Sage lifted her knees to her chest and rested her forehead against them. She closed her eyes. The image of her sister lying in a hospital bed, broken and bleeding, rose inside her mind. It would probably be something she’d never forget. She swallowed past the lump in her throat as she fought back her tears. She wanted to wail and scream about the injustice of it. Macy and Hank had been too young, and Josh should have been able to grow up with his parents. But she wouldn’t do any of that. There was too much to do to settle her sister’s affairs.
“Sage.”
At the sound of her whispered name, she looked up to find Grady awake and staring at her. Sage pushed to her feet and quietly walked over to where he lay. Josh was still sleeping. She kneeled on the floor in front of the couch and softly caressed her nephew’s cheek.
“Have you been home long?” Grady asked in a whisper.
“No,” she replied just as quietly.
“Did your sister…”
“She didn’t make it. Macy died about a half hour after I arrived.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Did Josh wake up for you?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t too sure about me at first. The only way I could get him to sleep was on me like this. I tried to put him back in the playpen, but he started to cry again.”
“At least you got some rest.”
Grady ran his gaze over her face. “You need to sleep as well.”
Sage shook her head. “I can’t. Josh will be awake soon. And you’ll want to go home.”
He stared into her eyes. “You have to sleep. I’m not going to leave you alone.”
“You’ve been here all night. You’ll want to change your clothes and shower. Plus, there isn’t much to eat here. I need to go grocery shopping.”
Grady reached over and cupped the side of her face. “Then you and Josh can come to my place. We have a personal chef who makes all our meals. And you’re more than welcome to sleep in my bed. I’ll take care of the baby. My brother and his wife will be there as well to help. We all live together, along with my parents.”
Normally, Sage would have been able to manage everything on her own, but not now. Having someone take care of her, make it so she didn’t have to worry about anything, was something she couldn’t turn down.
“Okay, I’ll go to your place once Josh wakes up. I’ll have to feed him and get him dressed, then we can go.”
As if he’d heard his name, the baby squirmed against Grady and opened his eyes. Grady sat up and shifted Josh until he had him cradled in his arms and disentangled the baby’s fingers from his pendant.
“Hey there, buddy,” Grady said. “Did you have a good sleep?” The baby smiled at him.
Sage stood, then took Josh from Grady. “I’ll get him ready to go.”
She grabbed some of the things she’d bought on the way up the stairs. Once again, she was glad Grady was there. For someone who’d asked her for a simple date, he sure as hell got a lot more than he bargained for.
Grady took a quick look at Sage, who sat beside him in his car. The baby was in his infant car seat in the back. It’d taken about a half hour to get Josh fed, changed and set to go.
Sage looked about ready to drop. There were dark circles under her eyes and she seemed to be staring at nothing. Grady focused his attention back on the road. No matter what she said, he was going to get her tucked into his bed as soon as they got to his house. She needed to get some rest before she faced what she had to do that day. It wasn’t going to be easy on her, but he planned to stay with her every step of the way.
Once they arrived at his place, Grady hit the remote to open one of the doors of the four-car garage. He pulled in next to his brother Jase’s car and parked. After he shut the engine off, he closed them inside.
He carried Josh in his car seat and one of the bags Sage had brought while she grabbed the other one, then walked to the entrance to the house. Grady stepped aside for her to go in ahead of him. He motioned for her to keep walking up the short hallway.
They stepped out into the foyer. Grady was surprised to see a pile of luggage sitting near the front door. He then saw his dad coming down the stairs from the upper level. His father smiled as he came to join them.
“I thought you and Mom were going to be away for a week,” Grady said.
His dad shrugged. “Your mom decided she couldn’t afford to take an entire week away. We just arrived home about ten minutes ago.” His father looked at Sage, then the infant car seat Grady carried. “Who do we have here?”
Grady put down the bag he held and wrapped his arm around Sage’s waist. “This is Sage.” He turned the car seat around so his dad could look inside. “And this is her nephew Josh. They’re going to be spending some time here with me. Something happened last night while I was over at Sage’s place on a date and she was babysitting. Her older sister and husband, the parents to Josh, were hit by a drunk driver while they were out for dinner. They both died. Sage has been at the hospital all night while I stayed at her place to watch the baby. She’s Josh’s godmother. She also doesn’t have any family to help her.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” his dad said solemnly. “I’m Charles, Grady’s dad.”
“Thanks,” Sage said quietly.
“And I’m sorry as well,” his mother said as she joined them from upstairs. “I heard what Grady said about your sister. And you’re more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need. You look about ready to drop.”
“This is my mom Olivia,” Grady said. “I was going to put her to bed,” he told his mother.
“Well, in that case, I’ll look after the baby while you take care of Sage.”
Before Grady could say anything, his mom took the car seat from him, then placed it on the floor so she could unbuckle Josh. She squatted and took the baby out and managed to take off his snowsuit.
She stood and smiled. “He’s gorgeous. How old is he?”
“Six months,” Sage answered. “You don’t mind looking after him?”
“Of course not. I love babies.” His mom lifted Josh and gave him a kiss.
The baby’s little hand came up and took hold of his mom’s cougar head pendant, which was identical to Grady’s. It’d once belonged to his father. All male cougar shifters were given one once they reached puberty. The pendant was made with a bit of magic inside. When a male met his mate, the cougar’s ruby eyes glowed. It didn’t necessarily happen right after the couple met. It could take days, weeks, even months. It was triggered once the male could accept the female as the one he loved and wanted as his, be it consciously or subconsciously.
Once that happened, he would only be able to think about her, being unable to eat and sleep. He wouldn’t be able to stop thinking of making love to her, using sex to help convince her to claim him. And it was the female who decided to claim the male as hers by taking his cougar head pendant from him and putting it around her neck, thus having the mating bond form as their souls joined.
“You have the same pendant as Grady,” Sage said. “Josh liked his, so I guess he likes yours as well. I’ll take it from him.”
His mom laughed. “It’s okay. He can hold on to it if he wants. He can’t damage it.” She looked at Grady. “Sage looks about ready to fall over. Go take her upstairs. I have everything under control here. I’m sure Jase and Katrina will be down soon as well. They’ll want to meet Josh.”
“All right,” he said as he took the bag Sage carried from her and placed it with the other one. “We’re going up now.”
Grady guided Sage up the stairs and down the hallway to his bedroom. Once they were inside, he closed the door behind them. He walked her over to his bed and tugged down the covers, then stepped aside.
“In you go,” he said. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”
“Stay.”
He looked at her. “What?”
“I want you to stay with me.” Sage closed the distance between them and put her hands on his waist.
“You need to sleep. If I stay I might get worked up, if you know what I mean?”
She met his gaze. “I want you to make love to me. I need it. Right now I feel as if my whole world has been knocked off its axis. I want the connection sex will give me. I’m about ready to break down, and I can’t. Please. Stay with me. I promise I’ll go to sleep after.”
“Are you sure? You’ve been through so much.”
