Dancer's Heart (4 page)

She let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
“Good. Anyway, we stopped in town and Row suggested we go for a run
in our shifted forms. When we parked near the woods, we could hear
the wolves howling. Row said we couldn’t shift, and that’s when
I…guess I felt you. I knew I had to get into the woods, but I
wasn’t really sure why. It wasn’t until I saw you that I knew we
were mates.”

“I felt the same way. I was following your
scent, but I didn’t understand exactly what I was following until I
saw you.”

“It’s pretty cool that we found each other
like we did. To think, we could have driven right by this town and
you and I might never have met.” She shivered.

“Fate’s a funny thing, but I’m really
thankful it was on our side last night.”

“Me too.”

After breakfast, Adam took care of the
dishes, and was thrilled to find that Dani was just as anxious to
get back to bed as he was. As they reveled in their time together,
he was amazed at how freeing it was to have found his truemate.
He’d worried about his scars ever since he’d gotten old enough to
be interested in females. Although he’d had sex over the years with
pack females, he’d known that what they shared together was
fleeting. It was about the good feelings that accompanied sex, the
quick rush of pleasure that followed a climax, and the way it felt
so good to fuck before hunting. He’d known with absolute certainty
that what he’d experienced then hadn’t been a shadow of what love
was like. Even though he’d known Dani less than a day, he couldn’t
imagine his life without her in it. He was already falling for her.
She was perfect. She was his.

“I’m sticky,” she said, her voice rough and a
humorous glimmer in her eyes.

Scooping her up into his arms, he slid from
the bed and said, “Sorry, sweetheart.”

She nuzzled his throat. “It’s not a bad
thing, necessarily, but if we’re going to take a nap, I don’t want
to sleep on the wet spot.”

He chuckled. “I’ll change the sheets while
you shower.”

She clucked her tongue. “You do laundry, too?
Now I know you’re too good to be true.”

“My dad didn’t really do much in the way of
housework. I had to learn how to take care of myself, because he
was more interested in seeing the bottom of a bottle than making
sure I had clean clothes or food to eat. I moved out as soon as I
turned eighteen, but I feel like I’ve been on my own for a lot
longer than that because of his behavior.”

He put her down in the bathroom and turned on
the shower. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed the
space between his shoulders. Her warm breath skirted over his skin,
and he rested his hands on top of hers. “I know it probably sounds
childish, but I hate your dad. I hate that he didn’t act like a
proper father and didn’t take care of you. I hate that you know how
to do laundry because you had to fend for yourself.”

He closed his eyes against a swell of
emotion. He’d hated his dad for years, too, until he’d realized
that actively hating him took a lot of effort and didn’t allow him
to move on. That Dani was angry on his behalf for things that had
happened well before they’d known each other made him grateful for
his mate’s tender heart.

He turned in her arms and cupped her face. “I
promise to be a good father to our kids. My dad’s footsteps are
ones I never want to follow in.”

“I never doubted that for a second,” she
said.

Pushing the shower curtain aside, he held
Dani’s hand while she stepped into the tub and turned her back to
the spray. She didn’t let go of his hand, tugging until he joined
her. “If we shower together, we’re going to get distracted.”

“I know,” she said, wiggling her brows. Her
warm, wet hands closed around his erection, and he tugged the
shower curtain closed and cupped her face.

“Mine.”

* * * * *

Adam couldn’t get enough of Dani; she was
addictive. They’d made love in the shower until the water chilled,
and then they’d been drying off and heating each other up when he
heard his truck pull up outside of the house.

“Yay, I’ll have clothes!” Dani said.

“Stay here, I’ll get your things,” Adam said,
kissing her swiftly and moving out of the bathroom, shutting the
door behind him. He dressed in a pair of jeans and walked to the
front door, unlocking it and tugging it open. He blinked at the
bright sunshine.

“Hey,” he said, yawning. “Dani’s in the
shower; she’ll be glad to see her bags.”

Kammie followed Row into the house. Adam shut
the door behind them and led Row back to the master bedroom,
watching as he dropped the bags on the bed and disappeared back
into the front room. Adam closed the bedroom door and Dani came out
of the bathroom, dropping the towel that had been tucked around her
body, and unzipped a large suitcase.

