The Things We Water

There were a lot of things in this world I was good at, even more I was decent at, and more than I’d care to admit that I was absolute crap at.

Controlling my emotions fell somewhere in the middle.

During our walk to pick up the kids, Henri and I hadn’t said a whole lot to each other. He’d taken my hand, then smiled down at me when I’d caught his gaze in surprise and pleasure. It was the same hand I’d worked him up and down with. But because you never knew who was listening, instead of talking about what we’d done to each other, I asked him about what exactly had happened with Shiloh and Pascal, and he’d gritted his teeth and given me an in-detail report of how their parents had reacted.

Phoebe had cried her eyes out, then claimed she was going to put a tracking device on Shiloh. His dad, the nicest ogre I’d ever met, and I’d known a lot of wonderful ones, had also gotten teary. My quiet little buddy, who I would never have imagined could be such a rule breaker, was going to be grounded for the next five years minimum.

To sum up what I’d learned about Pascal: I wasn’t going to see him for a decade or two, if he was lucky.

When I brought up putting in a good word for them with their parents, Henri shook his head and asked me to wait a few months. Everyone was disappointed and furious with the kids. I understood. It was one thing to do mischievous stuff, but it was another to do something that risked your life. If they didn’t cut that crap out now, how much further would they take it as they got older?

Right around that twenty-minute mark from when Agnes had called, we’d picked up the kids, with the three of us adults playing along perfectly that it was our decision. Then we’d walked back to the clubhouse, got some popsicles, and played tag. Since Agnes’s sleeping buddies thought they had the night off, I invited her to stay with us in my room and had been very surprised when she’d agreed.

The way she’d whispered, “Good night, Nina,” before I’d turned off the lamp had probably etched itself into my brain for the rest of eternity. I’d fallen asleep with a smile on my face, both from her and from the man that she adored who called her Ladybug.

Which led us to this moment.

I had planned on putting this conversation off with Duncan until I thought about it some more, but I made it all the way until half an hour after we’d woken up, when Agnes—in her puppy form—trotted off to her room and left us alone on the bed, yawning.

The truth was, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about my conversation with Henri, and how we might have agreed to maybe mate with each other.

It was only the rest of my life.

And Duncan’s.

And the lives of my future potential children.

Henri was only, possibly, the man I would wake up to and fall asleep next to for the next fifty-plus years, telling me things that made my whole body feel like it’d been lit on fire.

Henri Blackrock, the Great Wolf according to the gnomes, had proposed to me in his way.

I had wanted to call Matti and Sienna and tell them everything, but I wouldn’t. There were things I needed to figure out on my own first—and not when there was someone I needed to talk to more than both of them combined, no matter how much I loved them. Because whatever I decided would have a direct effect on him.

And that was what was on my mind when Agnes left the room and my beloved donut gave me those intelligent red eyes, like he was well aware I wanted to talk to him about something.noveldrama

I could’ve put it off a little longer, but I wasn’t good at keeping things from him.

We knew each other too well. I could tell by his ears how he felt about something, and I didn’t even have to sigh for him to know when something was bothering me. It was one of the greatest gifts of my life being known so well.

I focused on my puppy and smiled over his beautiful coat and perfect head. He looked more and more like a black bloodhound every day, minus the eyes and tail. “We need to talk, Donut.”

He blinked. “Yes.”

“I know you know you’re the most important person in my life, and no matter what happens, you’ll always come first.”

“Yes. Love.”

See? He deserved all my devotion. “I talked to Henri last night, and he said he would marry me. We talked about that, remember? How I have to marry someone to stay here?” I asked him.

“Yes.”

Just what I’d expected. “What do you think? You like him, don’t you? I saw you sitting on his foot last night.” He’d done more than that too. Duncan had wiped his face against the side of Fluff’s leg after finishing his popsicle. Even Henri had noticed before he’d met my eyes with a smile on his face, pleased by it.

“Yes.”

That’s what I’d thought. I stroked the side of his head. It was so much bigger than it’d been a month ago.

“If you like it here, I have to do this. I have to marry someone. I think you know how I feel about him. But if you really don’t like him and you don’t want him around, you can say it.” I meant it, but at the same time…

I knew what I wanted.

His tail swayed in the air, “love”pulsed at my heart, and I smiled at him.

