He got shot rescuing me, and now he’s just out there, bleeding to death, and dressed in nothing but combat trousers and a blanket.
“He’s fine,” she says carefully. “The wound will heal faster than you’d believe. One of the perks of being what we are. But he’s struggling with what he had to do to save you.”
She tips her head toward the porch of the cabin, where Beau and Chase stand over a mangled body, hands on their hips, trying to figure out what to do next.
“He thinks I’m afraid of him.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Are you?” Natalie asks gently.
I close my eyes, reaching deep down inside of me for that invisible string I feel stretching between us, the one that told me he was coming, and that everything would be okay.
“No,” I whisper. “I’m not. I lov…” The word dies on my lips.
I don’t need to finish.
Natalie nods. “Good. Because that was him protecting you. Nothing more, nothing less. He would never, ever hurt you.”
She’s right. I feel it in my heart.
“His what?”
A soft smile crosses her face. “Oh, honey. Did he not explain anything?”
Chase and Beau are walking back toward us now, their expressions troubled. Beau skids on something slippery, then grimaces as he wipes it from his shoe.
“Emma,” Natalie says, reclaiming my attention. “What Bodhi hasn’t told you is that bear shifters... when we find the right person, our mate, it’s not just attraction. It’s deeper than that.”
She pulls aside the neck of her top to reveal a mark on her shoulder.
“Mate? Like a soulmate?”
Did he call me that? I have a vague recollection of something whispered in the heat of that glorious moment. As well as the scrape of his teeth along my neck.
“You don’t need to worry about the details, but it means you’re meant to be together,” Natalie explains. “When a shifter finds their mate, it’s everything. That ache you’re feeling right now? That’s the mate bond. You don’t feel right apart.”
The strange pressure under my ribs suddenly makes sense.
“Then why does he think I’m not safe with him?” I press my hand against my sternum. It’s like a craving. I need him to come back, to be close to me. To hold me. How could he just leave?
Natalie exchanges a glance with Chase, who’s now standing behind her.
“When a shifter finds their mate,” she says slowly, choosing her words with care. “There’s an overwhelming urge to claim them. Mark them as theirs. It’s biological, primal. Usually, it’s something both parties want, and when they come together, it’s magical.”
Magical.
Chase rests a hand on her shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. She looks up at him with adoration, and it clicks. They’re mates. Destined to be together.
“Then why is he leaving?”
Natalie’s expression is full of sympathy as she searches for the right words.
“Because right now, after what’s just happened, with his bear so close to the surface and all that adrenaline and rage still in his system… he’s not sure he can take it slow. Give you the time you need to process all of this.”
Damn him. It’s hard to stay mad at him for leaving me when she puts it like that.
“He doesn’t trust himself right now.” Chase clarifies. “He’s an alpha bear who’s just gone feral protecting his own.”
