Chuckling, Shaya held up her index finger. Drinking down the last of her coffee, she nodded. “Now we can leave.”

Both relieved and excited, Nick took her hand in his and helped her rise from the table. All at once, Derren, Roni, Eli, Kathy, Kent, Jesse, Bracken, and Zander rose from their seats. “Oh no. Shaya and I want some privacy for a change.”

“We just want to know where we’ll be living,” said Derren innocently. The others nodded. Most likely in response to Nick’s growl, he said, “You’re not going to get rid of me, you know that. Nor are you going to get rid of these people. And you’re not going to get out of being Alpha either.”

As an idea came to mind, Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay. You want me to be Alpha? You got it…as long as you’re Beta—no more bodyguard shit.”

Derren gawked. “Hell no. I don’t want responsibilities. They scare me.”

“Then I’m afraid I don’t have a place for you. Derren, with regret, you’re officially out of the pack. I’m permanently firing you.”

“Hey, you can’t do that. I’m the one who organized the pack,” he more or less whined.

“Doesn’t matter. If I’m Alpha, it’s my decision. So, are you going to accept the position of Beta or not?”

Derren had the look of a sulky teenager. “Fine.”

Smirking, Nick led Shaya around the table. “I’ll show you the house tomorrow,” he told his “pack.” Being an Alpha again was going to take some getting used to. “Shaya and I want to spend our first night there alone.” They all nodded respectfully.

After he and Shaya had said their good-byes and she had been molested by Dominic—which almost led to the pervert losing a limb—Nick and Shaya went out of the tunnels and down to the indoor parking lot. He held up something he’d taken from his back pocket.

Shaya tensed. “You want to blindfold me?”

“I told you, I want this to be a surprise.”

“But…you want to blindfold me?”

“What part of ‘surprise’ don’t you understand?”

A little irritated that she wouldn’t even be able to look out the window and guess where they were going, she nonetheless nodded. He gently put on the blindfold, plunging her into complete darkness, and kissed her lightly on the mouth before guiding her into his Mercedes.

When Nick finally drove them out of pack territory, he released a sigh of relief. Those people had the potential to drive him insane. The only person he wanted to be in the company of was Shaya, and now he had her all to himself finally. He soon realized that he probably should have brought a gag as well as a blindfold, because she did nothing but quiz him throughout the entire journey—no doubt to annoy him. It worked.

When the car finally came to a stop, Shaya practically bounced in the seat in anticipation. She probably looked like a toddler in a playground, but she didn’t care. Three long months of “it’s a surprise” had her feeling beyond excited—as well as exasperated. “Can I take the blindfold off now?”

“No, that’s my job. Wait there.”

Sighing, Shaya waited as Nick exited the car and then came around and opened the passenger door. Taking her hand, he helped her get out of the vehicle. The familiar scents of pine, sun-warmed earth, and moss hit her nose. The place itself had a familiar scent…she had been here before. “Blindfold. Off.”

Nick tsked. “No patience.” He led her a short distance and then, standing behind her, untied the piece of black cloth. “Now you can look.”

Blinking a few times to adjust to the light, Shaya fully opened her eyes and gasped. “Oh my God.” Yeah, she’d been here before, been here many times as a child. It had been her favorite place back then. “You bought the hunting lodge I told you about?” It was just as she remembered it. The first level was made with large stone while the second and third levels had timber frames. The large glass dove windows took clear advantage of the natural light, practically illuminating it. To add to that, fairy lights now decorated the trees that surrounded the lodge. “I can’t believe you did this.” With emotion clogging her throat, the words came out in a whisper.

Surprising the hell out of Nick, she sharply pivoted and dived on him, wrapping around him like a clinging vine. He caught her easily and curled his arms around her. “Does this mean you like it?” Her “I love it!” made him inwardly sag in relief. Nick had believed he knew her well enough to know this was something she would love, somewhere she could think of as home, but a tiny part of him had been worried that he’d been wrong. His wolf was thrilled by her reaction.

When she finally untangled herself from him, he explained, “It’s not just the only lodge here now. The owners built and rented out several other lodges on the land, which would be perfect for the ‘pack’ to live in. It means you and I will have our own space.”

Touched to the point that she was tearful, she said, “I really, really can’t believe you’ve done this. I never would have guessed. I suppose I should have—you always try to spoil me.”

“It’s my right, and it’ll happen a lot, so you need to get better at accepting gifts.”

She waved away that comment. “You know what else I can’t believe? That the prejudiced humans sold the place to a shifter.” When he opened his mouth to speak, she raised a hand. “Don’t tell me…Your contacts got involved, right?”

“Right,” he confirmed. “Want to go inside?”

“Do Dalmatians have black spots?”

“One thing first: I made a few…changes.”

“What do you mean? And don’t look so panicky about it. Just because you’ve made changes doesn’t mean I won’t still love it.”

Smiling, he explained, “The place hadn’t been properly looked after. It needed some work, so a contact of mine—”

“A friend of yours,” she stressed.

“A friend of mine,” he allowed, “who runs a business specializing in restoring and also modernizing buildings worked on the place. I told him what I thought you’d like, and he and his team have been working on it. He’ll also work on the other lodges when they’ve each been claimed and the ‘pack’ tells him what they want. Ready?”

Nodding enthusiastically, she slipped her hand in his and let him lead her inside. The second she entered, she gasped again. It was very different from before; the living room, kitchen, and dining area was one huge, open space—the main feature being the living area with luxurious sofas and armchairs and a state-of-the-art entertainment system. Between the TV and sofas was an oval white fluffy rug that just made her want to go curl up on it. There was also a big stone fireplace that added to the rustic tone of the place. It had such a homey, spacious, warm feeling that hadn’t been there before.