Thessa snorted. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to woo her. Humans don’t like being stalked. They call it stalking and they get the authorities involved.”
“I’m not stalking her.”
“What’s her address?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Yet. You said yet. That implies you’re planning to find out.”
“Of course I’m planning to find out. She’s my mate. I need to know where she lives so I can protect her.”
“From a distance? Without her knowledge? While watching her through windows?”
When she put it like that, it did sound somewhat concerning.
“I’ll say hi first,” I amended. “Then I’ll protect her.”
“That doesn’t make stalking right, you dumbass. Besides, you growled ‘mate’ at her and asked who hurt her within thirty seconds of meeting her. I don’t think it went well.”
She had a point. My first impression had been less than ideal.
We walked in silence for a moment. My mind was already churning, planning, strategizing. I needed to see Riley again. Soon. I needed to find out more about Damien and how to remove him from her life permanently. And I really needed to understand why my mate had a bruise on her face and a haunted look in her eyes.
“I’ll read all of her books to learn about her. What she thinks about mates and bonds.”
“Yes!” Thessa was getting excited now, her strategic mind engaging. “If she’s already open to the idea of wolves existing...”
“Then she won’t run away when we tell her we’re from another realm.” Hope flickered in my chest. “She might accept the bond more easily.”
“Or she might think you’re insane and call the authorities.”
“Always the optimist.”
“Someone has to balance out your intense brooding energy.” We rounded a corner, and I allowed myself one last look back toward the bookstore. Thessa patted my arm cheerfully. “Let’s go home for now. I have a feeling we’re going to be here for a while.”
She was right.
I was going to be here for as long as it took. As long as it took to earn Riley’s trust, win her heart, and eliminate every threat to her happiness.
Starting with Damien.
The mission could wait. The portal investigation could wait.Everythingcould wait. I’d found my mate, and nothing else mattered.
3
— • —
Riley
My apartment was a shoebox.
A tiny, cramped shoebox above a tattoo shop, and I loved it with the kind of affection reserved for things you can’t afford to replace. The walls were thin enough that I could hear the buzz of tattoo machines during business hours. The heating was temperamental at best, hostile at worst. The shower took seven minutes to warm up, which meant seven minutes of standing naked in my bathroom questioning every life choice that led me here.
And there was a mysterious stain on the ceiling that I’d named Gerald rather than investigate. Gerald had been there when I moved in and would probably be there long after I was gone. We had an understanding.
But the apartment was mine. The one place Damien didn’t have a key to anymore, not since I changed the locks six months ago after he showed up drunk at two in the morning, pounding on my door and demanding I let him in. The guys from the tattoo shop had to escort him out. Dom had looked ready to throw him down the stairs.
I’d pretended not to be disappointed when he didn’t.
