“No, you didn’t. I would have reacted the exact same way, if you’d said it first. Because—” There was a little hitch in her breathing. “Because you were never a stranger to me either. I tried to believe you were, because that was what made sense, but you weren’t. My wolf would’ve known that, just like yours did.”
She felt the same way he did? Case turned to look at her. Her eyes seemed especially enormous and dark, far more attention-grabbing than the waterfall.
Lydia’s concentration looked almost fierce, like she was trying to decide exactly how to put this.
“Sometimes our animals can realize things before we do. Like how they can catch the scent of water. And sometimes they’re sure of things humans have a harder time with. Like ....” She took a deep breath. “Like who they’re supposed to be with. Ask your wolf if it knows what I’m talking about.”
Case could feel it turning to him attentively, its lantern-colored eyes eager.
Do you know what she’s talking about?
It actually wagged its tail with excitement.
I do! I didn’t know other wolves felt like that.
He found himself in the weird position of having to be an intermediary between the woman he loved and the wolf in his head. “It says it knows what you mean, it just didn’t know that other wolves felt that way too.”
“Not all of them do. I mean, they all can if they meet the right person, but—not all of us meet the right person. But we did, Case. So if you ask your wolf what it knows about us ... I think that whatever it says is what my wolf is saying too.”
What do you know?Case asked it.I hope it’s the same thing I do.
It’s better than what you know,his wolf said. It was so happy that the smugness didn’t even land: it sounded ecstatic that it got to share this with him.I tried to tell you, a true mate is a true mate. We’re meant to be with her. We’re meant to be together, to share our den and fight side by side for the rest of our lives. She’s perfect, and we will do whatever we can to be perfect forher.
Yeah, that was pretty much what he’d thought too. He couldn’t do anything about the wide, goofy smile that felt like it was going to be permanently stuck on his face.
Lydia’s expression was more open than he’d ever seen it, and the hope in her eyes was obvious.
“Did it say anything in particular?”
“That you’re my true mate,” Case said, hardly able to believe the words coming out of his mouth. They should have been too good to be true, but there was no arguing with his wolf’s certainty. “And that I’m yours. Forever, if you want me.”
Lydia wrapped him in a tight hug, going on tiptoe to lace her fingers behind his neck. It was like she wanted to hold him as securely as possible, now that they both finally knew that wasallowed. Now that they knew it was what they both wanted. Case held her back the same way.
“I do. I really do.” For the first time, he let himself say what he’d been thinking almost since he met her: “Forever.”
19
Without realizing it, Case had half-expected their happiness to evaporate on the drive back to Mountainview. It was impossible to miss that as much as Lydia loved her home, it stressed her out.
But to his delight, he seemed to be helping her with that. Either that, or discovering that they were fated mates had brightened her day in a way that almost nothing could dim. They chatted easily on their way back to town, talking about their favorite books—she made his face burn by mentioninghisin that conversation—and movies. Most of Lydia’s, he couldn’t help noticing, involved immersive settings she didn’t seem to visit in real life.
“I know,” she said, when he mentioned that as delicately as possible. “I’m an armchair traveler. I wish I got the chance to be something else, but—” She shrugged, like there was nothing that could be done about it.
Butwasthere nothing that could be done about it?
We want our mate to have what she wants! his wolf said.
Case couldn’t agree more.
If she wants to see an Eiffel Tower, we willbringher an Eiffel Tower between our teeth,it said firmly, raising its chin.If she wants a Parthenon, we willbringher a Parthenon. We will bring her the Taj Mahal!
I don’t think you know what any of those things are, Case said.
“It’s fine,” Lydia said before he could say anything to console her. “Books and movies are more than enough to keep me happy.”
He wished that sounded more convincing. But he didn’t think she wanted him to say anything more about it right now,so he just held upShadowsinstead. “Want me to read a little more?”
She brightened. “Yes, please. You’re like my own personal audiobook. And I feel like we’rethisclose to figuring out what kind of book it is.”