The sight of her bare body made him growl,
wanting to forget that they had company in the other room.

“Stop growling at me, you know how much I
love that,” Dani said.

“Sorry, sweetheart.” Adam scrubbed his hands
over his eyes and willed his wolf to calm down.

“You don’t have to apologize, but my brother
and his new mate are waiting to talk to us and I’m pretty sure that
neither of them are interested in hearing me scream your name.”

He chuckled. “I’ll keep my hands to
myself.”

“Just until they take off.”

Dani dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a
thick sweater. He took her hand, and they walked together out to
the front room.

“Thanks for bringing my clothes, Row,” Dani
said.

Row tossed the truck keys to Adam, who placed
them on the coffee table. “Have a seat. Are you guys hungry or
thirsty?” he asked. Although he didn’t want anyone to interrupt his
mating-moon with Dani, he wasn’t about to shove her brother out the
door.

“We can’t stay. We need to check in with your
alphas and pick up Kammie’s things from the woods,” Row said.

“Oh, okay,” Dani said as she plopped on the
couch with Adam and snuggled close to him. He put his arm around
her, loving how easily she fit against him. “Adam talked to Acksel
this morning, but told him we wouldn’t be leaving the house anytime
soon. We’re going to have dinner at his house on Monday night.”

Dani looked up at Adam, and he envisioned her
naked and spread before him, her skin pinking as he brought her to
climax again and again. Row grimaced and cleared his throat in a
way that sounded suspiciously like a growl.

“Kammie and I haven’t discussed everything
yet, but I’m planning to take her home so we can mate
officially.”

“How weird is it that we both found our
mates?” Dani smiled, not taking her gaze from Adam.

“Anyway,” Kammie said suddenly, “we’ll leave
you guys alone.”

Row said, “You need to call Mom.”

“I will,” she said, glancing at her brother
and then swiftly returning her gaze to Adam’s.

“Are you going to go meet your people?”

“I don’t think so,” Dani said, sighing
quietly as she faced her brother. “Adam’s my family now. I know
that Fayar would probably let us use the sacred cave, but I’d
rather follow the pack’s traditions for mating since we’re going to
be staying here.”

“Kammie and I will leave in a few days.”

“Be sure to call before you come over next
time,” Adam said. Dani grinned at him.

Row growled in annoyance but said nothing.
Dani stood quickly and went to hug each of them in turn. “Let me
know when you’re heading home. I want to say goodbye.”

“We’re coming back here,” Row said. “This is
Kammie’s home, and that means it’s mine now.”

“What about Mom?”

“She can come with us if she’d like, but
she’s got her life in the sleuth.” Row kissed Dani on the cheek and
gathered Kammie close, ushering her out the door.

“That’s interesting,” Dani said as she shut
and locked the door.

“Because he wants to come back here to live?”
Adam asked, closing the distance between them.

He slid his arms around her and pulled her
close. She melted against him with a happy sigh. “Yeah. He was
talking about taking a job training the young males in the sleuth
when we got back from our trip to meet my people. But he found his
mate, so maybe that changed his plans.”

“We need to talk about my work,” he said,
frowning.

“Later,” Dani purred, scratching his back
lightly with her fingernails. “Much later.”

Chapter 4

The following morning, Row called and asked
to stop by with Kammie to say goodbye. Kammie, for whatever reason,
had decided they should go to the sleuth sooner rather than
later.

“We’ll bring Mom back with us,” Row said. “I
know she wants to meet Adam.”

“If you really loved me, you’d bring my stuff
back with you.”

He looked down at her, his eyes flashing with
emotion. “I do love you, Dani. You’re a wonderful little sister,
and I’m glad you found your truemate.”

“Adam will keep me safe,” she said.

Row looked over her head where she knew Adam
was watching them. “I know he will. I’ll always care that you’re
safe and loved, but you’ve got a good male.”

