The car was mostly quiet for the drive back. Eva had leaned across the seat to rest her head on her mother’s shoulder, and Stella had an arm around her, occasionally stroking her hair. Lynn had slowly relaxed, scaling the car back to a reasonable speed. Ken put a comfortable hand on her knee and spent the time running through potential scenarios in case they had to confront the wolves again. At some point, after all, they’d probably have to go back to get Stella and Eva’s things, so even if the pack didn’t think it was worth it to come after one estranged girlfriend, there were tactics to consider.
That was if Stella didn’t decide to go back to Todd. Ken hoped she didn’t, but he knew that these things were often more complicated than they appeared to outsiders. And she might not think she had much of a choice.
Well, Ken would do his best to help Lynn show her that she did.
After all, there was that whole enormous house. It seemed a shame to move in with just him and Lynn.
His lion growled approvingly, and Ken blinked at himself. Was he nesting?
Maybe finding your mate changed you more than he’d realized.
Everyone was still quiet when they got back to the house. Inside, Lynn turned on the light, and Ken was able to see Stella and Eva clearly for the first time.
Stella resembled her sister in almost every way: short, curvy, blondish-brown hair, the same clear topaz-colored eyes. But her hair was cut in a short
, flyaway do that framed her face and looked like she’d put some styling effort into it, unlike Lynn’s severe bun. And she was wearing a flowing dress with a flower print on it, and stylish-looking leather boots, and a good amount of makeup, again totally unlike Lynn. Ken could see their separate personalities easily in how they presented themselves to the world.
Stella was pretty, but Ken definitely preferred Lynn’s no-nonsense outdoorsy look. He couldn’t explain just what about it made it so sexy—everything, he thought with a private smile. Lynn’s everything was what he wanted.
Eva had the same clear topaz eyes as her mother and her aunt—was she a lynx shifter too?—but she was taller, with straight auburn hair to her shoulders. She was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie, looking like any other teenager, except that the hoodie had what looked like a blue telephone booth printed on it. Some kind of pop culture thing, probably.
“Okay,” Lynn said on a sigh. “You guys know where your rooms are. The kitchen has food if you want it. I figure we can take a break, get some sleep, and figure out more plans in the morning.”
“You don’t have to make plans for us,” Stella said, with a hint of the confrontation she’d had in the car. “We can figure it out ourselves.”
This time, Ken could feel Lynn tensing up, ready to respond with something irritated. Maybe a comment on how clearly they couldn’t figure it out themselves, or none of them would be in this situation in the first place.
“Look,” he said, keeping his voice light and calm. “No one wants those assholes to cause any more trouble, right? So we might as well put our heads together and do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen, if we can.”
Stella looked at the ceiling. “I suppose so.”
Lynn relaxed again, and Ken smiled at Stella and Eva. “I hope you don’t mind if I hang around. I can clear out if you’d be uncomfortable having me here in your space.”
He didn’t want to, of course, but this was their home and he was a strange man, and they’d probably had enough of strange men invading their home. Especially Eva.
But both of them shook their heads. “No, not at all,” Stella said. “You’re Lynn’s mate, you should stay here. As long as you knock before entering any closed doors, there’s no problems.”
“I will definitely, one-hundred-percent knock,” he assured them.
“Okay,” Lynn interrupted. “You guys have everything—crap, do you not have toothbrushes and stuff? I think there’s extras, maybe—”
Stella hefted her bag. “I had Eva pack for us while she was in the back bedroom. We’ve got enough things for a couple of days.”
“Good. Great. Let’s go to bed.” Lynn threw Ken an imploring look.
“Sounds like a plan,” he said, and took her hand, letting her lead the way up the stairs.
Behind him, he could hear Stella’s muttered voice. “Man, she really did hit the jackpot, didn’t she?”
Lynn growled under her breath, and Ken had to grin. He could tell that Lynn wasn’t actually worried about Stella stealing him away—that would be a major shifter instinct moment, he bet it’d be hard to miss—so he felt okay about laughing at the way her hackles rose at Stella’s comments.
And it felt good. That she cared enough to get protective of her claim on him. That was something a man could grow to appreciate.
And when they reached the end of the hall and got through the door into Lynn’s room, he had her in his arms before the door was fully closed.
He could show her how much he appreciated her possessiveness now.
“Oh thank God,” Lynn said between kisses. “That entire drive back, I swear to you, all I wanted was to pick up where we left off, earlier.”