Mates Since Birth (Half-breed Shifter Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

him, she turned partially so she could keep an eye on both of them as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Who’s Dane Griffin?”
    With a gasp, her mother lifted both hands to cover her mouth. “Dane?” Squinting, she focused on him hard. “Oh, my God. Dane ? Is that you?”
    When he nodded, she flew toward him, her arms thrown open wide. Relieved beyond relief that her husband hadn’t managed to brainwash her against him, he yanked her close and buried his face in her hair, inhaling the nanny he so adoringly remembered.
    “Hey, Jaycee,” he choked out, wanting to tell her how much he’d missed her, but unable to aptly utter the strength of his sentiment.
    “Oh, Dane,” Jaycee sobbed, cradling his face between her hands when she pulled back to study him. “You’re alive. I can’t believe it’s you. And all grown up. Just look at you.” She stepped back even more to take in his entire form, barely pausing at the unbuttoned state of his silk shirt. Her eyes watered as she grinned, then laughed. “You’re so handsome.”
    His smile was doting. “And you’re still as beautiful as I remember.” He rasped the hoarse words, hoping he didn’t look like he was going to start bawling too.
    Ari’s mouth dropped open wide as she watched them. Jaycee merely blushed as she lifted her hand to hide the wrinkles creasing from the sides of her eyes. “I’ve gotten old.”
    He shook his head and opened his mouth to tell her in his mind she’d always be the same age, but Ari had obviously had enough of their tearful reunion.
    “Wait, wait, wait. What the hell, Mother? Do you honestly know this man?”
    Blinking out a startled expression, Jaycee transferred her look to her daughter. “Don’t you remember Dane, sweetheart? You used to follow him around everywhere.”
    “I…what?” Ari blinked, clearly taken aback. When she glanced toward him, he could only guess he looked too smug for her preference because she immediately scowled and turned back to her mom. “No, I don’t remember him at all. Who is he?”
    “Why, he’s one of my wards, of course. I was nanny to him and his sisters, Brynn and Rhea, until they were, what?” she glanced at him, frowning as she tried to remember. “Ten?”
    “Twelve,” he corrected softly. He’d reached puberty when he hit twelve. He’d never forget that.
    He could only assume it was his changing hormones and growing body that had prompted Knox into packing up his wife and daughter in the middle of the night and secreting them far away from him. Ironically, even after Dane had gotten his first woody and started looking at girls with a different perspective, he had still never looked at his five-year-old mate with sexual intent…not the way he looked at Ari today.
    “I have photo albums full of him and his cub mates,” Jaycee was telling Ari. “For a couple years after we moved here, you used to ask to look at them daily.” Shaking her head, she let out a breath. “Honestly, Ari. How could you forget Dane? I swear, when we lived in Locks Hollow, he raised you more than I did.”
    Slowly, Ari glanced his way, her brow furrowed with confusion. Something heavy passed through his chest as he watched her try to remember.
    But she merely shook her head. “Locks Hollow?”
    “Yes, that’s where we lived until you were five. Then the Hunters came and…” A look shadowed her face as she whirled to face Dane. “How is it you’re alive? Knox said the Hunters came and killed your entire family. You, your sisters, your parents. They were headed for our home next.”
    Dane swallowed. So that’s how Knox had been able to sweep them away in the middle of the night without making a fuss or leaving a trace as to where they’d gone. He sent his old nanny a sad smile. “No Hunters ever came. My family still lives.”
    Jaycee stared at him a moment, then shook her head. “No. That’s impossible. Knox…He woke me at two in the morning one night, told me they’d already