Casey
“Oh man, this is so good.”
Casey watched, smiling, as Natalie tore into her second croissant.
“We get them from the bakery up the road,” he said, as he buttered what must have been his fourth piece of toast for the morning. “It’s the only thing we don’t make ourselves. We tried, but no one does it better than old Sal. She’s been running that bakery since before I was born.”
“I can tell,” Natalie said, swallowing down her light, buttery pastry, before reaching for her coffee. “These are amazing.”
Casey felt his heart swelling with love as he watched his mate filling herself up with good, sustaining food. His lion was purring contentedly in his chest, for once seeming to be completely satisfied. He couldn’t think of a single reason why it wouldn’t be – after they’d gone to the bathroom to shower and make themselves decent, they’d ended up together again, unable to keep their hands off each other.
After that, it had been decided that perhaps Natalie should go take a shower in another of the staff bathrooms.
Casey had missed her every second he wasn’t with her, but it had been for the best: they had worked up quite an appetite, after all, and Faye had laid out a sumptuous breakfast for them, which they had gobbled up with relish. Casey was still having a hard time keeping his eyes in his head as he watched Natalie lick melted butter off her fingers, her pink tongue darting out from between her lusciously full lips.
Seeing him watching her, she smiled shyly – though he could see the flirtatious look in her beautiful blue eyes.
Once the food was finally gone, they sat across from each other, and Casey knew that, as nice as this was, they still had a lot to discuss.
“So… what happens now?” Natalie asked him, folding her hands on the table in front of her. “I’m… I’m your mate. But what does that really mean?” She looked him dead in the eye. “I need you to know that Micah is my first priority. Now and forever. Things moved so fast… but if that’s a problem –”
“What? No!” Casey blurted out, unable to stop himself. “Natalie, I know. Your child is always what comes first. I’d never ask you to –” He cut himself off, realizing that he was speaking way too quickly.
Man, this is hard.
“Natalie, I’ve always wanted kids. Always. It’s never not been my plan to have them. And besides… lions are big on family. Once you’re part of the pride, you’re part of the pride. As soon as I told you you were my mate, I knew I was taking responsibility for Micah too. He’s a part of you.”
Casey was surprised to see that Natalie’s eyes had misted up as he spoke. She looked at him now with an almost pensive expression on her face, biting her bottom lip. Casey wanted to do nothing so much as reach out for her, but he held himself back.
She needs time to think, he told his lion, when it lifted its head to ask him why he wasn’t comforting his mate.
As if to back him up, Natalie said, “It’s just that this has all happened so quickly. I arrive here, we have this… well, this amazing connection, you tell me we’re mates, we… uh, well we…” She trailed off, but her blush told him exactly what she was thinking about. “And now you say I’m part of your pride. But how can it be that simple? I mean, what do you really know about me? Anything? What if I’m hiding some deep dark secret, like a criminal past, or a psycho ex-husband who’s out for blood?”
Casey swallowed. How could he explain this?
“All of those things could be true,” he said slowly, trying to pick his words carefully. “But… it doesn’t affect the mated bond. The bond is what it is. If you really do have a criminal past or a psycho chasing after you, then those are problems we’ll solve. Together.”
Natalie laughed, shaking her head. “As amazing as that sounds, Casey, I just don’t see how it can be that simple.”
“I suppose it’s not,” Casey admitted. He looked up at her. “But do you have any of those things?”
Natalie hesitated. “No. Insofar as I’m not a criminal, and as far as I know, my ex – Micah’s father – would be really happy to never see either of us again. He certainly cleared out fast enough. So I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Casey felt a growl welling up in his chest. What kind of man leaves a woman alone with a child? Especially a woman as amazing as Natalie, and a child as adorable as Micah?
If Natalie’s ex ever did show his face around here, Casey knew he’d have a hard time not separating his head from his body for what he’d done, and the hurt he had caused her.
“But you should know I don’t exactly come with no strings attached,” Natalie said, her voice soft. “And I don’t know yet if I’m in the clear.”
With a rush, Casey remembered the frightened, hunted expression on Natalie’s face when she’d first stepped off the bus. Again, his lion pulled back its lips into a vicious snarl. Who is trying to hurt our mate?
