Page 32 of Shifters' Fated Summer
Elowen pushed open the door with her hip, and I followed her onto the deck. Dark-stained wooden planks ran the length of the house. A railing surrounded it, with breaks for stairs that led down. In the center, wide steps led to a lower deck that became a dock stretching out over the lake.
“This is amazing,” I said, my voice raw as my tears dried.
“Yeah, it’s my favorite place to be.” She used her spoons to wave me forward. We settled on the far end of the deck in a pair of cushioned chairs. Elowen wiggled in her seat until she was comfortable and propped her feet up on the lower rung of the railing.
She plopped the ice cream tub on the small table between us, pried it open, and handed me one of the spoons. Only after she had scooped up some of the chocolate ice cream and sucked it off the spoon did she speak again.
“I understandyou came to us through some difficult circumstances.”
All I could do was grunt and take a bite of ice cream as an excuse not to speak.
Elowen’s green eyes studied me. “How long were you with the vampires?”
My voice was thick when I answered. “I was ten or eleven, I think. Not completely sure.”
“Yeah? What was it like in the den?”
I blinked at her. In all of Cade and Luca’s questioning, neither had asked me that.
“It was pretty scary at first. But as I got older, it was home. Especially once Evrin claimed me as his intended mate. Then I was only donating to him, and it was fine. No one bothered me. I spent most of my time sleeping, knitting, and sometimes reading.”
“You like knitting?” She brightened. “I’ve always wanted to, but I don’t have the patience for it. I think I have some yarn and knitting needles somewhere. I’ll try and find them for you.”
My brows furrowed. “You’d just give them to me?”
“Why not?” Her head tilted and hair that blazed almost white in the sunlight spilled over her shoulder. “Make me a baby beanie or something and we can call it even.”
“Sure,” I said, my mouth curving into a genuine smile. It was impossible not to like Elowen. “Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thanks! It was pretty unexpected.” She leaned forward like she was sharing a secret. “We aren’t exactly supposed to be procreating yet. But these things happen.”
“Really,” I said, frowning.
Elowen took another bite of ice cream. “When a new pack forms, we aren’t supposed to start having babies until the new territory is secured. AKA no vampires.”
“So that’s why they are trying to get rid of them.”
“Vampires really like the taste of our blood, and they’ll kill us if they get the chance. Even if it wasn’t about them coming after us, they hurt and kill humans, especially children, so we can’t tolerate them.” I met her sympathetic gaze. “I hope you understand.”
“I’m starting to. I think I was treated a lot better than most donors, if that picture was anything to go off of.”
“Because you were delicious,” Elowen said with a teasing grin.
A laugh escaped me, and I relaxed, grateful to Elowen for making light of my history.
“So anyways, Archer wasn’t supposed to knock me up, but he’s my fated mate and I went into heat, and obviously it’s pretty hard to not get pregnant in heat. So, here we are.” She shrugged.
My eyes widened. “I feel so stupid, but I don’t know anything about any of that.”
Elowen’s mouth popped open. “Oh, honey. Okay, let’s go over it. You need to know this stuff. I didn’t think about what you don’t know since you weren’t raised by wolves.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Don’t apologize. It’s my fault. And I’ll do my best to help, and if you have any other questions about anything, I’m here for you.”
A flush crawled up my neck. It was embarrassing not knowing anything, really. I didn’t even know what questions to ask.
“Okay, so wolves typically select their mates, and those are long term partners like human marriage. It’s super, super rare for a mating to break up.”
