Page 111 of Blade

“No.” I probably should have, but in my defense we’d been busy. I’d mostly been focused on trying to decide if he would still be considered a Legend or not. “That’s…”

“You get to introduce yourself as the Leap Mate of the Coastal Plain Pride.” He was thoroughly enjoying having stunned me stupid. “You get to tell people how you knew you had to find The Beast of Bladenboro and how you saved me. We’ll just edit out a few details.”

Like my family.

Because I was going to get to make a new one.

And once I could swallow past the lump in my throat I was going to talk through it all very logically.

CHAPTER 34

BLAINE

“Oh…that’s…”The second most beautiful thing after seeing my mate for the first time. The way the sun was rising and filling the valley below us with a soft hazy glow was incredible. “Okay, I’m surprised.”

Nearly giggling, he beamed as he looked around the incredible mountain view. “We’re right next to national park land over there and state land on that side. The guy who owns this part has been here since the country was founded, or something like that. He said something along the lines of like being here when dinosaurs were roaming the Earth and I didn’t ask any questions. I think he might’ve answered them.”

My mate had met the weirdest people on his travels and I couldn’t decide if I was scared to see what was coming next or not.

“Either way, I am very grateful he’s loaning it to us.” There was technically a small cabin on the property but we were just using the hookups. “This is…”

Perfect.

Well, almost perfect.

The best was running along the ocean at night but that wasn’t an option any longer.

Still beaming, Henley kissed my cheek. “Go have fun.”

What?

“No.” I wasn’t going to leave him. We’d just pulled up to the site. There were things to do to get the trailer ready. He might need another set of eyes to back it into the right position. “I’ll run later.”

Yes.

His eye roll and sigh stopped me from pointing that out, though. “You haven’t had a proper run since I found you.”

I couldn’t agree with him even if he was right for a variety of reasons.

“I’ve spent a lot of time shifted and you know it.” That was almost as good as being able to run. “I haven’t been deprived in any way.”

He was wonderful about making sure that side of me wasn’t neglected.

“That’s not the same.” Frowning at me, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “You need to run and we both know it.”

“I also need to help my mate get settled.” I wasn’t going to make him do all the work, so I copied his pose to make sure he knew I could be stubborn too. “We’re partners.”

The way he stepped closer had me fighting the urge to give him a quick kiss. “I found you land to run on and you’re going to let me take care of my mate. I’m the Leap Mate of the Coastal Plain Pride.”

He was the most adorable nut.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t pull my weight.” He was bossy but that only went so far.

He raised one eyebrow and studied me skeptically. “You’re not worrying about leaving me, are you?”

Maybe.

“You can take care of yourself.” Most of the time…kind of. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you as soon as we get here.”