“Really? Because it sure seems like it from where I’m sitting,” Lainie snapped. She held up her hands. “Sorry. I keep yelling at you, and that’s not fair. None of this is your fault. You’ve been nothing but kind to me since I arrived.”
She tentatively looked up and met Harrison’s eyes. He smiled back.
“I couldn’t do anything else, Lainie. I can’t stand by and watch you suffer while there’s anything I could do to help. It’s… a shifter thing.”
Lainie’s stomach flipped over. “What do you mean?”
Harrison licked his lips. Does he look nervous? Lainie thought, taking in the lines between his eyebrows and at the edges of his mouth.
“I would do anything for you, Lainie. I hate to say I’m glad you came here, because being here has been so painful for you, but meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I don’t understand.” Lainie reached out for him, and he took her hand. “I only met you yesterday. I know we—well, we took things pretty fast, but…” She trailed off. Harrison was looking even more nervous now. He was so big and strong, and had so many friends here—what could possibly make him nervous?
He cleared his throat. “Every shifter has one person who they’re meant to be with. Their soulmate. Some shifters go all their lives without meeting their mate, but when you do meet them, you know immediately. That you’ve just met the one person in the world who will make your life complete.” He leaned forward. “Lainie, you’re that person to me. The moment I met you, I knew. It was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud I’d been living under my whole life. You’re my mate.”
For a moment, Lainie didn’t react. She felt as though she was floating outside of herself. Harrison’s words made sense individually, but put them together…
It was crazy. Impossible. It didn’t make any sense.
Lainie stared into Harrison’s eyes. The gold in his hazel irises flashed as she looked into them, reminding her of his griffin form.
Impossible? Men turning into mythical creatures should be impossible, but she’d just seen it happen. The world was more complicated than she ever thought possible. Who was she to say what was possible or not?
“If that’s true,” she said carefully, worried if she put words to her thoughts then everything around her would melt away like a dream. “If that’s true…”
“It is true,” Harrison insisted. “I know it’s hard to believe, and I don’t expect anything from you, just because you’re my mate. It seems to me that people have made too many decisions about your life without your input already. I just want you to know…this means I’m on your side. Whatever happens.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HARRISON
Harrison woke up, for the second day in a row, to the sun streaming through the window and onto his face. But this time he wasn’t alone.
He rolled over and sat up on his elbow, looking down at Lainie. She slept curled up on her side, wisps of blonde hair spread out across the pillow. One of her hands was resting beside her face. The other stretched out toward him.
He stroked her outstretched hand gently, not wanting to wake her. She looked so peaceful, and it made his griffin’s heart glow to see her sleeping in his bed. This room was the closest thing he had to a nest to bring his mate to…and here she was.
The storm had still been raging when they went to bed last night, both of them too exhausted from their escape from the collapsing house, and the revelations about Hideaway Cove and Lainie’s past, to do anything but hold each other.
Lainie’s breathing changed, and Harrison stopped stroking her hand, worried he had disturbed her. But she was already waking up, her eyes flickering beneath her eyelids, her fingers flexing as she stretched.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Harrison whispered as Lainie’s eyes opened.
She frowned up at him, her eyes still bleary with sleep. “You’re the sleepyhead,” she muttered grumpily. “I woke up hours ago, and you…” she broke off and yawned hugely. “…You were out like a light. I just closed my eyes again to wait for you to wake up.”
“Hmm? You just closed your eyes? How many hours ago?” Harrison leaned over Lainie, tracing her jawline with his finger. Her lips were plump and pink, and begging to be kissed. So he did.
Lainie stretched underneath him, wriggling to press her body against his through layers of blankets. He was naked. So was she. The only thing separating them was the cocoon of comforters he’d wrapped around her before they went to sleep.
A nest for our mate, his griffin purred. A nest she was now sleepily trying to fight her way out of.
Harrison kept kissing her, pretending he didn’t notice her clumsy attempts to pry her way out of the blankets. Her lips were soft, and warm, and she kissed him back as though she really had been sitting up for hours waiting for him to wake up.
“Mmf,” she murmured grumpily. “These damned blankets…”
Laughing, Harrison helped her unravel herself. He couldn’t help the hum of appreciation that escaped him as Lainie’s body emerged from the pile of blankets. Her soft, creamy skin and generous curves made his heart race. Kiss her? He wanted more than just to kiss her. He wanted all of her.
“Oh… good morning,” said Lainie with a wicked giggle, looking down between his legs. Harrison smirked. He was hard already, and Lainie’s reaction only aroused him more.