The trembling in my limbs grew stronger. I swallowed. “Wh-what are you saying? You just smell someone, and that’s it? You know?”
“Yeah, that’s it. You’re mine. Your scent told me. I caught it on the full moon, and it led me straight to you.” His eyes widened, and a cocky grin stretched his lips. “You knew it was me at the swimming hole, didn’t you?”
For some ridiculous reason, I felt my cheeks heat, even though he’d seen me naked a few times since. “I knew.”
I reeled, trying to assimilate what he was telling me. That there was some biological urge that just clicked and told him I belonged to him.
“Listen… this is all a bit much. I hear what you’re saying. You don’t do love. You just… mate? Well, th-that’s not how it works for me.”
Rand’s face seemed to drain of color. He took a step forward, reaching for my upper arms and lightly touching them. “What’s the problem, Red? If you know what I am and know you’re my mate, then why are you pushing me away?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, more as a protective gesture than anything else. I could hold back from letting him hold me. “Because I’m human.”
He frowned. “Yeah, so? So are a lot of the pack’s mates. Audrey and her sister Marina. And Becky, my brother’s mate. Charlie, our veterinarian. They mated shifters.”
“Uncle Adam… ”
“Come on, Red. Sit.” He led me to the bed, and we settled at the end. “Tell me what your uncle told you. I won’t touch you.”
I eyed him for a minute then told him about Uncle Rand’s high school sweetheart. “I won’t be with a guy, a shifter, who leaves me for another shifter.”
He turned, looked to me. He lifted his hand to cup my face, let it fall. “That’s not how it is. Maybe then, maybe that family, but things are different now. Even Rob, who’s the pack alpha, was prepared to mate a human, but Willow, you know her from the DEA sting last year, turned out to be a wolf.”
My eyes widened. “Willow’s a shifter, too?”
He gave a small smile. “She didn’t know it then. But that’s not the point. Everyone in the pack lately’s mated to a human. I’m the next to fall. For you.”
I popped up, paced, considered. Uncle Adam’s story was poignant, but I couldn’t deny the four examples of human/shifter relationships he’d mentioned. Even Rob, the leader, had been prepared to mate a human. If they all had done it, then Rand would be fine with it too.
Then I thought of my parents, the true issue. “Your wolf is driving you.”
He grinned. “That’s for sure. I… I’m hot for you. I won’t deny that. But I want more than that. You want love. Well, that’s easy. I love you, Red.”
There. That. All of a sudden, I was cold. His words, they were empty. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t say the words when you don’t mean them. Love isn’t some biological urge. Your wolf is controlling you. Will always do so. My parents, they… they hate each other. They live in this loveless, miserable marriage. I’ve heard that word tossed around when it means nothing. I won’t have that.”
“You won’t be miserable with me,” he replied.
I shook my head. “You don’t even know me. We’ve spent one night together. One night. I’m not going to sign up for a lifetime based on that. I’ve seen how unfortunate that scenario can turn out. I won’t be in a relationship every day when I will never know if it’s the wolf’s need for a mate or love that keeps us together.”
“I’ll always have a wolf’s need for you. You’ve seen it, it’s possessive and bossy. It’s desperate for you.”
He truly had no idea, which was proof that this wasn’t going to work. He didn’t understand that I wasn’t going to have a relationship with a shifter, one who was driven by his need to mate. Not by genuine connection. Not by love.
“Exactly. I can’t. I’m sorry but no. That’s just biology. That’s not love.”
I turned again, grabbed my shoes off the floor and carried them out of his bedroom. My purse was on the floor by the front door, and I grabbed it.
“Red!” Rand called, following.
I went outside, the sun warm, the sky a gorgeous blue.
“Red!” he cried again, stepping out onto the porch. Butt naked. “Don’t leave. I’ll just have to follow you.”
I stopped by my car, looked to him. “No, you won’t be following me. Your wolf will.”
12
RAND
Nash’s truck pulled up while I was still standing in the doorway, my dick waving in the wind.
I cursed and stepped back into the cabin and yanked on a pair of jeans and t-shirt. We had a job today—a chimney rebuild at one of the pack member’s houses. I’d told Nash yesterday to reschedule because I needed to get Natalie’s whole house rewired, but he’d refused.