Page 22

With this being Saturday morning, the diner was hopping with people coming for brunch or picking up pies or to-go orders. The residents of Greysden were notoriously nosy, so we got interrupted repeatedly by people congratulating me on finding my fated mate and asking Nora uncomfortable questions about when she was going to move in with me.

The tenuous mate bond had strengthened significantly after the night we spent together, making me more able to tune into her emotions. But I didn’t need the magical bond to see her pulling away from me with every person who stopped to talk.

So I wasn’t surprised when she met my eyes over the table and said, “You know what, Ollie? I just remembered I have to, uh, take care of something today. At the Rosewaters. Something witchy. I’m not going to be able to hang out today after all. But I’ll drive you home.”

I resisted the urge to scowl. Not at her, but at the situation. All those damned busybodies were scaring off my mate.

“I can run back,” I said mildly. “I’ll need to burn off these carbs.”

I rubbed my belly for emphasis. Nora eyed the plate that held a double stack of pancakes and the platters from the two omelets that I’d already eaten, along with hash browns and toast. “Yeah, I guess you do.”

Our conversation was stilted after that, both of us focusing on our food. As soon as Nora was finished she pushed her plate away, her muscles coiled like she couldn’t wait to get away.

“If you’re in a hurry I can finish here myself,” I said, unable to hide the misery in my voice.

Her eyes softened. “No, take your time. I’m not going to ditch you while you’re still eating.”

“But you are going to ditch me, right?”

She cocked her head and met my gaze head on. “I told you last night, Ollie, that I couldn’t promise you anything. Don’t change the rules on me now.”

“I know, but last night was so… well, I thought maybe you’d feel different after.”

We wouldn’t be having this problem if you’d marked her like I told you to, my bear piped up. You should have claimed her while you had the chance.

Maybe my inner animal was right, but I wasn’t going to claim her against her will. Plus, she was human. She would feel the bond, but not nearly as strongly as I did, which meant she could still walk away, leaving me in much worse shape than if I’d never marked her in the first place.

While I finished my breakfast I asked Nora to tell me more about her kids. We’d talked about them in general terms, but she hadn’t gone into too much detail.

“They think I’m crazy selling the house and moving to the mountains,” she said. “Of course they don’t know about the witchcraft thing. I wasn’t sure how to tell them about it without making them worry even more. But I’m a grown ass woman and I did what I could to set them up for success. I don’t need to tell them everything. At least not now.”

“Do you think they’ll come for the Christmas holidays?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, actually. The last few years at least one of them was somewhere else for the holidays, so it’s not like we’ve maintained some tradition that they’re going to miss.”

Her face turned sad.

“What?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just that my ex was an irresponsible man-child. Still is, I’m sure. Our custody agreement stated that we’d switch off holidays, like I’d have the kids for Thanksgiving, and he’d have them for Christmas, then we’d switch off the following year.”

I nodded, still eating my pancakes.

“My ex was famous for ‘forgetting’ to pick up the kids,” she said, making air quotes with her fingers. “So there were several holidays where he just never came over. The kids learned to not expect him, but I knew it hurt their feelings.”

“There’s a special place in hell for people who break promises to children,” I said firmly.

“Yeah, I agree. And it taught us all not to get our hopes up for big, exciting holidays. We’ve always kept things low key.”

I finished my pancakes and we headed out to the sidewalk. I expected Nora to head right to her car, but she surprised me by asking, “Hey Ollie, I know this is asking a lot, but do you think I could see your bear?”

“You want to see my bear?”

Inside me the bear awoke from his carb-fueled slumber, panting excitedly.

“Yeah, I mean, if you don’t mind. I’ve never seen a bear shifter up close. Or any kind of bear, other than at the zoo.”

I resisted the urge to do a fist pump. If she was curious about my bear, we hadn’t lost her yet.