Free Bought for Christmas by Doris O'Connor

face. Emilia leaned into the touch and turned her
head to kiss his palm.
    “This
was a small country hospital. My folks didn’t have the money to get me
transferred to one of the shifter hospitals in London, and the doctors were
already asking questions as to how I could have survived that impact. There was
a reporter snooping around, too, and the last thing my family needed was to be
front page news. Disappearing was the right thing to do.”
    A
tear fell on his hand, and Hunter’s gut tightened seeing her cry over him.
    “It’s
okay, baby, all this happened a long time ago.”
    Emilia
shook her head, and slapped his chest.
    “No,
it’s not okay. You should have got the help you needed. No wonder these are
so…” She bit her lip and ran her fingers over his scars.
    “It’s okay, I know they aren’t the prettiest part of me.”
She seemed set to argue, and he put his index finger over her lips to stop me.
“No, listen to me, kitten. I healed as best I could, and not a day has gone by
that those scars have not reminded me of what is important in my life. You see
I was a right idiot before the accident. It made me grow up. Losing Jasper
meant I had to take a long, hard, look at myself, and the way I treated the
people around me. Us shifters can have a bit of a
superiority complex, compared to—”
    “Us
mere humans?” she asked, and Hunter frowned until he saw the twinkle of
mischief in her expressive eyes.
    “Well,
not the way I would express it, but in a way, yes. The point is it made me work
damn hard. I couldn’t bring my brother back, but I could make my parents proud
of me and ensure that they were well looked after in their old age.”
    Emilia’s
eyes filled with tears again, and the warm fuzzy feelings engulfing him made
him grin at her like some sort of lovesick fool. He waited for her to get her
emotions back under control before he continued.
    “I
made sure they lived their old age out in comfort, so I achieved that at
least.”
    “They’ve
passed on?” Emilia asked, and he nodded.
    “Eight years ago now.”
    Emilia
frowned.
    “I
don’t understand. They can’t have been that old. You’re what forty- ish ?” She bit her lip, and he smiled.
    “I’m
forty-three, kitten. Only seven years younger than your father, and far too old
for you, I’m sure.”
    Emilia’s
blue eyes flashed in indignation, and she positively glared at him
    “Poppycock. Age is just a number,
and besides, I never did like boys. They’re just full of themselves and never
deliver, and err, well…” She dropped her gaze and flushed bright scarlet.
    “They
don’t huh? Whatever can you mean?”
    Emilia
shot him a glance from under her lashes, and he grinned.
    “You
know full well what I mean, but we’re not talking about that. We were talking
about your parents.”
    Hunter
sobered and nodded.
    “They
had Jasper and me late in life, even in shifter years, so they were old. Trust
me on that, kitten.”
    She
didn’t look convinced.
    “What
do you mean, shifter years? Is that like dog years or something?”
    Emilia
looked so serious that he couldn’t help but tease her a little.
    “Are
you comparing me to a dog, Emilia?”
    “No, of course not. It’s just … I’m
trying to understand this, that’s all. So you live longer than humans, age
slower, what? Is this where you’re telling me you’re really ninety? You’re not,
are you?”
    She
worried her bottom lip with her teeth, and he had to yank her chain just a
little more.
    “Would
it make a difference if I was, kitten?”
    The
speed with which she shook her head did wonders to ease any niggling worries he
had about their age difference, and an invisible weight lifted off his
shoulders.
    “No, of course not. Besides you
don’t look much older than thirty. I always wondered why you looked so much
younger than Papa. I guess that explains it all.”
    Hunter
tapped her nose and helped her off the counter.
    “There’s
more to it, but you need your bath, and