For a second, I thought his voice was different. Almost like it belonged to someone else.
“And all these nights without sleep aren’t helping.”
“You can’t sleep either?”
I frowned.
“I mean,” he rushed to add, “I can’t sleep without my mate either.”
“I hope you’re luckier with your mate.” I pushed my lower lip out, my heart needy and sad. I wanted to blame my PMS, but I was in the follicular phase.
“I’m the luckiest beast alive,” he said with an exhalation. “So, he gave you a necklace, huh? Can I see it?”
I grasped the half moon.Mine.“Why?”
“Well…I need gift ideas, and I, err, wanted to see what, uh, how it looks…”
Maybe it was because he stammered for the first time ever, or maybe it was because of his embarrassment, or maybe it was because I couldn’t be upset with Rudolph for too long, but I found myself giggling.
He hummed. “That’s the laugh I wanted to hear.”
I snapped a quick selfie, the half moon nestled against my collarbone, and sent it over. This time, I just smiled and didn’t care about my face being clean of makeup, the dark circles under my eyes, or my hair being piled up in a bun, having resisted anything else since the morning.
He asked if I’d ever taken it off, told me that it looked good on me, and complimented my mate’s taste. However, when I pushed for what gift ideas he had, he dodged and changed the topic.
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he left,” Rudolph offered later, as I sat cross-legged on the floor,hunting down the PDF version of my fifteen-pound book to send him so he could quiz me.
“Oh, definitely. He ran off because Lachlan was there.” I giggled before gasping. “Oh, Stephen! My mate could be afraid of my twin! You’re so right, Rudolph.”
He snorted so loudly that he might as well have bathed his phone with snot. “I don’t think so, and I never said that.”
“Why are you mad now?”
“I’m not mad. I just don’t think our captain is scared of anyone,” he deadpanned. “Let alone some douche with carrot hair.”
“Carrots are healthy! Don’t insult them…or my twin.”
“Bunny Doc, maybe the captain just wanted to mark you with your full consent. Or he couldn’t keep his paws off your tight little dress. Your clever, innocent brain didn’t consider that, hmm?”
My eyes widened. “Why do you think that’s the case?”
He coughed once. “Because I wanted to mark my mate as soon as I saw her. It’s a natural impulse.”
“You sure don’t waste time. Marking your mate right away…” I muttered.
“I said Iwantedto, not that I did.”
“Wait, how do you know I was wearing a dress?”
“Don’t girls wear dresses when they go out?” he asked, unimpressed.
“What? Just because we have vaginas, we need to bring them out for some fresh air and a stroll? Aren’t you generalizing a bit?”
“Aren’t you a little feminist!”
“FYI, some of us wear pants, too.”
“Same thing.”
