He wasn’t put off by her animal. He didn’t make fun of her for being so small or twitching around in the middle of the night needing to just run around and expel her feline energy.
She was just his either way, and there was something so satisfying about the ability to be her exact self with this man.
“What are you thinking about?” Cam asked from beside her in his truck.
Moira rolled her head against the seat to look at him. “You were nice to my cat last night.”
“Thank you for not clawing me,” he joked.
“I’m also thinking about the flight.”
“What about it?” he asked, his voice going somber.
“About the distance.”
His barrel chest filled as he inhaled deeply. His eyes on the road ahead of them, he nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that too.”
“We can text each other,” she said with a shrug. She was trying for nonchalance, but her tone came out sadder than she’d intended.
“Yeah,” he said. “And video chatting.”
“Yeah,” she uttered softly.
It just didn’t feel like enough.
He followed the airport signs to the departures area and pulled his truck over to the curb to let her out. Neither of them said anything for a full minute. They both just stared ahead. Moira was trying to keep the burning sensation inside of her eyes.
“This is so stupid,” she whispered.
“The stupidest,” he agreed. Cam slid his hand to her thigh and looked over at her. His eyes were bright gold, and his animal felt heavy in the small cab of his truck. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
But he didn’t even realize how bad it was for her. Not only was she leaving Cam, in a way, it felt like she was leaving herself here in Colorado too. She liked herself with him. She liked this version of Moira. She liked the people. She liked belonging, but most of all…most of all…she liked herself when she was around Cam.
She felt beautiful and wanted and smart, and funny.
She didn’t feel lonely here.
“This makes no sense,” she said on a breath. “You shouldn’t feel so big. I just met you.”
“Nah, that’s not how it works for our people, and you know it.”
Moira frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Come on,” he murmured, giving her a look.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“A bond is a bond is a bond. It doesn’t matter if I’ve known you for eight minutes or eighty years. It always feels big once.”
“Once,” she whispered.
“Once in a lifetime.”
What he said clicked so many things into place. A bond? A mating bond? No. Those weren’t meant for all shifters, and a bond certainly wasn’t meant for her. She was bad at people. Bad at relationships. She wasn’t worthy of one…right?
But there was a sadness in Cam’s eyes when he told her, “I don’t want to be away from you.”
“But this is what you do,” she said stubbornly. “You fuck girls when you need to, and keep your distance from everyone, and you don’t feel. We were safe from a bond because you don’t feel for other people. Me either.”
