“I don’t know what’s happening here.” Those words were nothing more than a whisper, meant to stay in my head, but they spilled out, moving between us. I knew he could hear them clear as day despite them being nearly inaudible.
He let this slow growl out and took one more step forward, crowding me. But I liked it. I yearned for more.
“Do you want me to tell you what’s going on, little bear?” The way he said that endearment had everything in me clinching, had the most intimate part of me softening… getting wet. He closed his eyes and I saw his nostrils flare slightly as he inhaled deeply. “Do you?”
I licked my lips and I swore I could taste him, this masculine, woodsy, and potent flavor that came from him like a shot of liquor straight to my veins. “Yes.” I all but moaned that word and felt my cheeks heat, humiliation flooding me. I’d never acted so out of character before.
“What’s your name?”
His voice had my pussy clenching. I was so wet, my panties soaked. I licked my lips again, my mouth so dry, my tongue feeling so thick I didn’t even know if I could answer. “Mena,” I whispered slightly, wondering if he heard me.
When he opened his eyes, they were completely black, the pupils swallowing up the blue and whiteness. He looked very primal right now, nearly ready to shift again, to show me how powerful his bear really was. And my inner animal was right at the surface, closer to escaping than she’d ever been in my entire life.
“Mena,” he said, and it rolled off his tongue almost seductively, as if he drew pleasure from the act. “I’m Cason.”
I played his name around in my head over and over again, and it felt so good. It felt so fucking right.
My hands were shaking, my nails feeling like they were getting longer, turning into claws. “Oh. God.”
“No, little bear.” He leaned an inch closer, and I swore a piece of paper couldn’t have fit between our lips. “Not God. What you’ve found is your mate.”
Chapter Six
Cason
I looked over my shoulder at where she stood in my living room, her eyes bigger as she looked around. The fact that she was actually standing in my home was surreal to me. When I told her she was my mate, I expected shock, maybe even fear. I didn’t know much about her, didn’t even know if she fully knew her shifter side.
I’d smelled her surprise at how close her bear was to the surface.
She looked at me, this realization, this feeling coming from her and slamming into me. I knew one thing for certain. She accepted it. And so I had given her an ultimatum.
She could stay and camp, and I would stay nearby to watch over, to protect her, because there was no way I was fucking leaving her alone. Or, she could come back to my cabin just a few miles away and we could get to know each other, to figure this out together.
This was new to me just as it was to her. And what shocked the fuck out of me was that she agreed to come home with me. She didn’t know who I was, didn’t know anything about me, but her heart and soul, her animal, knew she belonged to me as I belonged to her. It was ingrained in us, this undeniable proof that would never go away. We would be linked, connected for the rest of our lives, until we took our last breath.
“Are you thirsty, hungry?” I turned to face her, watching as she seemed a little awestruck at her surroundings. I’d feed her from my hand, make her whatever she wanted. I’d make sure she was full, sated. I wanted that desperately.
So we walked back to my cabin, and then I’d driven her back so we could pack up her camping gear, and now here we were. In any other situation, this probably would have sent red flags up for her, especially in the human world, but with fated mates, it was different. She might be half-human, but she knew me and I knew her. It was this integral feeling we had, this pull and security we both felt. She knew I’d never hurt her. I could see that in her face as she looked at me. I could smell her ease around me.
“I am a little thirsty, if you have any water.”
I stared at her a moment, at the arch of her throat as she tipped her head back to look at the ceiling beams and loft. I felt my bear fighting for supremacy, felt my canines elongated, saliva filling my mouth. My nails turned into claws, my body slightly bigger with my impending transformation. And although this wasn’t unusual, given the fact that I was starting to become more animal than human, more feral and primal, the reason I was like this right now was because my mate stood just feet from me, in my home, surrounded by my things, by my scent.
I kept picturing tearing off her clothes in a frenzy of passion, tattered remains of material laying across the ground as I lifted her small frame up, my hands cupping her ass, and walked us over to the breakfast counter. I’d set her on it and spread her thighs, step between them. I could practically smell how aroused she’d be, how sweet and musky she’d be for me. All me.
I grabbed her a glass of water, threw a couple cubes of ice in there, and then walked back toward her. She seemed startled when I was right beside her, and the territorial side of me rose up. The way she smiled at me as she tilted her head back and looked at me, the way her fingers brushed against my knuckles when she took the glass… had everything in me lighting up.
It was that small touch that had my eyes flashing. And I knew she saw by the way I scented her surprise, her… arousal.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Your house is so beautiful.”
Pleasure filled me at her approval.
“Did you have it custom b
uilt?” She went back to looking around.
“I built it. With my brothers’ help.”