Mate.
Mate.
My bear roared within me.
We were mates.
Our lips touched, and it was as if something locked into place.
“You’re my mate?” I said. “We’re mates?” My nose might not have told me that he was mine, but my heart was screaming it.
Braxton nodded. Based on the lack of surprise on his face and the regret in his eyes, this wasn’t news to him.
“You knew?” I stepped back. The cold air whooshed between us. “For how long?” I asked.
“Two years.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the snow at our feet. His gaze went every way except toward me.
The cold wind blew between us. Normally the temps didn’t bother me at all, but in this moment, it was like the cold seeped into my bones.
“Two years? You’ve known for two years that we were mates, and you never said anything? Did you tell my parents?”
My mind raced with an array of thoughts. How had he known but I didn’t? Why hadn’t he told me? When had he discovered we were mates?
The pull between mates should never be one-sided, but I knew from my parents’ experience that it was possible. I’d just assumed if it happened to me, my mate would come forward.
He shook his head. “I never told anyone. I was hoping that you’d realize it. I thought maybe it was just too early. You were too young. You were only twenty-one the first time I scented you and realized you were mine. I wanted to give you time.”
I let out a wry laugh. “Braxton, this sort of thing isn’t new to my family. I suspected that I was nose blind to my mate, that I couldn’t scent him. It’s a thing that runs in my family. Some scents are blocked off to us. It doesn’t affect Westley, but it affected my dad. The only reason my parents got together was because my mom confronted him. We never knew for sure, but we figured that if my mate was around and in our den, he would have come forward. I wasn’t ever going to just wake up one day and realize you were mine. ”
“Kip…” Braxton’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know. I had no idea.”
“You would have if you’d told my parents or someone! They would have explained.” I ran a hand through my hair. My fingers had gone cold after we’d made our snowman. “So all that teasing, all that—”
“I wasn’t teasing you. Whenever I spent time with you or tried to talk to you, I was just trying to get to know you better. I was trying to see if you would go on a date with me, but you always said no. Admittedly, I could have been more direct, but I wanted you to realize that we were mates in your own time.”
“I thought you were being a dick,” I said. “I thought you didn’t think I should be a part of the enforcers. You should have told me, Braxy. You should have told my parents or Westley or someone.”
Braxton let out a wry laugh. “And expose my heart like that? Just rip it out of my body and present it for someone to stomp on? I don’t think so. Kip, I thought I was broken. I thought it was all one-sided and that you might never see me as yours. I was terrified. I still am.”
“We wasted so much time. Do you even want me as your mate? Or is it one of those ‘you’ll just accept what fate gives you’ things?”
“Kip—” He reached for me, but I flinched away.
“I need a little space. I think… I don’t know what I think right now.”
“I came here to find you, Kip. I came here because I figured if you were ready to find your mate outside of the den, then it was time you knew who I was, what I was. Please, Kip. I want this more than anything.”
I swallowed thickly, my throat going tight, clogged with emotion, with anger at having not known about Brax. I couldn’t shake the thought that he was laughing at me. “Just give me a minute. Please.”
I stomped off, the snow crunching beneath my feet. Braxton’s hoodie wrapped around me. I could smell him. It was a delightful scent, but it didn’t drive my bear wild like a mate’s scent would.
I’d considered the idea that I was like my alpha dad and wouldn’t discover my mate the traditional way. I just always assumed that if my mate was someone in the den, they would come forward. How could a person resist the call of their mate? From what everyone had ever told me, a mate’s scent was irresistible. So how could Braxton fight that?
When I got back to our cabin, several packs of firewood had been laid on the porch. Snow was coming down heavier now, I almost couldn’t see in front of me. I checked the weather app to see that we were expected to get several more inches of snow throughout the rest of the evening and into tomorrow. The winter storm was coming in as fast as the storm of emotions brewing within.
That would put a damper on the activities for the lodge. Then again, did I really need to do the activities? I wasn’t going to meet my mate. Clearly, I already knew who he was.
My search was over now.
