"Where are you?"
"His penthouse."
"Is he there?"
"He's asleep."
"Good. Talk to me. What happened?"
I lean back against the counter, staring out at the city skyline stretching endlessly beyond the windows.
"He told me we're fated mates," I say. "That his species experiences this biological bond thing once in a lifetime. That his body is literally hardwired to recognize me as his mate on a neurological level."
"Okay."
"And then we had sex. Really intense, really overwhelming, really—" I stop. "Really good sex."
"Also okay."
"But here's the thing," I say. "I don't know if I wanted it because I actually wanted it, or if I wanted it because my biology was telling me to want it. Like, how do I even distinguishbetween the two? How do I know if I'm making a choice or if I'm just responding to some ancient biological imperative that's hijacking my autonomic nervous system?"
Audrey is quiet for a moment.
Then she says: "Did you want it?"
"What?"
"When you were with him. When it was happening. Did you want it?"
I close my eyes.
I think about the way his hands felt against my skin. The way his wings wrapped around us. The way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the entire world that mattered.
"Yes," I say quietly. "I wanted it."
"Then that's the only thing that matters."
"But what if—"
"Tamsin. Listen to me. You've spent your entire adult life making choices based on survival. You worked three jobs. You ate ramen for dinner. You wore shoes with cracked soles because you couldn't afford new ones. You made a thousand tiny choices every single day just to keep your head above water."
She pauses.
"And now you're telling me that you can't trust yourself to know what you want?"
My throat tightens.
"It's different," I say.
"How?"
"Because this isn't about survival. This is about—" I stop. "This is about love. And commitment. And forever. And I don't know if I'm ready for that."
"Okay. So don't be ready."
I blink. "What?"
"You don't have to be ready. You don't have to have it all figured out right now. You just have to decide if you want to stayor if you want to leave. That's it. That's the only choice you need to make today."
