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Chapter Twelve

ASHER

A sher was awoken from his sleep by knocking. He sat up and pulled the blanket around him. While his human intuition wasn’t as strong as his wolf’s, he knew that whatever was at the door wasn’t welcome. His wolf snarled inside of him as he made his way to Sunny’s door.

He pulled it open as he heard Sunny’s bedroom door creak.

There, before him, stood a man in a suit. He was tall, with pristine dark-brown hair graying around the temples.

From his head down to his shiny dress shoes, nothing about him belonged in Hecate’s Hallow. His suit cost more than most people make in a month in this town.

“What do you want?” he nearly growled.

The man cleared his throat and straightened his suit. “Are you the owner of this house?”

“No, I’m the owner,” Sunny said as she joined him at the door.

He fought the urge to push her behind him and keep this man’s eyes off her.

“Are you Sunshine Palmer?”

“Who’s asking?”

“I’m from VenDeer Coal. We had been enquiring about this property. We were told the lot was abandoned.”

“I was traveling. It’s not abandoned.”

“Are you interested in selling?”

“No.”

The way she answered quickly appeased Asher’s wolf slightly.

“Well, if you change your mind. Here’s my card...” He reached into his suit pocket and handed a business card to her.

His wolf growled as he reached out and shook Sunny’s hand.

“Have a nice day,” the man said with a sly smile.

Sunny nodded and closed the door, examining the card.

But Asher’s eyes were on the man as he rolled off her property.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Are you hungry?” she asked as she started to hobble to the kitchen.

“Let me cook. You don’t need to be doing it in your state.”

“I’m fine,” she said over her shoulder.

“Your limp says otherwise.”

She shook her head and laughed.

That laugh settled in his soul, and his wolf went from a growly beast to one asking for belly rubs. He was a mess.

“You make coffee. I’ll make us some eggs. I make better eggs anyway.”

“That is a lie,” she protested, shuffling to the coffee maker.

“It is not.” He opened the fridge and grabbed the butter and eggs.

The two made breakfast like they’d been doing it for years. As soon as he accepted her, he found instant solace in her company. He should have known this would feel way better than being mad at her. Even if that anger was still there, singing the edges of this picture-perfect moment.

“Has the coal company been after you?” he asked.

She hit the button on the coffee machine, and it burbled to life.

“No, that was the first time. But I did know that if I didn’t come back, the property would be deemed abandoned.”

Those words had him bristling.

“Is that why you came back?” he asked as his eyes stayed glued to the frying pan.

“No,” she said as she walked over to him. “It may have been then finally boost to push me over the edge... but it is not why.”

When he turned to look at her, the sincerity in her eyes called to him. He wanted to kiss her, but it almost felt like their first one all over again—he just wasn’t quite ready yet.

She turned and limped to the table.

“Do you have any crutches? I know with your history, there’s got to be some around here.”

“I was thinking about that yesterday,” she said as she sat at the old Formica kitchen table. “They might be in the basement, but I haven’t made it down there yet. This house was in rough shape. You know how my dad was before I left. Add on sitting abandoned for a while.”

Nodding, he swallowed a lump of guilt in his throat.

He did know how bad it had been before she’d left. Somewhere along the lines, madness had set in, and Asher could understand that.

Her father would not accept that they swerved off the road to keep from hitting a deer.

Even if things weren’t quite right between him and Sunny, he would burn the world down if anything happened to her.

“It’s looking better,” he said as he flipped the eggs.

“Yeah,” Sunny said on a sigh as she took it in. “I focused on a few rooms, but the rest of the house is untouched. I haven’t done anything with his office or bedroom... or my mom’s parlor.”

He nodded, plated the eggs, and brought them along with a cup of coffee to her. He turned to get his own plate before joining Sunny at the table. “I’ll go look for the crutches after we eat.”

“Ummm... Asher. You’re still naked. You might want to go home and get some clothes before you go down there.”

He looked at the quilt wrapped around him. “That’s probably wise. I’m sorry for showing up drunk late last night.”

“Hey,” she said as she set her fork down, then reaching over and putting her hand over his. “I’m just glad you came. I meant everything I said last night.”

“I did, too, Sunny. I’m ready to try and put it behind us.”

That smile as her breath seemed to catch in her throat pulled at his heart. As the anger dissipated, he could feel just how much he had missed her.

Too much time had passed for him to hold this against her forever.

She was his mate. No matter what happened, nothing would change that.

He had always thought of himself as beyond lucky for having a mate as amazing as Sunny.

The look in her eyes told him he still felt that way, even after being abandoned.

He was pulled from that moment by her ringing phone.

“It’s a busy morning,” he said as she unhooked the phone off the wall.

“Hello... Hi, Abe... Yeah, he’s here. Hold on.” She handed him the phone, careful not to let the coiled cord drag through the yolk on her plate.

“Hello.”

“Hey, man, I was just wondering if you were going to do the delivery today?”

“Oh, damn, I forgot about it.”

“Don’t worry, I can manage this one on my own, but can you pick Ruby up from school?”

“Yeah, not a problem.”

“So... you stayed the night with Sunny, huh?”

“Bye.” He passed the phone back to Sunny to hang up.

It was too early to deal with his brother’s gloating.

Dropping the blanket, he got up to clear the plates.

He would be lying if the flush coloring her cheeks didn’t make him smile.

“I’ll be back.” After stepping out the back door, he shifted and made his way home.

He always loved that Sunny’s place butted right up to their mountain, as he’d leave a tub of laundry near the woods by her house, a quick run for him to get to her. Shifting and heading home after a breakfast with Sunny made him feel like he was nineteen again.

