Chapter Twenty-Three

Wyatt stared down at his mate where she rested on his bed—no, their bed—her body curled on her side, a sheet covering her legs. When they’d gotten home, he’d left her alone to take a shower and then given her one of his T-shirts to wear. He liked the idea of her in his shirt and was glad she’d taken it from him instead of putting on another tiny tank top and those damn short shorts that made his mouth water and his dick hard.

Granted, the T-shirt was also sexy as hell, and he was pretty sure she hadn’t put panties on, so in the end, the result was the same. At least she was resting. The drugs had taken their toll and left her exhausted. As a shifter, she would rebound quickly, but she needed sleep.

He prayed she wouldn’t be angry with him when she found out about the phone call he’d just made, but it had been necessary in his eyes, so he wouldn’t apologize for it.

A soft moan escaped her lips, and she slowly rolled to her back as she blinked her eyes open. The smile that spread across her face as she looked up at him lit up his world. Everything that ever happened to them would be worth it as long as he got that smile from time to time.

“Hey,” she whispered, reaching out a hand toward him. “How long have you been standing there watching me?”

He sat on the edge of the mattress and lifted her fingers to his mouth. After he kissed her knuckles, he rubbed them against his cheek. “Not long. I just got off the phone with your parents.” He didn’t want to wait to tell her and make her think he’d been sneaking around behind her back or trying to keep anything from her.

Her eyes widened, and she groaned. “Lord, are they on the next flight out of Australia?”

He chuckled. “No. I assured them you were in good hands and talked them down from the ledge.”

She narrowed her gaze. “You’re sure they were my parents?”

He laughed. “Yes. And I hope you won’t kill me for finding their number in your phone.”

She sighed. “I don’t have secrets from you.”

“But you do have a pile of them you keep from your parents.”

She bit her lip. “Yeah.”

“You should tell them what happened to you someday.”

She glanced past him. “I know.”

“I was glad to find out you had at least emailed them and told them about me earlier this week. I was worried I was going to blindside them with an overload of information if I had to tell them not only was their daughter abducted and rescued today, but she was no longer with her gay boyfriend, oh and by the way, she has a mate. I’m him. And I intend to bind her to me as soon as possible.”

She gave him a coy grin. “I don’t think they ever believed I was really with Gavin.”

“Apparently not. They were overjoyed about me.” He smiled broadly, pumping his chest out.

She cocked her head to one side. “You called them just to tell them I was safe?”

He shrugged. “More like I called them because it seemed like the right thing to do before I bind myself to their daughter without a word.”

That smile again. “How chivalrous.” She turned her hand over to cup his face.

“Oh, and you should probably expect calls from your brother and sister soon too.”

Her eyes shot wide again. “You called Nolan and Ryann?”

“No, but your mother couldn’t wait to tell them as soon as we hung up.”

She groaned. “They’re going to kill me.”

“Are you close? You’ve hardly mentioned them this week.”

“As close as we can be. As close as I am to anyone.” Her words were serious. “Close enough that they’ll show up here in the next few days to check you out.”

He leaned forward and tapped her nose. “As long as they don’t show up tonight. I swear if anyone comes to the door or even close to this property tonight, I might personally shoot them.”

“Why?” She batted her eyes. “Do we have plans?”

“We do.” He lowered her hand from his face and tugged on it while he stood. “But first, I need to feed you. You haven’t eaten today, and I don’t want you to pass out from malnutrition while I make love to you.”

Her face turned dark red.

He loved that he embarrassed her so easily when he talked about sex. If she maintained that innocence for years to come, he would not be sorry. It was adorable.

Not releasing her hand, he led her from the bedroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen.

“My God, it smells good in here. How long was I asleep?”

He pulled out a chair for her and pushed it back in as she sat. “Can’t take credit. My mom made stew and brought it over.”

“That was very sweet of her.”

When Wyatt lifted the lid off the pot, Paige inhaled deeply and groaned. “That smells delicious. I didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

“After watching that crazy woman eat in front of you all day, I would think you’d have been starving.” He hoped his attempt to make light of her shitty day didn’t fall flat.

She didn’t flinch. “Honestly, I was thirstier than anything else. I think I drank three gallons of water when we finally got here.”

“Plus two bottles in my car,” he teased.

