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He looks down at his plate. “People were hunting her. Gunnar brought her here anyway.”

“And Gunnar didn’t care?”

“He cared.” Orson takes a drink of beer. “Just cared about her more.”

That quiets me.

“So, what changed?” I say at last.

He turns the bottle between his hands. “Watched them together, I guess. She was good for him.”

He takes another drink. “Plus, she was his mate.”

“Do you wish he’d taken a bear mate instead?”

Orson looks at me.

I almost wish I hadn’t asked. Cade’s sister’s voice comes back to me, full of contempt.

She’s only human.

“Maybe at first,” he says. “Would’ve made things easier.”

It’s not quite the answer I wanted.

“But not now?”

“Nah.”

“Why?”

He takes a drink of beer. “Because she’s Alexandria.”

I look at him.

He shrugs. “She makes Gunnar happy. She belongs here.”

I look down at my plate.

“So, being human doesn’t matter?”

“Not to us.”

He reaches for another potato.

“Still butcher deer in front of her?”

“Not indoors.”

I laugh. “Progress.”

“Gunnar thinks so.”

We finish eating, and when I start gathering the plates, Orson takes them from me.

“I’ll do it.”

“You don’t have to.”