Did she know I’d gladly give my life for her? Did India understand just how much I already loved her?
“My bear wants out,” I said honestly. There would be no secrets between us. She would know every detail about me, every little thing I was thinking. I would never lie to her. “My bear wants out because I want to find the fuckers who hurt you.”
She licked her lips and glanced down at her coffee mug for a second. When she lifted her head and looked back at me, I could see the question was on the tip of her tongue.
I answered before she could ask.
“When I find them, which I will, I’m going to make them realize exactly what it means to feel pain. They’re going to know what happens when they hurt the mate of a shifter.”
She didn’t say anything after that, but I could see she had a lot of questions. Her expression spoke loudly.
“Do you understand what I mean when I say you’re mine, that we’re mates?”
The pulse at the base of her neck beat wildly, and it took her a couple seconds before she nodded.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Although I don’t think I fully understand it.” She glanced up at me from underneath her dark lashes. “I understand that what I feel when I’m around you is confusing me and it scares me.”
I found myself reaching out and taking hold of her hand in mine. She didn’t pull it away, but I did hear her inhalation of breath, as if she were startled by the contact.
“We were born to be together, to find each other at this exact time, at this precise instant.” I ran my thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ve been searching for you my entire life.” I could see the realization in her face. “You’re mine, India. My fated mate, the one and only female that will ever complete me and my bear.”
In that moment, it was just the two of us. We weren’t surrounded by the rush of conversation from others. There wasn’t the scent of cooking food coming from the kitchen. There was only me looking at my mate and knowing that everything in the world was fucking right.
I just needed to convince her of that, because letting her walk away wasn’t an option. Not having her in my life was not how our story was going to end.
* * *
India
I heard what he said, understood it, but I guess the reality of it wasn’t sinking in. Although knowing I was his mate seemed like the most natural, right thing in the world, the clinical part of my brain, the one that lived in the real world, saw real things, found it hard to believe.
I knew about shifters, although I’d never actually met one in person—or maybe I had and hadn’t realized it. This all seemed a little surreal.
The heat from the coffee cup seeped through my hands and I looked down at the translucent caramel-colored tea inside. “So this means you and I are ...bound together in some way?” I looked at him again to see his focus trained right on me.
He leaned forward, his forearms braced on the table, the scent of his cologne, or maybe it was just his natural aroma, filling my head. I felt intoxicated.
“It means you’re mine, forever, India.” His nostrils flared as he inhaled. I knew he was taking in my scent. I wondered what I smelled like to him.
“Like the crisp air of an ocean breeze. Like the flavor that lingers on your tongue after you eat something sweet.” His voice dropped lower, his eyes going half-mast. “You smell like everything fucking good and right in the world.”
God, I was getting wet.
“And it makes me wonder what you’ll smell like when I’m deep within you, claiming you, marking you.”
I saw his animal flash to the surface, wavering over his form. I gasped, too softly for anyone but him to hear.
“You smell like mine, and there’s no way I’m letting you go.”
Chapter Six
Oli
Lights from a passing car washed the motel room in muted yellow. Shadows and a glow moved across the ceiling until it disappeared.
I had left the diner hours ago, but now that I had found my fated mate, being away from her, even for a few hours, was physically painful. But I knew she wasn’t used to all of this. She was a human, living in a human world. Although I was as well, shifters lived by different rules, experienced different things. If I had mated with a shifter, things would have gone so much easier.
But I didn’t want easy.