“There’s a reason…” He sucked down another breath and exhaled hard as his eyes darted up to lock with hers. “There’s a reason I felt compelled to find you the night you were attacked in the woods. When I scented your blood… I didn’t realise it at the time, but as I fell for you, as we grew closer, it hit me. We’re fated.”
“Fated?” She lost herself in the calm blue of his eyes.
A warm blue.
There was so much affection in his gaze as he looked at her, mixed with a dash of hope and a hefty dose of fear. Because he was afraid that what he needed to tell her would scare her off?
It wasn’t going to happen.
He nodded. “Shifters… We have fated mates. A true mate. Someone we feel was made for us and we can share a powerful bond with them.”
A bond.
Something suddenly made sense.
Over the days she had spent with Lowe, she had begun to feel as if what they shared was special, a once in a lifetime kind of love and a deep and powerful connection. Things between them had felt intense, as if someone had turned the volume up to eleven on everything he made her feel.
Because she was his fated mate.
“You look… shocked.” He grimaced. “I’m rushing this and not doing a good job.”
She shook her head. “I’m not shocked. In fact, a lot of things just clicked into place and made sense. From the moment we met, I felt drawn to you. Something about you made me… wild… a little reckless. I felt—This is going to sound crazy. I feel incredibly protective of you and, well, I can’t seem to get enough of you.”
A stunned look crossed his face.
“You feel it too? I mean, I wasn’t sure you would. You’re human… Not like I know much about how a human should feel in this situation, but I figured… Well, it doesn’t really matter what I figured now, does it?” A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “You think this potential bond makes you reckless and wild, you should see it from my side. I’m insanely possessive of you, want to lash out at any male who so much as looks at you, and I really can’t get enough of you. Hell, right now, I just want to gather you into my arms and spend the rest of the day kissing you.”
She smiled at him. He was rambling, but it was good to see him relaxing. It made her relax too, made everything feel normal again, back to how it had been before she had discovered that he was a bear shifter. She still had so many questions to ask him about that, was sure she was going to spend the next few weeks, if not months, suddenly thinking of something else she wanted to know about his kind.
But right now, she wanted to know one thing.
“You keep mentioning a bond. What does that mean?”
His face lost all warmth, his skin paling as his smile faltered. He ran a hand over his hair, mussing the golden threads of it, and grimaced.
“Cameo… we’re fated and that means…” He huffed, sank back against the couch and then sat up again, agitated now.
She placed her hand on his knee, wanting to show him that he could tell her. It wasn’t going to change how she felt about him. She wasn’t going to run.
His eyes locked with hers. “I’m driven to mate with you.”
“Like sex?” She shrugged at that thought, because she wasn’t going to turn down sex with Lowe. It was hardly a chore. In fact, there was a part of her—a wicked part—that wanted him right now. The sensible part overruled it, pointing out that he was injured. Wicked part just pointed out that she could be on top.
“More than sex. When we…” A blush climbed his cheeks. “I have a powerful urge to bite your nape, and if I do, it’ll trigger a need in you to do the same. But you don’t have to bite me.” He rushed those words out, his eyes widening as he shook his head. “Only I have to bite you and that… that will bind us as mates.”
Oh.
Her eyebrows rose as she let that sink in, and he wasn’t the only one blushing when she remembered how she had clawed at his nape when they had made love, unable to deny the wicked need to mark him there. At the time, she had put it down to a heat of the moment thing. Now, she had the feeling she had wanted to mark him. She had wanted to trigger this bond she hadn’t even known about.
Just thinking about him sinking his teeth into her nape had heat curling through her, something that surprised her. The thought of someone biting her should scare her, even disturb her, but it didn’t. She felt hazy from head to toe, felt an overwhelming need to kiss him and seduce him.
Cameo tamped it down.
The heat that shone in Lowe’s eyes said he had noticed her reaction though, and when he looked at her like that, she found it hard to resist the wicked needs rolling through her.
She cleared her throat and focused on what he had said, because she had seen a few horror movies in her time, and her sensible side was screaming a question at her.
“If you bite me… will you make me a bear too?”
He was quick to shake his head. “No. I can’t. We’re born like this, not made. Biting you won’t turn you into a shifter, but it will change you. Your life will be tied to mine. You’ll be stronger. You won’t age. Won’t get sick. Your senses will be sharper. You’ll probably be faster too, and you’ll heal quickly. You’ll live as long as I do. We could have centuries together.”
“That’s quite the list of perks,” she muttered and smiled as she couldn’t hold back the words, needed to lighten the atmosphere a little because it was all beginning to feel terribly real. “Here I was thinking that amazing body and incredible smile were all you had to offer.”
The right corner of his mouth quirked at that, causing a dimple in his cheek.
“You said that with a smile, so I’ll let you off.” He sobered, his eyes gaining a serious edge again. “This is a big decision. I know that. Even though it kills me because I want you to be my mate right this second… You have all the time in the world to make your decision. If you want to be my mate one day, you only have to say the word.”
She appreciated that he wasn’t going to rush her, because he was right. It was a lot to take in and she needed to take things slowly, wanted this thing she had with Lowe to deepen and grow stronger before she took the next step, and wanted him to answer around three million questions. Even though her instincts were pushing her to mate with him, she was determined to take her time and learn all there was to know about his kind and his world, and once she had all the facts and felt she was ready, she would take the leap.
Cameo nodded and leaned towards him, kissed him softly and slowly, savouring the way he sighed as her lips danced across his, as if he was in heaven. She knew she was.
She drew back and stroked his bare chest as she looked deep into his eyes. “One day.”
He smiled and she knew he had seen the promise in her eyes, one that came from her heart. She wouldn’t keep him waiting long. She wasn’t sure she could.
The sensible side of her lined up the first one hundred questions for him.
The wicked part of her shut it down.
She would start filling a mental binder with all the answers she needed tomorrow.
She leaned into him and kissed him again, gasped into his mouth as he slid his left arm around her waist and tugged her against him, pressing her chest to his. There was so much love in his kiss that she warmed down to her marrow, her heart growing lighter as she lost herself in it and in him, and in thoughts of the future she knew deep in her soul she wanted with him.