Chapter 15

We finish our meals, I pay, and eyeball every shifter in the diner on the way out—daring them to challenge me. I'm not the Alpha here, but I am an Alpha, and everyone knows it. Add my SpecOps background to being the Sergeant-at-Arms of our MC, and I'm not someone to be trifled with.

Regardless, I'm in a sour mood because I can feel the tension radiating off my mate. I'm particularly annoyed because I'm the cause of her anxiety. I didn't have time to prepare her for this world. Maybe my "rip the bandage off" approach was wrong. I could have fixed her breakfast at home this morning and explained our world a little better before presenting her to every shifter within a twenty-mile radius.

Yeah, I definitely fucked this up.

We walk a block to the clinic, locking the door behind us. Sly flips the sign from open to closed and walks into the back room with Cricket and Erick in tow. I hold Dinah's hand tightly and pull her into a side room, closing the door behind us. Dropping to my knees, I wrap my arms around her hips and press my face into her belly. "I'm sorry, Dinah. I should have explained everything before flaunting our mating bond to the shifter community."

She stands very still, her hands loose at her sides. "Are we in danger because we know your secret?"

"No. Nothing's changed on that front. I will protect you and Jimmy until my dying breath." I look up at her, willing her fears away. "We all will. But I can't make people accept our bond. I can't make them welcome us with open arms. I am prepared to walk away from everything, everyone I know, to give you a perfect life full of love and acceptance."

Her hands come to my face, her features soften, and I breathe a sigh of relief. "Why don't they like me?"

"It's got nothing to do with you, Honeysuckle. It's about protecting our kind, which is why we have to keep the secret. You're not the only human to know, but this is an open community full of humans and shifters alike. Very few here know about us, and the fewer who do, the better."

"I would never do anything to hurt you or your friends." Dinah shakes her head. "Besides, I don't know anyone. Who am I going to tell?"

Chuckling, I press a kiss to her soft belly that I hope one day will carry many of my cubs. "I know that. Erick, Cricket, Sly, Wiley, and Nan know that too. It will take time for everyone else to get to know and trust you, that's all."

"Any other secrets you've neglected to share with me?" She brushes her fingers through my hair.

"Not that I can think of." I stand up and pull her into my arms.

"Any old girlfriends I need to set straight?" She grins, a bit of sass poking through that I love.

"No old girlfriends, but I have been familiar with some of the females in town."

She arches her brow. "Familiar?"

"I'm a shifter. Sex is very raw and natural for us. We don't get hung up on emotions with those we aren't mated to. It's a purely physical act, nothing more."

Dinah sighs. "As long as none of them think they get to be familiar with you ever again."

I grin. "Are you being territorial over me?"

"Well, you are mine. Right?" She bats her lashes.

"Yes, Honeysuckle. I am yours—mind, heart, body, and soul." Leaning down, I kiss her deeply, transferring every bit of love I have for her through my lips. "I love you, Dinah."

"I love you, Kade."

"Let's check on Jimmy, go shopping, and then spend the night eating in bed.

"What are we eating?"

Smirking, I lean in and whisper in her ear. "I don't know about you, but I'm having my mate's pussy for dinner."

We walk into the back room to find Jimmy sitting upright in a chair wearing a pair of soft sweatpants and a faded T-shirt. There are still tubes of fluids in his arms, but the beeping monitors are gone, and his face looks a hundred times better. At least he can partially open his right eye today.

"Dinah!" Jimmy's smile is a mile wide and my mate drops my hand and rushes forward to give him a gentle hug. I watch this interchange, expecting my bear to grumble, but he doesn't.

Yeah, Jimmy is no threat to our bond.

"You're up!" Dinah giggles and kisses his cheek.

"I feel amazing, like I could climb a mountain."

"Yeah, you're not doing that anytime soon, bub." Sly shakes his head, his arms crossed over his chest as he leans against the far wall.

"We've talked to Jimmy. I assume you explained things to Dinah?" Erick says.

"Like you couldn't hear me?" I side-eye Erick.

"Actually, I was talking, so I wasn't listening to you." He dismisses me with an eye roll. In a lot of ways, he's the older brother I never had. We certainly pick on each other like I do with my siblings in Fortune Falls.

Jimmy puts his hands up. "We're all good as far as I'm concerned. I've spent my life keeping secrets. I'm very good at it."

"Plus, we would never do anything to endanger you." Dinah stands up and rests her hand on Jimmy's uninjured shoulder. "You've treated us more like family in the last thirty-six hours by accepting and protecting us than we've ever known. We've only ever had each other, and now I hope we have you too."

