Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
“I… It’s been a hard day.”
He exhales as his eyes turn away. “I’m sorry about dat. Is your brother okay?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I hope so. He’s driving his son back home to his mother tomorrow morning in Oklahoma.”
“That’s good. It’s not safe for anyone to be around a feral bear. Especially a young boy.”
“I’m going with them.”
His back straightens and his fierce eyes dart to mine. “That’s not happening.”
“Excuse me?”
He shakes his head, looking like someone just stabbed him in the heart. “Non, mon chérie,” he says with a wince. “You can’t do this to me. It’s too dangerous. I cannot allow it.”
I lean back and glare at him. “And who the heck are you to tell me what to do?”
“I’m your mate.”
The anger flushes out of me. I stare at him, stunned. My mate?
I guess I kind of knew already, but I didn’t want to believe it. Now that the words are out there, I know they’re true. I am his mate and he’s mine.
It explains this intense connection. It also explains why I want to jump his bones.
His lips curl up in a sly grin. “You knew, mon petit oiseau. Didn’t you?”
“Shut up,” I say as I cross my arms and turn in my seat.
He laughs. “I knew my mate would be a feisty one.”
I shake my head as I turn to him, smiling despite myself. “And did you also know that I’m not the kind of woman who takes orders from a man?”
He chuckles. “I had my suspicions about that too.”
We look at each other for a long moment with smiles on our faces. It feels like my other half is here. It feels like I could never stay mad at this man for long. Sure, he’s going to frustrate the shit out of me, but I know I won’t ever be able to stay mad for long when he looks at me like this.
“What kind of shifter are you anyway?”
“The best kind. A wolf.”
My eyes drop to his big muscular chest and I have to fight back a moan. There’s a wolf hiding in there. A protective wolf that wouldn’t hesitate to kill and eliminate any threat to protect me.
I just worry about who that threat may be…
“I’m sorry, mon cœur,” he says in a soft voice. “But brother or not, I’m not going to let you ride across the country with an unstable feral bear. I won’t let you do anything unsafe like dat. I can’t. Protecting you is in my DNA. It’s the reason I’m here.”
“I don’t need someone to protect me,” I say with a bit more bite than I intended. “I’ve been getting along just fine without you.”
“Still,” he says. “I’m protecting you now.”
“Geez, you make it sound like a bodyguard. Isn’t a mate supposed to be more?”
He turns in his seat, grabs my hand, and gazes at me with such intensity that I shiver. “Oh, I will be more, Adalynn. I will be everything.”
I swallow hard as I stare at this gorgeous man. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s my mate.
“I’ll make you laugh. I’ll make you moan. I’ll protect you and cherish you. I will be everything you want. I will be everything you need. I’ll do what’s best for you, even when it pisses you off like it’s doing right now.”
I look at my hand in his and a hyper-awareness radiates through my body. These hands are so large. I wonder what they would feel like running along my naked skin.
“I can’t let Colin take him alone,” I eventually say. “It’s too dangerous for Nathan.”
“And it’s too dangerous for you.”
I inhale as I look up at him. There’s pain in his eyes just from thinking about me being unsafe.
“I have to go.”
“Then, I’ll go with you.”
I laugh. “Seriously? You’re going to drive across three states with my brother and my nephew?”
“I’ll go anywhere with you, mon cœur.”
I smile shyly, feeling my cheeks start to blush.
“He’s not as bad as you think,” I say as I reach into my purse and pull out my phone. “Look. They’ve been staying with me for the past few days.”
I show him a video of Colin making Nathan pancakes with funny faces. Colin looks so happy laughing at the blueberry eyes, almond eyebrows, banana nose, pineapple mouth, and spiky hair made from the top of the pineapple.
I show him videos of them dressed up as cardboard knights and having a sword fight on the front lawn, and one of them swimming in a lake. Nathan’s face lights up every time he looks at his dad. It breaks my heart that we have to send him home early. He’s going to be devastated when we tell him tomorrow morning.
“Those are nice videos,” he says in a sad tone. “But it doesn’t change anything. He has a killer beast inside him, ready to break out and murder anyone in its path.”