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I blinked back tears I refused to shed. “I wish there was a way to make it up to her.”

“You saved her life.”

“But she was only in risk because of me. I helped them.”

Mom shook her head. “Did you at any time want to hurt Casey?”

“Of course not!” Anger welled up inside me at the thought. “I’d give my life to protect her.”

“Then there is no reason to blame yourself. Once you discovered what was going on you risked everything to save her. And you never looked back.”

Despite my attempts to stop them, several tears rolled down my cheeks. “I guess I owe you an apology too. For leaving without saying goodbye.”

“And I owe you many apologizes. For taking away your choice to be raised with your birth father, for hiding your true nature.”

“But apologies don’t change anything. They don’t change the past.”

“And they certainly don’t change the future.” Mom pulled me into the hug. “How about we focus on the future?”

“I’d like that.” I held onto her, needing her familiar smell and feel. Despite the time we’d spent apart, she still had to ability to make me feel safe and loved. I guess a mother always had that. After a few moments I stepped back and immediately changed the subject. I needed to stop the tears. “Are those the gardens?” I pointed to tall wooden fences with ivy growing over them.

“Yes, here we are.” She stepped through a small opening in the fence. “Ready for a tour?”

“Sure.” Compared to everything else, touring the gardens didn’t seem too bad.

Mom wound her way through rows of plants, pointing out the different herbs and vegetables and introducing a few people along the way. They each smiled politely, and most shook my hand. I tried to pay attention, but I knew I’d never remember all the names.

Finally she stopped in front of a row toward the back of the gardens. “Don’t forget to grab a tomato for Jared.”

I looked down, and sure enough it was a row of tomato plants.

“Could I try to help?” I needed to get my hands dirty. There was something about working with the earth that came so naturally to me. I was sure it was part of being a bear.

“Of course.” My mom nodded. “Slade?”

A youngish guy, who was either in his late twenties or early thirties looked up from his work. He brushed off some dirt from his pants before standing up. He bowed his head slightly. “Hello, Taliana.”

“There is no reason to be formal. This is my daughter, Vera. Would you mind an extra hand? She’d like to help.”

He grinned. “Sure thing, Vera. I’m Slade.” He held out his hand.

I accepted the handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

He handed me a trowel. “We’re planting tomatoes.”

“I assumed that.” Mom glared at me, so I backtracked. “But thanks for making sure I knew.”

Mom smiled. “I’m going to stop by and see a few people. I’ll come by this way before I head back.”

“Sounds great.” For better or worse, a wave of relief washed over me when she walked away. I knew she was hiding stuff from me, and keeping my mouth shut was harder than I expected. I was used to saying exactly what was on my mind.

“You’ve done this before.” Slade wasn’t asking a question.

“Yes. Growing up.” Mom had always loved her garden. I’d spent many of my childhood weekends helping her. Everything changed when I reached my teens. I felt lost, and I knew something was different about me. Looking back I now knew it was because my body was begging to shift. There’s only so long you can hold off the first change.

“You won’t have to take a job, but we’d love to have you here.” He seemed nervous, like asking was somehow inappropriate.

“Take a job when?”

“Anytime I guess. But like I said, I know you don’t actually have to.”

“I’m not really staying.” Maybe that fell under the giving away too much information category, but it seemed silly to lie.

“You’re not?” He set down his trowel. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“You’d give up your place in the line and abandon Norco even if it left us to complete ruin?” He brushed his brown hair away from his eyes.

“Uh, I didn’t say that.” Now I was really going to get myself in trouble.

“Taking a sabbatical, sure, but may I speak freely?”

“Aren’t you already?” What was with the guys here asking that question?

“You’re already in your twenties, are you not?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you ready to pick your mate? You’re not getting younger.”

My trowel flew out of my hand and landed right next to him. “What did you say?”

“Whoa, calm down.” He held out his hands in front of him as if in defense. “I heard about what you did to Eno. No need to do that to me.”

“Why are you calling me old?” I touched my chest. “Do I look old to you?”

His face turned red. “No, you look good. I mean great.”

“I’m not old.” I picked up the trowel and got back to work.

“Not old in years exactly, just old to be un-mated.”