“We would be a family. He’d be your dad someday, if you wanted. I know he would be there for you and protect you. Same as me.” I reached over and touched one soft ear after another. “You can think about it. Maybe you need to spend more time with him. I don’t need an answer this second, but I’d like to be with him. I’d like for us to be a family.”

Duncan’s cheek turned, and he licked my wrist. “Yes.”

I raised my eyebrows, and he repeated himself.

“Yes.”

“Yes, you’re fine with it?” I drew the question out.

“Yes. Love.”

“I love you too, Dunky-Dunk, but you don’t need to say anything now. You can spend time with him by yourself, or us together⁠—”

He pawed my leg and looked at me with those big, round eyes. “No. Yes.”

“Or not.” I laughed a little and pet him again. “You sure you don’t want to think about it?”

“Yes.”

I was talking to a two-year-old puppy about the future. I couldn’t let myself forget that part. On the other hand, though, there was no reason for me to think that Duncan couldn’t grow to trust and love Henri with time. There really was zero doubt in me that Henri would rise to the occasion and earn it.

Could it be this easy?

I tried to look into my boy’s soul, but I knew every part of it already. He had the most brilliant flame of life in him. Strong and steady, a lighthouse at the edge of a dark and misty sea. His soul and lifeline were just as beautiful as I ever could have imagined.

And that made me smile at him even as I squinted and tugged at his ear. “Are you suuure?” I asked my donut.

“Yes,”he told me, rising to his growing feet. “Yes. Love, love, love.”

I watched him stretch, then pad over to my lap and plop down on it, so big now he didn’t fit as well as he had two months ago. He stretched up some more and licked my cheek as he did. And my boy tucked his head beneath my chin, and he said it again.

“Yes. Love. Yes.”

Henri wouldn’t stop staring at me.

He wasn’t being discreet about it either. Not even trying to be from the way Franklin’s eyeballs pinged back and forth between us throughout dinner, his expression going from thoughtful to confused to intrigued. I was almost certain he didn’t have the olfactory senses that told him things, but I figured when you’d lived as long as he might have, you learned a whole lot from body language.

I would’ve been shocked if I hadn’t been putting off crazy faces the whole meal, but you try sitting through dinner with Henri Blackrock staring at you after saying he’d marry you.

In front of your ancient dream god of an uncle and your magical pup.

I wasn’t much better when I stared at him every chance I thought I might get away with it in return, which was zero times, actually. Either Henri or Franklin caught me peeking every single time I tried. I couldn’t help it. His proposition felt real, his sincerity more than believable, knowing what I knew about him. I was still so overwhelmed that it was like my brain needed to catalogue every inch of his face and body for research purposes.

And I was trying so hard not to think about what we’d done the night before in my camper.

I had zero doubts that if the kids wouldn’t have been waiting for us, I would’ve wrapped myself around him like a naked spider monkey.

“I can’t stand it anymore. What’s going on?” Franklin blurted out just as I picked up his plate to take it to the sink.

Henri, who was busy picking up the kids’ mats, answered casually over his shoulder, “Nina and I are getting married.”

The way air whooshed out of my lungs….

Franklin’s reaction wasn’t much better. “Excuse me?”He even took off his glasses, wiped them down with his sleeve, and settled them back on his face.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Henri asked, not sounding like he actually cared.

Amber irises caught mine as he headed for the sink, and I froze at the smirk playing on his lips.

I pointed at him. “Are you being funny?”

“I wasn’t expecting to feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, Cricket,” he said. “It does.”

I wasn’t sure who squawked louder, me or Franklin.

“Breathe, Franklin,” Henri ordered as he came up to me, the side of his arm more than brushing against mine as he focused down on me. “We’re a good match.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the older man kind of gaped.

“It isn’t set in stone,” I started to explain, even as Duncan piped in.

“Yes,”he argued, shocking me.

“This isn’t… exactly a surprise.” Franklin went thoughtful in voice and expression. He looked younger today somehow, I thought, but I might have been imagining it. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t be a fool, Henri.” My biological uncle made a small humming noise. “This is a good match,” he agreed.

“Thank you…?” I muttered, catching Henri’s attention and his amused expression. I was going to guess he hadn’t expected otherwise.

