Page 30 of Dancer's Heart

The wolf at Richard’s side gave him a hard shake. “Reindeer rarely stray from their herds, and they stay under the radar. No one’s actually seen a reindeer herd before. Tight-knit doesn’t begin to describe their people.”

“She’s mated to my son. I scented what she is—reindeer smell like peppermint.”

Bradik lifted a cell to his ear and took a few steps away from the small group. He spoke in low tones, and Richard held his breath, hope filling him. It was gonna work. Ithadto work.

Bradik turned and said, “Give us the address and a description of the female.Ifit turns out she is a reindeer shifter and we’re able to take her, the boss said he’ll forgive your debt.”

Richard blew out a relieved breath and rattled off the description of the blonde female who was mated to his son, and Adam’s home address. He had no regrets. If Adam had helped him like a good son, he wouldn’thaveto trade the girl for his own safety.

The wolf pulled Richard’s arm up and wrenched it out of the socket. Richard shrieked in agony as he fell to the ground, pain shooting through his body.

“You’re a shitty father,” the wolf said.

Richard gasped. “I never wanted a kid anyway.”

* * *

Dani loved Honey. She was the nicest woman she’d ever met; gracious and kind, with a sweet laugh and a silly sense of humor.

“I think being a steward is kind of like being a doctor,” Honey said, spearing several glazed carrots on her plate.

“How so?” Dani asked. The meal was delicious. Jeremiah had smoked ribs all afternoon and shredded the meat, which Honey soaked in their homemade barbecue sauce and served along with three-cheese pasta, glazed carrots, and buttered rolls. Dani didn’t think she’d eaten so well in a long time.

“Well, we have to be on-call all the time, and the hours can be strange. Last night, Jer and I were salting sidewalks until one a.m.”

Jeremiah cleared his throat. “I offered to let you stay in bed, love.”

She rolled her eyes at him with a sweet smile. “It was more fun to be out with you, and then warm each other up when we were done.”

Adam squeezed Dani’s shoulder as Honey and Jeremiah stared at each other intensely. She looked at Adam and cupped his face. With a whisper she said, “Lucky.”

“I am,” he said gruffly.

“I meant me,” she said.

“We’re all lucky,” Jeremiah said. “Dade told me that fewer and fewer wolves are finding their truemates, but it seems that recently, at least in Wilde Creek, it’s happening a lot.”

“I wonder if there’s something in the water?” Honey asked, her eyes dancing.

“Or the timing is right,” Adam said. “No one had found a truemate for quite a while in the pack, and then Eveny and Luke got together, which led to Brynn and Acksel, then Malachi and Nila, and then you two,” he said, gesturing to Honey and Jeremiah.

“I think it’s supposed to be this way. My grandma used to say that wolves found their mates in groups and had babies close together because it was the way that nature ensured the next generation was close in age. Brynn, Nila, and Eveny are pregnant. I can’t wait for the fall heat,” Honey said.

Jeremiah growled lustfully and Dani smiled as Honey blushed. “What’s the fall heat?”

“It happens in September. All females who are twenty-five or older and aren’t nursing a pup go through a heat. It lasts about a week. A female can go through the heat with a male and not get pregnant if he uses condoms, but that makes it last longer.”

“Condoms make the heat last longer?”

“Because they prevent pregnancy. It’s like the body gets angry because it’s not being allowed to conceive, so it takes it out on the female,” Honey said.

“Sounds painful,” Dani said.

Honey shrugged. “We are what we were made to be. Do reindeer have anything like that?”

“Nope.” Dani was thankful that she didn’t go through a heat the way that Honey described. It sounded painful and unpleasant. She couldn’t imagine expecting that sort of thing every year. She wanted to ask Honey what she-wolves did when they didn’t have a mate to tend to their needs, but she had a feeling that Jeremiah wouldn’t like the answer, so she tabled the question for later when she and Adam were alone.

After the meal was over, Adam and Jeremiah shooed her and Honey into the family room while they got dessert ready. Honey excused herself to the bathroom, leaving Dani in the family room alone. She walked to the large window and pulled back the curtain. The world was dark, the partial moon obscured by clouds. She felt Adam before he joined her in the room, and turned to face him, expecting Jeremiah to be with him, but he was alone.

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