Page 17 of Lycans & Lattes

“Sorry, that’s not . . . I just need to get this out, okay?” I took a breath, trying to settle the feeling of panic that was rising from my gut. “You know my grandfather is getting older,” I began. “And since my father passed⁠—”

“You’ll be the next pack alpha,” Willow supplied.

“Yes.”

It wasn’t a secret, but hearing her confirm it made me cringe.

“I may still be considered an outsider at times, but I have managed to hear the pack gossip,” she said with a laugh. “Agnes loves to pry. She says you don’t want to be alpha. Is that why you’ve not been running with your pack?”

“Not exactly.” I rubbed at the sigil just under my shirt. “There are things that are keeping me from taking up the mantle.”

“Things like . . . me?”

“Well, yes, but also . . .” I pulled the neck of my shirt aside, showing her the sigil on my collarbone.

Willow sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers gently sweeping across the mark. “What is that?”

“A demon sigil,” I replied. “Ramona’s, to be exact.”

“You made a deal with Ramona?” She balked. “Why?”

“You asked why I didn’t know about Liam getting injured. This is why. It keeps me from shifting.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to shift?”

“Because it would be dangerous,” I said. “For you.”

Her brow furrowed. “Me, specifically?”

“There are reasons I haven’t, uh, taken things further with us before,” I continued. “Because we can’t just date.”

“What?”

“There can be no casual. Not with you and me. We’re kind of an all-or-nothing sort of situation because . . .”

“Because . . .” Willow wheeled her hands. “Spit it out, Wyatt. I’m freaking out here.”

I knew everything would change from one word to the next. I felt myself jumping off a cliff and knew there was no net to save me, but part of me felt incredibly relieved.

Finally, I could tell her the thing my heart had been screaming for years.

“You . . . You’re my mate.”

Her mouth fell open. “Mate? What does that even mean?”

“It means that from the moment I first saw you, I knew you were mine,” I said. “Your scent, your breath, your heartbeat—gods, sometimes even your thoughts. You and I are connected, Willow. We are so much more than friends or lovers. We’re soulmates. We have the sort of magical bond that is sacred to my kind.”

I could see her mind reeling. “Is that why I can always sense when you’re around?”

“Yes.”

“Is that why I am constantly wondering where you are when you’re not around? Why I’m always seeking you out?”

Realization had hit her like a freight train. And through our connection, I could feel her emotions going haywire.

“Yes,” I answered again.

“Is that why my feelings for you are so intense and confusing?”