“Shh. She’s coming.” Zach jumped up, most likely to let her know they were all in the kitchen.
Mrs. G went over to the stove and pulled something out of the oven that smelled divine. “Cassidy, have a seat next to Zach,” Mr. G said when she entered.
While their mate looked much better after the shower, the stress around her eyes hadn’t lessened.
No one was making any introductions, so Mike gave a little summary of each person, including what they did for a living. “And Zach’s dad is the sheriff of Wildwood.”
She froze.Oh, shit.
“Cassidy,” Zach said. “My dad can help, as can a few of my other relatives.”
“I don’t want anyone playing hero. I just need time to figure out how to handle Doug.”
“Excuse me, young lady, but I’m a little lost here. Would you mind filling me in?”
Mike thought Zach had done a good job, other than leaving out some details.
“You mean how I found Zach or about Doug?”
“You can start with Zach.”
Cassidy told them how she happened upon Zach. “Seeing how someone had tried to kill him, my instincts as a firefighter kicked in, and I half dragged, half carried him into the cave.”
Mrs. G placed a lasagna casserole on the table, along with a salad, and garlic bread. It looked amazing, though when she’d had time to prepare the meal, he didn’t know.
“Eat up before it gets cold.”
“We already ate, Mom. I just stopped by to give Cassidy some clothes.”
“Tawny, that is so nice of you. Thank you. Your mom said this outfit belonged to you.” Cassidy tugged on her T-shirt.
"It did, but it looks better on you," Tawny said.
"I appreciate the loan."
“No problem. As far as the rest of the clothes I brought, I was planning on donating the clothes anyway. They are just some T-shirts and drawstring pants that will probably be too short on you. They’re from my rescue center.”
Cassidy smiled. “I’m not picky. I didn’t have time to pack a lot. What little space I had, I filled with food as I didn’t know how long it would take me to find something to hunt.”
That resulted in a lengthy discussion about how she accomplished that. As the others peppered her with questions about farming and sustainable living, Cassidy slowly relaxed. The food on the table just seemed to disappear.
After two hours of everyone getting to know their mate, Mike could tell Cassidy was working hard to stay awake.
“I think we should let Cassidy get a good night’s sleep. She’ll be moving into my place once I give it a good cleaning. I’ll be bunking with Zach.”
“If anyone has any ideas for a job for Cassidy, please let us know,” Zach said.
“That is so nice of you all,” their mate said. “It can’t be anything related to firefighting though. If Doug learns where I am, that’s the first place he’ll look.”
“Cassidy,” Tawny said. “If Doug does find you, what do you think he’ll do? He wants to mate with you, so he won’t harm you, will he?”
“Probably not, but the man has proven time and time again that if he wants something, he doesn’t care what he has to do to get it.”
“Not to be rude, but why you?” Liam asked. “You said you aren’t his fated mate. Why not look elsewhere?”
“I wish I knew. However, my father is the Alpha of our clan. I imagine Doug is thinking that if the two clans join, we will supply his clan with food, water, and possibly labor. We are hard workers.”
“What would your clan get out of such a union?” he asked.