Franklin made another thoughtful sound before nodding with purpose. “In that case, I’ll watch the children while you two discuss whatever else you need to to make this official. Take some time, or the whole night, it makes no difference to me,” he said with a wave of his hand.

Did Franklin look determined or was it just me?

My ears went that much hotter. “It doesn’t need to be tonight….” I trailed off.

“It should be,” Henri argued at the same time as Franklin added, “The sooner you know, the better. I’ll deal with the elders who might have a problem with it.”

I thought he meant because of the whole three-month period, but I’d let them deal with that, I guess.

If we got there.

Which meant we needed to talk first.

All right then. I blinked and turned to Duncan, who was sitting there looking innocent and not like he’d ganged up on me for a moment there with Henri. “Duncan, do you mind spending some time with Franklin?”

I wasn’t sure whether I felt betrayed or pleased at how quickly he answered, “No.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes.”

A warm brush of an arm had me turning to Henri, whose expression was back to a quietly serious one that was all furrowed forehead and a defined jaw. His voice came out soft. “Let’s wrap up the dishes and go after that.”

“Go where?” I asked, not bothering to lower my voice since they could all hear anyway.

“For a drive.”

We were going to go for a drive? I thought it over as I helped him load the dishwasher and clean the counters. Once we were done, I crouched next to my donut, running my hand down his back.

He licked my wrist.

“I’ll be back in a little while,” I assured him.

“Yes. Love.”

He was getting so good at using multiple words now.

I smiled and turned to Agnes, who was a foot away in her wolf puppy form. “We’ll be back, Mini Wolf.”

A hand appeared out of the corner of my eye, and I recognized the thickness of those fingers. The length of them too. I took it, his hand, all warm, rough skin, and let him help me to my feet. He didn’t let go as he led me out of the kitchen, saying, “I have my phone on me. We’ll be back later, pups. Thank you, Franklin.”

The older man called out, “You’re welcome,” but when I glanced over my shoulder, he had the most thoughtful expression.

Henri’s fingers laced through mine.

I let it happen, but I did lift our hands between us.

Henri peered at them too. “What do you think?”

I took in his shade of tan against mine. Then I met his eyes. “Fits pretty good, I think.”

He squeezed my fingers, not saying anything else as we walked out of the clubhouse.

The magic was richer than normal, I thought, as we headed to the golf cart building, and Henri wasted no time pulling out a two-seater with a little bed in the back. He steered us down the main path and away from the clubhouse. After a few minutes, we went in a different direction than I ever had before, the magic in the air getting that much stronger the further we got from the residential area.

Were we going into a more magical part of the forest? The nerves along my spine prickled.

He glanced at me. “Cold?”

I shook my head. “Not too bad. It’s the magic here.” I’d gotten used to it, for the most part, but now? It was hard not to shiver. Why hadn’t we ever gone this direction before? I could hear the river in the distance.

Henri nodded and kept driving, and sometime later, he let go of the accelerator and we rolled to a stop.

I perked up. “What’s that sound?” The trees were dense, but it was easy to see a land mass rising up ahead. And I could feel a faint hum of what felt like magic in the distance.

Henri slipped out of the golf cart and came around. “There’s a waterfall I want to show you.”

“Is this the waterfall?”

His face got scowly, but he nodded.

Too soon, I guessed. “I like waterfalls.”

“Come on, it isn’t too far,” he said, gesturing me to follow with a tick of his head.

I did. Henri hiked toward the hill, and I tagged along right behind him, so close I could grab his belt if I had to. The terrain was steep, but the path was clear and wider than a game trail. We hiked up and up a little more, the sound of water falling getting louder as we followed the switchback. Just as I started to get sweaty, the tree line broke.

There it was.

A tall, narrow waterfall, around 100 feet tall.

“It’s glowing,” I gasped, stunned.

Beside me, Henri smiled.

“Is it bioluminescent?” A faint pinkish purple glow covered the boulders alongside the cascade. I’d seen pictures of shores and lakes covered in the light-producing bacteria before, but those had always been blue.

“It’s not. It’s the magic here.”

That got me to turn toward him and away from the incredible glowing sight. “Really?” I was in awe, suddenly feeling like this might be the closest I ever got to a religious experience. It explained everything. How it smelled so good, and now that I had a chance to notice, it felt like I’d been plugged into a power outlet after taking a hit of some kind of drug. The urge to fall to my knees pressed at some part of my brain, and for once, it was easy to look away from Henri and focus on this.

