I grinned. “It is now.”
Kip let out a laugh. “You’re kidding, right? How are we supposed to find our mates if we can’t bring them back here? There’s only one bed, Brax.” He gestured toward the open door where there was a huge bed. Once again, I was fighting my attraction to my mate so that I didn’t come off like a huge perv.
I growled. The idea that Kip would bring anyone back here who wasn’t me and that he would allow anyone to touch him that wasn’t me made my bear bristle.
“No worries, man. We’ll figure something out,” Kip said with a shrug. He settled on the couch, and I took the chair on the other side. “Hey, who’s covering the enforcer duties, though? If both of us are out, that’s a lot of work for my dad and the other enforcers.”
“It’s the holidays. There’s not a whole ton to do. My brother stepped in to help, and we dragged old Fred out of retirement.” I didn’t tell him that I hadn’t given the Alpha or his dad much of a choice. I called them both while driving to the airport. I was prepared to lose my job and face serious consequences from the Alpha by leaving like I did. I would risk it all if only Kip would notice me.
“Well, that’s a good idea. He gets a little lonely this time of year anyway.”
“Yeah, he does.”
“So what’s the plan? What do you want to do?” Kip leaned back on the couch, and once again, his shirt rode up, exposing his skin. He crossed one leg over the other and placed his arm on the back of the couch. He couldn’t have looked more relaxed if he tried. My scent did nothing for him. Meanwhile, arousal was coursing through my veins like I was drunk on him.
Fuck. I hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake. If this all turned out to be one-sided, I’d be happy to have the Alpha kick me out of the den.
“I took a look at the schedule already. There’s a lot going on. I was going to just chill for tonight, though. Traveling always makes me tired. Not that I do it very often. Tomorrow there’s a midday speed-dating event. I’m already signed up. We can get you signed up too. The lodge has an app, so everything is easy.”
“Perfect,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just perfect.”
I reached a hand out like I was going to touch him, but I was too far away. Sometimes I just couldn’t help myself. I didn’t ever want to stop touching him, and until he gave me some indication that he didn’t like the random touches, I’d keep doing it.
His gaze toward me didn’t waver. His scent didn’t change. No arousal, no flared nostrils, no anything, just the same Kip looking at me the way he always had.
“This is going to be a lot of fun, right?” he said. “As much as I want to do all this on my own like Westley did, I was alwaysmore of the team-sport type. If you’re looking for your mate, just like I am, we can help each other out!”
“Right.” I swallowed. “That sounds perfect.”
Perfectly miserable.
Chapter 5
Braxton
Not for the first time, I wondered what the hell I had been thinking. I stumbled headfirst into this quest to get Kip to recognize who I was to him. I never stopped to think about how I was going to accomplish this, or even considered that perhaps there was a reason Kip didn’t sense I was his mate.
Maybe I wasn’t? Maybe it was all one-sided, and I was destined to be alone.
I thought perhaps getting away from the den would help. But instead, my mate could not stop talking about the idea that he might find his mate here, far away from our home. And what then? What if he did sense his mate in another person?
Except I was here, right in front of him. And I knew in my heart he was mine.
Since I had been able to get Branson to book my stay in Kip’s cabin, I slept on the couch. It wasn’t fair of me to steal the bed since I had shown up uninvited. It had not been a comfortable sleep, and now as the two of us were on our way to the dining hall for breakfast, I felt every pinched nerve and cramped muscle. A hearty meal would help. Apparently, they laid out a large buffet every morning. I was going to need a carafe full of coffee if I was going to get through this day. My neck ached, and I had a permanent charlie horse from how my leg had dangled off the side of the couch.
Kip had not stopped talking since getting up this morning. I hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into what it would be like to be surrounded by his scent every minute of every day. I was going on twelve hours now, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take it. At some point, I would just grab his face and kiss him.
“I wonder what kind of shifters are here. I can’t even discern what scents are around us. My nose isn’t always the best, I’m sure you’ve noticed.” He gave me a crooked smile that I could just nod at. “I know I smelled a wolf, and obviously there are bears.” He nudged my shoulder. “Do you think your mate will be a bear?”
“Yes,” I said. “I know that my mate is a bear.”
“I don’t know what my mate is. I don’t care either. They could even be human. Wouldn’t that be crazy?”
“It really would,” I said. I wasn’t lying. That would be insanity since I was his mate, and I was far from human.
His mate was not human. His mate was me. I just wanted to shout,Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you see me?
“Oh, I’m so hungry,” Kip said. “Don’t tell Mama, but I’ve been excited to try other cooking for a while. It’s crazy that I’ve probably never gone a day in my life without having my mama’s cooking.”
