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I SAT ON THE COUCH with Raina cradled on my lap. A million questions were whirling through my mind, but they would have to wait until after she was feeling better. The smell of burnt flesh lingered, but her wound seemed to have healed. Faeries and shifters could heal their injuries. She was a hybrid and it was hard to tell what sort of talents she’d inherited.
Raina eventually cried herself out. She leaned against me in exhaustion and I ran my fingers through her hair. Her hands were pressed against my chest and I could feel them trembling slightly. “You’re safe with me,” I vowed, then kissed her on the top of her head.
She pulled away to look at me warily. Tears stained her face, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. “Can I use your bathroom?” she asked, looking around the base in something close to awe.
“Sure. You can use one of the bedrooms upstairs to get cleaned up,” I offered.
She stood up and took a few steps away to turn in a slow circle. She’d probably never seen anything like this place before if she’d lived in a rustic cabin in the woods her entire life. It must seem gigantic to her. I heaved myself off the couch and led her to the stairs. I noticed she didn’t touch the railing as we climbed to the upper floor. Now it made sense why the witch couldn’t touch the beartrap that’d had iron in it. She’d been a faery in disguise the whole time.
I stopped at the bedroom across the hall from mine and pushed the door open. “Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?” I asked.
“Tea, please,” she said politely and warily entered the bedroom.
“How do you take it?”
“Take what?” she asked in confusion.
“Your tea,” I explained patiently. She’d had a rough couple of days, so I could understand why she was so out of it.
“How should I take it?” she queried.
“Some people take it black. Others like to add cream and sugar.”
Her brow smoothed out. “I don’t use anything except tealeaves and hot water.”
“Alex is going to love you,” I predicted. “She’s the only tea drinker on our team.”
Raina looked at me as if I was crazy, then closed the door. I heard it lock, then looked down at Delta. “I think that went pretty well.” The mouse looked up at me and didn’t twitch her whiskers, clearly disagreeing with my assessment.
Suppressing a sigh, I headed downstairs to put the kettle and coffee machine on. I’d bought teabags out of habit, thanks to my little sister’s love of the stuff. My phone rang and I almost dropped the mug I’d just taken down from the cupboard in surprise. I checked the screen to see Alex was calling and realized I’d forgotten to check in with the team. I answered it and tried to keep my tone casual. “Hey, Alex.”
“Are you okay?” she asked in concern, somehow seeing straight through me despite being far away in Colorado.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “What’s up?”
“Nick felt a horrible pain in his head this morning and called you a bunch of times. The message you finally sent him didn’t tell him much. We were worried when you didn’t check in with us after dinner.”
I hesitated a moment too long before responding and Crowmon spoke up. “There are no secrets in the Shifter Squad, lad. What are you hiding from us?”
“I’m in the middle of a mission and I didn’t get a chance to check my phone,” I admitted without telling them that I’d been unconscious all day. “Things got a bit out of control and I was wounded. I healed and I’m okay now.”
“How badly were you wounded?” Nick asked accusingly. I hadn’t realized he was there.
“I was shot in the head,” I explained.
Gasps of shock rang out before Alex shushed everyone. “What happened to the person who shot you?”
“Delta took him somewhere before he could finish me off.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but I’d fill them in on what had really happened later.
“I hope she dragged him to the center of the Earth,” Yas muttered.
“Was your mate hurt, too?” Brynn asked. It seemed the whole team was there this time.
“Why do you all keep insisting that I’ve met my mate?” I asked in exasperation.
“It’s inevitable,” Syd said with a touch of pity. “Every single one of us who’ve gone off alone has come back with our true mates. Why should you be an exception?”
“Have you met anyone who could be your mate?” Alex asked with her usual shrewdness.
Again, I hesitated too long before responding.
“I knew it!” Yas crowed. “Who is she? What’s her name?”
“Raina,” I said reluctantly. “My wolf decided she was our mate as soon as we saw her face.”
“You might as well bring her home right now, bro,” Nick said in evident delight. “Once our wolves have spoken, there’s no arguing with them.”
“It isn’t that simple,” I hedged.
“Why not?” Alex asked.
“Raina is unique,” I said, striving for an explanation.
“Is she a vampire shifter hybrid like me?” Freya queried.
“No. She’s a different type of hybrid that we haven’t seen before.” An expectant hush fell, but they were doomed to disappointment. The kettle began to whistle, saving me from having to continue the conversation. “I’ve got to go,” I said. “I’ll fill you all in when I can.” I hung up before they could bombard me with questions and went about making tea and coffee.
I heard the bedroom door open a few minutes later. Raina appeared at the top of the stairs and I smiled up at her from my seat on the couch. “Your tea is ready,” I said and gestured at her cup. “I made a snack, just in case you’re hungry.”
She was still wearing the same clothes, but she must have cleaned them with magic. Her hair was damp, so she’d taken a shower. The thought of her naked and wet was enough to make my desire rise again, but I stamped it down. Now wasn’t the time to let my lust take over.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked when she cautiously took a seat on an armchair. She glanced at the mug of tea and it slid over to her. At another glance, the plate of cookies moved closer to her as well. Her eyes darkened slightly and pulsed in a slow circle both times. I’d heard that happened when the fae cast spells. I hadn’t noticed it when she’d been disguised as an old woman. Her illusion must have hidden it.
“Despite what you think, not all men are evil,” I said, keeping my tone light.
She scowled and picked up a cookie. Sniffing it, she took a tentative bite, then decided it was edible. I drank my coffee as she studied the room. Her gaze kept returning to me as if she was as fascinated with me as I was with her. “Why do you have a mouse in your pocket?” she asked.
“Her name is Delta,” I said and the mouse slipped out of my pocket to perch on my knee. “Say hello, girl,” I requested.
Raina smiled in delight when my zombie lifted a paw to wave at her. “She’s so smart!” she exclaimed. “Can I pet her?”
I’d figured she was an animal lover and had hoped the mouse would break the ice between us. “Sure,” I agreed. Delta leaped to the floor and made her way over to the woman who would hopefully soon become my mate.
Raina leaned down and held her hand out for Delta to hop onto her palm. “Her feet are cold,” she said almost scoldingly to me. Her hand froze when she stroked the mouse’s soft fur. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked when she realized Delta’s body temperature was much cooler than usual.
I took a deep breath, wondering how I was going to explain who my friends and family were without freaking her out. “She’s a zombie,” I said, wincing in anticipation of her screaming and throwing Delta across the room.
“She’s undead?” Raina asked in fascination, then seemed to delve the animal. “My mother told me about zombies a long time ago, but I’ve never seen one.”
“Where is your mother?” I asked.
“She’s gone,” Raina said flatly. “She went back to the fae realm and I’ve been living alone in the cabin ever since.”
“How old were you when your mother left?”
“I was fifteen.”
Her answer made me wince. Even for a hybrid shifter, that was too young to be left to fend for herself. “How long ago did she leave?” I asked next.
“About five hundred years ago,” she said with a shrug.
My jaw dropped at her answer. While my mate wasn’t as ancient as Freya, she was far older than I’d realized. How could she be my true mate when she could potentially live for thousands of years? At best, I’d live to be a hundred. Shifters didn’t have prolonged lives. I would grow old and die in what would seem like a short space of time to her.