“And how old are you then?” I watched him. His face seemed slightly weathered, but I knew it was likely from hours spent outside.

“Twenty-five.”

“And you’re un-mated?”

“No mate for me yet.” He shrugged. “It’s not by choice.”

“Come on, I’m sure there are some girls here you like.”

“Of course, but that doesn’t mean they choose me.”

“Women choose their mates here?” Now that sounded like a good way to run things.

“Yes. It’s always been that way.”

“I’m sure you will be picked.”

“If I’m not, I’m not. I’ve done my military commitment, and now I’m doing what I love.” He spread out his arms at the garden. “But you’ll have to choose.”

“Why would it matter if I didn’t take a mate?”

“Because there’d be no heir and your line would die.” He went back to planting.

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that at all.

“Maybe consider staying around?” There was a hopefulness in his voice.

“I take it you like Gareth.”

“He takes care of his people. There is no one better for the job.”

“I’ll see what I decide to do.”

“If you’re looking for options, know I’m available.” He winked.

I laughed. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll remind you when I petition for you tonight.”

“Uh, what?”

“You don’t know about the Petere ceremony ?” He asked.

“The
what
?”

“Any eligible man may petition for you tonight.” He grinned. “It’s sure to be a long evening.”

“Petition for me?” My hand flew to my chest. “You have got to be crazy.”

“Nope. We were supposed to have one for your sister, but well, she was already in love with someone else.”

“Casey? But she’s not even—”

“We know. She’d never be able to take over here, but Gareth still claimed her as his daughter so she is a member of the clan.”

“Were you going to petition for her?”

He shook his head. “No. She was too young for me. You on the other hand, you’re older.”

“Yes, I’m an old maid. I get it.”

“Your words not mine.”

I laughed. Maybe Slade had a better sense of humor than I thought.

“W
here are we going exactly?” I’d followed Gareth for over a half-hour already, and I was starting to question my decision to follow him blindly. Not that I had much of a choice. If I wanted to find out what the man was really up to—and I definitely needed to do that—then following him was my only option.

We’d turned out of the courtyard and walked back like we were heading to the glade, but at the last second we turned and headed west before we did a zig zag pattern through the forest. It was as though he were choosing our route in order to deliberately confuse anyone watching us. I assumed that was his point.

“You’ll see when we get there.” He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to meet my eye.

“That’s not particularly helpful. Any reason for this mystery?”

“Why waste words when you don’t need them? You’ll see soon enough.” There was something off putting about Gareth’s speech. Sometimes he sounded so stoic and wise, but then there was also something fake about it. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but now it nagged at me.

“I assume you’ve lived here your whole life?” Fishing for information under the cover of polite conversation was usually a safe trick.

“Aside from a short sabbatical in my twenties, yes.”

“And what was that sabbatical for?” I attempted to keep my tone light so he wouldn’t get suspicious. I couldn’t risk setting off warning bells.

“Just a standard trip away. All of our men and women do it.”

“And women?” That got me thinking. “Taliana did too?”

“Yes.” He picked up his pace.

“At the same time as yours?”

“No. She was a few years younger.”

“Did she go alone?”

“No. She went with a friend.”

“Chris?” I took a chance even though the name could set Gareth off.

“Is there a reason you’re asking me so many questions?”

“It’s how I get when I’m nervous.” That sounded plausible even though it was completely untrue. I never got nervous.

“She did do her sabbatical with Chris. They were as close as siblings growing up.”

If I’d been doing an interrogation, I’d have pushed him. I’d have asked him how that made him feel, but this wasn’t an interrogation. I wasn’t the one running things, and if I wasn’t careful I was going to lose any good grace I had with my host. “Oh. I bet this is a pretty great place to grow up.”

He bought my insincere words—at least he seemed to. “It’s the best.” He looked at me. “Not that New Orleans wouldn’t be exciting.”

“How’d you know I was from there originally?”

“The king wouldn’t choose an outsider to run his security, now would he?”

“Not by choice.” Who knew what he was going to do now? I’d left a few guys in charge, but none of them were ready to take over completely. Still, Levi was smart and resourceful, and he had the best advisor around.