She was tucked against Avi, her head on his chest and his heartbeat steady under her ear.His fingers moved slowly over her back, making aimless patterns as they talked quietly in the way lovers did in the quiet darkness after rocking each other’s world.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” she said.
“How so?”
“Last night when I came here, I was bracing for the worst.I didn’t know if I’d made a mistake leaving the park, I was questioning every move I made.But now, after just a day with you, I feel more like myself, more at peace, than I have in ages.”
He kissed the top of her head.“I’m glad you’ve found peace here.It’s important to me that you’re not just safe, but also happy.With me.”
“I’m happier with you than I’ve ever been, that’s for sure.”
She tilted her face up to look at him, the moonlight highlighting his features with pale light.“We keep dancing around the future, you know.”
“It’s only been a day.”
“I know.But I want to tell you that I want to stay.Here, at the farm, with you.And not just because I think it’s safe, but because this is your home, and it feels like my home too.I want to help you with the chores and find something for myself that’s useful and helpful to the herd.”
He chuckled in a low way that made his chest vibrate.“I’d definitely love to work with you, but you know that you don’t have to prove yourself or work a ton to belong here.You already belong because we’re soulmates.”
“I know, but I want to.I want to mainly because you’re letting me choose.I never got a choice in the prowl—I had to do what was best for the prowl, no matter if it was something I was good at or wanted to do.You’re giving me freedom to choose my path in the herd.And that means the world to me.”She leaned up enough to kiss him, loving how soft his lips were.
In the quiet that followed, she listened to his heartbeat and closed her eyes for a moment.Otto popped into her mind, but she pushed him away.He wasn’t here now, it was just her and Avi.She didn’t want to be ruled by fear and always looking over her shoulder.She wanted to live in the moment, with her soulmate.
“Is there anything that jaguars do to officially become mates?”he asked after a few moments.“For stallions, just having sex is enough to become mates, although we do usually have a welcome party for new members.”
“No, nothing special for jaguars.Just this...being together.Choosing each other.Saying the words.”
“Then let’s say the words,” he murmured.
She rose up above him and smiled at him, her heart swelling.
“Avi, you’re my soulmate,” she said with a kiss.
He cupped her face and kissed her more fully, delving his tongue against hers.“Fallon, you’re my soulmate.”
She snuggled into his side and kissed the space over his heart.“I’m falling for you.”
His arms tightened around her and he nuzzled the top of her head with a yawn.“I’m falling for you too, Fallon.
She yawned, her eyes closing slowly as the world started to drift away into a sweet sleep.She felt him pull a blanket over them and kiss her forehead with a happy sigh.Then she drifted off to sleep, warm and safe in his arms.
The stallion and the jaguar.
Two soulmates separated by hundreds of miles and brought together by a crazy jaguar and an incredible twist of fate.
A sharp crash of shattering glass jolted Avi from the best sleep of his life.For a few disoriented seconds, he lay still in the darkness, heart pounding.
The room was quiet again.
Had something just broken, or had he dreamed it?
Then another loud cracking sound woke Fallon up with a loud gasp.Something hit the side of the barn—hard—and this time Avi knew he wasn’t dreaming.
“Stay put,” he told Fallon as he got up and grabbed his jeans, tugging them on.He heard another smacking sound against the exterior of the barn, and then something shattered the window in the bedroom.
Fallon cried out and he turned quickly, pulling her off the bed and onto the floor as glass pinged around the room.
“Are you okay?”he asked.
