Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 93(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 93(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)
My fangs lengthen and almost burst from my gums as my heart beats out of control. My fucking cock joins the party and turns to stone in my pants as I attempt to sit down and not do permanent damage to my favorite body part.
My bear completely ignores my earlier warning. He stretches under my skin and roars, Mate now.
Son-of-a-bitch. “Do you need something to eat, Beauty?” My gritty voice fills the SUV around us as I fight to maintain control.
“No, I ate on the plane.” She turns slightly in the seat, and my eyes automatically fall on her luscious tits pressed against her tight-ass t-shirt. Motherfucker, I’ve been avoiding letting my eyes roam, hoping to hold my shit together until I have her safely tucked into my home, but having Briella so close is making my efforts impossible.
As my inner bear sits back and pants, I realize my gorgeous mate already has me wrapped tightly around her little pinky. I rub the back of my neck, trying to clear my murky thoughts. Since there’s no fighting this mate bond, I need to make sure my little human feels the same way.
Driving through the busy city streets, an uncomfortable silence fills the vehicle. My inner bear frets, urging me to forget the niceties and seal our mate bond, but I ignore the fucker. This is too important to fuck up.
“Thank you for helping me.” My mate’s soft words cut through the silence.
“It’s my job.” Fucking hell. That isn’t what I meant to say. Even my inner bear smacks his forehead at my screw-up. “I mean…” I backtrack but it’s too late. Hurt flashes through her gorgeous blue eyes as she gives me a weak smile, and I want to kick my own ass at my stupidity. “Taking care of you is everything to me.” It’s too little too late because she barely registers what I’m trying to say.
I pull off into the first parking lot we drive past and park. There’s no way I can drive the rest of the way to Fable Forest with this hanging between us.
“Why are we stopping?” Briella twists in her seat.
“Because I need to explain something to you.” I can’t stomach the thought of her thinking I’m taking care of her only because of my job. “I take my job seriously, but the second I talked to you, I knew you were more than just a job to me. My inner bear woke up and growled ‘mine,’ and I knew I’d never be able to fight this. From that moment on, I knew I had to keep you safe. Actually, I’m planning to keep you… period since you’re my mate.” Great. Now, I sound like her fucking stalker.
She sits back and blinks up at me with her mouth hanging open. “Now, wait a minute…” she stammers and clears her throat. “Maybe you can’t fight it,” she makes quote signs with her fingers as fire flashes through her eyes, “but I definitely can fight this. If you think I’m ready to settle for a relationship with someone who wants to fight it,” there’s those air quotes again, “you’re crazy.”
Maybe I am crazy because her sassy words turn my cock to stone.
My bear growls in my ear, You’re fucking it up, dumbass, but his warning is too late.
From the look of devastation on her face, I can see I have already done a magnificent job of fucking this up. “Wait.” I need to fix this shit right now. “I’m doing a shitty job of explaining.” Her stare softens slightly, giving me the nudge I need to continue. “I want you for my mate more than anything in the world, and I can’t wait to pursue what’s happening between us.”
“But?” My mate stares at me with a raised eyebrow. “I can hear the big but coming next.”
“But I can’t let my feelings for you make me careless. There’s some asshole out there stalking my mate, and I won’t be able to rest until I find the fucker and shut his shit down.”
“Do I have any say in this whole situation?” The hostility drops from my sassy mate’s gaze, leaving behind curiosity.
“You have all the say,” I tell her honestly. As a human, she has the option of accepting me as her mate or rejecting me completely. Her life will go on as it was before if she doesn’t develop feelings for me. On the other hand, my only choice is to spend the rest of eternity alone if my mate snubs my eternal love.
“Oh.” She sits back in the seat.
“Didn’t you already know all this?” I’m confused myself. Her twin is married to a shifter, and I assumed Brenna told her all about human-shifter matings.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I mean, I know the basics—shifters mate for life, can have babies but the children will eventually become shifters—but I had no idea that their mates had a choice.” That’s the bare minimum. It looks like we have a ton of things to discuss before I seal our mate bond.