The Snow Leopard's Mate (Glacier Leopards 1)

Ali ate until she was stuffed, and then reluctantly found her purse. Her phone had a text from Molly, where r u???, which kept her from pulling Grey into the bed for round two of the morning. She said, "I really do need to get going."

"Of course." Grey finished putting the dishes in the sink and turned, drying his hands. "But first, I wanted to say something."

Curious, Ali came over to him. "What is it?"

He took her hand. "I know you grew up around shifters, so I guess I won't have to explain the whole thing. I can just say it."

"Say what?" He looked nervous. What could be making him nervous?

"Well, last night, when we— I realized something. About you."

Now Ali was nervous. "Grey, you have to spit it out or I'm going to start getting paranoid."

"No, no. It's nothing bad. It's just, well, I suspected it from the second we met, but when we were together, I was sure. I don’t know how much you know about shifters and how they mate, but we each have one single person that we’re destined to be with. And Alethia...You're mine. My mate."

Ali stared at him. Horror sent icy ripples over her body. She was so shocked that she couldn't even speak.

Grey looked confused. "I can explain it better if you don’t understand."

"I understand you." Her voice was flat.

"You don't look happy," he said quietly.

That shook her out of her heartbroken daze. Now hot fury washed over her. "Of course I don't look happy!"

This could not be happening again. She couldn't believe it. She'd thought Grey was different.

"Why would you say that to me?" Her voice cracked.

He looked bewildered. She hadn’t thought he was that good of an actor. "It's the truth, Alethia."

"It's not the truth!"

"Of course it's the truth! Why would I lie about something like that?"

Ali shook her head, tears starting to prick at her eyes. "Why would anybody lie about it?"

"I don't know why anybody would lie about it!" Grey ran his hands through his hair, agitated. "I don't understand why you're upset."

Because you're using that horrible lie to trick me into going to bed with you again. Why would you even bother lying to me, when all you had to do was ask?

But she wasn't going to say any of that out loud. If she spoke again, she was going to burst into tears.

She'd bought everything he said about respecting women, hook, line, and sinker. Worse, she’d bought everything he’d said about her.

She'd gone to bed with him the night they met, and he’d turned out to be a lying no-good asshole. The sort of asshole who lied to get women into bed, made promises they couldn’t keep, and then dumped them when they got bored. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen for it again.

Shaking her head, she started for the door.

"Alethia, wait, where are you going?"

"Home." It didn't sound like a sob, did it?

"You can't go home, it's miles away. How will you get there?"

"I'll walk!" she threw back. "I'll hitch! I don't care!"

"I care, Alethia!" He followed her out the door and caught her arm.