“I think that means I have her approval to be with you, Lila.”
“Apparently. I’ll get her into bed,” Lila said between laughs. “I’ll be back in a second.”
“I’ll be in the bedroom, Lila.” He pointed to Nana’s discarded hearing aids. “We are totally taking advantage of that. Besides,” his voice went low, “it’slater.”
Her belly fluttered, and she rushed off quickly, excited for what lay ahead.
Tonight, tomorrow. Next year.
Mason really had turned her whole world around. She loved him for it.
NINETEEN
MASON
Tonight was a big night for Lila and him. Something very important was going to happen between them. He had decided this was a good night for it. But more than that, he could feel that Lila was ready too.
He wouldn’t put it off any longer than he had to. Lila was his mate, and he wanted to make her just that. In name, in action, in every way he could.
It was specifically because of that reason that he needed to have this conversation with Lilabefore.It had to happen when she had all of the information. He respected and loved her too much to do it any other way.
The bedroom door opened, and Lila grinned at him.
“Hey,” Mason said from the bed when she walked in. “We need to talk a second.”
“What? No. I want you to hold me. Naked. Now.”
He shook his head. “You’re making this so hard, darling. I just wanna clear the air between us before this happens.”
Her eyes sparkled. She understood exactly what he meant.
“Mates,” she nodded. “Tonight. We are doing it tonight. We’re becoming mates in the official sense.”
“Yeah.” He stood and cupped her face in his hands. “And before we get to that all-important moment of our lives, I want to tell you why those panthers were here.”
“I already know. I heard enough to make it out. You slept with some woman you met in a bar, and it turned out she was married.”
“Right, but I need to explain why I didn’t tell you the reasons I came to town.”
“It happened before me. I can’t get mad because you have a past. That’s just silly. You made a bad call. You made a mistake. That’s it. You didn’t want to hurt anyone. I get that. Did you think I would be mad?”
“Maybe a bit because I caused a relationship to break. I thought it would just make me look that much more irresponsible.”
“You didn’t know she was married, Mason. For all you knew, you were two consenting adults.”
“But it put you in danger. If you had known beforehand, you could …”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if I knew. The panthers would still have taken me. Might I have been a little less confused? Yes. But at least I knew what shifters were already. This isn’t on you, Mason. It’s just not, so take that out of your head, baby. Okay?” She sat on the edge of the bed.
“I promise you, Lila, I will never again keep something from you like this. Do you hear me? It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. I was just scared of losing you. And I couldn’t, Lila. I couldn’t imagine living my life without you after that first night.”
“You wouldn’t have lost me,” she argued.
He arched a brow. “Really? Do you think that’s true? You kept on telling me that you knew I wouldn’t be in town for long. That I wouldn’t make it beyond a month.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, sure. At first, but …” She sighed. “Yeah. Okay. I can see now how the words I was using weren’t exactly great. Not when you were trying to find a way to tell me.”
“And I did, Lila. I wanted to tell you. I’m sorry I didn’t. I put you in danger.”