There were purples! Pinks! Lilacs!

“It’s been like this as far back as our records of this land go. The stream never weakens, never runs out. It’s fed by that river you met yesterday,” Henri said in a steady voice that almost sounded reverent. “This is sacred land for us.”

I understood. Shimmering water pooled below it before exiting into a narrow creek. I blew out a low whistle of wonder. Of amazement.

This was what the boys had been looking for.

No wonder.

How could something like this exist? It could have come from a movie set for a different planet. Somewhere beautiful with jellyfish birds that hung from the glowing foliage and purple dragons that crept across massive branches of trees belonging in a jungle….

“My ancestors claimed that a large chunk of the meteor landed in this area. See the trees? Do you see how the trunks are twisted? They’re the oldest on the property. I’m not sure there’s anywhere else on Earth with trees that look like these. We’ve tested the water, and it’s totally uncontaminated. Probably some of the only water in this country that you can drink out of without worrying about bacteria.” He paused. “Not that we tell anyone about it.”

My lips formed an O. “You can drink it?”

“Sure.”

I wanted to try some of that water, dang it. I took a step forward just as he laughed, his hand reaching for the back of my shirt. “Only on a supermoon or a special occasion, tiger. We’ll all come out here and do it. It’s a ritual.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” I laughed. Sacred. Right.

Henri tugged me backward until I bumped into him. “I’ll make sure you get some when the time is right.”

I lifted my face. “Promise?”

“Yeah, I promise,” he said with a smile that touched my heart because I’d never seen him use it before on anyone, not even Agnes, which made me think about everything else that had been on my mind.

There was a lot.

I sighed and let my shoulders fall. “Henri….”

He ignored me. “Come here, there’s a boulder we can sit on,” he said, pulling me to the left, a few feet away, where there was indeed a flat-ish rock. He took a seat in the center of it, and I didn’t struggle when he tugged me down and onto his thigh.

I reeled back and grinned. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he replied, his arm slinging low around my back as a support.

I folded my hands and raised my eyebrows. “So, what are we doing?”

“Practice,” he explained, setting that warm hand possessively on my thigh. “How does it feel?” As much as I liked Serious Henri, I liked Flirty Henri just as much.

I patted his knee. “I don’t really know what to do with myself, but it’s pretty comfortable.” Leaning into him, I whispered, “Am I really sitting on your lap right now?”

“Yeah.” The corners of his mouth twitched, and I took a second to absorb the stubble that covered his jaw and upper lip. He had such expressive eyes when he didn’t have his neutral face on. “You don’t need to do anything but sit there and try this out.”

I looked down at his legs under me and patted the inside of his thigh. “It has good padding. I could see this being a nice spot to hang out on a regular basis. It has good back support.” Planting my palm on the muscle right above his knee, I tested it out. It was rock-hard. “How much do you squat?”

“Not as much as I can.”

There was a long, deep howl far, far away, but it sounded like a coyote—unless there was some coyote god that lived on the ranch that I didn’t know about, which was definitely possible.

Which reminded me….

“Henri…,” I started, dread making my stomach feel funny.

“Nina…,” he teased.

I was grateful for my good night vision when I could see his eyes and the color of them so clearly. His face was open, his body language easygoing. I’m sitting on his lap.

Dang it, I needed to focus. “I need to tell you something before we talk about anything else.”

“What are you worried about?” The hand on my hip gave it a little rub.

I turned a little more toward him and put my palms on him, one on his shoulder, the other on his impressive thigh. I was slightly concerned.

More than slightly.

“Hey,” Henri murmured, grazing the skin under my chin with his free hand. “Don’t. There’s nothing for you to be worried about. I know you. I like everything about you, even the smelly stuff.”

My face went red. “Huh?” What smelly stuff?

“You’ve thrown up on my bed more than once⁠—”

I squawked. “What the…? I don’t remember that!” I laughed.

“You were five or six,” Henri explained, smiling a little.

“The first day I met the kids, they talked about Matti peeing his bed, not anything about vomit,” I told him.