* * *

Before he knew it, he was back, knocking on her front door, dressed in his jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a flannel tied around his waist.

He bit his lip and shook his head as he heard her fumble her way to the door.

She pulled it open, and she was in a sunflower midriff shirt, with a long green skirt and her hair pulled back in two French braids. The familiarity of this enveloped him as she greeted him with a small smile.

“Hi,” she said as she opened the door, letting him in.

“First things first. I’m headed to the basement to find you some crutches, so you stop being a menace.”

“Awww, puppy. I’ll never stop being a menace.”

His wolf rolled over again at her nickname.

He made his way to the basement; one you would expect to find in a dilapidated one-hundred-year-old house. It did look like something had found its way in the coal shoot and done some damage...

He wasn’t sure if anything down here was good but then he spotted crutches leaning up against old shelving. After grabbing them, he walked back up to find Sunny talking on the phone.

“Yeah... He was over here earlier today... Yeah, he offered to buy the house... of course I’m not selling... Yeah, I’ll be in for lunch.... Love you, too.”

She hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Asher wiped down the crutches with a damp rag before giving them to Sunny.

“That was Aunt Betty. She was telling me about the suit poking its head around town.”

“Yeah?” he asked, handing her the crutches.

“Yep, and I told her I’d be in the diner for lunch... if you wanted to go with me...”

“Yeah, I do. I wonder what he’s doing poking his head around the Hollow?”

“I don’t know... but I’m sure Betty will have more information for us when we go. You know how she is.”

“What were you hoping to tackle today?”

He glanced into the dining room, and it looked like she had gone through all the boxes, but one was sitting on the table that looked like she’d been doing something with it.

“Yeah, I have some phone calls I need to make. Trying to get my dad’s estate sorted with the mess it was in and being gone for four years is proving troublesome.”

“Well, why don’t you work on that, and I’ll work on that porch and replace all the rotten planks.”

“That sounds good. Thank you, Asher. I mean it.”

He nodded and headed out to his truck to fetch wood he’d brought over. With his saw out, he set up on the bed of his truck and got to work.

Throughout the morning, Asher worked on the porch, while Sunny got the estate organized.

About midday, Sunny came out on the porch dressed with her shoes on and her purse in hand. “Hungry?”

Asher pulled a bandana from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “Yeah, that sounds good. Just let me wash up.”

When he came out, he was expecting to drive, but Sunny was already in her van with the engine running.

Fuck. He wanted to drive. Not for some macho bullshit reason... but because he didn’t want to be in the house on wheels that had carried her away. Though he wasn’t quite sure how to say that, so he walked over to her van and opened the door.

Her scent was overwhelming, and while he would normally have loved that... it was tinged with something else. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it.

“Get in!” Sunny said with a smile.

After he slid in, it was almost like being transported back to his early twenties.

When Sunny had bought this, it was a junker.

He and Abe got it running, and Sunny had decorated the inside.

Looking around, not much had changed. There were two seats up front, a small table with purple upholstered benches, a kitchenette with a fridge and counter, a single burner, a bed in the back, and a curtain of bead separating the areas.

And he had painted the outside with her favorite flowers.

He might not have done it if he’d realized it would carry her away. Who was he kidding? He would have done anything she asked of him... and after everything, he still would.

“Well... this is a blast from the past,” he said, forcing a smile, trying not to let anxiety in.

She said she wasn’t leaving, and at some point, he needed to trust her.

“Yeah,” she said as her sunshine expression clouded over.

Maybe she was realizing that, too.

“Let’s go,” Asher said. “I’m hungry.”

* * *

They pulled up to Ruby’s Diner. As they walked in, the bell jingled over their heads.

Betty came around the corner. “Sit wherever you like.” Finally, she looked up, and a broad grin covered her face as she set her fist on her round hips. “Well... aren’t you two a sight to behold.”

“We’re gonna go sit down,” Sunny said, pulling Asher along.

It was best not to encourage Betty’s antics.

Asher followed her to the booth and slid in across from her.

“What can I get you two?” Betty asked.

“Cheeseburger and fries,” Sunny answered.

“Make that two,” Asher added.

“Frank, two cheeseburgers.”

Ten minutes later, Betty slid two plates in front of them and sat to join them.

“The lunch rush is over. Tell me how everything is going at the house?”

Sunny squirted ketchup on her plate. “Good as can be expected.”

“What’s up with the crutches?”

“I just took a little tumble,” Sunny said as she dragged a fry through the ketchup.

“Some things never change,” Betty hummed.

Asher couldn’t help the smile that came across his face as he picked up his burger.

“So, Ol’ Ray told me that the suit in town today was doin’ some surveyin’ on the other side of town.”

“Where?” Asher asked.

The coal company had given them trouble in the past, but they hadn’t been around for years. He couldn’t help but wonder what had them all snooping around again. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. His family had managed to keep them out of Hecate’s Hollow but not without a fight.

“Down Ol’ Creek Road.”

Asher nodded.

The creek by said road was what separated their mountain and Sunny’s property.

“Is he still in town?”

“Hey, Ray,” Betty called in her wonderful, brash way. “Did you say the suit is still hangin’ around?”

“I can’t say, but I saw him ’bout thirty minutes ago.”

Asher checked the clock on the wall. It was after one, and by the time they finished up here, he’d have enough time to drive by and take a look before he had to get Ruby from school.

He wasn’t sure what was going down, but if VenDeer was involved, it was nothing good.