“Hank? How long does it last?”
“It’s lifelong.”
“A permanent mating. Like with apes and wolves.”
He nodded. “Also swans, eagles, and beavers.”
“And others,” she said, her voice softening. “Lots of other species…” She looked at him, her eyes wide and a little frightened. “So that’s why we…that was last night…why I…”
“It’s one sided, Cecilia. Just on the shifter side.” He looked her straight in the eye. “On my side. But it was powerful and that’s how I knew if we did it, you’d get pregnant. Magic does shit like that. Condom breaks, birth control fails. Hell, if it’s really strong, you get twins or triplets.”
She shuddered at the thought and it was like she’d put a knife in his gut. The idea of having his children was physically repulsive to her and that cut. It cut deep.
“But it was strong for me, too.”
“As far as we can tell, it’s always on the shifter side.” He tried to smile, but he doubted he did a good job of it. “We’re the magical creatures. Normals are…well, normal.”
“But I wanted to with you. I mean I really wanted—”
“That’s sometimes happens in really stressful situations. Soldiers will react that way and—”
She held up her hand, and he cut off his words with a click of his jaws. He stayed silent while she stared out at his neighborhood. He’d barely gone a block before she started again.
“So I chose last night, but you…you were forced?”
“No! I wanted—”
“You said magic forced you. Magic wants the babies and all.”
He grimaced. “Um, yeah.”
“So how do you know that what you felt last night was real? I mean, it could be biology, right? Magical biology, but still biology. No choice at all.”
He was silent as he pulled into his spot under an aging carport. And while he put his car into park, he thought about last night. Had he chosen her with his mind? Had he wanted her because he liked her? Or because her scent, her taste, her body made him lust like never before?
And in the silence, he felt her touch his arm. It was a light caress, but his entire forearm reacted to it. His muscles twitched, his skin heated, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled her scent. He wasn’t reacting to her personality. This was biology, just as she said.
“Hank, I’m so sorry.”
That was not what he wanted to hear from her. Not an apology. Not an admission that he’d locked on to her purely out of animal need. He was a thinking man who had learned the value of control. He did not want to believe he had no choice in a mate. He liked her as a person. She was smart and she wore blindingly bright clothes. And she hadn’t cowered in the fight. Wasn’t that enough to say that he’d chosen her?
No.
This was magic, pure and simple. And it was because she and he would make strong magical babies. That was always the result of a true bonding.
He turned to look at her. “You still have free will, Cecilia. You don’t have to choose me.”
She arched a brow. “I think I did last night.”
“But that was stress and yeah, maybe there was biological imperative involved. But it’s not a life sentence for you.”
“But it is for you?”
He shrugged. “Simon says not.”
“But you say yes.”
He didn’t know how to answer that. In the end, he took the coward’s way out. “I say that I need to change my clothes and get some things from my apartment. I need you to come with me. I can’t leave you out here.”
