He’s right.
I hunch my shoulders and stare down at where my big clumsy fingers are intertwined with his slender, more delicate ones. The contrast is unsettling somehow and it makes me feel like fate may have made a mistake.
Neil doesn’t deserve this mess of a person I’ve become, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let him go without a fight. He mightdecide to turn me away eventually, but I’m going to do everything in my power to avoid that.
I angle myself so I can meet the female’s gaze, and I tilt my head in a silent apology.I’m sorry, I say with my eyes.It won’t happen again. That’s the best I can offer at the moment, and I can only hope it’s enough.
She shoots me a weak smile and returns my nod.
Neil drags his hand down his face, glances at the clock, and shakes his head. “It’s too damn early for all this,” he says. “Why don’t we all lie down and try to get a little more sleep? Things are bound to look better in daylight and we can make a plan.”
I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep, not like this, not when it feels like my nerves are on fire and like my body doesn’t fit, but my mate needs the rest. He drove all day yesterday, and we have a long road ahead of us. So, I crawl back under the covers, curling myself around Neil’s back and pressing my nose to his hair, a warm sense of contentment filling my chest. The feeling of my mate cradled in my arms, the heat of his body, and the sweet scent that belongs only to him manage to soothe my anxious mind, and I close my eyes as I drift off to sleep.
Nineteen
Neil
I’mnotsurehowlong I sleep after the early morning interlude, but the next time I open my eyes, sunlight is filtering into the room through the thin curtains. Raquel is sitting up on her bed, watching some grainy game show on the TV at low volume. She glances over when I stir and waggles her brows, sending a pointed look at the man behind me as if I didn’t already know he was there.
Besides the happy thrum of the still new bond, there’s an obvious—and impressively large—sign of Wolfie’s human form currently poking me in the ass. I wiggle out of his hold and sit up, making sure the blanket is bunched up over my lap to hide my own “sign” of humanity.
“Scaring the shit out of me aside, he’s pretty hot,” says Raquel, her lips curled with amusement. “Fate has taste.”
“Shit timing though,” I reply, glancing down at my mate.
His features are relaxed in sleep, making him look impossibly young and peaceful. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything close to that on his face, and my chest aches with grief for all he’s suffered. This is also the first time I’ve truly gotten a chance to look at my mate’s human form, the situation earlier too fraught with tension for me to pay much attention to something like physical appearance.
I brush the ends of his dark blond hair away from his face revealing defined brows framing deep set eyes, a slightly crooked nose, high cheekbones, and a square chin. There’s a harshness to his features, his past written into the shape of his face, but it doesn’t detract from his attractiveness.
In fact, the hint of savagery might even add to it.
I stare at him for a beat, watching his chest slowly rise and fall, then turn my attention back to Raquel. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long,” she replies. Her eyes dart to the sleeping man beside me again. “He’s human, so now what? How does this all work? Are your lifelinesmerged?”
I shake my head. “No, that’s not really a feature of the fated mate bond.” I pause. “Itisan occasional bug, though. Still, it’s not something we need to worry about right now. The bond hasn’t been… completed yet.”
“Completed? Like…?” She mimes a blow job, then makes a circle with the fingers of one hand and sticks another finger through it.
My cheeks fill with heat, and I can easily imagine the tips of my ears are turning bright red. “I mean, sort of?”
She giggles, then lets out a tiny burp and covers her mouth with her hand, her face going slightly green. She quickly gets up and sprints into the bathroom, the sound of retching following not long afterward.
Oh yeah. Morning sickness. My stomach churns with sympathy, and I try to tune out the sounds coming through the flimsy bathroom door.
A few minutes later, I hear the sink turn on for a few seconds and then Raquel exits the bathroom, looking pale, but slightly less green.
“Feel better?” I ask.
“I hate puking, so not really.” Her jaw tenses and she looks down at the floor, one hand pressed against her stomach. “What am I going to do?” Her eyes come back up to meet mine, a sheen of tearsover them. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. My mother was… well, you know… What if I’m like her?”
I carefully slide out of bed, walk to her side, and wrap her up in a hug. “You’ll be a great mother.”
“But doing it alone? With Danny gone…” She lets her words trail off and sniffles.
“You’re better off without him,” I say. “And you’re not alone. I’m here for you, even just as cool Uncle Neil.”
Another sniffle. “But what about when you get married or whatever it is fated mates do? Won’t you have to live with other shifters or something?”
