8. Chapter 8
Ewan
We finally came up for air two days after I arrived.
Between sessions, he fed me, I slept, we showered, and then we repeated the process.
My mate would sneak off to take care of his animals.
The man had far more energy than I did. What we didn’t do was have a conversation.
Anytime we started one, it would lead to talking with our bodies instead.
I had zero complaints.
At some point, I had found my mate’s phone and let my cousin know that I was fine. I told him I’d give him more details when I had a free moment. I probably left him with a million questions, starting with what the fuck? The guy had to be worried sick, but less so than before. So there was that.
Now I just had to worry about where the hell my things were.
Despite my theory that my cousin would find them, he hadn’t.
They were left in the corner of some field because I couldn’t resist grazing.
At the time they loaded me in that stupid trailer, I thought I’d made the worst mistake of my life by leading with my stomach.
Now, I saw it for what it was—the best decision of my life.
I filled up my mug of coffee and stepped onto the porch and finally took in the view of what I assumed would be my new home.
The property was gorgeous, but he could live in the middle of the worst part of the city and I’d have been content.
As long as I was with him, that was all that mattered.
I smiled to myself. I was mated now, there was no going back.
I knew next to nothing about my mate, except that he had a thick cock and he was gorgeous and so very kind.
He was clearly a farmer, and he had goats and could cook.
If I thought about it, it was a lot more than I had known that first night when I declared him mine.
The door to the chicken coop slammed shut, and he walked down the steps.
He had a massive coop that looked to be made from an old barn that had been repurposed.
It was definitely a shabby-chic look, but functional.
He carried a basket full of eggs, his five o’clock shadow dusted over his face.
We’d had no time to shave in the past two days, and the look worked for him.
I wore a pair of his sweatpants slung low on my hips.
They were bigger on me than they were on him.
The crisp morning air was cool against my bare chest. I made a note to myself to learn how to help him with the morning tasks.
There was no way he needed to carry all of that on his shoulders, not when I was here.
He smiled when he saw me, his eyes brightening in the morning sun.
“Breakfast?” he asked, holding up the basket.
“I could eat,” I said.
I looked around the space, taking in the goats that he had and the little pen he had put me in temporarily. I spotted a familiar fence post. The one that was slightly crooked. It was such a strong sense of déjà vu.
“Where are we?” I asked. We could’ve been two minutes from my house or three states away. It was disorienting not to have a clue of my physical location. The déjà vu had me more disorientated.
He chuckled. “I tried to tell you.”
“I was busy,” I said. I didn’t remember him bringing it up, but my mind and body had been preoccupied for the past few days. I was too busy for anything else.
He laughed again, pink rising in his cheeks. My mate was a shy one when I wasn’t in the throes of heat, tearing off his clothes. Adorable.
“I think we both have plenty of questions, don’t you?”
Oh yeah, my mate barely knew anything about shifters or where I came from.
“Are there more chores to be done, or can we sit and talk?” I asked.
“Goats are fed, chickens are taken care of, everything else can wait.”
“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to keep him from his responsibilities, and I was more than willing to work alongside him if he gave me some direction as to what needed doing.
Also, the two of us being fully focused on the conversation was far better than worrying about the next task that needed doing.
“I’m sure.”
“Two days in bed didn’t put you behind on things?” It had to, right?
He nodded. “It did, but if all goes well, I’ll have two sets of hands instead of one.” He winked.
It was as if Graham sensed when I needed reassurance and made sure I got it.
“I guess that’s true.” No guessing to it. It was true.
“Coffee?” he asked, and I nodded.
I sat down in the rocking chair on the porch, that post stealing all my attention. There was something too familiar about it, like I’d been here before. In my head I kept seeing it as the one where I shifted that first time. It couldn’t be, though? Could it?
Most people would go see if that was indeed the post where I’d left my belongings two days ago instead of letting the idea take root and fester in their mind.
But I was more of a lazy omega these days, and right now, I was waiting for my mate to come back out.
No point going over there for nothing. I was disorientated, nothing more.
Graham went into the house and came back out with a mug of coffee and a carafe.
“Smart. Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome. On the weekends I like to sit out here and have a whole pot to myself, just listening to the sounds of the farm.”
That sounded heavenly. The only thing that would make it better was if I could sit here with him.
“So, Highland shifter? You only turn into a Highland bull, right?” That hadn’t been the question I’d been expecting.
I nodded. “Yeah, nothing else.”
“And there’s other types? Of shifters, I mean?”
I nodded. “There are. Highlands are quite rare here in the states, most of my family is from overseas.”
“That makes sense. So, werewolves are real?”
And we were where I thought this would’ve started. There were so many werewolves in media, it made sense that it was most people’s only frame of reference.
I chuckled. “They are, but don’t let them hear you call them that. They’re just wolf shifters.”
“Shifters, okay.” He took a sip of his coffee and set the mug down. The guardian dog sauntered up to the porch and laid at our feet. The thing was still giving me side-eye, like he wasn’t quite sure what to think of me still. He was friendly enough, though, which was good. The thing was huge.
We were quiet for a moment. Graham took all this new information in so easily. I guess it helped that we had just spent the last two days in bed together.
“I own about a hundred acres,” Graham said. “I farm a little bit of it. Obviously, I’ve got my goats—that’s kind of a new project. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of it. I’ve got a big garden, chickens. I’ve kept pigs a few times, but I don’t have any right now.”
“Were you looking for a Highland?” For some reason that mattered more than it should. I wanted him to have wanted me specifically, and not a random livestock acquisition.
He laughed. “No, but I couldn’t stop myself from, um, purchasing you.”
Graham cringed, and I got it. There was nothing comfortable about buying your mate. A bachelor auction? Sure. But not actual ownership.
I nodded. “The mate bond, I suppose.”
He took a long sip of his coffee. “That makes sense.”
“I sensed you right away. Of course, I was mostly focused on how the heck I was going to get out of there, so I felt the draw but didn’t piece it together until we got here. Speaking of here, where are we?”
He named the city we were in, and I did a double take.
“Are we near the lot that was for sale out here?” I pointed to the fence post that had caught my eye. “Is that…” What were the odds? That was what I got for being too lazy to check.
“Yeah, right there. The owners listed it a couple of days ago. I wanted to buy it but couldn’t quite swing the cost right now. It would make perfect pasture for a sheep or cows or—”
“Highland cattle?” I laughed, but then said, “My cousins and I are looking for a place to settle where we can graze without being too obvious. That’s where I was caught, I was testing out the hay field.”
He raised a brow. “And was it to your liking?”
“Yeah, it definitely was. Especially now.” I hopped to my feet and grabbed my mate’s hand, tugging him with me.
“Where are we going?”
“If I can find my clothes with my phone, which should be in the bag on the fence post if I’m right, then I can see if my cousin was able to finalize the sale.
We’re going to be neighbors, Graham.” I didn’t want to be neighbors.
I wanted to live here with him. But also, living next door to my cousins sounded pretty freaking fantastic.
He let out a low growl and pulled me into his arms until his arms were wrapped around my waist. “Your cousin can live next door, but I hope you’ll be with me.”
And we were on the same page.
I smiled up at him, my grin turning wicked. “Yeah, I’ll be with you.”