Page 13 of Crew

This was just the start of things between them, and he couldn’t wait to see what came next.

Zara stood on the front porch of the farmhouse the following morning, waiting for Tris to meet her after breakfast. She and Crew had stayed up late into the night talking in the family room, sharing about their lives. She’d never felt so close to someone. He was unbelievably sweet and caring about the herd members, and so willing to bring her right into his life like she’d always been part of it.

She’d slept fitfully, waking frequently and wishing that Crew was with her.

She could tell by the way he yawned several times over breakfast that he hadn’t slept all that well either.

“Are you sure you don’t just want to hang out in the house?” Tris asked as she joined Zara with a basket hanging on one arm.

“I’d love to see how you do things around here. It’s so different from how it was for me before.”

Tris hummed. “I never thought that doing chores would make me happy, but it does. There’s something about working to keep the herd running smoothly that just makes my wolf so happy.”

They stepped off the porch and walked to the coop. Zara’s herd hadn’t had animals of any sort in their territory. There were a few gardens scattered around and she’d tended them, finding happiness in the dirt that she hadn’t found among her own people. While they gathered eggs and fed the chickens, Tris said, “Grey handles the cows, and of course, Daisy too.”

Zara ducked out of the coop and stretched with a yawn.

“Didn’t sleep well or didn’t sleep much?” Tris asked with a knowing smile.

“Not well,” Zara said. “I wouldn’t mind being tired if it was because I was with a certain male, but the truth is, I slept in a room by myself and just couldn’t rest consistently.”

“It’s a weird place having a soulmate but not being mated,” Tris mused.

“Yeah.”

“Did you always think you’d have a stallion for a mate?”

“I didn’t really think much about it. I was lonely, but none of the males in the herd appealed to me for a mate, and the herd wouldn’t have allowed a human as a mate. Maybe not even a shifter of another kind, I really don’t know.”

“I hate when groups act like that. Like, let people find their mates however they come, you know?”

“Agreed.”

“Well, well, well,” Levi said loudly as he walked out of the nearby barn where the herd had stayed.

“Good morning,” Zara said, wariness settling over her. It had been easy to forget about the herd when she was in the farmhouse with Crew and his people. But the reality was that she was part of the Valley Herd still, no matter that she and Crew were soulmates.

They weren’t mated yet.

Colton and the others walked out of the barn, and Colton gave Zara a once-over. “We’re going to scout a town for a relocation. Since you’re so busy playing house with the Little River Herd today, you probably don’t want to come along.”

It was a question and a statement, and damn was it snide.

“I’m content to help around here, since they were so gracious to put our people up for the week and offer assistance without asking for anything in return.”

Colton’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing, striding away to their vehicles.

The vehicles departed with a cloud of dust and Zara stared after them, a strange feeling settling over her like a blanket.

What was Colton up to?

“Let’s drop off the eggs and we’ll take a walk down the road to Nancy’s. She said her daughter Dani is stopping by and she’s bringing me some new face wash and mascara.”

“Sounds good to me.”

After putting the eggs in a container to sort and tend to later, they walked down the dirt road to Nancy and Dexter’s home.

“Oh! You must be Zara, I’m Dani! It’s so nice to meet you.” A bubbly brunette rose from a stool at the kitchen counter and came over to greet them.

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