His smile grew. “He did pee, and you did throw up, but I don’t feel bad making fun of Matti. I never told anyone about what you did,” he tried to reassure me.

I squinted. “Why do you even remember that?”

“You know how hard it is to get the smell of stomach acid and Doritos to go away?” he asked in a voice that sounded serious, but his expression gave him away. He had that glimmer in his eyes.

“I’m sorry?”

A hand palmed my lower back as he looked at me. “All I’m saying is that we’re past you being nervous around me. You weren’t even that way when Duncan was hanging off my tail like a Christmas ornament.”

I blinked at him.

He patted my back. “Now tell me what you think we need to talk about that’s stressing you out.”

He was smart. He had to know. This wouldn’t be so much of a shock for him, would it? Searching his rough, handsome face, all I found was sincerity reflected back at me. Affection in the lines at the corners of his mouth. Maybe even more than that.

But a small part of me was aware that this could change everything.

The universal truth was, you couldn’t build anything worthwhile—not a friendship, much less a relationship—on secrets and lies.

And I would never do that to Henri.

“First off,” I swallowed, “if we had kids, there’s a chance they might turn out like me. They might have my magic.”

His eyes narrowed, and the way he agreed made it seem like that was a moot comment. “I know.”

“You’re fine with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because—”

“Cricket.” He almost sighed. “If I could pick one person to have your gift—it is a gift, Nina, your face says you don’t believe that, but it’s true—I would pick you.”

I pressed my lips together, and his expression went so tender, I wanted to throw my arms around him.

“You’re the kindest and one of the most loving people I’ve ever met. I knew it minutes after I saw you. That’s why you smell like a honey bun. That’s how love and kindness come across. Who better to have the power you have than someone who understands the value of life the way you do? It’d be so easy to do with that whatever you wanted, and I can’t imagine what your fucking parent has to be like if you got it from them, but you’re no angel of death. You’re an angel of….” Henri’s forehead wrinkled.

“Of?” The word came out a little broken. So much hope hung on whatever his answer would be.

Those beautiful eyes roamed my face as he drew a circle over my back with his thumb. After a moment, he nodded. “Love.”

There was no stopping me then.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and I felt relief punch through my lungs during the longest exhale of my life.

I’d hoped my whole life that someone would see what was truly inside of me, someone who could see beyond my skin suit and my parents’ inheritance. And I had been so lucky so far to find a few people that did. But for a long time, I’d resigned myself to having to live the rest of my life through a filter, without someone I could share everything with, and then one day, the universe gave me the most perfect boy, and that boy gave me a choice that led me here.

To someone who could see me, maybe not for who I always was, but who I wanted to be.

And I squeezed that MFer as tight as I could, telling him thank you with my whole body.

Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for accepting me. Thank you for being who he was.

Warm arms wrapped around the middle of my back, and the next thing I felt was Henri drawing me into his body like we were two pieces that fit together.

But….

“You aren’t just letting me borrow money or a car, Fluffy. This would be our whole lives. You’d be stuck with me forever. I know what you promised Matti, but that still doesn’t mean you need to do this if you don’t want to,” I rambled out in dang near one breath, my mouth mostly buried against the crook in his neck.

He hugged me tighter. “I’m not doing you a favor, and you’re not doing me one either. And you’re damn right this would be our whole lives.” His words were muffled into my hair, but I understood. “You think I do things that I don’t want to?”

“I think you would be willing to do things that you feel obligated to if they’re for the best of your people.”

Arms loosening, he leaned back. His expression was clear. His face open.

“See? I’m sure you don’t do things that you don’t really want to, but there’s some gray area there too.” I hadn’t let go of his neck and still wouldn’t. “You’re one of the most responsible people I’ve ever met. Responsible people are the least selfish people there are. That’s what you meant earlier, isn’t it? About not doing what you wanted to?”

He stayed right where he was too, still watching me that way he did when I thought he might be seeing me through a different scope.

Maybe we hadn’t known each other all that long as adults, but I felt like I understood him. The essence of him. And I thought that maybe he’d been Atlas once upon a time, with the weight of the world on those powerful shoulders.

It made me love him a little more.

“And I appreciate that you aren’t trying to lie to yourself or me and say, ‘No, I don’t,’because we both know it’s the truth.” I nudged him and smiled. “You’re a good man. It’s one of my favorite things about you.

