He’d thought he’d distracted her from that fact. His grin even felt rueful. “Immortal beings mate for life, and when an immortal mates an enhanced human, usually a woman, she becomes immortal, too. It’s an increase in chromosomal pairs. The new immortal might gain some of her mate’s abilities, but she usually doesn’t get immortal strength or powers.”
Mariana looked away as if it was all too much for a moment. “I can’t believe this. How have we missed this for so many years?”
“We don’t want humans to know. If they knew how possible immortality was, they’d go for it, and there’d be wars. Humans would certainly lose, and in doing so, we’d lose enhanced mates.” He kept his voice low and calm.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure I agree.”
He needed to tell her the rest of it. “My family usually spends their whole lives trying to find their mates, and more than half the time, they’ve failed. They die first.”
“Why?”
There was the question. The why of it all. “The mutation in our genes. Only our mates can save us.” It was as basic as he could make it.
Realization dawned across her angled face. “Mating saves you? Something about the exchange or increase in chromosomes fixes your mutant gene?”
The woman was smart.
“Simply put,” he admitted.
She hit him with the next hard question then. “I’m your mate?”
“Yes.”
She licked her lips and he wanted to groan. “That’s why you were in Dallas?”
“I just wanted to see you.” It was hard to explain, and he didn’t much understand it himself, except he’d been compelled to see her at least once. Then he had wanted to know everything about her. “We used to search the globe for mates, but now it’s much easier. Remember the DNA test you took last year?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Yes. I just wanted to know my heritage.”
He nodded. “Our people have tapped into the various databases, and we’ve gained access to reports. Certain ones point us in certain directions, and we go from there. It was my Grams who actually found you. She’s a whiz with computers.” Not as good as Cade but close enough.
“So you want to mate me?” Her voice rose a bit with what sounded like panic.
He should be insulted, but he got it. More than she knew. “No. I do not.”
* * * *
“What’s wrong with me?” Mariana asked the question before she could stop herself and then wanted to smack her forehead the second the words were out.
He grinned and looked almost boyish. Still predatory but close. “Nothing is wrong with you. You’re perfect.”
Perfect? That was going a bit far. “I don’t understand,” she whispered.
He reached over and took her hands. “I watched you for four months and fell head over heels. You’re perfect, and I can die knowing I found love, even if it was short. Thank you for that.”
They were the sweetest words she’d ever heard, and she was well on her way to falling for him, too. Well, she had been before discovering she didn’t know much about him. “Wait a minute. Four months?”
A slight red wound beneath his sharp cheekbones. “Yeah.” Then he frowned. “During that time, I didn’t see another stalker. Oh, I saw the roses arrive at your office and home, but not once did I see somebody else watching you.”
That should relieve her, but her entire body felt jittery. This was a lot. More than she’d ever imagined. “Why don’t you want to mate me?” Not that she wanted to mate him. Except…he was hot, she liked him, was on the way to loving him, and who wouldn’t want to be immortal?
“It’s too much of a risk,” he said.
She tangled her fingers with his. “Mating is a risk? Do some mates not make it?”
“It is slightly dangerous and can be intense, but the risk isn’t in the mating.” He sighed. “It’s not that easy. Fixing us, making us healthy…it isn’t that simple. Those kind of things never are, Mariana.”
“Explain.” Enough with the half answers.
