“Wait.” I held up my palm. “You’re talking as though I live here, too.”
He gently wrapped his fingers around my wrist and tugged my hand to his lips. Then he pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “Of course, I am. Your place is with me.”
He acted like my staying was a foregone conclusion. Considering how quickly Zeke was talking about Allegra moving in with him, it was probably the way relationships went for shifters. But I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole fated mate thing yet. I needed a little bit of time to think about it all. “That’s all fine and dandy except I need to go back to my dorm. Like right now.”
5
Kace
I’d found Larissa less than an hour ago, and she already wanted to leave. This wasn’t how I expected my mating to go, and my wolf was demanding to be let out to mark her as ours before she got away. I ground my teeth together and clenched my jaw. Fur rippled against my skin, and I took a few deep breaths to get myself under control. I got where he was coming from, but I wasn’t about to let him do something she wasn’t ready for. He only backed down when I promised I wouldn’t let her out of our sight. “Do you have a class or something?”
“No, I had my last one for the day before I tracked Allegra down. I just”—she paused and twisted her hands together—“need to be in my own space.”
My compulsion to be with Larissa warred with my desire to give her whatever she needed. I understood her wanting to be surrounded by the familiar while she came to terms with how meeting me was going to change her world, but that didn’t mean she had to be alone while doing it. “No problem.” I shoved my feet into my boots. “I’ll take you back.”
I felt a burst of satisfaction at her reaction to my quick agreement as her plump lips curved down at the edges and she mumbled, “Okay.”
Stalking toward her, I pressed a finger under her chin and tilted her head back until my gaze met hers. “Give me a minute while I grab some stuff so I can spend the night with you.”
“What? No way.” Her blue eyes went wide, and she shook her head. “I live in an all-girls dorm. Any male visitors have to check in at the front desk, and there are rules about how long they can be there. It’s the only dorm on campus that’s super strict, but Allegra’s parents insisted we pick that one because it meant her mom wouldn’t worry quite as much.”
I was relieved to hear no males were allowed in her building—not that I planned on her being there without me—but I wasn’t about to let the rules apply to me. I wasn’t accustomed to taking orders from anyone else since I was the one who gave them in Timber Ridge. And I wasn’t just some guy. I was Larissa’s mate, even if she didn’t fully grasp what that meant yet. “You might not be feeling the pull at the same level as me because you’re human, but the early days in a mating are the most intense. Having you near without claiming you is already pushing my wolf to his limits, and leaving you alone on campus will send him over the edge.”
“Oh.” Her plump lips formed a perfect circle, making my dick push against the zipper of my jeans as I pictured them wrapped around me. “Look, I’m no good at this relationship stuff. I don’t really know how it works with regular couples, let alone shifters with fated mates. I’ve never had a boyfriend, and the only happy marriage I saw growing up was between Allegra’s parents. My mom walked out right after I was born. She didn’t want kids, and I haven’t had contact with her since she left.”
I was happy as fuck to know there hadn’t been any men in her life before me, but I hated seeing the faint sheen of tears in her eyes. Knowing the woman who’d given birth to her—I refused to call her Larissa’s mom because she sure as hell hadn’t earned the privilege—had hurt her so badly had my wolf ready to hunt her down. “I’m sorry you went through all that.”
“It’s okay.” She shrugged and sniffled. “My dad is beyond awesome, so I didn’t really feel like I was missing out on anything while growing up. And Hannah, Allegra’s mom, was always there if I had questions about girl stuff.”
“My mom will be happy as fuck to help you with women shit.” I had no doubt she was going to be on my dad’s ass to come back earlier than planned. “She and my dad left for a two-month long road trip a few weeks ago, but it was mostly an excuse to visit my brother at college. My dad is going to razz her so hard for not being here when I met you. She’s been dying for one of us to finally find our mates and give her grandbabies.”