She gave him and Kammie a final hug, and then
shut the door. Turning to face Adam, she said, “Kammie has a hard
time of things in the pack, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah. Being forced to be a low-ranked omega
isn’t easy for anyone.”

She tilted her head and looked at her
handsome mate. He had the most soulful blue eyes. When they
sparkled with desire, it made everything inside her go haywire.
“So, I don’t understand this omega stuff, because the sleuth isn’t
ranked like the pack is. Before we go meet with your alphas, I’d
like to know what the deal is with everything.”

He smiled. “Of course. I wanted to talk about
my job anyway.” He looked past her shoulder to the front window.
“It’s sunny. Want to go for a walk?”

“It’s pretty cold,” she pointed out.

“I’ll keep you warm.”

After dressing in her winter coat and
matching magenta hat and gloves, she took Adam’s hand and followed
him out of the kitchen’s sliding door into the backyard. The yard
was ample, edged on three sides with small shrubs. Beyond the
shrubs were the woods where she’d met Adam.

They passed by the shrubs and walked into the
woods. The morning sunlight filtered through the trees, making the
snow shimmer. “It’s so pretty here,” Dani said.

“I’m sure it’s pretty in Oakville.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure you want to stay in Wilde
Creek?” he asked.

“Of course. Don’t you want to?”

He was quiet for a moment, and then said, “I
do. But I want your happiness more than I want anything for myself.
If you’d be happier with your sleuth, then that’s where I’d be
happy, too.”

She glanced at him and the frown that tugged
the corners of his full mouth downward. “I’m not going anywhere,
you know.”

He looked at her in surprise. “What?”

“I mean, I’m not taking off, period. I feel
like you’re trying to be extra-nice to get me to stick around.
We’re truemates. Where you are is where I am.”

His frown eased and his gaze softened. They
stopped walking and turned to face each other, his hands resting on
her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Dani. You probably think I’m an
idiot.”

“Never.”

He chuckled mirthlessly. “I have no idea how
to be a good mate to you. My mom died when I was a kid, and all my
dad did was carouse with human women.” He rested one hand over his
heart. “I
know
you won’t leave, but part of me is still
terrified you will. I can’t shake the feeling that I have to do
everything possible not to lose you.”

She stepped close and slipped her hands
inside his coat until she had her arms wrapped around his waist,
her hands linked at his back. “Things are still new between us, so
a little worry is understandable, but I’m very happy to have found
you. I don’t have any plans to leave, because being with you makes
me feel like I’m whole, like I didn’t know I had this missing piece
of myself until we met. I’d be empty without you. I don’t want
that, ever.”

He pressed his lips to hers, and in spite of
the chill in the air, she felt warm from the inside out. The woods
seemed to go entirely silent, a reverent sort of quiet that Dani
wished would last forever. All too soon, Adam’s lips left hers and
he stared into her eyes, his gaze searching and full of emotion. “I
was only half existing before you came into my life, Dani. I never,
ever want to go back to that place.”

“Trust in me, Adam,” she said earnestly.

“I do. I trust you more than I’ve ever
trusted anyone.”

She beamed. Their hands clasped again and
they continued their walk. “I know that you don’t know much about
wolf hierarchy, so I’ll try to cover the basics. Our pack is what
I’d call medium-sized. There are over a hundred members including
kids who aren’t old enough to shift, all the way through our
retirees. At the top of the pack is the alpha male – that’s Acksel.
His truemate is Brynn, who’s human and pregnant with his pup.

“Under Acksel, the males are ranked according
to fighting ability. Ren is the beta – he’s basically Acksel’s
right-hand. Sam is the theto, and he’s in charge of the protectors,
who are the highest-ranked males. The protectors are like a wolf
police force; they do things like patrol town and guard the alphas
and anyone else that needs it. Then there are the omegas.”

He stopped talking, and all she could hear
was the crackle of the icy branches as they moved in the light
breeze.

“If I hadn’t gotten burned, I’d be a
protector. I can’t run fast in my shift because of the way my
muscles healed when I shifted. Because I’m not whole, I’m an
omega.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

He wouldn’t look at her as they walked; his
shoulders hunched and his whole body tensed.