Back in the car, Macy glanced at Luca.
“You wanna tell me what that was all about?”
He hesitated, and she thought he might put her off, but then he nodded.
“You’re my fated mate. I love you.”
All of the air left her with a rush. It was like someone had lit a thousand fireworks in her head and now they were all going off at once.
CHAPTER FOUR
∞∞∞
There was a way he should have done that, Luca realized, his heart beating faster. There was a way he could have eased Macy into this, told her with tact and care that would leave her looking a little less as if he had just dropped a full-grown bull moose on top of her head.
Unfortunately, he had no idea what that way was, and waiting longer was simply not an option. Waiting as long as he had was already a subtle kind of torture. It was his mate at the restaurant, his mate beside him in the car, his mate playing with his nephew, and that she could be so close and simply not know made something inside him ache.
She’s our true mate,his panther said with a notable lack of concern, and Luca wished he shared its confidence.
“Macy?”
She responded with a breathless sound that could have been a laugh or a sob, and he tensed.
“You don’t have to do or to say anything. I just thought–”
She turned to him. The only illumination came from Cathy Mosley’s porch light, but even by its dim glow, her eyeswere enormous. If he looked deep enough, he thought suddenly, he would see stars. She gazed at him with something like wonder, and slowly, almost dreamily, her hand came up to touch his cheek, to smooth back a lock of his hair.
She’s touching me. She’s—
It was impossible to say which one of them moved first. One moment they were regarding each with a rapture that verged on awe. The next moment, Macy was leaned over the console, and Luca’s fingers slid into her hair. Their mouths crashed together so hard it almost hurt, but that didn’t matter, not in the least, not when Macy kissed as if she was dying for it, not when he felt as if he really would die if he didn’t get more. She tasted like the first spring day of the year, like a storm, and it threw him up into the air. He didn’t care how he came down or even if he came down at all. All that mattered was how close he was to Macy and how he could get closer, because—
The porch light went off, and then it came on. Then it flicked three more times, sharp and pointed, and Luca sighed as he pulled back from Macy’s mouth. He couldn’t find it in himself to give up her touch entirely, and it seemed she felt the same way, her fingers tangled with his on the gearshift.
“Um. That light’s probably Cathy’s way of telling us to get a move on,” he said, and Macy laughed. Her fingers tightened on his, before letting go. The only thing that made it tolerable was that it seemed she was as reluctant to let go as he was.
“Yes, we should likely hit the road. That snake isn’t going to wait forever.”
“It probably could. It’s functionally immortal,” Luca said absently, starting the car and pulling back onto the road. “Are you—”
She giggled, and something about it, her pleasure, her laughter, sent a thrill of pleasure straight up his spine. Macy started to say something, and then she giggled again.
“Oh God, hang on. It’s like hiccups, just give me a second.”
“Take your time,” he said, unable to resist a wide grin of his own, and they were halfway back to City Hall before she calmed down.
If someone had told him about this happening, it might have seemed like some kind of terrible omen. Man finds fated mate, fated mate unable to restrain laughter for almost fifteen minutes. Instead, there was nothing in him that could be uneasy when his mate was so happy. His panther, far from being tense or concerned, only purred in pleasure. Their mate was laughing. All was well.
“I’m sorry,” Macy said when she could breathe again. “It’s just. It’s just so much.”
“It’s a lot, and please don’t be sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry about. I was more worried that I’d have to convince you that the bond was real. You have a nice laugh.”
“I have a feeling that the only people worried about explaining this are the ones it’s never happened to before. That was... I saw you, and—”
She shook her head.
“I saw you, and I knew,” she said finally. “I don’t knowwhatI knew, but I knew, didn’t I?”
“Everything changed,” Luca agreed. He deliberately kept his eyes on the road because if he looked at her, he would want to do nothing but. They could veer into the drainage ditch, and he would still be gazing at her amidst the screaming.
