Page 7 of Accidentally on Purr-pose

Focus. Survival first. Everything else can wait.

She repeated the mantra that had kept her alive for three months while gathering her single duffel bag and adjusting the smaller bag containing the Waverly Compact. The familiar weight against her hip provided grounding—a reminder that she carried four centuries of peace and couldn't afford to be distracted by inconvenient mate bonds.

Luka collected their remaining bags containing their weapons, medical supplies, and clothes distributed between the two small duffels. Looking at their meager possessions against the backdrop of Izei's obvious wealth, Freesia felt a pang of something that might have been embarrassment if she'd had energy left for pride.

She finally slid from the SUV, her boots crunching on perfectly maintained gravel, and immediately noticed how Izei positioned himself. Close enough to respond to threats, far enough away to avoid accidental contact. The careful distance should have been reassuring. Instead, it made her tigress snarl with frustration.

Reth drove away without ceremony, leaving them alone with their new protector in the shadow of his fortress-like home. But Izei quickly turned and moved toward the front entrance with fluid grace, his presence commanding even in retreat, and Freesia found herself cataloging details she had no business noticing. The way his shoulders filled his jacket. The confident stride that suggested he'd never met an obstacle he couldn't overcome. The subtle tension in his jaw that hinted at his own struggle with their situation.

Stop it. He's protection, nothing more.

When Izei reached the entrance, he disengaged a sophisticated security system with swift, practiced movements and stepped aside to allow them entry, his dark eyes finding hers for just a moment—long enough for heat to flare between them like struck matches.

"Your guest rooms are upstairs and down the right hallway," Izei said, his voice carrying that low authority that made her tigress purr with recognition. "I'll prepare food while you get settled. You must be hungry."

The simple consideration in his offer caught her off guard. After three months of rationed supplies and stolen meals, the idea of someone else preparing food felt almost foreign.

Luka shifted the bags to one shoulder and finally offered the first genuine acknowledgment of Izei's protection since they'd left the safehouse. "Thank you."

"Yes," Freesia added, her voice softer than intended. "Thank you."

Their eyes met again, and this time neither looked away immediately. The mate bond thrummed between them like a live wire, promising everything she couldn't have and everything she desperately wanted. For a heartbeat, she let herself imagine what it would be like to step closer, to touch him, to let the bond activate itself and claim the partnership her tigress demanded.

Then reality crashed back, and she forced herself to follow Luka toward the staircase that led to safety, distance, and the impossible task of ignoring her fated mate while living under his protection.

The upstairs hallway soon stretched before them like a gallery in some exclusive hotel, all polished hardwood and understated elegance that whispered of old money and older power. Freesia paused outside the heavy oak door that would serve as her sanctuary, her fingers wrapping around the brass handle while Luka positioned himself across the corridor. His own guest room door stood slightly ajar, revealing glimpses of rich burgundy fabrics and warm lamplight that promised comfort she'd almost forgotten existed.

The silence stretched taut as a bowstring until Luka finally fixed her with that penetrating stare she'd come to recognize over three months of shared survival.

"Are you finally going to tell me what the hell happened in that safehouse?" His deep voice carried the easy authority of someone who'd earned the right to demand answers. "Because you switched plans faster than a cornered cat, and the tension between you and our new protector could be cut with a blade."

Freesia's grip tightened on the door handle. After three straight months of brutal honesty being the only thing standing between them and death, she couldn't bring herself to lie to the man who'd pulled her from the wilderness when she'd been bleeding and half-mad with grief. Their partnership had been forged in desperation, but it had been tempered by truth.

"Izei is my fated mate."

Luka's green eyes widened slightly, but she caught something that looked almost like confirmation rather than surprise flickering across his features.

"Well." He exhaled slowly, running a hand through his too-long hair. "That complicates everything, doesn't it?"

"I know that." Her voice came out sharp, frustration bleeding through her careful composure. "That's exactly why I didn't shake his hand. I can't afford to activate the mate bond right now."

Luka's expression shifted from surprise to something that might've been sympathy. "What are you going to do then? Avoid him forever? Because that doesn't seem particularly realistic when we're living under his protection."

The truth of his observation hit her like a slap. She pressed her back against the door, suddenly exhausted by the weight of impossible choices and the lingering scent of sandalwood that seemed to follow her.

"I don't know." The admission tasted like defeat. "I just need to figure out if this place is even going to work for us before I make any further decisions."

"Well, I'll support whatever you decide," Luka said with the kind of loyalty that had kept them both alive through impossible odds. "But for what it's worth, Izei seems like someone we can trust. My jaguar instincts are picking up strength, protection, honor. The real deal."

Despite everything, Freesia felt her lips curve into the ghost of a smile. "From what my tigress instincts are picking up, I feel the same way. He seems like someone who took his oath to protect the Waverly Compact and its Keeper very seriously when he became Alpha. That's... encouraging."

"Then let's take it one day at a time here," Luka said, flashing her his easy grin. "We've survived worse odds than a complicated mate bond."

"Agreed." She pushed away from the door. "Go take that hot shower you've been fantasizing about for weeks. I'll meet you downstairs for what should be our first real meal in months."

Luka's grin widened, erasing years of hardship and exile in a single moment of pure anticipation. "Maybe I can get used to this place."

He disappeared into his room with a soft click of the latch, leaving Freesia alone in the elegant hallway with nothing but her racing thoughts and the persistent ache of the mate bond pulling at her like a physical tether.