“Yeah, I’m twenty-two. What about you? On the run from the retirement home? Does your nurse know you’re out here, gramps?”
A laugh burst free. “Touché, little omega.”
He blushed prettily. “You’re not the dingo from before. From years ago, I mean.”
I was surprised he had the presence of mind to notice the difference between me and Uncle Malik. This had to be the shifter he scared.
“How can you tell?”
“Your scent. I think the other one was a beta. His scent is long gone from my stuff.”
Huh. He’d learned a lot from the brief encounter. Despite what had happened to him, he didn’t look angry at my uncle, or wary of me, which was a pleasant surprise.
“That was my Uncle Malik. He hated scaring you, but he had shifter sickness—“
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry!” His compassion was a sign of his sweetness. “He only scared me, didn’t hurt me. Is he okay?” He stopped, halfway to my side. “You said was. He’s gone, isn’t he?”
Of course, he knew the outcome for shifter sickness.
“Yeah, he hung on for a few more years than he really should have, but he died a couple months ago.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss.”
He touched me again then, as if he couldn’t bear not to be in contact with me somehow. I felt the same. There was this desperate need to have him close to me. I needed to say something to keep him with me a little longer.
“Notthat I mind, but the woods can be dangerous. Why did you come here?”
His blush deepened. “The town made me a laughing stock after the first time—“
“I’m sorry about that. Malik hated being a part of that deception. In his condition, though, he could have really hurt you.”
My hand automatically reached out to brush the hair out of his eyes. We were so close, and at the height he was sitting, he was up close and personal with my dick. I could see the effort he was making not to look at it.
“Now that I know what he was going through, I’m sad for him and grateful it wasn’t worse than it was. He just scared me, that’s all.”
The pull I felt to him was magnetic. I could sense his sweet pheromones clouding the air between us, stronger than they should have been.
“So you came out here because you knew I wasn’t the same dingo? How could you be sure I wouldn’t turn on you like he did?”
“You followed me all the way to the road. I fled because I was scared at first, then because you were guarding your territory. You could have done anything to me and it would’ve been myfault. I was breaking the rules. You kept me safe and got me out.”
He picked up on that, huh? This little omega was fascinating.
“Could I try something?” he asked timidly.
“What is it?”
“Lean down a little.”
His face tilted up. He let go of me to cup my face. In an incredibly slow move, he drew our faces together until our lips were only a breath apart.
“Is this okay?” the sweet caramel scent of his breath washed over me.
Without answering, I closed the distance, pressing my lips to his.
Who I was, who he was to me, snapped and reformed in that moment. This was my fated mate. The omega I’d dreamed would come.
The kiss deepened, his mouth opening to my tongue as my hand cupped his neck, directing him to get more of his addictive taste.
