“Hey, man. I didn’t know you’d be stopping by. Come in.”
“I should have called.”
“No. It’s all good.”
Poppy appeared a second later. “Tanner. Nice to see you so soon, but something is troubling you. Come into the kitchen, and I’ll fix you a drink.”
Slade dipped his chin and then raised his eyebrows as if to say: You see? Poppy is indeed special.
Tanner followed both of them into the kitchen. “Have a seat,” Slade said. “Tell me what’s wrong?”
Tanner didn’t bother denying it. Poppy grabbed two beers and handed one to him and one to Slade. Tanner twisted off the cap and tossed back a good portion of it. He might as well get to the bottom of it. “It’s Ella.”
Poppy pulled out a chair and sat down. “I can sense all is not well.”
“You’re right. It’s not.” He explained how things had been going great until the man she was supposed to mate with came to town.
Poppy shook her head. “You and she are mates, just the way Fate planned.”
His smile was brief. “I know, but in an effort to combine her snow leopard Clan with the local panther Clan, her parents arranged a mating between their eldest children. Ella was not in favor of that. After having met Moran, I can see why.”
“That’s terrible,” Poppy said. “It was why Fate had to interfere.”
“I don’t follow,” Tanner said. “Did Fate make Ella leave home?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Let’s just say something caused the avalanche.”
Really? “Even if that were true, Ella should have told me about the mating arrangement.”
Slade held up a hand. “Easy there, big boy. You’ve known her what? Less than three weeks?”
“So?”
“It takes time to develop trust,” Slade said.
“We trust each other completely—or at least I trusted her. We are living together. Why didn’t she just say that she ran away to avoid an arranged mating? I would have understood.”
Slade set his bottle on the table. “Tell me this. If she had come to you and said there was another man in the picture, how would you have reacted?”
“I would have asked his name and then kicked his ass.”
Slade laughed. “My point exactly. I bet Ella knew that. You don’t really know the circumstances that drove her to leave her parents and her sisters. Until you do, you probably shouldn’t judge.”
Wow. He hadn’t expected that hard ass comment. “I’m supposed to go back and forgive her?”
“Sleep on it tonight and then talk to her tomorrow. Can I ask if this Moran is any kind of threat?”
“No. I had the sense he rarely, if ever, shifted into his dragon form. He had no fighting skills whatsoever.”
“In that case, he might have been pressured by his parents to go after Ella. Returning empty handed would be highly humiliating.”
Good. “I hadn’t considered that. All I saw was red. Ella is my mate, and nothing is going to stop me from being with her.”
Slade smiled. “Problem solved.” He held up his bottle. “To mates.”
What had they solved? Tanner tapped his bottle. “To mates.”
After a few drinks, all of them turned in, but Tanner wasn’t sure anything had been settled. Did it really matter if Moran had a good reason for coming after Ella? This wasn’t about Moran. It was about why Ella didn’t want to tell him.
For now, he’d try to put his anger to bed. Because Slade had been smart enough to build a house that would handle a handful of kids, there were several spare bedrooms. To his surprise, the comfortable bed helped Tanner fall asleep.
When he rose the next day, Poppy was with their son, Brody. Since Tanner didn’t want to cause any more work for her, he thanked both of them and said he was heading back.
“You have to go so soon?” Slade said. “I’m sure Jace would like to visit.”
“I promise I’ll catch him on the next trip. I need to speak with Ella. We need to clear up a few things.”
Slade patted him on the back. “Good luck. I’m sure it will work out.”
“I hope so.” Tanner hugged Poppy and then headed back to Plux.
He probably should have called Ella last night to let her know where he was, but if she had been terribly worried, she would have contacted Clint. He might have given some excuse why Tanner had to take a trip to Edendale, but at least she wouldn’t have worried.
Needing a change of clothes, he flew straight home. His car wasn’t in the driveway, which meant Ella was probably at work or at the diner eating breakfast. It was for the best. Being home with her would have weakened his resolve to keep his distance. As he headed to his bedroom, her scent didn’t permeate the air like usual. When he stepped inside, he stopped. The bed wasn’t made, and that was something Ella insisted on doing every morning.
His gut churned. Something wasn’t right. If she’d moved out, he’d go ballistic, but he was the one angry with her—not the other way around. She wouldn’t just leave without telling him, would she?
Tanner rushed over to the dresser where Ella kept her things. He’d given her two of the dresser drawers. When he pulled open the top one and spotted her underwear, his racing heart slowed. Good. She hadn’t left.
From her point of view, he was being unreasonable, and she might have decided she’d had enough of him. After having had some time to think about what happened, he could have handled the situation better.
He lifted a bra to his face to inhale her essence. Endorphins flooded his system at his mate’s scent—or rather the scent of the detergent she used. When he set it down, Tanner spotted something shiny hiding underneath. He moved the underwear to the side.
What the hell?
Chapter Eleven
Tanner scooped up several necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, all encrusted in
