Her cheeks flush even pinker.“Oh.Um, yes.Okay.”She puts her hand in my palm, and I escort her up to the first chair.I want to pick her up by the waist and set her on the seat.To take care of her like she’s mine, but I can’t.
She’s not mine.
She can’t be mine.
I settle for sitting beside her, feeling the warmth of her small, soft body pressed next to mine.The Ferris wheel advances, loading the next passengers.
“Thank you for the prescription, I’m feeling much better,” Maisy blurts.
“Of course.Anything you need, Maisy–day or night.Just text me.You have my number now.”
“Oh.Um.That’s very generous of you, Dr.Hu…uhhhh…Stark.”
I’ve noticed Maisy always calls me Dr.Stark, even though I’m known as Dr.Matthias on the mountain.“Call me Matthias.”I make it an order.
She inhales sharply, and her scent blooms stronger.“Dr…Matthias.”
“Just Matthias.”
Orsir.
“Matthias,” she almost whispers.
Good girl.
I swear I feel her body heating through the contact of our thighs touching.The urge to touch her is so strong, I have to lean over the edge away from her, pretending I’m looking down.
My brother Teddy still loiters below, staring up at me like he’s puzzling something out.
Fuck.Did I show my bear?Did my eyes change color when I settled beside Maisy?I’ve made it years without my family knowing my secret.I’ve always maintained my privacy with them, and with this matter, it’s no different.I don’t want them to worry about me going moon mad or to pressure me into claiming Maisy while she’s still in her formative years.
The Ferris wheel attendant finally finishes loading everyone, and we continue rising in a gentle arc through the air.
Maisy clutches her mittened hands together in her lap and looks out at the view of our quaint little mountain town.The snow falls in steady, soft flakes, blanketing everything and making it look like a gingerbread village.“It’s, um, beautiful, isn’t it?”
My chest constricts.It’s so precious how nervous she gets with me.My lovely mate may be human, but she feels the biological pull to me.Some part of her knows she belongs to me.Her body responds to mine.I’ve known she was mine since she was just fifteen–she was a late bloomer as far as puberty went.
If I didn’t have my mom’s illness and helping with the triplets to contend with, I would’ve quit my job and moved as far away from Bad Bear Mountain as I could have that very day.But I couldn’t leave.And I couldn’t claim her.So, I vowed never to touch her and came up with the Moon Cure.
The next time we sweep up to the top, the Ferris wheel lurches to an abrupt stop.
“What’s happening?”Someone beneath us asks.
“Just a little technical difficulties, everyone!”the attendant calls out.“We’ll have you back up and running in a few minutes–not to worry!”
I lean forward to peer down and see Daisy slipping him some money.
Aha!She planned this on purpose.
Maisy grips the bar in front of us.“I knew we shouldn’t have gotten this thing.Even with a ninety percent discount,” she mutters then winces when the car starts swinging in the cold wind.“What do you think is going on?”
I can’t stop myself from putting an arm around her.“It’s okay, beautiful.We’re perfectly safe.”
Beautiful?
Shit.Did I say that out loud?
Maisy turns her gorgeous face to mine, her blue eyes wide.She’s not breathing.