“But this isn’t you having to be decent to people who get on your nerves because you have manners. This is your life. Your future. And I don’t want to take that away from you, even if I really like sitting on your lap and kissing you and just spending time with you in general.” I braced myself. “And even if I am a little in love with you,” I told him honestly.

Those perfect nostrils flared, and Henri leaned in enough to press his forehead to mine. “You miss the part where I said you’re mine? Where I told you that you’re my priority over every other person here? Or anywhere else? Have you missed me losing my shit every time I’ve thought that I might lose you?” Those amber eyes bounced around my face for a moment, then two, and then he said in a harsh voice, “Everything you said just now is why I want to do this with you. Why I feel the way I do about you. Because you’re responsible enough to acknowledge that, to worry about it. Anybody else wouldn’t give a shit about what was best for someone else as long as it worked in their favor, but you do.” He let go of me with one arm and used that hand to wrap around the nape of my neck. “You’re a good person, and I could look at your face all day, and every single part of your body might be straight from a fantasy.”

My eyes went wide, but he ignored me.

“No part of being with you would be a hardship or a sacrifice.” He slipped his arm around my lower back one more time, his forearm tight to it. “And what you are, or what our children might be, doesn’t factor into my decision at all, because that’s what this is. My choice. So what if you scare the fuck out of people? You’re a protector. Randall and Ani got nothing on you, Cricket.” He smiled. “Neither do I. And if we had a child and they had your magic? We would teach them to do the right thing, like your parents taught you.”

He nodded slowly, watching me process his words.

“Who would ever expect that the person they need to worry about the most on this ranch looks like a forest princess?”

I opened my mouth, closed it, then laughed, hard. “I can’t even tell you how touched I am you think I look like a forest princess, and that you would say it with a straight face. Did someone tell you Pascal called me that?”

He nodded. “He couldn’t remember your name at first and kept calling you that.”

I laughed again and brushed the side of his neck with my thumb. Maybe I wouldn’t take all of Pascal’s future kids, maybe just the first one. “Look, I want to make sure, that’s all. You’re so handsome, you could have already been mated a million times to a million other people.”

“Thank you.” He sounded so sincere.

“But so could I,” I told him, half joking.

That wiped the smile right off his face.

“To very handsome men too, Fluff.” I was messing with him now.

His eyes went a little squinty, and I was eating it up with a spoon.

“Listen to me, though. This is serious. Your cousin—or nephew, or whatever Matti is—is my best friend.”

The arm on my lower back slid just a little lower. “I know. And you know how our biology works. I wouldn’t sign up for this unless you checked every single one of my boxes.”

I shivered. He was right. I knew he was right, but….

His gaze moved from my face, down my chest, and lower before making a slow, quiet trek back up. “All of them.”

Did I want to believe him? More than anything. Anything.

I still opened my mouth to insist, but he started talking again.

“I like your smile,” he said, balling up his fist between us and raising his pinky finger, which was almost the size of my thumb.

I blinked. “Proceed.”

His smile grew a fraction as he lifted his ring finger next. “You have a good heart.”

I nodded because I thought I did, have a good heart that was, and that made him smile even more.

His middle finger came up next. “You’re funny.”

“I am funny,” I agreed.

That got him to laugh and bump his forehead to mine briefly before his index finger went up. “You’re brave.”

“Sometimes I’m a chicken,” I butted in. “Just to set realistic expectations. The only reason I handled those bogeymen that well was because I’ve seen their kind before.” I paused. “And I guess their physical appearance didn’t really scare me either.”

He nodded like he already knew that. “I can deal with our taxes in the future. I could start practicing how to remove ticks now, if you’d like,” Henri said with a straight face.

I leaned back so far, it was only my arms clinging to him and the one he had around my back that kept me from falling right off. “Stop it.” Teasing Henri might end up being the death of me.

He winked before raising his thumb. “I like your face. More than any other face I’ve ever seen.” With his forearm, he lifted me back up to sitting, his face so intent. “I just like you, Nina. I love you. Everything about you. The way you are with all the kids. How you’d do anything for Duncan. How patient you are with Agnes. Margaret told me all about how nice you were with her, when I know how difficult she can be.”