I crook my finger and open my arms as she smiles and rushes forward into my embrace.

"I guess it's settled. We have two new members of our pack." Nan smiles and exchanges a look with her brother Wiley.

"When can Jimmy get out of here?" I ask, my arm slung casually around my mate.

"He's out of here tonight," Wiley says.

I nod, thinking through the logistics of my cabin.

Nan laughs. "Oh, please. He can't stay with you and your new mate in your one-bedroom hovel. He'll stay with me and Wiley until he's ready to branch out on his own."

My relief must be evident on my face, because everyone chuckles, to include Jimmy.

"Thank you." I exchange glances with my pack members, gratitude infusing my bones. I guess the Fates were right to lead me here after separating from the military.

"No problem. We take care of our own." Nan stiffens as several motorcycles stop outside of the clinic and a heavy hand hits the front door.

I glance at my watch. "Shit. I figured it would take a few hours before the rumor mill did its job."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Carla was on the phone while Milo was introducing himself at the table." Cricket clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

"I'll get it." Erick rolls his neck and shoulders, instantly becoming larger and more intimidating.

Several members of our MC walk into the clinic, one of them with his arm around a human female.

I arch my eyebrow at the woman, Jude's scent mixed with hers. "Heard the good news. Congrats."

"Same to you."

"Seems like it was a busy full moon." Erick nods in their direction.

"Thought we could introduce our mates." Jude ignores Erick's lame joke, his arms tightening around his female. "This is Nara."

"Nara… why does that sound familiar?"I exchange thoughts with Erick, Cricket, and Sly.

"Midnight Rebels MC."Erick thinks back.

"Right."

"This is Dinah and her brother, Jimmy." I purposefully slip in the word brother. Otherwise there'd be too many damn questions that I don't feel like answering right now.

"I guess now we know why you two weren't at the party last night." Caden points to Cricket and Sly, who as MC prospects, had very specific duties last night that were missed by the rest of the club.

"You have no idea." Sly shakes his head.

He shrugs. "You SpecOps guys have your own special bond, and we get that. We'll hash it out at church."

"Sounds good." Cricket chirps.

"Well, shit." Jude chuckles. "I guess we should have a barbeque or something to celebrate."

"That would be good. Give us a couple of weeks to get settled. Maybe on the next new moon?" I can't believe Jude is also mated to a human. What are the odds? It does make introducing Dinah to the shifter community easier with two of them here in Broken Arrow.

Jude nods. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Dinah and Jimmy."

Nara smiles and waves before they turn to leave. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Dinah glances up at me, confusion written all over her face.

I wink to reassure her. We wait until the motorcycles rumble down the street.

"What the fuck?" Wiley's eyebrows are so high, they're lost in his hair.

I shake my head. "I don't know, but this just made things simpler for me."

"I don't understand," Dinah and Jimmy say at the same time.

"Nara's human, which means we have two shifter-human matings near the same full moon. It's a good thing. It means all the shifters that matter have our back."

"Plus barbeque." Cricket grins.

I roll my eyes and pull Dinah back against my chest, wrapping my arms around her waist, and pressing my nose into her hair. Fuck, I love her scent. "Time to take you shopping, Honeysuckle. We'll pick you up a few things too, Jimmy."

"Thanks." Jimmy smiles at the picture of us—me holding my mate, her melting into my embrace. "This is nice and exactly what I wanted for you, Dinah."

"You'll find your soulmate soon enough, Jimmy. I'm sure of it."

He casts his eyes to the floor, a wistful smile on his face. "I think so too."

"We'll swing by your place tomorrow." I nod at my brethren, thankful for their support.

"See you then."

Walking hand in hand out of the clinic, I take a look around Main Street in our small town. Maybe we can make it work here, after all, and I can give Dinah the kind of life she deserves surrounded by good people who take care of their own.

"Kade?"

"Yes, Honeysuckle?"

"Think we can find somewhere private between here and the store?"

I glance down at her and the mischievous grin spreading her lips. The way she looks at me causes my bear to stir, my mating pheromones pumping out of my pores. "Looks like the student's ready to graduate."

"I just want more."

"And I'll give you more. I know just the place." I swing her up into my arms and put her on the back of my motorcycle, strapping a helmet over her precious head. Damn relying on the rumor mill to let everyone know I found my mate. The way my virgin vixen desires me and my bear, the entire community is going to be able to scent me whichever direction the wind blows.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.