He’d offered to put everything away.
She’d been so skittish. She was always like that around him. No matter what he did, she always looked for an escape route. How could they be destined for each other if she couldn’t fucking stand him?
“Is there a reason you’re talking to yourself?” Brian asked. “Or have you gone off the rails?”
He hadn’t seen Brain enter the kitchen.
“No. I’m fine.” He started to put the food away.
They had all gone into drawing straws when it came to food shopping, but he’d been keeping a close eye on Heather, and had started to see what she liked. The food that put a smile on her face. He’d also been researching all the brands to see what was vegan and not. Her stay within the pack was important to him.
Even though they seemed to work really well at avoiding each other, he did believe they were in fact mates. He felt something before she even came to their pack. Back in the forest when they were fighting the rogue bear, he felt the pull to Heather. How could a mating be one-sided?
“I saw Heather helping you.”
“Yep.”
“Where is she?”
“I told her I could handle it.”
“Dude,” Brian said, picking up another vegan brand of butter with a raised brow. “You have the perfect opportunity here to show your support, and you let her leave? You could have looked like a king here.”
“It’s not about that. I want her to be happy in the pack.”
“Because she’s your mate. How long has she been staying here?” Brian asked.
David nearly answered but pressed his lips together. “I don’t know.”
“Bullshit, you know. We all know that you know.”
Heather had been with them a little over six months. During that time, she’d gotten close to Bethany, but no one else. She tended to keep to herself. When he asked her sister, Mika had said Heather had always been a little different. An outcast within a pack.
Her uncle avoided the topic.
She’d lost her parents to the rogue bear. She was awkward.
He noticed in the past week, she’d been wearing sweaters and cardigans, even though it was still warm.
As wolves, their blood ran on the hot side. They could sustain themselves in extreme weather, no matter what.
Heather displayed all the signs of a wolf rejecting her pack, and that scared the shit out of him. He couldn’t lose her before he had a chance to win her heart.
His wolf rubbed against the surface, and Brian turned to look at him. “It’s not the full moon yet.”
“I know.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Heather.”
“And?”
“I don’t want her to leave.”
“She’s not going to leave unless you do something stupid like scare the crap out of her by changing. Do I need to get Caleb?” Brian asked.
“I’m fine. There’s no reason to call him. Everything is more than fine.” David finished putting away the groceries and left to go to his room. He paced back and forth. The need to grab Heather and mate with her was so strong, a feral need he had to get better control of.
She always avoided him, but he sought her out.
Heather never knew it, of course. He was good at lurking in the shadows. There were times he felt like a creepy stalker with the way he kept tabs on her. Even the small things like watching her read put him at peace.
For hours, he’d stayed perched in an uncomfortable spot in the library while she’d read some kind of romance novel. There had been a really muscular man on the cover. Not that he was jealous by a book cover, because that would be totally lame. He was above all of that.
The truth was he’d spent the whole of the next day without a shirt. When he’d seen her come close, he’d made sure to be in some kind of flex to show off just how muscular he was.
Caleb, Brian, and Reese had thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.
Assholes.
So he’d resorted to strip teasing. Using the sun and sweat to make him look appealing. At night, he’d even started to try eating her vegan food, foregoing meat to show his support. Some nights she didn’t even join them. Mika would make some excuse and the uncle would make a random subject change.
What were they trying to avoid?
He didn’t know what the fucking problem was.
“Dinner!” The word was suddenly bellowed around the house.
Would Heather join them?
He took several deep breaths, sure his wolf was in control before he left his bedroom. Arriving in the dining room, he was surprised to see Heather sitting at the table, already loading her plate up with food. This was a good start.
Reese had left a chair available to him so he could sit opposite her.
They all had spaghetti. Heather’s was bare of all meat and fats, while theirs had ground beef. There was also garlic bread. Heather’s would be made with different butter. He’d Googled everything he could about veganism, but he was far from an expert.