught staring at his chest.
“Used to do it in my old pack. It’s easy enough when you know how.” He looks at me. “Want to try?”
I shake my head. “I’d probably decapitate you or myself.”
“No defeatist talk allowed.” He motions me over. “Get over here.”
I hesitate, but he’s looking stubborn, and I’ve never won an argument when he’s set his mind on something. I walk over, resigned. “If I accidentally kill you, it’s your fault.”
He flashes me a grin. “You won’t kill me.” Then he grabs a large piece of wood, sets it on the stump, and offers me the ax.
I take it, and my arm drops.
Laughing, he catches the ax and grins at me. “Sorry. It’s heavier than it looks. I should have warned you.”
Gripping the handle with both hands, he lets go, and I take a second to get used to the weight. “I’m not sure about lifting it over my head, but I guess I can try. What do I do now?”
When I turn to him, he’s looking at me, a soft smile tugging at his lips.
“Vaden?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Sorry. You don’t need to lift it over your head. Placement is more important than anything.”
“Hmm,” I say, not sure I believe him.
Conscious that he’s watching me, I lift the ax. Or I try to. Then I try again, and it happens so easily, so smoothly, that I don’t realize Vaden has moved behind me and is lifting the ax by the handle just above my hands.
With his help, we bring the ax down together, neatly splitting the wood.
“I forget humans and shifters have different strengths and weaknesses,” he says quietly, taking the ax from me but not moving away.
He’s standing directly behind me, and I feel how close he is, his chest almost brushing against my back, his warm breath stirring the hair on my neck.
I swallow, my body prickling with awareness. “And what are those?”
“Shifters are always stronger when we’re in a pack. I don’t know that I would have been so strong, so capable as you were alone.”
He sets the ax down and steps even closer, resting his hands on my arms.
I look down, feeling the warmth of his palms on me as he draws my body back against his so we’re standing flush together.
It feels so good. Every time he touches me, I never want him to take his hands off me.
Swallowing a moan, I tip my head back as he wraps his arms around me and kisses my neck.
“I’m not as strong as you think I am,” I whisper.
“You’re stronger,” he whispers back, running his palms up and down my arms. “I used to judge humans a lot. I used to think you were so much weaker than us. Incapable and weak, and I was wrong.”
My heart is racing, and his is too. I don’t know what comes next. Or what to say. Or do.
“Can I love you, Shelby? I don’t know that I deserve you, but no one will love you the way I will.”
The feelings inside me when I’m with him keep growing. Stronger, sharper, more potent. Nothing ever felt right with any other man before. But with Vaden, it does.
“Yes.”