Page 104 of Tempting Fate

Honestly, I was impressed by his patience. He’d been asking me stupid fucking questions for hours at that point.

“Does it still hurt?” he asks.

“No?” I press my fingers to the skin and wince. “Okay, a bit.”

“Sam should have healed you.”

“I don’t think that’s really his thing.” Patch opens his mouth and I smile. “It’ll be better tomorrow. You’ll see.”

Silver creeps into the edges of his irises. “It shouldn’t have to,” he says. “You should never have been in danger.”

Em comes into the room with mugs of tea and sighs. “No, you shouldn’t,” he says. He sets down the mugs and sits on the sofa. “Come sit with me?”

Patch strokes his thumb along my jaw and goes to sit in the armchair, but we both stop and glare at him until he gets the hint. Em is in the middle. I don’t mind. We’re all squashed together like this, and I let out a sigh and lean my head on his shoulder.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

“Hmm? Fine.”

“Jamie, I mean it.”

It’ll catch up with me. These things do. I think that’s partly why Kieran wants us to go round tomorrow, so he can check on me. And Vince will be over if not, and Dax, and Nick…

I don’t want to leave, and I don’t want Em or Patch to, either.

“You need to explain it,” I say. “I won’t do it right.”

Patch shifts in his seat. I glance at him. Em is looking at him too, eyes bright behind his glasses.

“Patch. What’s going on?”

“There’s a lot more to it than us just being wolves,” Patch says.

“Yes, I did assume that would be the case.”

“It’s not…” Patch sighs and rubs his hands over his face. “This is the only way to keep us all together, but I don’t want to drag you into something you’re not ready for.”

My stomach churns. I reach for Em’s hand and tangle our fingers together. “Sorry,” I murmur. “I might have spoken for all of us.”

“You did,” Patch says with a snort, “but that’s not your fault. None of this… I should have opened my fucking mouth and said something. Something real. To both of you.”

“To me?” I ask.

Em squeezes my hand.

Patch turns—the little he can, the way we’re all packed together on this sofa—to face us both.

“I said I didn’t want to sleep with you because I thought you weren’t my mate. Knew you weren’t my mate.”

“But Jamie said he was,” Em says, frowning.

“Because I am,” I say. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s the only thing that’s made sense for days. And the others can sense it too because Deacon wouldn’t have let me get away with any of that shit back in his office if I was making it up. “We both are.”

Patch holds my gaze for a few seconds. The smile that grows on his face is wondrous and beautiful. “Yeah, you are.”

“Sorry,” Em murmurs when we don’t elaborate, “but what does that mean?”

“It’s… All of us wolves can have a fated mate. Someone we’re destined to be with. Supposed to be with. And when we meet them, we know. So long as we’re in tune with our wolf, we know they’re meant for us and, over time, a bond will form.”