“You both listen to me right now,” she says. “I’ve had a shitty week, and I spent my hard-earned money on this cruise. I’m not going to let two supernaturals disrespect me or ruin my vacation because you have a hunch I might be fated.”
Kade just stares at her, momentarily stunned by her boldness. Then she points at me. “You clearly don’t know the first thing about the lore of Wintermoon. And just so you know, bear shifters are notorious for being petty. He’ll sink this fucking ship to get to you.”
She throws her hands up. “You know what? I don’t have time for this. I’ll get you both off this ship right now.”
I grab Jackie by the arm and pull her behind me, then stand protectively in front of her, shielding her from Kade. “Don’t piss me off, Kade. You’re not teleporting my woman.”
Kade glares at me, her eyes flashing with fury. “Fine, but you better get control over that wild bear of yours, do you understand me?” She punctuates each word by jabbing her finger into my chest.
I notice Jackie’s breathing start to quicken behind me, and I step back, looking down at her with a smile. Her heartbeat is picking up, her breathing becoming labored, her face flushing. She’s piecing things together, and reality is settling in. She understands. She’s mine. My mate, my woman.
“I’m not leaving this ship or you, you big mean bear,” Kade says, crossing her arms defiantly.
“I’m fated?” Jackie asks, her voice small but clear. “I’m really fated?”
Kade looks to the bartender and sighs. “Make his human mate a Long Island iced tea, heavy on the ‘long.’”
She throws her hands up in exasperation. “Fucking hell, Mother Fate. It’s always the bear shifters. Always the bear shifters I have to teleport.”
Jackie presses a hand to her forehead. “I think I need to lie down.”
“I’ll take you to your room,” I offer immediately, my voice gentler than I thought possible.
She gives me a faint smile and lets me take her hand in mine. I place my other hand at the small of her back and start guiding her out of the bar. The warmth of her skin against my palm sends electricity through my entire body.
“You can nap, and I’ll explain things more clearly once you wake,” I tell her, trying to sound reassuring.
She just looks up at me with another feigned smile, but her scent tells me everything I need to know—it’s a complex mix of excitement, fear, anxiousness, and confusion.
Is she going to reject me?
I hope not. And so does my bear.
8
JACKIE
Iroll over in bed, my eyes fluttering open to the darkness of my cabin room. The gentle rocking of the ship and the distant hum of engines are the only sounds until a deep voice startles me upright.
“I was wondering if I should wake you to make sure you eat.”
My heart jumps as I spot Jabari sitting in a chair by the window, his massive frame making the furniture look like it belongs in a dollhouse. I wipe the sleep from my eyes, disoriented.
“How did you get in here?” I demand, certain I’d left him outside when I retreated to my cabin earlier.
“Kade gave me the master code to your room so I didn’t have to break the door down,” he says with complete seriousness, as if breaking down my door would have been the logical alternative.
I stare at him in shock, memories of the bar scene flooding back—the confrontation between him and that Wintermoon Sheriff woman.
“That woman—the sheriff, she was a vampire?” I ask, still trying to piece everything together.
He smiles, his broad shoulders nearly touching both sides of the chair he’s squeezed into. “Her name is Kade. She’s a witch too. A hybrid.”
“Oh.” The simple fact lands like a pebble in a vast ocean of things I don’t understand. “Now get out of my room,” I say with as much authority as I can muster.
He doesn’t move. There’s no malice in his eyes, just relief—like he’s finally found something precious he’d lost.
“No,” he says softly. “I waited a long time for you, Jackie.”
