Fated to My Mate's Uncle novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: Hunter's Moon

"Go to your room," Charmaine said again.

Her voice shook.

"No," said the boy.

He came down the glass stairs one at a time, holding the rail.

He stopped on the bottom step, so he was almost as tall as his mother.

"In July," he said. "The night Aunt Carys put me to bed. He came home after. He was in the kitchen and he was crying, and he said..."

"Stop," I said.

He stopped.

He looked hurt.

I crouched down so I wasn't standing over him.

"Not to me, honey. If I hear it first, they'll say I told you what to say."

"I wouldn't let you."

"I know. They don't."

He thought about that, frowning, exactly like Fraser at the fence.

"Who, then?"

"The eldest elder. In his kitchen, with a cup of cocoa. Just him." I looked up at Charmaine. "And your mom, if she wants to sit with you."

Charmaine had both arms wrapped around herself.

She didn't say yes.

She didn't say no.

"He'll be here tomorrow at four," I said to her. "While Gregor's in Missoula. If you lock the door, he'll go home."

I walked out.

Patsy was halfway up the drive with the tire iron.

"Well?"

"Drive," I said. "Before I cry on your truck."

The next afternoon I sat on the riverbank with Fraser and watched the bluff road.

At ten to four the eldest elder's old blue pickup went up it.

It didn't come down for an hour and a half.

Nobody ever told me what was said in that kitchen.

I didn't ask.

The Hunter's Moon came up the third week of October, fat and orange over the Bitterroots.

The night before, I couldn't sleep.

I lay in Fraser's bed with his arm over me and his hand spread on my stomach.

The pup was kicking.

"She's practicing," he said into my hair.

"You don't know it's a she."

"I know she's stubborn."

He pushed my braid aside and kissed my shoulder blade, slow and warm, and every nerve in my body came awake.

"Fraser."

"Mm."

"I need to sleep."

"I know." He did it again, higher, on the bare top of my left shoulder, where I'd told him he could put his teeth when he was free. "I'm just reminding you where."

"I'm not likely to forget."

He laughed against my skin and pulled me closer, and we lay there with the bond humming between us until the window went gray.

← Chapter 24 · All chapters · Chapter 26 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend