"I would never rip at you."
"How do you know?"
"Well," she said as they started moving through the lobby, "right now I don't even know how to turn into a panther. So that alone makes you safe. I tried to do it a couple of days ago and all I got was a tail that was very hard to hide until I went to sleep and it left me."
Dante laughed, and though she ought to be offended that he was laughing at her misfortune, she wasn't. There was something about him that was truly charming.
"I've never heard of that happening before," he said.
"Stick around. All kinds of weird things have been happening to me lately."
He brushed the hair back from her face. "I think I might like to do that. If you don't mind."
For some reason, the thought warmed her. Dante was a lot of fun to be with.
When they weren't fighting.
"What do you expect of your mate, Dante?"
He shrugged, then put his arm around her as they cruised by the banquet tables that were lined with fliers and giveaway items. "Nothing more than any other panther, I guess. I expect you to come home when you're in season and leave when you're not."
It was too good to be true.
"You would let me leave if I wanted to?"
He frowned. "It's the nature of our species, Pandora. Why would I stop you?"
"But the other pack—"
"Ain't right in the head," he said, interrupting her. "There's something profoundly wrong with anyone who would try to get a panther to act against his or her nature. That's something I'd expect an Arcadian to do, not a Katagari."
She smiled up at him as she felt another hormonal surge go through her.
By the sudden feral look on Dante's face she could tell he sensed it too.
His arm tightened around her.
"Can we wait?" she asked quickly. "I don't want to rush mating with you again until we get a few things straight between us."
Even though sex with him would clear her head, her human heart wanted more between them than just a physical relationship. She wanted to know the human part of her mate.
"Such as?" Dante asked.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I know in my heart that committing myself to you is the best thing for both of us. It's probably the only thing since I no longer have a pack to shelter me. But the human in me wants to know you better before I take such a permanent step."
To her relief, he didn't try to balk or force her.
"What do you need from me?"
"Just be with me as a human for a little while and let me get to know you, okay?"
Dante nodded even though what he really wanted to do was take her back upstairs and give her what both their bodies craved.
But she was young and scared. This was a momentous step for both of them. Bonding was eternal and it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
True kindness to someone else was all but alien to him. He understood loyalty. Obligation.
But love and tenderness…
