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“Yeah. They were the only family I ever had. They taught me everything I know. Or at least, I thought that was the truth.”

He shook his head. “Hey, no. Don’t do that. Don’t look back at the good memories that you have with a sour taste in your mouth. That isn’t fair to them or to yourself. You don’t know what happened. What made them do it.”

Cohen closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking her into his side. “I’m really sorry this is happening, Alana.”

She held fast to him like he was the only steady thing in her world, and it made his heart clench in his chest. His protective instincts were turned all the way up for Alana, and that angered him too. He had no clue how to help her anymore.

“Alana, we will figure this out, okay? Maybe this was enough for tonight. Maybe we should take a break. Have you eaten anything today?”

“There’s no way I’m hungry. There’s just this terrible knot in my stomach, and I don’t know how to get rid of it.”

Cohen took a deep breath, and he held her again, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “We’ll figure it out. We’re seven fairly intelligent adults and Mason. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She poked his side. “Don’t tease your brother when he isn’t here to defend himself,” she chided playfully. “Besides, I think that your brother is a very intelligent person.”

“Maybe he isn’t so bad, but hey, look at that. My plan worked. I wanted to distract you, and that’s exactly what I was able to do. Distract you. Now, come on. I’m gonna make you something to eat before you pass out.”

Keeping their hands intertwined, he crossed the living room and through a small door that led to the back half of the building and through another door that brought them out into the alley. As the sheriff, Cohen knew Half Moon Key by heart, and he already knew that Alana lived in the small house across from her family’s shop.

Painted a soft yellow and sharp white, the little home hardly looked like a witch’s home with its welcoming vibe and lush surrounding gardens. There were plants and herbs and all kinds of other things Cohen knew Alana used for magic.

She unlocked the door for them and gave him a quick tour before they settled in the kitchen. Cohen didn’t stop insisting until Alana sat at the small dining room table with a glass of ice water.

He rummaged through the fridge and freezer until he had a few ingredients on the counter. He wasn’t as good as his brother in the kitchen, but he could fry an egg and boil water. He could grill a mean steak, too, but Alana didn’t need a huge chunk of meat. She wasn’t a shifter. She was a witch.

He stared down at his gathered ingredients and grappled with a plan. The only thing he could think to do was make an omelet. He quickly chopped up all of the veggies for the egg mix and a side salad. Every time Alana offered to help, he shut up her up with a series of heated kisses.

Either they would burn the house down with his omelet, or they would have a quickie in her kitchen if he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

In the end, they settled down and ate together.

“Are you ever going to tell me why you hated me the moment you laid eyes on me?” she asked between bites. The smile curling her delicious lips told him she was teasing him.

He grinned. “You know why, and you also know that there was no hatred. Not really. I was attracted to you, and I didn’t know what to do with that.”

“Well, see, usually, when someone is attracted to someone else, the common thing to do is to ask them out. Flirt, even.”

Cohen threw his head back with a laugh. “Thanks, Alana. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You would probably be in a whole world of hurt without me.” She giggled. Her jest turned serious.

His eyes darkened, and he cupped her face in his hands before kissing her sweetly. “If youaremy mate, you have no idea how true it is.”

“You never told me why you decided to live here. A small town secluded from everything and everyone.”

He sighed and remained quiet for a long time while he tried to find the right words to share his story with her.

“I met Amanda in college. We were both in the political science program. Obviously, I wanted to go into law enforcement, and she wanted …” He took a deep breath. “Actually, I don’t know what she wanted from her life. We dated. We were together for a long time. All through college. I asked her to marry me, and I thought that we would be together forever.”

“Even if she wasn’t your mate?”

He shrugged against her. “Yeah. It’s not every shifter who finds his true mate. Some of us fall in love and get married just like humans do. Besides, it didn’t matter that she wasn’t my mate. I loved her, and that was enough for me.”

Cohen fell silent for another few beats. “She cheated on me. I never saw it coming, either. We were engaged, and our wedding was only a couple of weeks away. Maybe less.”

“I am so sorry she hurt you.”

He faced her. “She did, but I think it was for a reason. I was never meant to be with her. I was always meant to come to Half Moon Key to meet you. Mate or not, match or not, I don’t care. I want to make this work, Alana.”