She took a bite, her eyes closing for a second as she savored the flavors, and then she sobered. “Has anyone heard from Gavin?”

Wyatt filled his own bowl and then set the ladle down and took her hand. “Dale’s with him.”

She nodded, her eyes dropping to the table. “I feel awful. I should be with him. He’s my best friend. We’ve stuck together through everything for most of our lives. It’s weird not being the one to comfort him.”

“I know. But you can’t fix this one. And he’ll talk to you when he’s ready.” Wyatt hated seeing her hurt for her friend. He’d sensed the stress level increasing from Gavin from the moment they’d rescued Paige. Gavin had been nervous and fidgety. And Wyatt knew why. The man was worried to death about how the Arcadian Council might address the fact that he too was a human who knew about shifters.

“I lied to him.” She swallowed. He could sense her deep feeling of guilt.

“You didn’t. You simply kept this one detail about the Arcadian Council to yourself. It was the kind thing to do. He didn’t need to know the council had the ability to erase people’s memories. That information is too stressful for a human.”

When the Arcadian Council gathered everyone around outside the cabin to discuss how they intended to alter Kelly’s memory, Gavin had an anxiety attack and raced toward Paige’s car. Wyatt had no doubt if Dale hadn’t caught up with him as fast as he had and wrestled him for the keys, Gavin would have driven off in a dangerous state of mind, leaving Dale behind.

“Someone needs to reassure him the council isn’t interested in him.”

“Dale’s doing that, babe.”

She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. “You’re sure? I thought he might faint on the spot when he found out what George and Henry were going to do to Kelly.”

“Can you blame him?”

“No.” Her shoulders relaxed. “You think his relationship with Dale is serious?” Hope caused her voice to lift.

“Not sure, but I can tell you Dale’s been dealt a lot of bad hands in his life. He deserves to be happy. I’m just not sure he has the ability to give happiness a chance.”

Paige nodded. Luckily she didn’t ask for details because Dale’s life was his own and Wyatt didn’t want to air out the man’s laundry without his permission. Besides, it would take half the night to tell Dale’s sagas, and Wyatt had other plans.

Wyatt ducked his head lower to meet her gaze. “Let’s trust the two of them to figure it out. They’re grown men.”

“Yeah. I know. What have you heard from the Arcadian Council?”

He winced. “The human police finally arrested Kelly about an hour after we left. I hate that there was no way to avoid keeping you and Gavin out of the mess when they altered her memory.”

She scrunched up her face but gave him a resigned look as she released his hand and took another bite of stew. “I didn’t expect I would escape unscathed. I just wish they hadn’t had to discuss their choices in front of Gavin or included him in the scheme. He must be freaking out trying to get the story straight.”

“I know, babe.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that I can think of a better solution. But seriously? Changing that crazy woman’s memory to make her believe she’s been chasing after Gavin for a year is crazy.”

Wyatt nodded. “I know. It sucks. But it’s tidy. It eliminated a lot of baggage. Now all she needs to believe is that she wanted Gavin for herself and she thought she could have him if she eliminated you from the picture.”

Paige pushed her stew around with her fork. “Yeah. I would have preferred Gavin never finding out the council had the ability to wipe minds. I sheltered him from that for ten years, hoping he could live out his entire life never knowing that at any given moment an entity with powers far greater than mine could sweep in and hypnotize him, completely changing everything he knew to be true.”

“It’s a difficult fact for any human to digest. I hear you, but keeping that from him any longer would have been cruel too.”

“I hope he doesn’t hate me for not telling him.”

“I think he was just scared. Nothing else. He panicked. Anyone would.”

She nodded. “I wasn’t sure George and Henry were going to pull it off. I’m still leery.”

Wyatt nodded. “I know. Unfortunately, since she was obsessed with you for months and went so far as to kidnap you to get her story, wiping her knowledge of shifters from her mind and letting her go wasn’t a viable option. She needed to be taken into human custody and dealt with.”

“I expected that.”

Wyatt took another bite of his dinner and then took a drink of water. He set his elbows on the table. “The picture George and Henry painted to replace Kelly’s memory is convoluted, but it will work. We have to have faith. The police bought it.”

She shuddered. “It still makes my skin crawl to think she was following Gavin and I for months. All those pictures… George is brilliant.”

