Page 9 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)
Grey woke with Tatum in his arms and his chest tight with guilt. He’d been so blown away by her showing up last night and laying her soul bare to him.
He hadn’t expected to end up tumbling into bed with her and making love, but here he was, his soulmate snuggled up in his arms and a big fat cloud of lies hanging over his head.
He hadn’t planned for things to go the way they did, and he was happy as hell, but also guilt burned inside him like wildfire.
He was falling hard and fast for her, and he thought she was falling for him too; it killed him to keep the secret of his shifter nature from her, but there were rules about this kind of thing.
A shifter didn’t just reveal himself to his soulmate before he knew he had her love.
There was something about the love between a shifter and their soulmate that ensured the secret would be kept.
If it weren’t the case, the truth of shifters would have been revealed to humans ages ago, but they were still very much a long-held secret.
How would he tell her? When would he know it was time?
He scrubbed a hand over his face and internally groaned.
How the hell was he going to deal with this?
He stared at the wooden beams above the bed, the morning light streaming around the edges of the blinds. Tatum was a warm weight against him, fitting perfectly in his arms, and her soft breaths fanning his chest were a reminder of what he stood to lose.
Last night was perfect. Better than perfect. They’d known each other for two days, but he was falling hard for her. He hadn’t expected they’d make love so soon, but now that they’d crossed that bridge, he couldn’t shake the need to tell her the truth.
She deserved to know it.
His stallion stirred inside him as doubt and fear twined together. What if he told her and she didn’t want to accept him? What if he withheld the truth and when he told her, she hated him for the lies?
He decided to talk to Dexter. He needed some sound advice and there was no one better than his former alpha who’d mated a human.
Tatum stirred next to him and he gave her a gentle hug. “Morning, sweetheart.”
“Morning.” She smiled at him. “What time is it?”
He reached for his phone and said, “Just after seven.”
“Oh good, I didn’t want to oversleep. I’m normally a pretty light sleeper, but honestly, that was like the best sleep of my life.”
“It was for me too. Do you have time for breakfast? Tris usually has breakfast ready by six.”
“I don’t have to be at the library until nine, so I’ve got time.”
“Cool, I’ll show you around the farmhouse.”
“So no one stays in this apartment?”
“It’s just for guests.”
“Did you mind?” she asked as they got dressed, both locating their clothes on the floor.
“Mind what, sweetheart?”
“Staying here instead of in the farmhouse?”
“Not at all. There’s not a ton of privacy in the farmhouse except in the bedrooms. But anywhere with you is where I’m happy to be, trust me.”
She beamed at him. “There you go, being all sweet.”
“Just for you, sweetheart.”
They made their way to the farmhouse, where he introduced her to Crew, Zara, and Tris, who were in the kitchen, and they had a quick breakfast together before she left for the library and he got ready for his day.
He sent a text to Dexter, and since he hadn’t left for the construction site yet, he stopped by on his way out of town.
“I need some advice,” Grey said when Dexter joined him at the pasture where he was watching the cows.
“Sure thing, what’s on your mind?”
He told him about meeting Tatum, how crazy he was about her, and how they’d moved forward last night.
“I just feel so damn guilty,” he said.
“It’s only been a couple days, though,” Dexter said.
“I know. I know we always wait until our soulmate loves us, but I didn’t think it would bother me so much for her to be in the dark about what I am.”
“I felt the same way about Nancy, actually.”
“You did?”
“Sure,” he said. “It’s the way it is with soulmates, you know?
You see her and your stallion is right there, ready to tell her the truth immediately.
But the human part of you knows you have to keep it to yourself, so you’re in this weird limbo.
You don’t want to lie, but you’re keeping something from someone you care for. ”
“Exactly.” He blew out a breath. “I know she can tell I’m keeping something from her. I mean, she laid her soul bare to me last night, told me everything from her past, and some of it was really ugly and it made my heart ache for her.”
“Ah,” Dexter said. “She shared her truths, that’s a huge deal.”
“I know!”
Dexter put his hand on Grey’s shoulder. “Listen, if you feel like the right thing to do is share the truth with her, then you need to tell the others so they’re not blindsided by it.
And Nancy could talk to Tatum since she’s also human.
I would say Tris or Zara, but they’re not human, so it’s not quite the same, and frankly I kind of doubt Tatum needs to know that Tris is a wolf or Zara is a non-shifting stallion at first, it might be too much. ”
“Good point. I’ll ask her to come over tonight and shift for her in the barn. Oh shit, this just got real for me.”
“It’ll be okay,” Dexter said. “This is a good thing. You’re already crazy about her. If you weren’t getting the vibe from her that she was falling for you, you wouldn’t think it was the right time.”
“Good point. Thanks, Dexter. I appreciate your advice.”
“That’s what an elder is for.”
He parted ways with Dexter and headed out into the farm to find his friends and talk to them about his plans. He sent a text to Tatum.
Hi sweetheart, are you free tonight?
Hi there! Sure. What did you have in mind?
Would you like to come over? We can have dinner at the farmhouse.
That sounds so cozy, I love it. Is six okay?
Perfect. Have a great day. See you tonight.
You too.
She ended her text with a smiley face surrounded by hearts, and he paused for a moment before deciding to send her a red heart.
Because it didn’t really matter how long it had been since they met, he’d been falling for his soulmate from the moment he laid eyes on her.
And tonight he was going to share everything with her.
And hope to hell that she didn’t freak out.