“You can tell me about it, Natalie,” he said, trying to keep his voice gentle, despite the anger he felt growing in his chest.
Natalie looked up at him searchingly for a moment. Then, she nodded. “I know. I don’t know why, but I know I can.” She took a deep breath. “It was my ex, Ken. He racked up… debts. I don’t know how much. But it wasn’t exactly like he just took out a loan from the bank, although that would have been bad enough. These debts were to the kind of people who don’t mind showing up at your door and threatening you.”
“Loan sharks,” Casey said, narrowing his eyes.
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. It’s not like I asked for a business card, but I get the feeling they were… kind of an extra-legal organization. Not that I stuck around long enough to find out.”
“And that’s why you came here?” Casey asked.
Natalie bit her lip again. “Yes – but I’d already applied for the job before they showed up on my doorstep. I thought it was a one-in-a-million shot, and I was kind of just daydreaming when I sent in my application. I never thought… but then, when I got Faye’s email…” She trailed off, before pulling herself together. “I didn’t think about anything else. I just knew I had to get Micah out of danger. They couldn’t find Ken, so they were coming after us. I couldn’t risk it. I saw my chance. I took it.”
Casey nodded. “You did what you had to do to protect your cub. Do you think any of us would do any different?”
He watched as Natalie’s eyes slid over the heavy muscle of his shoulder with undisguised envy. “I can’t imagine you having to run away from anything.”
Casey smiled tightly. “Maybe not. But that’s because I know I’ve always got the support of my pride.” He reached across the table, covering her hand with his own. “And now you do too.”
For a long moment, Natalie simply stared at him. And then, her whole heart filled her eyes. “Casey, I… I don’t know what to say. I’ve never had anything like this before. I left home early, and Ken… well, even when we were together, Ken was never much help. Not with finances or around the home. And it only got worse once Micah came along. I thought it was natural for a father to love his child, but all he seemed to do was resent how much money we had to spend on him. Money I now know he’d much rather have been gambling.”
Once again, Casey’s lion rose within him. Where is this shithead? Just show me him, and I’ll do the rest…
Stop. He’s not here. Just calm down.
Casey closed his eyes, willing his lion to back off. When he opened them again, Natalie was looking at him, her eyes still wet.
“I can’t say for sure those loan sharks will leave me alone for good,” she said slowly. “What if they find me here?”
This time, Casey really did growl. Audibly. He hoped Natalie didn’t mind.
“Then I will deal with them. Those aren’t your debts, Natalie. And I promise you, if they want to come for you, they’ll have to go through me.”
Natalie swallowed, and then smiled. “All right. But… what about your family?”
Casey blinked. “What about them?”
An awkward expression spread across Natalie’s face, and she laughed nervously. “I mean… I did come out here for a job. And I still intend to do it, if Faye will have me. But won’t they think that… well, that this is a bit odd?” Her cheeks colored a little. “I am a bit older than you, after all. They won’t think I’ve… well, that I’ve Mrs. Robinsoned you?”
Casey frowned. “That you’ve what?”
Natalie threw up her hands. “You don’t get my pop culture references! This is exactly what I mean!” She sighed. “Mrs. Robinson is… well, an older woman who seduces younger men. It’s from a movie. An old movie.”
“It’s not that, I promise!” Casey said, holding up his own hands placatingly. “It’s just that I don’t really watch a lot of movies.” He took her hand again. “I don’t give a rat’s ass, if you’ll pardon my French, how old you are, even if you were fifty.”
“Fifty’s not old!” Natalie interjected, but Casey just shook his head.
“Then you’re just proving my point. You’re my mate.”
Natalie looked at him from beneath her lashes, a little shyly. “Then they won’t mind that I… uh, deflowered you.”
Casey laughed. “No. I mean… it’s not like I’m gonna go around announcing it to them. But I’m sure they’ll draw their own conclusions once they know we’re mates.” He leaned in, feeling his face heat. “And Natalie… I wouldn’t have chosen any differently. What we did… it was amazing.”
Casey stopped talking when he saw Natalie’s cheeks go red – and to tell the truth, he felt a little embarrassed himself. He wasn’t good with words, and never had been. Action had always been more his thing, sometimes without considering the consequences.
But in this, he was sure. More sure now than he had ever been before in his life.
