Page 28 of August
Conversation flowed around the table as the platters and bowls of food were passed. Ginny had never eaten so well in her life, and she hadn’t had anything resembling a big family meal like that since her parents had been taken from her.
After the goodbyes were said and she and August headed back to his house, she told him how much she appreciated his people and their kindness.
He paused at the base of the huge tree and smiled at her. “They’re your people now too. You and I are mated, and that means you’re part of the band.”
She grinned. “I love when you say that, it always makes me think of music.”
He ducked to his knee and she climbed on his back so he could swing them up to the porch. “We’ve got a couple more days off before I need to get back to my job. How about another date tomorrow night?”
“I’d love that,” she said. He leaped for the bottom branch and carried them up to the porch, landing softly and letting her down.
He tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “Sweet Ginny, the road that brought us together was so rough for you, but mating you was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“As long as we’re together, we can handle anything.”
“Definitely.”
He stared down at her, his eyes flashing to the amber of his beast as a low growl rumbled in his chest. Her jackal answered with a gruff purr.
Not breaking eye contact, August opened the door, then swept her off her feet and into his arms.
“I told you everything I have is yours, right?” he asked as he stepped inside and kicked the door shut.
“Yes.”
“Then the house is yours, and all the stuff inside.” He gazed at her for a long, quiet moment, and then he said, “And that includes my heart.”
“August,” she whispered, feeling her emotions swell and her eyes sting with happy tears. “My heart is yours too.”
By the time the weekend rolled around, August could tell that Ginny was going a little stir-crazy. They’d ventured out early one morning to the paddock so she could see him shift and he could carry her on his back and swing around on the trees for a while before she shifted into her sleek jackal form and they hung out together.
Although she’d been game to play zookeeper during the safari tours, the alphas had decided it was still too early to take such a risk. They hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her grandfather or any other jackals, but that didn’t mean they weren’t watching and waiting.
She’d had a girls’ night with the band females while he’d gone to work on an installation of motion sensor lights on the apartment complex. He and his gorilla had hated being away from her, but he hadn’t been comfortable having her out with him.
But here he was, knowing that he needed to go to work, and she was putting on a smile that she didn’t really mean to spare his feelings.
“Sweetheart?” he called to her from the bedroom.
She strode in a few moments later, looking amazing in a pair of jeans and a hoodie. How could she look so good in something so simple?
“What?” she prompted.
“Sorry, you look amazing.”
She looked down at herself and then at him, arching a brow. “Oh-kay. Is that what you wanted to tell me?” She walked over to him with a sweet, genuine smile, and leaned down to kiss him.
He pulled her next to him on the bed and hugged her.
“I have a proposition for you.”
“A sexy one? But don’t you have to go to work?”
His gorilla snarled. “No, not a sexy one, but now that’s all I can think about.”
She laughed. “Sorry. So what’s your proposition?”
“I was talking to Atticus yesterday when he stopped by to check out the installation Nathan and I were working on, and I told him that I thought you were going a little nuts being cooped up.”