“About me?”
“Yes. My wolf told me that you are my mate.”
“M-mate? What is that? What does that mean?”
“It’s similar to what you would call soul mates, I guess. It’s different, though. Stronger. Usually, shifters know pretty quickly after meeting someone if they are indeedthatperson. With us, it was a little different. I knew the second I saw you in the woods my first night in Half Moon Key that you were something special, and I really wanted to get to know you. In fact, if I’m honest, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You were always on my mind, and I was a little bit desperate to get to know you.”
“Is that why you were so annoying about getting a job at Moony’s?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Lila nodded, but she didn’t know what else to say, what else to add.
“I figured that eventually, we would get to know each other better and that my charm would win you over. That did happen, obviously. But more than that, one afternoon, when we were hanging out together, I could feel you responding to me. That was one of the best moments of my life.”
Lila still hadn’t said a word. She was too busy processing everything he was telling her. Soul mates. Fated mates. All of these things were fine and swell, but she hadn’t ever stopped to consider that they would be real in a tangible sort of way.
Not like Mason was describing. The wolf in his head … a wolf he could shift into … had told him that she washis. Lila shook her head as she tried to make sense of it.
“Are you okay?” Mason asked.
“This is a lot,” she admitted.
“I know. I know. I should’ve told you before now, but I didn’t want to freak you out. It doesn’t change how I feel about you, though. Or how you feel about me, I hope.”
“It doesn’t, no. I guess it just clarifies a little bit of what I’ve been feeling.”
“What do you mean?”
Lila took a second to put her thoughts in order. Mason sat closer to her and draped his arm around her. It was only when his fingers grazed the back of her neck that she had enough courage to go on. “Well, I guess if I’m honest, I did feel a connection to you. I wanted to deny it and pretend it wasn’t real. But it is. I do feel connected to you somehow. Is it possible that I feel that mate thing?”
“Sure, it’s possible, Lila. Why would I be the only one to feel this fated pull between us?”
She nodded. “Now, about this wolf …”
He chuckled. “What about my wolf?”
“Does he have a name?”
“No, he doesn’t. He’s as much me as I am him. He would answer to Mason because he’s me. Just a wolf version of me.”
“That sits in your head, giving you lip all the time?”
“Yup,” he answered with a chuckle.
“And it … He? Talks to you.”
He laughed again. “He does, yeah.”
“Does that get annoying?”
“Only when I don’t listen to him.”
Lila joined in on the laughter. “Okay, well, do you think that maybe one day in the near future, I’ll be able to meet Mason, the wolf?”
“Of course! That’s a given. Maybe this weekend, we can get one of the high school kids to take over the diner all afternoon. We could go to the woods and make a whole day out of it.”
“I’d like that. A date, but with a special guest.”