Page 22 of Salvation

“Miss what?” Simon asked absently, wearing his usual, blissed-out,I love my mate and my lifelook.

Right. Why would Simon miss Montana? He had a new life here, and it was a good one. Like Soren, Simon had settled down with a mate he adored. Business was booming in the saloon and the café. The only thing Simon didn’t have was a cub of his own, but Todd suspected that wasn’t far off — not seeing the way Jessica cuddled Teddy or the way Simon grinned while bouncing the little guy on his knee.

“My turn!” he’d protest when Janna tried to take Teddy away.

“My turn!” Jessica would chime in.

“My turn,” Soren would cut in, cuddling the baby close.

Watching them made his soul bleed, but it warmed his heart, too. The baby was loved. Cared for. Protected by his clan. Just the way it should be. What else could he wish the baby had?

His bear rumbled inside, not satisfied.Might not be ours to keep, but ours to help care for.

But how? How was he ever going to do that?

A week passed with him alternating between sanding the bar and working upstairs, and everyone had oohed and aahed when the bathroom was done.

“Oh, my God. I love you,” Janna said, squeezing into the room with everyone else. “I mean, I love Cole,” she added, giving her mate a reassuring pat on the arm. “But in terms of bathrooms, you’re my hero, man.”

His bear heaved a sigh inside. Some hero he made.

But Janna was serious, and so were the others. Jessica even brought up a bottle of champagne and passed glasses around to everyone for a toast.

“You gotta celebrate the small stuff,” she said with a wink.

Yeah, small stuff. Maybe he ought to get used to that.

“Great job,” Anna agreed, holding her glass up to his. Their eyes met, and his heart just about jumped out of his chest with need.

Not need,he told his bear.Greed. We can’t have her. We have to keep her safe.

“Now you can get to work on the deck,” Janna quipped.

“Janna!” everyone scolded.

She put up her hands. “Well, he said he wanted work…”

Todd nodded quickly. He did. Back in Montana, he’d been busy all day, every day. Here, he was superfluous, and that was the hardest part. Teddy already had a devoted father and family. In fact, he wailed anytime Todd came close, which made the message loud and clear.Get out of here, stranger. You make me feel unsafe.

Christ, he would lay down his life for Teddy. He already had, in a way. And he’d do it again and again and again, not because he wanted to claim his son but because Teddy was clan.

And that was the only thing that kept him from wandering back into the woods and returning to life as a bear. That just-in-case feeling in the back of his mind. That feeling that evil could come crashing back into their world at any time.

That, and Anna. He just couldn’t bring himself to abandon his mate. So he worshiped her from a distance. Followed her every move from afar. Sipped her scent and clung to it like a sailor clinging to a sinking ship. That was all he allowed himself.

That was all he dared take.

Chapter Six

Anna counted the days since she’d arrived in Arizona. Five? Six? It was all a whirlwind, and her mind still spun with everything that had happened.

She’d found her cousin alive and well. She’d met a man who didn’t cease to intrigue her — no matter how quiet he was or how sweaty at the end of a hard workday. She’d been pitching in to help with what seemed like the hardest working group of people west of the Mississippi, and she loved every minute of it. So much, she sometimes wondered if she ever wanted to leave. There was such team spirit among her cousin’s new extended family, such drive. Being part of it gave her a greater sense of satisfaction than she’d had for a long time. Luckily, it was the slow season in the real estate market, so she could take some time off. But she couldn’t stay forever, even though she sometimes wished she could.

Sarah and her friends made good company. The work was honest. The baby was adorable. Plus, there was the perk of sharing digs with Herr Hunksome, Todd. There was a certain thrill to having him as a housemate. Despite the fact that he kept things strictly platonic, the man carried a permanent undercurrent of sexuality around. The second they got close, a little hum would start up — the kind an electric fence made, or a generator chugging somewhere in the distance. Whenever she looked Todd’s way, he’d avert those amazing blue eyes, always a moment too late to hide that he’d been peeking at her, too.

But there was a wounded warrior vibe to him, too. Some deep sorrow that made her wonder if she ought to just leave him alone — which took every bit of self-control she had. The more she waited, the more she felt the urgency of a ticking countdown.

Get this man,the desert seemed to whisper on the hot, lonely nights she spent lying alone, thinking of him.Make him yours before it’s too late.

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