“They went through all the photos, picked out the ones that would support the new reality, and planted them in both her apartment in Calgary and the one here. Mostly distance shots of Gavin dropping you off at work or heading into the library with you at U of C. They even pulled several shots that happened to be of just Gavin and planted them too.”

She smiled slightly. “It’s kinda comical when you think about it. I mean, she only accidentally happened to get pictures of Gavin while stalking me, and now she believes she was actually following Gavin in hopes of love. He’s gay.” She giggled.

Wyatt loved that sound, and he loved even more how well she was taking the news. “It is ironic. Nevertheless, the woman is in custody now. Human custody. She’ll be charged with kidnapping and stalking. You and Gavin simply need to stick to your story, which really isn’t much. You didn’t have anything to do with it. You never even knew she was stalking you. Easy. Tidy.”

“It’s amazing how powerful the Arcadian Council’s hypnotic abilities can be. And not a little freaky too. Thank God, their mojo only works on humans. I can’t imagine worrying all the time that someone has the ability to alter my reality with just a suggestion.”

“Not to mention how messy their job is cleaning up people’s homes and lives to match the new truth.” Wyatt shuddered, agreeing with her. It was a wonder Gavin hadn’t lost his mind when he’d found out. At least he’d held it together long enough to run from the scene. His panic had been palpable, but there was no way at the time to reassure him.

The reality was that the world did have a handful of humans who knew about the existence of grizzly shifters. The Arcadian Council was aware of most of them and kept tabs when necessary. Although Gavin was rightfully concerned, he didn’t have any reason to worry. The council had undoubtedly known about his exposure for years. As long as he posed no threat, they would leave him alone to live his life and maintain the relationships he had with his friends and loved ones.

“So basically,” Paige began, “I’ll be called to testify about my kidnapping in order to implicate Kelly in her weird made-up crime she didn’t really commit.”

“A weird made-up crime that was far more lenient than the one she did commit mind you. And she’s far better off this way than being sent to the Northwest Territories to stand trial and be sentenced by the grizzly community.”

“True. I wish there had been a way to just shoo her back to her real life without having to call the police.”

“And maybe that would have been an option days ago when all she was doing was snooping around trying to spy on people because she thought she believed some of us were actually quote werebears.” He chuckled. “But it takes a special kind of stupid to abduct someone to prove the case. It wouldn’t have been prudent to let her go. She’s unstable in general. The woman has a weird history.”

“Yeah. I get that.”

“You’ll have to make a statement to the police, but since the detective on the case is one of us, he agreed to come out tomorrow morning instead of spending half the night questioning you today.”

“That’s a fortunate coincidence.”

“It is.” For several minutes, Wyatt let his mate eat in peace, keeping his gaze on her almost constantly, learning her quirks—the way she held her fork, the way she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear after every few bites, the way she let her eyes slide closed when she tasted her food.

Damn, he loved this woman.

He needed to tell her a few more things, so he reached across the table and took her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “You haven’t met everyone in town yet, and I’m sure about a dozen people are dying to meet you, especially my brother Isaiah and his mate Heather.” He took a deep breath. “You know there are other victims of Antoine in town. Not all of them were treated as brutally as you, but he left a lot of scars. More than we know, I’m sure.”

She nodded. “Is Heather one of them?”

She was perceptive. “Yes, and Austin Tarben’s mate, Nuria.”

“His own brother?” She winced.

“Yes. I just wanted you to be prepared. One day soon you’ll meet both women. Maybe they can help you. Maybe you’d prefer not to talk about it. It’s up to you. I just didn’t want you to be blindsided.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, the pain and fear he would have expected just days ago not as prevalent. She was going to survive. Her past would not haunt her every waking hour. It would take time, but Wyatt would be by her side every step of the way, however she needed him.

The subject was dropped, and when she finally pushed her plate away and wiped her mouth on her napkin, she sighed. “Tell your mom that was the best meal I’ve had in forever.”

Gavin stood, taking both their plates and heading for the dishwasher. “You can tell her yourself next time you see her.”

Paige followed him with the pot of stew, which he made room for in the refrigerator. As soon as he spun around, he opened his palms in front of her and set them on her shoulders. Enough stalling. He kissed her lips gently and then spoke his mind. “Paige Osborn, will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?”

She smiled. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”