“Nuh-uh, we’re not talking about me, are we?”
He shook his head, a half-dazed smile settling onto his face. They weretalking.She wasn’t running for the door.
Of course not. She’s our mate.
“So, Rudolph the undercover cop, what else do I need to know?”
“I love you, and I will always love you.”
A little furrow appeared between her eyes. “That’s what I don’t understand. I’ve known you aday—God, how has it only been aday?—and yet you say you love me. And…” She ducked his eye. “I think I feel the same way. But that doesn’t make any sense.”
He crooked one finger and tucked it under her chin, tilting her head up so she met his eye.
“That’s my fault, I should have explained it to you. It’s a poor defense, but I wanted to give you time, after everything you and Riley went through. I wanted to show youwhoI am, before I told youwhatI am.”
“I’ll admit it’s a bit of a…um…shock. But it doesn’t explain how you feel the way you do about me. And how I…”
He nodded. “You know that I’m a shifter. I change shape into an animal, my inner reindeer, but there’s more to it than that. My kind, we have what’s called a true mate. A fated mate, if you will. The one person in all the world who’s perfect for us, and us for them.”
“Like…a soulmate?”
“Yes. We recognize them on sight, and that’s what you’re feeling, too.” He dropped his hand, burying the urge to draw her close to him and finish what that kiss had promised. Because there was more he had to say. “But please understand, that doesn’t mean you don’t get a choice in this. You’re free to stay, or to go, or to take things one day at a time, and I will respect that.”
“I don’t want to take things one day at a time,” she whispered, and his chest squeezed painfully.
“I…understand.” He stepped back. “I’ll stay with Kemp for a while. You can stay here as long as you need while you get set up somewhere else.”
She caught his wrist. “Youdon’tunderstand. I don’t want to take things one day at a time. I don’t want you to stay with Kemp, or anyone else. I want you to stay here, with us, for as long as you want us around.”
Her lips brushed against his, and he felt her smile.
“I wantyou, Chase Langley,” she murmured against him.
“And I, you,” he whispered back.
“All of you, not for a night, or a week. Forever.”
“Forever,” he vowed.
Claim mate. Claim forever.
“There is one more thing we would have to do,” he said, “to seal the mate bond.”
“Tell me.”
“I have to bite you, to claim you as mine, and me as yours.”
“That’s all, just bite me?”
“Well,technically,yes,” he said. “But I have a few ideas how to make it more fun for you.”
“Just for me?” she arched a brow, calling him on it. He shrugged.
“I might get a certain amount of pleasure from it.”
She chuckled, and the sound stole his breath.
“Then what are you waiting for? Bite me. Make me yours. Forever.”
