Page 8

Mulder

“I should warn you…” I buckled my seat belt. “When we get to my house, the pack beta will be there.”

“Okay.” What did he mean by that?

Was it an okay, thanks for the heads-up or an okay, I was half listening and didn’t fully hear you ? Or maybe something else altogether.

“Wait, does your pack treat you poorly because you are a cat? Or is he there to keep you safe?”

Whoa, that was a leap and a half.

“No.” I hadn’t even considered he would think of it that way. “It’s nothing like that. In fact, when I asked for Madeline to become pack so she would have one of her own, they were more than welcoming.”

Cat shifters didn’t tend to have a pack, but given we had no family or friends here, and they had become my second family, it only made sense.

“That’s great. Because I wasn’t really in the mood for fighting off a bunch of wolves. For you.”

He chuckled and turned on the ignition. I strongly suspected there was no actual joke in there, and that he really would. I more than liked that.

“Yeah, no fighting needed. Grandpa Swale has on his babysitting hat tonight.”

“Grandpa? You said your husband was human, right? So your pack beta is a feline?”

“No.” Now it was my turn to chuckle. “Everybody just calls him Grandpa Swale. His official title is Beta Swale, but he’s everyone’s grandpa.”

“This pack is a lot different than mine.”

“In a good way?”

“Yeah. Very much.”

I stayed quiet as he navigated through the parking lot, avoiding drunk shifters and moving cars. We were leaving at probably the worst time as far as that went. Once we were out on the main road, his hand settled on my knee.

“That’s better.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but out the words came.

During most of the drive back, I told him about my first day here—how I met Alpha Aspen and how my life became intertwined with Wolfe Enterprises. It was easier to talk about all that than about us, about our connection. Because, honestly, all I wanted to do was beg him to pull over and kiss me already.

But I needed Madeline to meet him first. Because as much as I wanted him, as much as I knew Fate placed him in my path just for me, she had a say in this. In fact, she had the biggest say. And if she told me she didn’t like him for any reason, that was that.

I couldn’t see that being the case, but I refused to take the choice away from her.

We walked in to find Grandpa Swale pulling cookies out of the oven.

“I wanted to bake a cake,” he said, in all seriousness, “because finding your mate is something to celebrate. But you didn’t have the ingredients. Seriously, how do you have so little in your house?” He pointed to the cookies. “These are from a mix. A mix!”

There was nothing wrong with a mix, but I’d had his homemade cookies, and they were miles above anything out of a box.

“I don’t bake much,” I said. “And how exactly did you know that I had met my mate?”

“Because Aspen told me someone else was gonna be dropping you off. Someone special. Someone you scented. He didn’t quite say mate, but I connected the dots.”

“And how many other people know?” I didn’t have a need for privacy in this, but I wanted a heads-up.

“Guessing just me.” He didn’t sound entirely sure. “Anyway, Madeline didn’t wake up at all. Her field trip really wore her out. Cookies are done. The only things left to clean are the cookie sheet, the cooling rack, and the spatula. You can deal with that tomorrow. I’ll be out of your way.”

He hugged me goodbye and whispered in my ear, “Congratulations.” Then he patted Kenny on the back—squeezing his shoulder, probably a little rougher than my mate was expecting. “He’s special. Don’t mess it up.”

Great. Just great. Kenny started the night thinking his mate already had another then learned his mate came with an instant family, one who had veto power, and now he had a pack beta all out threatening him.

Beta Swale wasn’t out the door three seconds before Kenny turned to me and said, “He’s more like Daddy Swale. I felt like he was going to ask me what my intentions were.”

“It didn’t seem that bad to me,” I said, but then again, I wasn’t on that side of Swale’s stare. “But, agreed. He probably wanted to.”

I plated up some cookies, and we went into the living room and sat on the couch together. “I just want to put this out there. We’re not mating tonight, okay?” There was more to be said, but words failed me the second I caught his eyes.

He stared back at me, his expression unreadable. Was he angry? Understanding? Confused? I had no idea.

So I did what I always did in cases like that—I overexplained.

“Madeline was only a few months old when her father was killed. She didn’t have anybody else in her life except for her pack, and she didn’t even have them right away. A lot has happened to her—a lot. And I need to be fair to her. That means not making huge life choices without her input. If she wakes up tomorrow morning, and I suddenly say, ‘Hey, here’s my mate. He’s moving in,’ that would be too much for her to process. It’s not that I don’t want to.”

He took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I understand why. She’s your daughter.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “She has to come first. But I want you to know that she comes first for me too. You both do. And if that means we go slowly, then we go slowly. If it means we stop, we stop.”

He brought our joined hands up to his mouth and gave mine a kiss.

We talked some more. I learned a little about his history. He learned more about mine. But eventually, it was getting too late for conversation, and time for him to go home. I hated it, wanting him here with me, but it was for the best.

I still had to be at work the next day. Why they had a fundraiser on a weeknight, I didn’t know—but they did. Maybe because the weekends were already too busy and they didn’t want to shut out the regulars? And Madeline had school in the morning.

“What are you up to tomorrow?” I asked.

I could and would call in if he was free, but if he was busy, too, I’d save the time off for when he was around. He didn’t live here, and our time would be limited. That was another thing we were going to need to address. But not tonight. Not this late.

“I have a meeting in the morning at Wolfe Enterprises.” He stood up. “One that is far too early.”

I walked him to the door, and his hand reached up to cradle my cheek. “Tomorrow…”

I leaned in to his touch.

“Maybe we could go on a date. No—date’s the wrong word. Maybe we could do something. The three of us. You, me, Madeline. We don’t have to tell her who I am yet. But maybe I could get to know her a little.”

“Yeah. I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

I leaned forward and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his lips.

“Good night, Alpha Kenny.”

“Good night, mate.”

I watched as he climbed into his car and drove away. My cat was pissed we didn’t make him stay, but it wasn’t up to him to decide. This was better, as much as it sucked.

“Daddy?”

I looked over to see Madeline, her eyes half closed, standing in the doorway of her bedroom.

“Do I smell cookies?” She walked up to me, giving me a hug.

“Yeah, you do, and if you go right back to bed, you can have some for breakfast.”

She ran back into her room at lightning speed. Cookies for breakfast it was.