This is a good thing. It has to be.
“Maybe it’s just wearing off?” I offer.
“Don’t think so,” Gus says, pacing back and forth in my living room.
We had breakfast together—I made pancakes and bacon. It’s nice having him here. It’s not so lonely—and not just here in the living room right this moment, but in general.
“Full moon?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “We’ve been through those before. And it wasn’t a full moonlast night.”
“Maybe it was, uh, you know…”
He stops, turning to face me, raising a brow.
“What we did?” I say in a small voice.
“But I woke up human before that. It’s, uh… why I got so excited.” His cheeks turn pink.
I feel mine heating too.
“Could it have something to do with me?” I ask.
His eyes narrow, and he looks me up and down. “Maybe,” he says slowly. “But what?”
“I don’t know. There’s like… a mate thing.”
“Mate thing?”
My cheeks are getting hotter by the millisecond. “Yeah, I’ve read books with fated mates. Like… soul mates, but on a deeper level. A level that’s almost unbearable to deny. Only…”
“Only what?”
“No offense, but it doesn’tfeelunbearable. So, I don’t know. I mean, I like you, but I’m not ready to kill someone for you or anything… Maybe it’s not that. It was a silly suggestion.”
“No,” he says thoughtfully, coming to sit beside me. “It could besomethinglike that.” He takes my hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss. “Maybe it’s like that, but different.”
“How will we know?”
“I don’t know,” he says with a huff.
There’s a knock on the back door.
“Come in!” I call, glancing over the back of the couch to see who comes through the door. It’s Rhett.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hi,” he says, walking over to us. “Uh, would it be okay if I slept inside tonight?”
“Of course,” I say with a smile.
“It’s not the house,” Gus says.
“Yeah, well, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to try for myself.”
“I’m fine with it,” I say. “I’ll make up the couch for you.”
“Are you staying in here again?” he asks Gus.
