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“Come on, let’s walk the beach.” He reached his hand out in my direction. “Come on.”

I placed my hand in his and he pulled me from the chair and into his chest. He kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m ruining your vacation.”

Dan pulled away from me and looked me in the eye. “How about we have the rest of the day and night off?”

“Yeah, ok.” I smiled shyly at him. “I think I can manage that.”

“Well, you can’t manage anything else,” Ace grunted as he walked back in.

“Come on, Cho.” Dan lifted my feet up from the ground and held me tight to his chest. My legs curled up behind me as he walked us out the glass door. I knew he was stopping Ace and me from entering into another war of words.

“Remember, you get charged for having sex on the beach,” Ace sung behind us as Dan walked us out into the fresh air.

***

The waves lapped gently around my feet as Dan and I walked along the shore hand in hand. I inhaled the fresh smell of seawater mixed with the tropical island breeze. I couldn’t help but wonder why Dan and I had spent so much time studying when this was just outside our back door.

“Chloe?”

“Dan?” I turned my head to look at him with a large grin on my face.

“Did Xavier talk to you before you left?” Dan asked, pulling his sunglasses from the top of his head and hiding his eyes from me.

“Um, I wouldn’t really call it talking, but he did stop by.”

Dan nodded his head and I noticed the clenched jaw.

“Why you ask?” I squeezed his hand lightly as I turned my face forward to take in the beautiful view.

“I just overheard my dad and your dad talking. That’s all.”

“When?” My eyebrows came together, and I shot him a quick glance out of the corner of my eye. “And what about?”

“Well.” Dan stopped short and I turned my back to the ocean to face him. “They were talking about Xavier.”

“Why would my dad be talking to your dad about him? Your dad doesn’t even know about the whole mate issue I have with him, does he?”

“No, they weren’t talking about that.” Dan let go of my hand. He did this a lot. When he got nervous, he broke body contact. “It was more about Xavier’s, um, well, I guess, his past.”

Thinking Dan’s words over and remembering Xavier trying to tell me something before I left, I couldn’t help but think the two things were connected.

“What did they say?”

“I didn’t catch all of it. But I have a feeling your dad and my dad are thinking about, well um, asking him to move on.”

I crossed my arms. Why in the world would Dan’s father want Xavier to leave our pack? “Did you hear why?”

“It had something to do with what Xavier had done in the past, or something.” Dan looked uneasy and I knew he wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

“Dan, spit it out already.”

“I think Xavier has another reason for denying you as a mate, and as much as I don’t want to say this, Chloe, I—” Dan ran both hands through his hair and exhaled slowly.

“You what?”

“I think you should hear him out, or give him a chance to explain.”