If everything before hadn’t been enough to win over whatever leftover reluctance was in my body, what he said next lassoed my heart, my soul, and everything else in. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate, and I didn’t even know what that was until you bit my leg.”

My body didn’t know what to do with itself. I wasn’t even sure I was able to gape at him. But somehow, some way, after a moment, with my voice weak, I managed to say, “You love me?”

His nod was so slow. “I love you.”

Air rushed out of my lungs. “Well, you already know how I feel about you because you pointed it out. And everything you said? I’ve thought the same things so many times.” I clutched his shoulders tighter, the muscles firm beneath my fingers. “But… the other thing I need to tell you is that Duncan still hasn’t met the people from Alaska who might be like him. If they invite him, and he decides to leave and asks me to go with him… I don’t think I can say no. And it isn’t because I’m not crazy about you, because I am, but because⁠—”

Mount Henri Blackrock crushed me to him. “I know. He’s your boy. You wouldn’t be the person I know you are if you would.” Henri tucked my head under his chin, clutching me so tight I wish I could’ve stayed there forever. “I’ve already thought about it.”

I hoped that was a good thing.

He didn’t wait to tell me what conclusion he’d reached, fortunately. “This land is always going to be mine. I’d never give it to anyone else; all this shit with Dom has settled that. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t leave. Doesn’t mean we couldn’t come back some day if it came down to it.”

He’d said we.

“What the hell are you saying right now?” I muttered into his shirt, overwhelmed and in awe and equal amounts disbelief.

“They can survive without me. They have before,” he answered steadily, without a hint of hesitation or grief over the idea he’d just voiced. “As much as I love this land, I don’t think I could let it keep me from you.”

I pressed my face even deeper into his shirt, inhaling that rain and cedar scent that was all him.

“I’d resent it if you left. If I felt stuck here. It’s been frustrating enough wanting to do what I want to do and having that interrupted by things that don’t need to be my responsibility anymore.”

I didn’t want to do it, but I slowly lifted my head and peered into his eyes. “You would leave here? For me and Duncan?”

There was nothing but a fierce kind of determination in his eyes and features. “For you two, yeah.” He paused. “But we’d have to invite Agnes.” His throat bobbed. “I don’t know if you know, but Dom might be gone. Nobody’s seen him in a week, not even his uncle.”

I had questions about this supposed uncle, but I saved them for later.

“Really?” I asked, feeling so bad.

He lifted his hand. “It’s not your fault. It’s a good thing for everyone if he doesn’t come back.” He blinked. “I would’ve probably ended up having to hurt him if he stayed and ever talked to you the way he did again.”

My gazed moved from one of his eyes to the other, love bursting inside of me, and I could barely say, “I can’t believe you almost let me go on dates with other people, you ass.” I cupped his face in my hands. “I felt sick to my stomach thinking about it.”

“You smelled upset every time anyone brought it up, you included,” he confirmed.

“And you knew?”

The fondest smile I’d ever seen came over his face. “I told you, you’re easy to read. I don’t open up my senses for just anybody.” He held me just a little tighter. “You project emotions easier than anyone I’ve ever met, and you make a lot of faces, Cricket.”

I smacked him on the arm. “You were going to risk me mating someone else?”

“It wasn’t a risk if I wasn’t going to let it get anywhere near there.” He leaned forward again, bringing his forehead to mine, his lips almost skimming mine as he said fiercely, “I would mate you even if the one-year period wasn’t a thing, Nina.”

“You’re sure?” I asked, hope singing in my soul. “I might have more dream visits from my DNA donor, and Franklin would be your uncle-in-law,” I warned him.

“Franklin and I will be fine.”

“I would want you to be a dad to Duncan.”

“I’ve got no problem with that.”

“And again, if we had a child, they might be like me,” I reminded him.

“A forest prince or princess would be a gift,” he said with a straight face that anchored my entire existence to this moment. “There’s a chance they could be like me too.”

“Strong and wonderful? What a freaking burden.”

He smiled. “They’d inherit this land if that’s what they wanted. Any child of ours could. Would you be fine with that?”

“What do you think?” I had to groan as I squeezed his hands right back and said, looking him right in the eyes, “All right then.” I pressed my mouth to his before pulling away just enough to say, “You’re going to be stuck with me, Fluff, because there’s nobody else on this planet I would rather be with than you.”