“Why?” she managed.
Lynn bit her lip. “They said that there was a man there all day, watching you. Stella, was it one of the wolves? Was it Todd?”
Stella was caught by a sudden, fierce wish that she could just lie. Tell Lynn it was nothing, and have her believe it. She’d never liked the idea of her big sister running her life, and it was bad enough that Lynn had had to save her from Todd’s friends once already.
But lying about it would just be dumb. “Yes. It was Todd.”
But then Lynn surprised her. “I don’t want to interfere if you think you’re okay,” she said. “If you’re not worried, that’s fine. I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
Stella stared at her.
Lynn’s cheeks pinked slightly, and she said with a hint of defensiveness, “I’m trying to be better. I trust you to run your own life. I just want you to know that if you do need help, it’s here.”
It was weird. If Lynn had insisted, if she’d told Stella It’s not safe, or You have to let me do something, Stella would have argued.
She knew she would have. She would have seen it as babying, and she wouldn’t have been able to help herself.
But this—this trust. The way Lynn was stepping back, letting Stella make the decision on her own. Like she was an adult, and not the eternal rebellious teenage little sister.
It made her want to ask for help.
“I’m not...I’m not very worried,” she said finally. “Maybe this was just a last-ditch attempt to get me back, and he’ll give up after today.”
“But?” Lynn asked, leaning forward.
“But if he keeps it up...it would be nice to have help.” The words felt foreign in her mouth. She never asked Lynn for help unless it was the absolute last option available to her.
For so long, she’d been sure that coming to Lynn for help was just giving her big sister the opportunity to lord it over her, show how much more competent and together she was than Stella.
But right now, Lynn wasn’t doing any of that. Her face had softened with compassion, and after a moment of hesitation, she leaned forward and gave Stella a hug. Stella’s eyebrows almost hit her hairline as she hugged back. Lynn wasn’t really a hugger.
Maybe having a mate was softening her up.
“Thank you,” Lynn said finally, pulling back from the hug.
Stella frowned. “Thank you for what? You’re offering to help me.”
Lynn met her eyes, her gaze serious. “Thank you for trusting me to do it. That means a lot to me.”
Stella felt an unexpected lump in her throat. This wasn’t right. Lynn’s help was supposed to make her defensive and mad, not...touched.
It looked like things really were changing. “Thank you,” she said. “For trusting me.”
Lynn smiled. “My pleasure. Now,” and suddenly she was normal, businesslike Lynn again. Stella had to admit she was a little relieved. “Keep me updated on the situation, and if it looks like there’s a real problem, Ken or I can come talk to him. Or, if you think it’s serious, Ken can call in his old Marine buddy Nate. Nate runs a security agency, and he’ll definitely know what to do to keep you safe.”
A former Marine who was a security professional? Stella pictured some ramrod-straight, crusty old judgmental man. “I hope we won’t have to go that far.”
***
One Month Later: Nate
Slowly, former Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Sanders slid down in his office chair. When he reached the point where if he slu
mped any further, he’d fall off the chair underneath his desk, he forced himself to stop.
“Sir, you know that’s not going to get you out of doing the paperwork.” Connie stood in his doorway, one eyebrow raised.
Nate tilted his head back and stared at her. “Please allow me to pretend. Just for a short minute.”