“I guess that will be acceptable,” my mother said. “We just want you to be safe, dear.” She stood up and wrapped me in her arms. She kissed my cheek with a loud smack.
“Thank you for caring about me,” I said. “But please—trust me. I’ll go out there, meet my mate, and you’ll all see that this was a brilliant plan.”
Chapter 2
Braxton
“Hi, Kip, would you like to go fishing with me?”
I paused a beat as if he was going to answer me.
No, that sounded too cheerful, and also not direct. Asking him to go fishing might make it seem like I was asking as a friend or den member for a regular outing. This was not a regular outing. My outing had a clear, specific purpose, and I needed to communicate that. I cleared my throat and started over.
“Hi, Kip, would you like to go on a date with me? I thought we could go fishing.”
No. What if he didn’t want to go fishing? What if his idea of a date was dinner and a movie? Of course, fishing could turn into dinner if we were to shift to our bear forms, but would he want to shift on a first date? Some people thought shifting on a first date was too intimate. But Kip and I had known each other our whole lives. We shifted together all the time. Would shifting together while on a date be different?
Why was this so complicated?
Okay, maybe rehearsing the question wasn’t going to work. I should just go for casual and natural. Let the conversation flow naturally without a script. Of course, nothing had worked so far in the year and a half I had been trying to get Kip to look at me as anything other than a coworker and instead see me as a prospective mate. At this point, I was borderline stalking him. Wherever he was was where I wanted to be. We worked together often, because I’d specifically requested that the Alpha pair us together on most of our projects.
I walked the short distance from my house to his parents’ place where he currently lived. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind the fact that when he moved in with me, we would be this close to his family. If he didn’t like it, I suppose we could find a new place. I’d find a way to make a new home in my budget, maybe a bigger one. My current house had three bedrooms, plus I had expanded the living room a great deal after moving in. I wanted to make a cozy environment for my mate and me.
All of that was irrelevant if I couldn’t get the guy to go on a date with me.
I ran a hand through my hair. This was all so much more difficult than I thought it would be. From the day I realized Kip was my mate, I had been tripping over myself trying to tell him. But as far as I could tell, his bear did not recognize me as his. Was he too young? Did I just need to wait a little longer? I was just a few years older than him. Perhaps we needed to wait until he was older. He was the same age I had been when I realized what he was to me.
This shouldn’t be this complicated.
Fate needed to come with an instruction manual.
I was about to cross the street to his parents’ house when he came out. I lifted my hand to wave and perhaps yell his name, but he was pulling a suitcase behind him. I watched helplessly as he got into a car and drove away. Was he leaving? Where was he going? Why was he leaving?
I stood there dumbfounded for way too long, long after the car had driven away. Then Westley and his mate Jules were walking out. I jogged toward them.
“Where is Kip going? Why is Kip leaving?” So much for casual. The edge to my voice made it clear that I was asking out of concern rather than curiosity.
“Braxton, what are you doing here?” Westley asked.
“Where is Kip going?” I dodged the question.
“On vacation. You knew he had time off, right? Pretty sure he told all the enforcers that he was taking a ten-day vacation.”
“Yes, I mean—yeah, all the enforcers knew that he was taking time off. But where is he going? With the holidays this close, why would he leave the den?” Staycations were more popular than actually going someplace. And where would Kip go on his own? Why would Kip go on his own?
Jules narrowed his eyes at me. “Why are you so curious about where Kip is going?”
“I just want to know,” I said, shuffling my feet. I might’ve been an enforcer for the den, and I towered over Jules, but he was an omega looking out for his brother-in-law. I wasn’t ready for the scrutiny.
“Kip has this idea that he’s going to go on vacation to this resort and meet his mate, like I did. He knows his mate isn’t here in the den, and so he’s looking to find one,” Westley admitted.
The anguish built inside me immediately. My bear roared.
I was here. Right now. Right here.
“I am his mate,” I said.
Westley’s eyes went wide. “What?”
