“Yeah,” was all I could manage.
“The crazy thing is he could tell something was eating me up inside.” Mark’s tone was musing. “I felt like there was this huge part of myself I couldn’t share with him, and I wanted to share everything with him.”
Exactly. That was it.
“The truth is I had to trust that the Gods knew what they were doing, trust that I knew my mate, even though we’d been together like a month.”
“How did you do that?” I asked.
Mark leaned forward. “Well, I realized that I had to take a leap of faith. The truth was I could have told him and shown him, and he could have run in the other direction.” He blew out a breath. “I had that nightmare on repeat for a few nights.”
“Same here,” I admitted.
“Then there’s the possibility he’d go off and tell the wrong person,” Mark added. “I was terrified of putting my parents, siblings, grandparents in danger.” Mark gave me a speculative look. “I bet for you, you’ve added the whole town to that equation.”
I hung my head. “So what did you do?” I had to remind myself this story had a happy ending. The proof was on the wall.
“It came down to telling him the truth and having a life with him or losing him,” Mark said.
“But you could have never told him,” I pointed out. “Lived somewhere else and only shifted maybe when you came here and had time to yourself.”
Mark inclined his head. “I could have, but we both know that our bears are a huge part of who we are. Not only that, but they’re possessive assholes. They’d want to meet their mate too.”
That was true. I wanted my mate to know my bear; he was me as much as I was him.
“I also convinced myself if he went and reported me, they would throw him in a psychiatric ward,” Mark said dryly.
“Well, isn’t that a cheery thought.” I groaned and sighed.
“You know what I think?” Mark asked but didn’t wait for a reply. “I think we focus on the fact that it would be easier if they were a shifter because they’d know what we are, but the fact is—and you can ask your parents—you still have to make it work with your mate. Compromise, get to know them. All being a shifter does is give both of you a bit of certainty that this person is yours. But the fact is we have something that I see as a gift.” He paused and held my gaze. Clearly, he wanted me to ask. So I did.
“What’s that?”
“He chose you,” Mark said simply. “There’s no animal guiding him. Maybe there’s a little helping hand from the Gods because I do believe the mate bond starts to form regardless of whether or not your mate is a human or a shifter. But they’re choosing you without the certainty. Wanting you without the certainty. There’s something quite wonderful about it,” Mark said.
I let his words wash over me, and it hit me for the truth that it was. My mate had chosen me. Even with me being an ass, he’d wanted me. And he deserved my trust and a huge apology for being an idiot.
A door opened, and footsteps pounded down the stairs, and a curly-haired child ran into the room before stopping short at seeing me. “Daddy?”
Mark opened his arms and got an armful of kid. “Say hello to Gabe,” he whispered to the kid who’d buried their face in his chest.
They peeked out, and I got a shy smile. “Hello, Gabe.”
Mark beamed at the child in his arms before looking up at me, “This is Riley. She ate too many sweets with her brothers, forgetting they’re twice her size, and ended up home with a tummy ache.” He tickled her, and she giggled.
Then and there, I saw my future. And I wanted it. I wanted to leap and trust the amazing man the Gods had seen fit to give me.
Like he could read my thoughts, Mark said, “My leap paid off.”
I jumped on my feet. “I gotta go,” I said, heading for the door, not even waiting for Mark to see me out. “Thank you,” I called, striding out of the house and breaking into a jog down the driveway to get to my car.
I didn’t go through town on my way home, so I could drive as fast as I could to get to my mate. I didn’t want to wait one more minute to tell him everything and apologize for being so horrible to him. I knew I would spend the rest of my life making it up to him if he would have me…all of me.
I wanted to call, but of course my battery was dead. I’d barely remembered to charge it the last couple of days. Hell, I didn’t have a charger till Bailey came over yesterday and threw it at me, literally.
It took less than ten minutes to get back on the ranch, although I came in through one of the back entrances, not the front gate. Which meant it took a little longer to get to the house when I was actually back on our land. I didn’t even bother stopping at my house. I pulled up in front of Rhys’s and jumped out of the car without even turning it off.
I was at the front door and pushing on the doorbell while also banging on the door, but I stopped because I knew deep down my mate wasn’t there. I could feel him when he was close, and he wasn’t.
