Page 104 of Awakening His Mate

“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.”

I want to take all her pain and toss it away. “I’m lucky to have you, Jackson.”

“I'm the lucky one here.” I take her hand, staring at our joined fingers. “I can’t fix these things. I wish I could. I would take all the burdens off your shoulders.”

Her other hand cups my face. “I don’t expect you to carry all our burdens. This is a partnership.”

“No, it’s not. It’ll always be my job to protect you and ensure your happiness, but I can’t make this better. I don’t know how to get our memories back. I don’t know how to find out if we had a kid?—”

“Jackson, stop.” The distress in her voice is genuine as she cuts me off. “I am happy, and I am protected. What happened to me also happened to you.”

“We don’t know that,” I say, bitterness poisoning my words. “I don’t have any memories before I found Cade.”

“I know that, but you don’t need to remember all the details of what we went through to feel traumatized by it. Our minds may not remember our past, but our bodies do, Jackson. When I’m with you, it feels like home.”

My chest expands with warmth and happiness. “I love you,” I say, unable to think of anything poetic to say back.

It gets the response I want anyway. She kisses me, her soft lips brushing over mine, teasing and nipping along the seam of my mouth. Her sweet taste coats my tongue, and I wish I could bottle it to keep it forever. She’s mine. I’ll never give her up, and I don’t like the lines I might have to cross to keep her, but looking at the bigger picture is all that matters. If we go into this war without a link between us, Dove will always be at risk. I can’t allow that.

I feel more aware of her than I have ever felt, but also unsettled. So much is happening, and I’m adrift, floating further away from shore.

“Jackson? Are you okay?”

My tongue invades her mouth, licking and swiping, tasting her. The moan she lets out goes straight to my cock.

Her fingers thread in my hair, my heart thudding in my chest every time she so much as breathes in my direction. She is my beginning and my end. The light to my dark, my reason for existing.

I have never loved anyone as completely as I love her, and I never will.

“I would give you the world if you asked for it, Dove. I would burn it to ashes to keep you safe. There is nothing about my life that makes sense without you in it, and I will spend every minute of whatever time I have making you happy.”

Tears brim in her eyes, and I wish I could kiss all her pain away. “You’re my mate, Jackson. Maybe we’re not fated, and maybe we’ll have to fight to be who we want to be together, but it doesn’t change my feelings. You’re my heart and my soul. I love you with every beat of my heart and with every breath in my body.”

I scent we’re not alone before Cade clears his throat. I pause, my lips poised inches from Dove’s.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“Are you?” I fire back, unable to keep the irritation from my tone.

“No fucking on the couch needs to be a rule,” Halle says. “I don’t want to sit on anyone’s body fluids.”

I lift my head and twist to see my alpha and his mate standing in the doorway. Dove tightens her grip on my hand—a warning to play nice. Too bad I’m not in a good mood.

“We’ll go up to our room.” I stand, gently pulling Dove with me.

“Jackson, wait.” It’s the almost desperate edge to Halle’s voice that stops me. She glances up at Cade, her red hair catching the light through the window, making it shimmer. “So… I spoke to my aunt.”

Considering her relationship with Adeline isn’t friendly, I’m surprised to hear her say that. “Why?”

She and Cade exchange another look, which puts me on edge. What’s going on? “Because my old alpha knows how to make mating bonds between chosen pairs.”

The surge of hope that rushes through me is like nothing I have ever experienced. Dove’s eyes shine with the same emotion as I turn to her.

“You can do it?” she asks.

“I think so,” Cade says. “It’s a little complicated, but we have to make Dove part of the pack first.”

I stare at Halle, my heart thudding violently against my ribs. “You spoke to them?”

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