More staring.
Dani threw herself across the bottom of Bailey’s bed and shook her fist in the air. It was hard not to laugh at that, but she didn’t want to spill her coffee. “What are they, Bailey? He hinted that they’re something special. You can tell me. I promise I won’t freak out.”
“It doesn’t matter what they are. They’ll probably be leaving soon.”
She thought about what Lila’s ghost had said, and knew she needed to give them a chance, but it was hard to forget Cam’s feelings, or what she’d learned about the dangers of having two mates.
“Oh? That’s a shame.”
Bailey narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
Dani shrugged. “Because you seemed different yesterday. Happier. And when you mentioned the spider, I was hoping it was a good sign.”
She thought again about Cam and Davide. The link was still humming, but it was definitely different today. Was it because her wall was up, or had something changed?
“Spider or not, most men aren’t Liam,” she finally said. “You got the last good one.”
“He’s not perfect, Bailey,” Dani said, frowning at her. “Do you remember that he lied to me? Or that I was a mess?”
“You were not a mess.”
“A flaming, hot mess,” she insisted. “Before I moved here, I had no real family. No true friends other than Liam, and I didn’t trust him enough to tell him everything Sal had done. After being with someone like that? I had a hard time believing I deserved something good. Something magical. It took you and Kaya, falling stars, a pitcher of liquid courage, plus Will and several supernatural assists to get me to take that leap.”
“When you put it that way,” Bailey muttered into her cup.
“That’s the only way to put it,” Dani declared. “We are not the couple to judge other relationships by. We’re right for each other, but everyone is different. Now tell me what your situation is and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong and you should go for it.”
Bailey groaned as she looked in Dani’s eyes. She couldn’t believe she was considering this, but she had to talk to someone. If anyone was going to understand being sexually attracted to a man who could turn into an animal, it would be her. “You asked for it.”
“Still asking.”
“They’re sort of like Stax, I guess? They’re shifters. Cam’s grandfather came here and found a mate—that’s how the Enchanted sisters died, by the way—so Cam bought this place to find out what happened. Now he and Davide both think I’m their mate, only you’re not supposed to be able to mate two at a time, so if I don’t release them, they could fight over me and die. Over me, when they’ve been in love with each other for decades.”
Dani’s eyes had grown wider with every word, and when Bailey was finished, she stared at her for a good thirty seconds, before whistling. “Wow. I’m so glad I promised not to freak out. You don’t do anything halfway, do you? Not even wishes.”
“Do you even remember my wish? I ordered two Ewan MacGregor lookalikes who could cook like Liam and secretly lusted after bossy women. Oddly, that seems much more realistic now.”
“That’s not what you really wished for,” Dani admonished. “You wanted to be cherished and loved. If a mate means the same thing in real life as it does in a paranormal romance, I doubt you could get more cherished than that.”
“That’s the thing. I’m not sure it does.” She set down the cup on the night stand and ran her hands through her hair. “They were complete before me, Dani. We’re connected somehow, and I’ve felt what they feel for each other. I saw their lives together, and I don’t fit into that anywhere. I’m not in this romance. It isn’t really my story.”
“How can you say that?” Dani tilted her head. “What are the odds? You told me as soon as you saw the inn you knew you had to live here. And I’m going to be brutally honest—Pikeson treated you like cheap labor and stuck you in a closet-sized room, and you took it for more than ten years. You knew he’d never really sell you the inn for a discount. That guy? Come on. But you still stayed.”
Bailey couldn’t deny it.
“He tried to sell this place for more money for years, but because he was never willing to put any in for repairs, it stayed on the market. For years, Bailey. And then who buys it?” Dani took her hand and shook it for emphasis. “Cameron Locke. Your big, sexy shifter mate who happens to already be conveniently in love with your other sexy shifter mate. You’re telling me there aren’t supposed to be two mates for one person, but you got a happily matched set? You want to ignore the wonder of that? And now, because you weren’t there at the start of the love story, you don’t want to be in it at all. That doesn’t sound like the Bailey I know. You’re braver than that.”