Daryn growled in the phone, "Neal! I had assigned you to find something and you haven't reported it to me from past two days. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Neal watched Cara taking the pastries box from him and forgot the conversation. Her beautiful heart-shaped face beamed as she opened the box and immediately picked up to eat a red velvet pastry. The phone found its way back in the pocket. 

​​

"Neal! Neal!" Daryn shouted but the owner of the phone was watching a pastry crumb that had lodged itself on Cara's lower lip. Dying to eat it from there, Neal walked up to her, bent down, cupped her face in his hands and with his tongue licked away the crumb leaving the girl totally flustered and flushed and wide eyed. Electricity from him zapped through her and goose bumps pebbled her skin.

"You are beautiful," he breathed. 

Cara's hazel eyes were just as frozen as her mind. She forgot to eat the pastry and saw Neal with so much astonishment that she became speechless. Not realizing the kind of effect he had created, Neal simply straightened up and said in a gentle, "Have your coffee." 

Cara snapped out of the reverie and licked her dry lips. Dazed, she picked up the coffee and then sipped it. Neal went to sit right across her on the chair with a silly expression, as if he was in heaven. Now Cara didn't know where to look. That simple gesture of licking the crumb from her lower lip left her with a thousand questions. The casualness, which she had around him from the past three days had turned to awkwardness in a minute. Her heart raced like a horse and her skin tingled as if a hundred feathers were being tickled. It had been a long time since anyone had shown interest in her and the last one who showed his affection, left her pregnant. He wasn't there when she was giving birth to her son and her mother had sided with her father about their decision to get rid of her baby. 

So this gesture from Neal confused her and at the same time she became withdrawn. She didn't want to get into a relationship all over again only to be left hanging. She had a child to feed and he was her number one priority. Cara closed her eyes and then resumed her work. She neglected the feelings that blossomed in her heart. 

Neal was on his new phone and checking the messages… supposedly. All he was doing was stealing glances at her every now then. Now he understood why teenagers behaved the way they did when they experienced their first love. For him this wasn't first love, this was his love, his mate… A warm feeling ran in his chest and rubbed it. It couldn't be heartburn? "Would you like to eat more?" he asked. His wolf wanted to feed her every now and then, it wanted to kiss her, make her sit in his lap, claim her, mark her and then—

"No thanks," she replied before he could complete his dream sequence. 

He pursed his lips and struck eating off his list. So he had to start from kissing her, making her sit in his lap, claim her, mark her, have babies with her and then—

Suddenly her phone buzzed. She picked it up on the first ring. Because of his Lykae sense of hearing, he heard a woman's voice from the other side. "He has vomited and I don't know what to do. You must come home immediately." 

"How?" asked Cara as blood drained from her face. "Did you make him eat anything else?" 

"I didn't!" she said in a nervous voice. 

"I will be there as soon as possible!" Cara replied. She switched off the computer, picked up the purse and started to leave. 

As for Neal, jealousy flared. Who was this man who she was giving so much importance? Was she married to him? In that case she was about to become a widow because he would kill the man and then marry her. His fists balled tightly and narrowing his eyes, he asked, "Where are you going?" 

"Home!" she replied quickly and strode out of the office. 

Before he could say anything else, she rushed towards David's room to inform him about her emergency. Neal followed her closely. As soon as she was out of the office, and in the elevator, he said, "I will drop you home." He wanted to pick her up and lope in the forest and take her away. It was with a lot of willpower that he wasn't touching her. 

"No thanks!" she snapped. She had to nip things in the bud. 

"That wasn't a request," he growled in a way that she gulped. The man looked pretty menacing. 

"I can take a cab ride back home." 

The elevator stopped and he stepped out after her. "That is not an option for you." All he wanted was to grab that man from his throat and drop him from the tallest building of Bainsburgh. "Gods!" He held her by her upper arm and then hurried to the parking lot. 

Since she wanted to go home as soon as possible, Cara didn't argue. She hopped in the car with him and he dashed it into the street at high speed. "Where do you live?" he asked. 

"In the Wyatt building, which is for staff members." 

Neal knew the location and he sped the car in a way that they reached her place in straight half an hour. None of them spoke a word. Cara jumped out of the car and rushed inside. Neal followed her one step behind. He had only one thing in his mind, 'No one can take her away from him, no one!' 

A woman opened the door of her apartment. She had a child in her lap who was crying. As soon as the baby saw his mother, he stretched his arms to her and Cara took him in her embrace. 

"Ma-ma!" the baby boy wailed. 

"Aww. My baby, my darling," she hugged him and caressed him and the child snuggled into his mom. She touched his forehead. The baby was pretty uncomfortable. 

"Mama?" he rasped. Neal looked at the little chubby boy with golden tuft who mustn't be more than eight or nine months old. The baby was absolutely adorable. He had hazel eyes and was wearing a matching jumpsuit. Young Cara, who wasn't even twenty, was already a mother? Shocked as hell, his eyes popped out and his eyebrows shot to his head. He watched her as she cuddled the baby. Then what about the man she was talking about? Neal scanned the place. The only smell that he picked up was that of the three people in front of him. There was no masculine smell. He scratched his head and again stared at Cara and her baby. 

"What did you make him eat?" she asked the woman. 

"Nothing Cara! He ate what you had made for him." 

"Where's his father?" Neal asked in an urgent, hoarse voice. He couldn't contain his anxiety. 

The women looked at him with wonder. The older woman answered in a very unpleasant voice, "Cara is a single mother." 

"Oh! Thank Skadi!" Neal blurted.