“I don’t believe it’s a coincidence either, but before we go through with this, I have to tell you something. I don’t want to lie to you.”
Cal smiled at her. He was happy that she was going to tell him. He hadn’t wrapped his head around it yet, but he admired the honesty. Michael must have seen how pure of heart she was, and he wanted to make her his even more. There was a question before, but her trying to muster up the courage to tell him was all he needed to know and see.
“You don’t have to tell me, Ali. I know.”
“You know? I wasn’t even sure, but that’s the only thing I can think of that explains why I’ve been feeling so poorly lately.”
“We don’t have time to talk about it right now, Ali, but I assure you that I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
“From your own kind as well?”
Cal could see that it was bothering her, and he was upset to think about it as well. It wasn’t something that he wanted to do and like Michael had suggested, getting out of there after the mating ritual was done would be the greatest chance of not having to fight one of his brothers over her.
“From anyone, Ali. You’ll be my mate, the mother of my children, and no one will touch you.”
She smiled at him and he finally took the opportunity to kiss her. Ali was biting her bottom lip and looking at him in a way that melted his heart. He couldn’t stop the flutter that he felt inside. Or the overpowering need that came over him when their lips and bodies finally came together. It was like it was supposed to be that way the whole time. She fit his body like a glove and they had to surely be made for each other.
“We have to start now if we want to do it properly.”
Ali had no idea what that meant. She was not unknowing, but there was a lot that she didn’t know and with a man like Cal, she had no idea what to expect. Before she could worry about it too much and let it get in her head, Ali felt his hands backing her up into the sacred room and she felt another chill run through her as she shivered. She was now shaking uncontrollably. It was from fear, anticipation and a need that she’d never had before. Everything inside of her was changing, and now Ali was going to be changed in another way. And she was not going to be able to change back.
The bed stopped her dead in her tracks, hitting the back of her knees and calves. It was the end of the line, and the walk had seemed so much longer until she was there and there was nowhere else to go. She could have told him no at any time, but those words never crossed her mind and wouldn’t cross her lips.
“What do we have to do for it to be proper?”
His eyes danced with fire, reflecting the light streaming through onto the bed from the skylight far above. She knew what it meant, and she gulped, trying to dislodge the lump that formed in her throat.
“First, you need to take off all of your clothes, Ali.”
She looked down at the oversized shirt that she was wearing. It was one of Cal’s because Ali didn’t have her own stuff with her. Ali really liked wearing his clothes more than her own. They fit baggy, but they had the smell of the man in them and she liked to feel like he was surrounding her when he was gone. It made Ali feel safe.
With him standing in front of her now, she didn’t feel so safe. She knew that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but he was still a lot more man than anyone else she had ever met. Ali was afraid that Cal was more man and beast than she could handle.
“What are we going to do with me, Cal?”
“I’m going to please you in every way that I can.”
“And that’s all this means?”
He shook his head and leaned down to kiss her momentarily on the lips. “No, Ali, it means that you’re mine. You will be my mate for life. It’s so much more than just pleasure.”
Ali should have been scared by his words, but for some reason, she wasn’t letting them bother her at all. The forever isn’t what made her nervous. It was the physical man in front of her and what he was going to do to her that had her still trembling.
Cal took it as she was cold and told her that he was going to warm her up in no time.
She had been sidetracked by his words and now he was lifting her shirt up to take it off. Warmth couldn’t penetrate the nerves that kept her shivering. The only thing that was going to make it stop was for him to kiss her again. Everything seemed to make sense to her when his lips were on hers. Maybe it was the lack of thought that she needed more than anything else. Ali didn’t need to understand. She just needed to feel.
