Page 52 of Israel

He raised his eyes to hers.

“Do you feel the bond, at all? Even a little? Do you have any feelings for me?” He touched her lightly in the center of her chest. “If it wasn’t for your family—all the reasons they won’t let us be together—would you want to be my mate?”

Heat spread through her chest, and her defenses collapsed. “Oh, Israel.”

She put her hands around the back of his neck and rested her forehead on his. “I’ve been falling in love with you since the minute you stared me down in my dressing room and told me about your grizzly dick.”

He gave a shaky laugh.

“I love the way you look at me with your heart in your eyes, and the way you try so hard to take care of me. I love how quiet and complicated you are, and how you make me laugh. If it were up to me, I’d be your beta bunny and spend six months of the year touring, and the other six holed up in your mountain cabin making baby bunny/wolf hybrids and trying to teach them not to eat each other. In a non-sexual way, of course.”

Israel crushed her to him, his chest shaking. She didn’t know if he was laughing or crying. Probably both.

“Okay. Okay then,” he said. He pulled back and looked in her eyes. “Then let’s figure out a way to make it so it is up to you. Up to us. Your family may be crazy powerful, but they’re not invincible. And if it comes down to bargaining, I happen to be personal friends with the most badass Negotiator in shifter history.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “We can do this, babe.”

She stared into his eyes, hope uncurling in her heart. “Maybe,” she said. “There might be…someone I can talk to, just to sound out the situation.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”

She shook her head. “You can’t. I have to get them to come here. And I have to talk to them alone.”

“No fucking way,” he said immediately. “We’re in this together.”

“She won’t hurt me,” Ashley said. “And it’s better this way. If I spring you on them with no warning, we might not get the chance to fight.”

His wolf growled, and Israel frowned.

Ashley put her hand in the center of his chest, calming the growl. He didn’t understand. “Just give me a few days,” she said. “Let me try to do this on my own. If it doesn’t work, I swear I’ll tell you everything, and we’ll talk to your Negotiator.”

She could tell it went against all his instincts, but finally he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “This one time.”