Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“No. He adores her. It took a little while for him to warm up. At first, he backed away from her—practically hid from her. Little by little, he closed the distance he kept from her, though still not all the way. Gwen thinks he’s weird with women because he’s not interested in any female but his true mate. I don’t know. In any case, she won him over.”
Ally gaped at him. “Good God, Zander, you’re lucky you’re hot.”
“What?”
She plonked down her glass and leaned across the table. “Maybe it’s because you’re too close to the situation, I don’t know, but you’re missing some things here. Right, let’s imagine that there’s this wolf. He’s strong. Fierce. Hard. Wounded, though. He was shot a couple of times. He recovered, but he has scars. Now, he’s not afraid of guns as a result—no, he’s too brave for that. But he is wary of them, so if he sees one around, he’s going to be on his guard in case the damn thing goes off. Now, your wolf wasn’t shot, but he is wounded. What wounded him, Zander?”
He frowned. “The people who were important to him.”
“Right. So let’s say your wolf comes across someone else who’s important to him—maybe the person that’s the most important of all. How the hell do you think he’ll react?”
“He’d be wary.” Zander swore as realization slapped him right over the head. His mouth went slack, and his whole body stilled in shock. Hell, even his heart seemed to stop—then it was pounding in his chest like a drumbeat.
His wolf did a sheepish, metaphorical shrug. The beast had known Gwen Miller was their mate from minute one; he’d simply been too wary of having a mate to accept it—even now, the wolf was still slightly wary.
Zander gave a slow, incredulous shake of the head and almost laughed. Not with euphoria, but at his own stupidity. He should have known. He snapped his gaping mouth shut and drew in a breath through his nose. “Why didn’t I see it?”
Ally’s smile was sympathy itself. “Maybe because your wolf isn’t the only one who’s wounded. Maybe you’re wary of finding your mate too. Who isn’t? A mate will want everything from you. But not to take and keep those pieces of you, Zander. To protect them, to love them. She’s the one person who’ll make everything worth it for you.”
He stood there, reeling as several emotions overwhelmed him. Astonishment. Disbelief. Satisfaction. Pride that the female heading toward them belonged to him. He carefully masked his expression as she neared, keeping his smile hidden. Still, she saw something on his face that made her frown. He bit down on a smile of pride—his mate was incredibly observant.
Gwen set their drinks on the table as she asked, “You okay?”
“Fine.” His world had been rocked, of course, but in a good way. Zander drew her close, drinking in every little detail of her face, quietly savoring the knowledge of what she was to him. “I’ll be even better when your shift is over and I can get you home.”
“Not long to go.”
As Gwen walked away, he said to Ally, “I have no idea how to tell her that I believe she’s my mate. She’s not a shifter; she wasn’t raised knowing that she’d one day be mated. She won’t be prepared for it or for how much the mating bond will demand of her.”
Ally gave him an understanding smile. “Yeah, it will come as kind of a shock. This isn’t going to be easy. I don’t envy you having to explain it to her.”
“And if she were to ask me to confirm that she was, without question, my true mate, I wouldn’t be able to prove it until we felt the pull of the mating bond. I don’t know if my belief that she’s my mate would be enough for her. Not when she still holds back from me.”
“She only holds back because she doesn’t realize this is serious for you.”
Zander ground his teeth. “I marked her. I told her that she’s mine.”
Ally snorted. “Everyone knows shifters are territorial over pretty much everything, even over what we consider temporarily ours. Unless you’ve told Gwen in no uncertain terms that you want something long term with her, she’s unlikely to be aware of it.”
Well, no, he hadn’t been clear about it. He was regretting that now. “There’s so much shit going on around her. The question is . . . if I tell her she’s my mate, will it make her happy, or will it make her feel like yet more stuff is being piled on her?”
“I don’t know.” Expression thoughtful, Ally worried her bottom lip. “Look, I know this will be hard on you, but maybe . . .”
“What?”
“Maybe it would be best to keep the true-mate thing to yourself for now. Tell her this is serious for you. Make her believe it. Let her see that she’s important to you. If she’s secure in what you feel for her, she’s more likely to accept that you’re mates than if you simply blurt it out at a time when she’s still unsure what’s going on between you.”