Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Oh, good point.” Understanding dawned in her eyes. “Maybe the problem is that most of the guys around here are wolves, and you were never much of a dog person.”
I glanced at the kitchen door and lowered my voice. “You probably don’t want Zeke to hear you using the D-word like that.”
“Another good point.” Laughter bubbled up her throat. “But I bet he wouldn’t have minded if we’d told Kace and him that you wanted a big, sexy kitty for Christmas since you’re more of a cat person.”
2
Tane
I loved my family, but after spending more than a month with them, I was beyond ready to be back in Timber Ridge. Not that I regretted the trip since it’d been important for me to be there to help my dad. But after the risk to his recovery passed—along with our fear—my sisters got up to their old tricks. They loved nothing more than giving me a hard time, and having me home for so long gave them plenty of opportunities. If they weren’t pushing me to get out there more and up my odds of finding my mate when they knew damn well it wasn’t that simple, they were giving me shit about living with wolves and being Kace’s third.
Tiger shifters didn’t normally live in packs, but I loved the life I’d built in Timber Ridge. I knew Kace and Zeke had my back, no matter what. They were more like brothers than pack mates, which was difficult for my sisters to wrap their heads around since the only people they let inside their walls were family. They were best friends, and everyone else was an outsider in their view. Only the pull of the mating bond would be strong enough to get my sisters to truly open up to someone.
Mating was sacred among shifters, but finding the person fate intended for you didn’t happen for everyone. There were shifters who went their whole lives never experiencing desire. Never giving their heart to someone. Never feeling as though their soul was whole. The fear that I was going to be one of those shifters lived inside me, but it eased a little when I heard that Kace and Zeke found their mates only a day apart from each other. Their luck gave me hope that I might be as blessed.
When I got back into town late last night, I’d headed over to Kace’s place to check in with my alpha. I’d been about to walk down the sidewalk leading to his house when I heard female moans and quickly realized I should wait until morning for my visit. Kace has always had an open-door policy, twenty-four-seven, but now that his mate was in his life, that rule was bound to change since they’d need some privacy.
My tiger had been agitated as I’d turned on my heel and headed to my house instead. Even though I was finally home and in my own bed, he hadn’t settled during the night. If anything, he’d been more wound up after the few hours of sleep I’d managed to get. After showering and yanking on some clothes, my plan was to drop in to update Kace—mostly because I wanted to meet his mate and give them my support—before letting my tiger out for a run. With everything that had been going on with my dad, I hadn’t had the opportunity when I’d been in New York. I figured my beast was antsy because he’d been cooped up for too long. Anxious to give him what he needed, I jogged up Kace’s steps and knocked on his door.
I waited until he called out for me to enter, and then I pushed open the door to step into his house. Kace had a pretty blonde tucked into his side, and his possessive hold made me grin. Since I was looking at his mate, that earned me a growl from my alpha. I pressed my lips together, dropped my gaze to the floor, and tilted my head to expose my neck in a gesture of submission.
“Welcome home, Tane,” Kace finally grunted. “Glad you’re back.”
My lips curved up in a smirk as I lifted my head again, but I didn’t aim it in Larissa’s direction. I didn’t mind doing shit to get a rise out of my alpha, but I wasn’t going to piss all over his mating bond to do it. “I guess what they say about the power of the mating in the beginning is true.”
My chuckle was a little bit forced because I wanted what he’d found. Larissa shouldn’t have caught on to what I was feeling, but when Kace glanced down at her, she wiggled her eyebrows with a conspiratorial smile. He chuckled and shrugged, before turning back to me.
“Tane, this is my mate, Larissa,” Kace introduced us. “Larissa, Tane, my third.”