“Are you feeling insecure?”
“A little. I want to feel your arms around me again.”
“Oh sweetie, what a nice thing to say. I want you in my arms.”
“Can we pretend?”
“Definitely,” he replied. “Find a spare pillow and scrunch it up tight against your side.”
“Okay.” I had three extras on the empty side of my bed. I fluffed one and pulled back the covers to put it alongside my body. I flopped the covers over it.
“Done,” I reported.
“Good. I’ve done the same. Pretend it’s my body. The pillow will get warm from your warmth. Curve your body into it if you have to.”
I did as he suggested. “It’s nice but it doesn’t smell like you. It doesn’t really feel like you.”
“We’re pretending here,” he reminded me.
“Right.” I closed my eyes, the phone on speaker next to my head. “I’m hugging the pillow now.”
“Good.”
“But I can’t feel your arms.” I tried not to sound whiny.
“No? I’m hugging my pillow. Those are my arms around you.”
For a moment, I became confused. Then clarity hit. The bond flared between us. The scent in my bedroom changed. The air seemed warmer. And as I hugged the pillow, the covers over my shoulders tightened. Like arms.
“It is like you’re with me,” I whispered.
“I feel your presence here, too,” Dale said. “You’re in my mind. And so close. It’s like there’s no space between us.”
“The bond.”
“Yes.”
We had that special connection. It couldn’t be denied. Would a bond have formed if I hadn’t gone into heat? I didn’t know. But it was there nonetheless, and I had no regrets.
It was silly to think about being bonded to an alpha and be apart from him. For shifters, a bond was more sacred than marriage. For humans, marriage was the legal link.
The logistics would sort themselves out. I needed to be patient. Humans moved a little slower than shifters, especially reindeer shifters who were known to meet and announce a fated mate and move in with him or her within days. I couldn’t push Dale. He needed to go at his pace, and I needed to trust him.
I floated in the comforting embrace of the link.
Dale’s soft voice found me. “Are you sleepy?”
“Warm and content,” I replied.
“Good. Close your eyes. I’m right here. Don’t hang up.”
“I won’t.”
“Are your eyes closed?”
“Yes.”
“Is the light off?”
