“Something like that,” Xavier said, not wanting to lie to the old woman but feeling fairly certain Andrea wasn’t ready to explain why she had three boyfriends.
“Good. You make sure that Daegan takes good care of our Andrea. She’s a lovely young woman, but there was always a sadness in her eyes, until he came along.”
“Do you know why she was sad?” Xavier asked, unable to resist the chance to learn more about his mate. But the old woman shook her head.
“Nobody knows for sure, but Mavis and I reckon it had something to do with her time on the police force. Something happened to put those shadows in her eyes. Meeting Daegan made them go away.” She shook a gnarled, arthritic finger in Xavier’s face. “You make sure Daegan keeps things that way, or he’ll be answering to me and Mavis.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Xavier answered very seriously. He wanted to grin, but since he had absolutely no doubt that the woman would come after him and his brothers if they even looked like hurting Andrea, he decided against it.
“You’re a good boy,” the lady said as she reached up and patted him on the cheek. “Just like Daegan.” She smiled a toothless grin and then turned and shuffled from the store.
“Are you okay?” Andrea asked as she came to stand beside him. He laughed quietly.
“I’m fine. Daegan might not be if your latest customer thinks he’s no good for you.”
Andrea grinned and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Yes, Mrs. Thomson is very protective. She and Mavis make quite a frightening team when they set their minds to something.”
He could sense her genuine affection for the old woman and finally realized that he knew very little about Andrea. “When were you a police officer?”
She grimaced, and he could sense her searching for a way to change the subject without answering. Without conscious thought he growled low in his throat, the sound more wolf than human. He didn’t like not knowing, and he wasn’t going to let her avoid answering questions about her life before he and his brothers had exploded into her calm existence.
“Stop growling, pooch,” she said with an annoyed sigh. “I was on the force for eleven years. I left three years ago to start this shop, and I’ve been here ever since.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you leave the force? Why did you move here? Why jewelry? Pick one. Answer them all. Just give me something. Tell me what made you sad.”
“Wow, you and Mrs. Thomson managed to have quite the conversation, huh?”
“Stop avoiding the question,” he said, feeling his anger rise. What he really wanted to do was haul her over his knee and smack her ass. Shit. Apart from the fact that wouldn’t help him get an answer—and she’d probably kick him in the nuts—he usually preferred spanking to be part of sexual play, not a barbaric form of punishment. Jesus, he was losing his fucking mind.
Her eyes widened as if she’d heard every thought in his head, but she let out a deep breath and started talking.
“I resigned the day my ex-husband was gunned down by drug dealers. Nick survived, thank God, but it was just one of those life-altering things that made me reassess everything.” She shrugged like the story didn’t really affect her on an emotional level, but thanks to the mating link, Xavier could feel the ragged feelings clawing at her heart. “Nick and I were high school sweethearts, we did everything together—went to college together, joined the LAPD together. And even when our marriage fell apart and we got divorced, we still worked together.” She glanced up to see his expression, perhaps sensing the jealousy worming through his heart. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
He nodded once, grinding his back teeth as he tried to bring his own emotions under control.
“Anyway, the day he got shot, I rushed to the hospital, and all of our friends were there. His parents, other cops from the precinct, almost everyone we knew, but when I went in to visit him there was a woman sitting by the bed.” Andrea pushed the hair from her eyes, and Xavier felt a little more off balance when he realized her fingers were shaking. “I’d never seen the woman before. Her eyes were red and swollen, her fingers entwined with his, and it finally hit me that he wasn’t mine anymore. I’d built my whole life around what Nick wanted and even after the divorce had somehow fooled myself into thinking that things would work out eventually.”
“You still loved him?” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but he couldn’t quite phrase his question in present tense. Even if she’d loved her ex back then, Xavier sure as hell hoped she was over him now. If he was in wolf form right this moment, his fur would be standing up, his teeth would be showing, and he’d be growling viciously. He rubbed a hand over his eyes trying to get a grip on his emotions.