But there’s still more to tell her. And then, you have to let her make her own decision.
Casey drew in a deep breath, as he felt his conscience prick at him.
Natalie had told him her secrets. And now, he had to tell her his own.
“There’s something you need to know about me, too,” he said, dropping his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he could look at her while admitting to what he was about to admit to. “All the stuff I said about the pride, and about always being there for each other. I… haven’t always lived up to it. I had to learn the hard way about what being in a pride really means.” He cleared his throat. “What I mean to say is, I was a little shithead when I was younger. Arrogant. Thought I knew everything. And totally closed off to understanding what… what mates meant.”
There was a pause, and Casey wondered what Natalie might be thinking. After a moment, she turned her hand over beneath his, so their fingers were interlaced.
“Everyone’s stupid when they’re young,” she said softly.
“Not like this,” Casey said, forcing himself to keep going. “I betrayed someone. Someone I cared about, and worse than that, someone who cared about me.”
“Who was it?” Natalie’s voice was still soft.
“My cousin, Mason,” Casey said. “I say cousin, but he’s more like a brother. His parents died in a car accident, and so he was raised with my brother and me. My father back then… well, he was real conservative, and liked to stick to the traditional way of doing things. The shifter way. And I guess I absorbed that more than I thought. So when Mason brought his mate home…”
“His mate – Charity?” Natalie asked.
Casey nodded. “That’s right. I thought, because she was human, she had no place in the pride. That Mason was betraying us by being mated to a human.”
Natalie swallowed. “But didn’t you say the mated bond was involuntary? A shifter can’t help who they’re mated to?”
“That’s right. But at the time… like I said, I had my head up my own ass. I’m not proud of what I have to say. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. But… you ought to know.” He steeled himself. “When Mason first met Charity, she was being hassled by some bikers. They wanted to buy her diner, to turn it into a clubhouse or something. Deal drugs out of it, launder money. Whatever. They were shifters – like me. That’s all I could see. So when they asked me to help them… I did.”
Casey could feel shame burning inside him. Talking about it now, he wondered how he ever could have been so stupid and ignorant. That he would take the side of some shifter lowlifes, instead of his own flesh and blood.
“What did you do?”
Natalie’s voice was soft, but Casey didn’t dare raise his head, in case he saw horror in her eyes – horror he knew he deserved. What kind of person – what kind of shifter – betrays family, after all?
“I… I planted drugs for them. In the back of Charity’s diner. What made it worse is that Mason is the county sheriff. If Charity had been caught, it would have made it impossible for him to continue on, since people knew they were together by then. The sheriff’s girl, caught with a heap of crystal meth? He would’ve had to resign.”
Natalie’s fingers twitched beneath his. He could hear her slight gasp, and closed his eyes.
“If you want to take some time away to think after hearing this, I get it,” he said. “Maybe I should have told you sooner.”
“Have they forgiven you?”
Casey looked up to find Natalie’s beautiful blue eyes trained on him.
“Charity and Mason – have they forgiven you?” she repeated.
“Yes. We have.”
Casey jumped a little, and turned to the doorway to see Charity and Mason standing there, Mason with one arm around his mate. He’d been so intent on Natalie that he hadn’t heard them come in at all.
“We forgave him a long time ago,” Charity said, walking into the room and coming to sit by them at the table. “He was a kid. And while that’s not always an excuse, Casey has done everything anyone can do to make up for it, and show he’s sorry for his actions. He helped us get rid of the bikers. And he’s worked harder than almost anyone at the B&B, and helped his brother at the ranch. He knows what being part of a pride means. And he knows what being a mate means.”
Casey watched as Natalie’s eyes moved from Charity’s face to Mason’s. Mason was wearing his Coldstream County sheriff’s uniform, and he could see the pieces click into place in Natalie’s head.
“It was over five years ago,” Mason said, following Charity across the room to put a hand on her shoulder. “And believe me – I was ready to tan Casey’s hide when it happened. But he’s proved he’s sorry, and that he’s grown up now. And pride is pride. I’d trust Casey with my life, now.”
Casey held his breath as Natalie looked between the two of them, before her eyes finally flickered back down to his face.
Her fingers tightened on his.
“Then I would too.”