Page 18 of Bearly Taken

“You’ve got to be exhausted, Wren.” Reed leaned against the wall on the other side of the door, studying me.

My lips curved upward slightly. “I’m always exhausted. I’ve just learned to ignore it.”

“You didn’t have a bed in your apartment,” he said.

“Everyone has to sacrifice sometimes.”

“Not you. Not anymore. You could quit the diner, and go to the clan in the morning. Every woman who has a baby with a bear shifter is entitled to the payout. You know it’s how we keep ourselves from going extinct. You don’t have to pay rent anymore, living here. Part of the payout can take care of thebusiness loans for your store. The rest can pay for whatever else you guys need. I’d like to fund our life here—I’ve saved almost everything I made working security—but the clan’s money can help, if you’re not ready to accept that.”

I let out a long breath. “Lennie doesn’t have anyone else to work mornings.”

“Lennie has a clan of shifters that could step in until he can convince a high schooler to take over. He would understand. If he really had to, he could easily have customers come up to the register for their food.”

Reed wasn’t wrong.

And I’d wanted to quit working there so many times. To spend my mornings with Parker instead of at work every day. To sleep in now and then, and actually have a few minutes to relax.

And Lennie would rehire me in a heartbeat if I needed to come back after I quit. I knew that.

It was just a big decision to make.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

He nodded.

Parker finally settled, and I let out a long breath. “I need to get to bed.”

“Yet you haven’t moved.”

“I always have a hard time going to sleep when he does. There are business things to do, and it’s the first time all day that I have a minute to myself.”

Reed’s lips curved upward. “First moment of freedom.”

“Yep. I have to shower at night, too. No time in the morning.”

“I won’t bother you, then. Unless you decide you need someone to help you wash up.”

I snorted. “I think I can handle it.”

His smile widened anyway. “The offer will always stand.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I put your stuff in the master bedroom, and moved mine to the office,” he said, as I headed for the extra bathroom. “It’s got a pull-down bed, so don’t worry about me.”

I frowned. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“This isyourhouse now.”

“It’s not,” I said, but headed toward the master.

The shower was on and I’d taken off my clothes when the anxiety started to set in slowly.

It started with the memory of the last time I’d been in that bathroom alone.

The smile on my face.

The way I couldn’t stop touching the raised scar he’d left on my neck—the mark that told the world I was his.

---